The primary season of the brand new Huge 12 went in addition to the convention might have hoped, till the final 30 seconds of the ultimate recreation.
Houston’s bungled closing possession within the NCAA championship recreation Monday evening left the Cougars two factors quick and prevented the Huge 12 from claiming its third nationwide title in 5 years.
In any other case, the convention carried out effectively from early November, with 5 groups within the high 10 of the AP preseason ballot, by way of the top of March, with two groups within the Elite Eight.
Is it cheap to anticipate comparable success subsequent season?
Based mostly on present rosters, the Huge 12 has a minimum of three groups with the personnel wanted for deep runs within the NCAA Match and two extra that doubtless will purchase the mandatory items.
Think about this our preliminary Huge 12 energy rankings of the 2025-26 season.
(We’ll replace them as soon as rosters achieve their closing type.)
1. Houston
The anguish from shedding the championship recreation will linger — till the primary recreation of the 2025-26 season. After which the Cougars will overwhelm opponents as they do each week of each season. Kelvin Sampson’s roster might characteristic three key returnees in Milos Uzan, Joseph Tugler and Emanuel Sharp. It is going to additionally characteristic the most effective recruiting courses within the nation, with elite prospects at three totally different positions and gifted level guard Pop Isaacs from Creighton.
2. Iowa State
For the second, we’ll assume Tamin Lipsey, Joshua Jefferson and Milan Momcilovic return (together with their 35.1 mixed factors per recreation). We anticipate Blake Buchanan (from Virginia) to bolster the rotation, however Cyclones want their first-rate freshman class to contribute so as to make the bounce from Last 4 wanna-be to grand stage participant. To this point, Dishon Jackson is the one switch portal departure of significance.
3. Brigham Younger
Certainly one of a number of points was resolved Tuesday, when star level guard Egor Demin declared for the NBA Draft, the place he’s anticipated to change into a first-round choice. Will ahead Richie Saunders comply with Demin out the door? If Saunders returns, the Cougars ought to maintain their floor on the highest tier of the Huge 12 — and as the most effective offensive groups within the nation — and benefit from what must be mega-recruit AJ Dybansta’s solely season in faculty. And so they might need a alternative for Demin already lined up in Baylor switch Rob Wright.
4. Texas Tech
The Pink Raiders produced one of many Huge 12’s best upside surprises in 2024-25. (Picked seventh within the preseason media ballot, they completed alone in second.) That gained’t occur once more — solely the silly will overlook Grant McCasland and Co. subsequent season. Darrion Williams has declared for the NBA Draft and entered the switch portal, however that doesn’t rule out a return to Lubbock. If he joins forces with JT Toppin and sophomore Christian Anderson, Texas Tech can have one of the best trio within the convention and the muse for a Last 4 run.
5. Arizona
The switch portal taketh however, up to now, has not giveth to the Wildcats. We anticipate the scales to rebalance in coming weeks as coach Tommy Lloyd works his portal magic with a deal with rebuilding the perimeter following the departures of Caleb Love (eligibility expired) and KJ Lewis (switch to Georgetown). Equally vital: Whether or not gifted freshman Carter Bryant declares for, and stays in, the NBA Draft. As a result of the Wildcats have already misplaced Henri Veesaar to North Carolina, Bryant’s departure would carry an additional wallop.
6. Kansas
The Hotline has adopted a believe-it-when-we-see-it strategy to the Jayhawks after their deeply disappointing season fueled by a suboptimal mixture of gamers. There’s a stable basis with massive man Flory Bidunga, who withdrew from the portal, switch guard Tre White (from Illinois) and incoming freshman Darryn Peterson, the nation’s top-ranked recruit. However Invoice Self has a lot work remaining to assemble a roster able to successful the Huge 12 after ending eight video games off the tempo within the 2025 race.
7. TCU
A forgettable season in Fort Price has quickly given method to an encouraging spring, with the Horned Frogs grabbing two impression guards from the portal: Jayden Pierre (Windfall) and Brock Harding (Iowa). They do, nevertheless, need assistance up entrance after shedding middle Ernest Udeh Jr. to Miami. Jamie Dixon isn’t on the recent seat coming into his tenth season. But when TCU endures one other 12 months with out an NCAA Match bid, he may be.
8. Baylor
The Bears have been one of many convention’s largest disappointments in 2024-25 and have been hit exhausting by offseason attrition, with level guard Rob Wright the newest to enter the portal. The trajectory does give us pause. Has coach Scott Drew topped out in Waco? Since successful the nationwide title in 2021, the Bears haven’t escaped the second spherical of the NCAAs. As we see continuously throughout the nation, entrenched coaches can battle to regain momentum after main a faculty to unprecedented success.
9. Kansas State
It was troublesome sufficient to know which model of KSU would present up on a weekly foundation final season. Projecting how the Wildcats will carry out seven months from now could be pure folly. But right here we’re, slotting them for a middle-tier end primarily based on the state of the competitors, the arrival of Abdi Bashir Jr., a productive guard from Monmouth and, above all, coach Jerome Tang’s survival instincts.
10. Arizona State
The offseason started in addition to the Solar Devils might have hoped with four-star transfers Maurice Odom and Marcus Adams Jr. becoming a member of Bobby Hurley’s program. However they misplaced Joson Sanon to St. John’s and Jayden Quaintance to Kentucky, and we’re skeptical the newcomers will generate sufficient manufacturing to raise ASU onto the highest tier within the rugged convention. And if progress isn’t substantial, the ’26 season seemingly will likely be Hurley’s finale in Tempe.
11. Oklahoma State
It may not final the spring, however the Cowboys at the moment have the No. 1 switch class within the Huge 12 with LSU’s Vyctorious Miller because the headliner. And so they want it, as a result of main scorer Bryce Thompson and different key contributors are out of eligibility. Coach Steve Lutz did effectively to win seven convention video games in his first season. We don’t envision a serious bounce from that stage, however incremental progress is progress nonetheless.
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12. Cincinnati
Powerful to see a path to relevance for the Bearcats, who’ve misplaced promising freshman Tyler Betsey (switch portal) and veterans Dillon Mitchell (switch portal) and Simas Lukosius (eligibility expired). That doesn’t bode effectively for Wes Miller, who has but to achieve the NCAA Match in 4 years with Cincinnati and figures to have one of many hottest seats within the nation subsequent season.
13. West Virginia
Essentially the most notable newcomer in Morgantown is the pinnacle coach. Ross Hodge takes over after two seasons at North Texas and is the Mountaineers’ fourth coach prior to now 4 seasons. He follows Bob Huggins, interim Josh Eilert after which Darian DeVries, who bolted for Indiana after one 12 months. Teaching turnover is one factor; tumult is one other. And the latter makes success terribly troublesome.
14. UCF
How Johnny Dawkins stays on the job in Orlando, we can not fathom. The Knights have reached the NCAA Match as soon as in his 9 years — and that was method again in 2019. They did win 20 video games this season and play for the championship of the inaugural School Basketball Crown event. However there are not any indicators of progress the place it issues: throughout the Huge 12. One other season of plodding alongside appears inevitable.
15. Utah
New coach Alex Jensen has been handed the keys to his alma mater and hopes to revive the Utes to the extent they occupied — or near it — when he performed for Rick Majerus within the late Nineties. Jensen doesn’t inherit a lot expertise from the Craig Smith period, which implies the street to restoration is prone to be lengthy and treacherous in an unforgiving convention. BYU’s emergence as a contender beneath Kevin Younger ramps up the urgency for Jensen to win before later.
16. Colorado
The Buffaloes weren’t outfitted to thrive within the Huge 12 in any method, form or type. That gained’t change in 12 months 2 until coach Tad Boyle finds neglected expertise within the switch portal and his freshman class, which options two blue-chip prospects, gives speedy and constant manufacturing. Happily for Boyle, all the eye in Boulder is locked on Deion Sanders.
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