As the college basketball season reaches just over the halfway point, positioning within the national landscape is beginning to take notice. So far this season, these teams have surprised positively, outperforming original expectations, and setting themselves up for high seeds and NCAA Tournament consideration come March.
Let’s dive in!
Kentucky Wildcats
Even though the Wildcats started the season ranked in the AP Top 25, at #23, not many expected first-year head coach Mark Pope to come out of the gates swinging to this degree. Pope, a National Champion as a player at Kentucky, has returned home and has them at 14-5 on the season and has been ranked as high as #4 in the Top 25. The Wildcats have collected marquee wins over programs such as Duke, Gonzaga, Florida, Mississippi State, and Texas A&M. That’s five wins over ranked opponents, in addition to a solid victory over in-state rival Louisville.
Kentucky fills its roster with transfers, like every college basketball team in this day and age. However, the Wildcats rebuild is a bit unprecedented, with the 2024-2025 season including no returning scholarship players from the previous year. This roster is composed of nine transfers, a few freshmen, and walk-ons. Even with all the new additions, the roster has gelled faster than anyone could’ve anticipated.
Otega Oweh, a transfer from Oklahoma, leads the team in scoring and every game his speed and versatility jump off the page. With a killer first step in driving to the basket and near-elite defensive ability, he has paced the Wildcats through their first 18 games.
This Kentucky basketball team has arguably the most depth across the country. Lamont Butler led a San Diego State team to the Final Four just two years ago, Amari Williams dominates the paint, and Koby Brea, who leads Division I in three-point percentage, is a sharpshooter that can bury a team under on any given night.
As the number two offensive team in the country, these high-powered Cats are rapidly positioning themselves as a top contender in March. If Kentucky gets more consistent on the defensive side, look out.
Utah State Aggies
From one of the top surprising power conference teams to one of the country’s best in the mid-major ranks. This is Jerrod Calhoun’s first season at the helm, and the program’s third different head coach in the last three seasons. That’s because Utah State is year in and year out exceeding expectations, making more prominent schools pay close attention.
This season may have been the Aggie’s most daunting task yet. Utah State lost Mountain West Player of the Year, Great Osobor, who followed Danny Sprinkle to Washington. Aside from Osobor, the entire roster had a mass exodus. However, returning players Ian Martinez and Mason Falslev have carried the Aggies to an impressive 16-2 record.
Martinez is averaging almost 17 points per game, while Falslev is putting up 16 a night with six rebounds, three assists, and two steals. He’s a force with in all aspects of the court. Overall, this is an Aggies offense that not only is scoring over 80 points per game, but they also a prolific three-point shooting team, and leads the conference in overall field goal shooting. They make smart decisions on the floor and they don’t beat themselves.
As far as their resume is concerned, Utah State has wins on the road against Saint Mary’s and San Diego State, as well as neutral-site victories over Iowa and St. Bonaventure. Even with a recent hiccup at UNLV in their last game, the Aggies look the part of their place atop the conference and a team to look out for to break a bracket up come March.
Florida Gators
One can make the case that the Gators are the best team in the nation’s best conference, the SEC. Florida opened the season at #21 in the Top 25, and since that opening night, the Gators racked off 13 wins in a row to enter the new year undefeated.
Walter Clayton Jr, in his second season with Florida, is playing just as well if not better than his first. The pure shooter leads the team in scoring and has gained a slight increase in assists. Even though Will Richard returned to the backcourt, the Gators also landed Alijah Martin from Florida Atlantic. This meant, that the Gators had more hands to feed on offense and Clayton had fully embraced the added role of getting them going.
The Gators are also home to arguably America’s most underrated basketball player Alex Condon. He’s improving in every possible statistic, has become the ultimate glue guy, and has the potential to be a double-double machine. In particular, in Florida’s win over, at the time, #1 and undefeated Tennessee, Condon had a 12-point and 12-rebound performance that further proved he could be a reliable force in the paint against national championship contenders.
The Gators are scary good at basketball. With a top 10 offense, a top 50 defense, and a fanbase that feels this is the closest Florida has been to a national championship since the Billy Donovan era.
Vanderbilt Commodores
Keeping up with the SEC, Vanderbilt, picked dead last in the preseason media poll, is 16-4 overall, 4-3 in conference play, and is coming off a huge home win over #6 ranked in-state rival Tennessee and Kentucky.
First-year basketball head coach Mark Byington has done an unthinkably great job in Nashville. Vanderbilt has dynamic guards in Jason Edwards and AJ Hoggard and a strong force on the inside in Devin McGlockton. The Commodores hold the second most steals per game in the conference. While on offense, it can play both slow and up-and-down, a necessity against higher-powered squads.
Even though Vanderbilt still has work to do to stay on the right side of the bracket it has already positioned itself to make their first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 2016-2017 season. Byington, the rest of the coaching staff, and the roster deserve all the recognition they got at this point.
Oregon Ducks
The Ducks first basketball season in the Big Ten Conference has been a big success, to say the least. Oregon sports a 16-4 record with wins over Alabama, Texas A&M, San Diego State, and Maryland. Those first three wins resulted in becoming champions of the inaugural Players Era Festival. The Ducks also have no bad losses on their resume.
Sophomore guard Jackson Shelstad has been on fire this month, with 17.3 PPG as opposed to his season average of 12.7. Shelstad is a bucket-getter, that’s helpes turn him into the go-to guy for the Duck’s offense.
However, that’s if you don’t count Nate Bittle, who is a one-man wrecking crew in the paint. Bittle is averaging almost 14 points per game, three more than last basketball season, and 7.5 rebounds per contest, three more than last year as well. Shelstad and Bittle create an in-and-out game that at times can be nearly impossible to stop.
Head coach Dana Altman has been around the block in Eugene for now 15 seasons. He has a team that is capable of making noise not just in the Big Ten, but in the NCAA Tournament.
Michigan Wolverines
When Dusty May left Florida Atlantic to take the job in Ann Arbor, everyone expected things to eventually turn around. However, May already has the Wolverines in NCAA Tournament position with a completely new roster. Last season, Michigan won just eight games. They already have 14 wins this year.
May brought FAU center Vladislav Goldin with it and he’s had a tremendous final collegiate season. With just over 16 points a game and six rebounds, the seven-footer has the offense running through him. He even had a 36-point performance in a win at UCLA.
The frontcourt also has Danny Wolf, another seven-footer who averages a double-double. All-around guards Tre Donaldson and Roddy Gayle Jr have been great in the backcourt and the Wolverine’s depth makes them a nightmare to prepare for.
West Virginia Mountaineers
A trend on this list has been first-year head coaches getting the job done. The same can be said for Darian DeVries, who exited Drake to enter Morgantown and the reloaded Big 12 conference.
DeVries came in alongside his son, Tucker DeVries. However, after eight games, the two-time Missouri Valley basketball Player of the Year went down with an injury and hasn’t played since. No word on when DeVries is going to return to the court, if at all.
Even without DeVries, West Virginia has gone into Allen Fieldhouse to beat Kansas and defended home court against one of the country’s top teams in Iowa State. With DeVries, they’ve beaten Arizona and Gonzaga on a neutral site.
In his absence, Javon Small has assumed an even bigger role, and boy has he impressed. Small, a transfer from Oklahoma State, leads the conference in points with nearly 20 a game. Small attacks the glass and gets his teammates involved with 5.2 averages for each. Simply put, he’s one of the best guards in the country. Meanwhile, in the frontcourt, Amani Hansberry has dramatically improved from his freshman season at Illinois, with a little over 10 points per game, an eight-point increase. He’s excelled in this expanded role.
The Big 12 is cluttered with quality teams and West Virginia so far looks the part.
Drake Bulldogs
DeVries old team has not taken its foot off the gas. The Bulldogs are 18-2 on the season and entered conference play with an undefeated 12-0 record. They won the Charleston Classic, which included a championship win over the aforementioned Vanderbilt, and knocked off another power five schools in Kansas State.
New head coach Ben McCollum, his first Division I job after winning four Division II National Championships at Northwest Missouri State, has a talented roster that can give them a claim to being one of the best mid-major programs in the country.
The top three players are joined by McCollum from Northwest Missouri State. All three average over 30 minutes per game and all three have relished in this new era at Drake. Bennett Stirtz is a terrific floor general who leads the conference in points and assists. Daniel Abreu is a lengthy piece on the inside that can step outside and hit threes. Mitch Mascari is a better-than-great complementary piece alongside Stirtz, as he’s fourth in the country in three-point percentage at an exceptional 46.3% clip. He has two games with at least eight three-pointers made.
The Missouri Valley Conference is always a competitive league and Drake is at the head of it. It would not be shocking if the Bulldogs don’t even need an automatic bid to get into the NCAA Tournament come March.
Missouri Tigers
The Tigers ended last basketball season 0-18 in conference play. This year in a tougher SEC, they’re 5-2, 16-4 overall (had eight overall wins last season), and are currently ranked at #22 in the Top 25.
Missouri has beaten Kansas when they were #1, won at #5 Florida, beaten Ole Miss, and have no questionable losses to their name. Mark Mitchell, the Tiger’s biggest transfer from Duke, leads the team in points, rebounds, and minutes per game. His athletic frame makes him difficult to prepare for on the court.
Missouri also has two experienced guards in the backcourt Tamar Bates and Caleb Grill. Both seniors are able to get hot on any given night, from beyond the arc or nailing the mid-range game. Grill, in particular, has been outstanding as of late, putting up 22 points in the win over Florida, which included six made threes. He has a nearly 50% rate on the year from three.
What makes the Tigers dangerous is their unbelievable depth. Missouri has 11 players that play 10 minutes per game. It’s a balanced attack that has Dennis Gates’s club rolling.
Louisville Cardinals
The Cardinal went 12-52 over the past two seasons. Justifiably, they fired Kenny Payne and hired Pat Kelsey, who had a terrific run at Charleston.
Today, Kelsey has Louisville nationally ranked. The Cardinals are playing great basketball and it’s a refreshing style of play in Louisville. After years of becoming a laughing stock and a program drenched with irrelevancy, the once powerhouse is now transitionally into becoming a viable threat in the ACC.
Chuck Hepburn, a transfer from Wisconsin, is having his best season yet. With 15 points, almost six assists, and three rebounds per game, he is driving in with authority in leading the new Cardinal offense. Reyne Smith, who left Charleston to join Kelsey, is also having his best season yet, and Terrence Edwards Jr, in his final year of eligibility, is still a threat each night to blow up, even though he is still trying to find his footing. Edwards led James Madison to an NCAA Tournament win last March.
Louisville is a team to watch out for. They’re 29th in the NET and in the top half of scoring offense across Division I. Kelsey has turned around programs before and he’s doing it in record time at Louisville, as he’ll hope to bring his third different program in as many jobs to the Big Dance.
