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Top 10 College Basketball Rankings 2025-26

March Madness 2026 has come and gone and we witnessed the Michigan Wolverines claim the title in a result that surprised few college basketball fans as they remained consistently strong for the entirety of the 2025-26 season. But as we moved towards the latter stages of this year’s NCAA Division 1 Men’s Basketball Tournament, it became clear that several of the teams in this Top 10 College Basketball Rankings established their dominance from the outset were still in the running for the championship trophy for months later. So Michigan’s road was not an easy one.

Now that the champion has been crowned, it’s time to take into consideration each team’s performance for the entire college basketball season to determine the final Top 10 College Basketball Rankings for the 2025-26 season. There were certainly more than ten teams deserving of a top ten ranking, and on another day the rankings here might have a different order and perhaps a different team or two. Such was the depth of quality teams this season where some started out hot and others gathered steam later in the season.

At the same time, several teams suffered injuries to key players that ended up changing the fortunes of their squads in a huge way, specifically North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson, Brigham Young’s Richie Saunders, Texas Tech’s JT Toppin and Kansas’s Darryn Peterson.

Honorable Mention

St. John’s Red Storm

Conference: Big East

St. John’s men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino has been successful at every stop during his 38-year coaching career. His latest reclamation project has re-awakened the interest in college hoops in New York City; his just-completed third season saw the Red Storm register a 30-win season, including the Big East regular season and tournament championships. As is usually the case with Rick Pitino- coached teams, their defense was the catalyst led by senior Zuby Ejiofor and a host of high-energy players brought in via the transfer portal.

St. John’s ranking could have easily been higher but, through no fault of their own, the Big East Conference Conference had an unusually down year, earning only three NCAA Tournament bids including Villanova, an 8th-seeded at-large invitee. St. John’s ended up with a 2-4 record against ranked teams, including close early-season losses to Duke, Alabama, Iowa State, and Auburn. They also suffered a conference loss to Providence and a 32-point loss at UConn. Their conference afforded few opportunity for quality wins, but they largely plowed through it.

Arkansas Razorbacks

Conference: Southeastern Conference

Long-time college basketball coach John Calipari has earned the reputation for recruiting and developing high school talent and preparing them for the National Basketball Association. His chief 2025-26 project was freshman Darius Acuff, who led the Razorbacks to 28-win season and a spot in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 16. Acuff himself averaged 23.5 points and and 6.4 assists and is considered a potential high first-round pick in this summer’s NBA Draft.

During the season, Arkansas registered some impressive wins while playing a competitive pre-conference schedule in addition to the usually tough Southeastern Conference schedule. They played everyone, it seems, losing early-season games to Arizona, Duke, Michigan State, and Houston, and in conference play to Florida, all teams who made deep runs in the NCAA Tournament and were ranked in the top ten all season. They did mange to beat ranked teams like Louisville, Texas Tech, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt, whom they beat twice. They only suffered the misfortune of facing Arizona, ranked number one at the time, in the Round of Sixteen in March.

Top 10 College Basketball Team Rankings

10. Michigan State Spartans

Conference: Big Ten

Legendary Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo has been a model of consistency over his 32-year tenure, winning over 71 percent of his games and never suffering a losing season record-wise. 2025-26 was no different as he led the Spartans to a 27-8 record and advancing to the Round of 16 before losing to national runner-up UConn. Sophomore Jeremy Fears had a hand in a large chunk of the offense, averaging 15 points and nine assists, but defense has always been a Michigan State staple.

The Spartans always play a strong pre-conference schedule and in 2025-26 they did rather well, beating ranked teams like Kentucky, Arkansas, and North Carolina while losing a close one to Duke. They placed second in the always-tough Big Ten Conference, including wins over Illinois and a road win at Purdue who was ranked eighth at the time. They did suffer a bad loss to Minnesota, but ended with a 15-5 conference record.

9. Purdue Boilermakers

Conference: Big Ten

Purdue notched its second season of at least 30 wins in the last three (they won 34 games in 2023-24) and marched to the Elite Eight before losing to Arizona. Coach Matt Painter’s reputation continues to flourish, and classic point guard Braden Smith once again provided mature leadership, averaging 8.8 assists per game and leading the nation in total assists for the third straight year.

While not playing quite as competitive a pre-conference schedule as some of their counterparts, the Boilermakers did manage wins over ranked teams like Alabama, Texas Tech, and Auburn while losing to Iowa State. The Big Ten schedule always threatens to beat teams down, and Purdue had a 6-7 stretch midway through the conference schedule including losses to Indiana, Ohio State, and UCLA. Despite that, everyone knew once the NCAA Tournament rolled around, they’d be a threat.

8. Florida Gators

Conference: Southeastern

The Florida Gators opened the 2025-26 season as the defending national champions. They also opened losing four of their first nine games including defeats against ranked opposition such as Duke, Arizona, and UConn, and another loss against TCU. Panic began to creep in within the fan base, but once their new backcourt tandem of Xavien Lee and Boogie Fland got its footing and began to mesh with holdovers like Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh, the squad took off, winning 22 of their next 24 games.

The Gators looked poised to make another deep March Madness run, but lost in the SEC Tournament to Vanderbilt, then succumbed to Iowa in the NCAA Tournament’s second round. They also beat every ranked conference opponent they faced (the SEC usually has several), with their only losses coming to Missouri and Auburn.

7. Iowa State Cyclones

Conference: Big 12

The Big 12 Conference was arguably the most difficult one to navigate in 2025-26. The Iowa State Cyclones held their own, winning 12 of their 18 conference games and going 29-8 overall. Led by the deadly three-point shooting of junior forward Milan Momcilovic and the all-around play of senior forward Joshua Jefferson, the Cyclones rolled to their third consecutive season of 25 or more wins before losing to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 16.

With the Big 12 Conference schedule littered with ranked teams, Iowa State managed a third-place finish. They did play a rather pedestrian pre-conference schedule and won all 13 games, with only St. John’s providing any competition before losing by a point. The Cyclones did have an impressive 23-point win over Purdue, who was ranked number 1 in the nation at the time. They also managed a few conference wins against ranked teams Kansas, Houston, and Texas Tech, though they had one bad loss to Cincinnati and two losses to Arizona. No disgrace there.

6. Houston Cougars

Conference: Big 12

Freshman guard Kingston Flemings impressed basketball aficionados all over the country by seamlessly fitting into coach Kelvin Sampson’s physically demanding style of play, and impacting both ends of the court while doing it. Flemings led the Cougars in points, assists, and steals and was third in rebounding while leading Houston to its fifth consecutive 30-plus win season.

In a testament to the overall strength of the Big 12 Conference, the Cougars went 14-4 in conference play, losing more than three conference games for the first time since the 2019-20 season. They beat ranked teams Auburn (at the time) and Arkansas while losing to Tennessee in pre-conference play, while three of their four conference losses came consecutively to Iowa State, Arizona, and Kansas. Still, they were expected to make a deep tournament run before losing to Illinois in a tough Round of 16 matchup.

5. Illinois Fighting Illini

Conference: Big Ten

Illini coach Brad Underwood and his staff changed up their recruiting tactics, went overseas and came back with some talented, long-limbed basketball players like slasher Andrei Stojakovic and rebounder-deluxe David Mirkovic. There were skeptics, and while there were a few wobbles along the way, the University of Illinois men’s basketball team figured things out when it counted and rolled all the way to the Final Four. We certainly can’t ignore the contributions of their lightly-recruited freshman, Keaton Wagler, who appeared on zero 2026 NBA Draft boards prior to the season but is now considered a potential lottery pick.

Illinois finished the season with a 28-9 record and finished second in the Big Ten with a 15-5 conference record. It seemed like everyone was waiting for the experiment to fail, but with the exception of losing to Wisconsin twice, there were few hiccups. They utilized a balanced scoring attack and strong inside play Their pre-conference schedule which included losses to Alabama and UConn, prepared them for the conference schedule. Don’t expect Illinois to be the last team to look overseas when building their roster.

4. UConn Huskies

Conference: Big East

The University of Connecticut continued adding to its rich basketball history by advancing to another national championship final game before losing to a powerhouse Michigan squad. While this was not UConn’s strongest squad, certainly not at the level of their two recent title teams, it was still one that embodied the personality of its head coach, Dan Hurley, and still managed to win 34 games with a second-place Big East Conference finish. And center Tarris Reed was incredible during the NCAA Tournament.

The Huskies rode the success of an hellacious pre-conference schedule to a high ranking they never relinquished. Wins over BYU, Kansas, Florida, and Illinois, plus a close loss to then 4th-ranked Arizona helped build a resume a relatively weak conference schedule couldn’t blemish. They did suffer a couple of head-scratching conference losses to Marquette and Creighton (both surprisingly down this season), but their Elite Eight comeback win against Duke made everyone forget those blemishes.

3. Duke Blue Devils

Conference: Atlantic Coast Conference

The Duke Blue Devils, led by five-star recruit and eventual 2025-26 National Player of the Year, Cameron Boozer, had to feel pretty good about their chances of advancing to the Final Four headed to the locker room at halftime of their regional final game against UConn with a 19-point lead. And we all saw what transpired in the second half.

While the one-and-done Boozer will never get the chance for redemption at the collegiate level, he’s headed for NBA stardom despite the skeptics. And he was the focal point of a very strong Duke squad in 2025-26. The Blue Devils finished the season with a 35-3 record, including 17-1 in the ACC, with their loss being a three-point decision against North Carolina. That was their largest margin of defeat all season. Their three losses were by a combined five points. They finished 12-2 against ranked opponents. They beat Kansas, Florida, Michigan State, and Arkansas in pre-conference play.

Their late-game collapse against UConn notwithstanding, this was a strong outfit.

2. Arizona Wildcats

Conference: Big 12

Tough call, but Arizona gets the slight nod at #2 over Duke because of the rigors of the Big 12 Conference. Arizona finished the 2025-26 season with a record of 36-3, including a 16-2 mark in THAT conference. In this era of college basketball, it has become rare when a team of this caliber is led by two freshmen, in this case, guard Brayden Burries and forward Koa Peat who were the team’s leading scorers and held up well during conference play.

The Wildcats won all 13 games in their pre-conference schedule, including five wins against ranked teams Florida, UCLA, Auburn, Alabama, and UConn. Their conference schedule did not let up, and they closed the season with nine ranked conference opponents in their last 14 games. They won seven of those nine games, losing only at Kansas and an overtime home loss to Texas Tech. Another strong season for The University of Arizona, reaching the Final Four (where they’d lose to the eventual champion, Michigan) after two consecutive Elite 8 appearances.

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1. Michigan Wolverines

Conference: Big 10

After five early-season contests against inferior competition, the 2025-26 Michigan Wolverines were faced with two tough opponents in a row on their schedule: the then 21st-ranked Auburn Tigers and the 12th ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs. Michigan let everyone know they came to play, beating Auburn by 30 points, then beating Gonzaga by 40 points the very next night and cracked the century mark in both games while doing it in two devastating displays of strength. A week later, they demolished an eventual 28-win McNeese State (a 2025 NCAA Tournament participant who upset Clemson in the first round) by 41 points and scored 112 points in the process.

Michigan never really looked backed, even when they reached the conference portion of their schedule. They would lose only one game to Wisconsin (those guys again?) before the Big Ten Conference final and a non-conference loss to Duke, They finished the season 31-3 and never looked like losing in the NCAA Tournament. Led by do-everything senior Yaxel Lendeborg and the 7’2″ Aday Mara, among others, the Wolverines left little doubt as to who the best team in the country was.

How would you rank these college basketball teams after March Madness 2026?