Top 10 Early College Basketball Rankings for 2024-25

Top 10 Early College Basketball Rankings for 2024-25

It’s never too early to talk about college basketball, which gets underway on Nov. 4. Kansas will play on that day against Howard and they are one of the favorites to win the National Title at +1000 (Fan Duel) along with Duke and UConn. Let’s take a look at a preseason look at men’s college basketball in 2024-25.

1)Alabama (+1300). Guards Mark Sears, Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and forward Grant Nelson returning to make this team an instant favorite to make the Final Four. They add a strong big man in Clifford Omoruyi from Rutgers and 6-4 guard Chris Youngblood (15.3ppg) from South Florida. Only question is whether their fast-paced style is enough to go all the way until they face a team willing to slow it down with similar talent.

2)Houston (+1600). Kelvin Sampson’s squad returns one of the premier guards in the nation in L.J. Cryer. And 6-3 guard Emanuel Sharp (12.6ppg, 37% 3pt). They add 6-4 guard Milos Uzan from Oklahoma, who has a load of potential as a point guard. They also have two freshmen who sat out last season in 6-11 Jacob McFarland and 6-3 guard Kordelius Jefferson, both four-star recruits.

3)Kansas (+1000). Hunter Dickinson returns for what appears to be his 15th season. The 7-1 big man also gets help from K.J. Adams Jr. (12.6ppg), who is a very athletic power forward. The Jayhawks struggled to shoot from deep last season and the addition of guard Zeke Mayo (18.8ppg, 39.1% 3pt) should help alleviate that problem. KU also had another terrific transfer in A.J. Storr (16.8ppg) from Wisconsin.

4)Duke (+1000). The Cooper Flagg brief era begins. The 6-9 wing from Maine leads a monster recruiting class. The question will be how they will jell together. They lost a tremendous amount of production led by Kyle Filipowski (16.4ppg), Jared McCain (14.3ppg) and Jeremy Roach (14ppg). The good news is that Tyrese Proctor (10.5ppg) is back and they added four more transfers led by Sion James (14ppg at Tulane) an Maliq Brown (9.5ppg at Syracuse).

5)UConn (+1000). Danny Hurley has created a mini-dynasty with two straight titles. They have to replace top scores Cam Spencer, Tristen Newton, Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle. That’s a lot to replace, but they return Alex Karaban (13.3ppg) and bring in transfers Aidan Mahaney (13.9ppg at St. Mary’s) and Michigan transfers Tarris Reed Jr. (9ppg). With Dan Hurley and several talented freshmen led by Liam McNeeley, it’s tough to ignore him, but they lost a ton.

6)Gonzaga (+2000). They return Ryan Nembhard (12.6ppg), Graham Ike (16.5ppg) and Nolan Hickman (14ppg) to a talented team. But something was missing last season. Getting Michael Ajayi (17.2ppg) from Pepperdine will help as will guard Khalif Battle, the 24-year old well-traveled 6-5 guard (14.8ppg), who played at Arkansas last year.

7)Baylor (+2000). The Bears lost a ton of talent led by Ja’Kobe Walter (14.5ppg) and RayJ Dennis (13.6ppg). But they add two great transfers in Norchad Omier (17ppg) and Jeremy Roach (14ppg). Langston Love (11ppg) and Jayden Dunn (10.5ppg) return along with super freshman V.J. Edgecombe, a 6-4 guard who could be in the top five in next year’s NBA Draft.

8)Iowa State (+3000). Here is a team that could challenge Kansas and Baylor in the Big 12. They really hit the portal hard adding Nate Heise (13.5ppg) from Northern Iowa, Dishon Jackson (11.4ppg) from Charlotte and Joshua Jefferson (10.2ppg) from Saint Mary’s. Guards Keshon Gilbert (13.7ppg) and Tamin Lipsey (12.4ppg, 4.9apg) are back to give the Cyclones another quality Big 12 backcourt.

9)Creighton (+4000). The era where the young big guy was one or two and done is over. Ryan Kalkbrenner (7-1, 270) will face off against 7-1 Hunter Dickinson on Dec. 4 in a battle of the nation’s top big men. They lost Baylor Scheierman (18.5ppg) to the NBA and they didn’t replace him with another superstar shooter. But they needed to get more athletic and did so with sophomore guard Pop Isaacs (15.8ppg, 3.5apg) from Texas Tech and wing Jamiya Nelson (11ppg, 5.4rpg) from Arizona State.

10)North Carolina (+2000). R.J. Davis (21.2ppg) is back for another year and he’s joined by 6-7 wing Cade Tyson (16.2ppg, 5.9rpg) from Belmont. They lost rebounding machine Armando Bacot and defender Harrison Ingram. But Vanderbilt transfer Ven-Allen Lubin (12.3ppg, 6.3rpg) should be able to fill some of those shoes on the boards.