With commitments and transfer portal decisions nearly at a wrap, Ryan Andrade takes an early look at the top-25 projected college basketball teams, highlighting all the important personnel and roster changes.
First, here are the teams that just missed the cut…
Now, on to the top-25…
25. Texas Tech
The first year of the Grant McCasland era at Texas Tech was pretty solid, all things considered, as the team made the NCAA Tournament as a six seed. While the Red Raiders will have to replace their starting backcourt of Pop Isaacs (15.8 PPG) and Joe Toussaint (12.2 PPG), they certainly have enough pieces to make it work. Adding Elijah Hawkins was huge, as he ranked third nationally last year in assists per game. He will ensure the offense runs smoothly and will be joined by a strong cast of returning wings in Chance McMillian, Darrion Williams, Devan Cambridge and Kerwin Walton. Adding to that will be two key bigs in JT Toppin and Fede Federiko, who will give the frontcourt some stability after losing Warren Washington (9.7 PPG) and Robert Jennings (4.4 PPG). Toppin in particular is exciting given he is coming off a tremendous season at New Mexico in which he earned co-Freshman of the Year honors in the Mountain West. This team has the playmaking, shooting and rebounding to give even a lot of the top teams in the Big 12 issues.
Projected Starting Lineup:
PG: Elijah Hawkins (9.5 PPG, 7.5 APG at Minnesota)
SG: Chance McMillian (10.8 PPG)
SF: Darrion Williams (11.4 PPG, 7.5 RPG)
PF: JT Toppin (12.4 PPG, 9.1 RPG at New Mexico)
C: Fede Federiko (4.7 PPG, 5.1 RPG at Pittsburgh)
Key Reserves: Devan Cambridge (10.5 PPG), Kerwin Walton (8.5 PPG), Kevin Overton (11.3 PPG at Drake), Eemeli Yalaho (2.5 PPG), Christian Anderson (4-star Freshman), Leon Horner (3-star Freshman)
24. Purdue 
Purdue has likely hardest job of any team in the country coming into this season trying to replace two-time Naismith College Player of the Year Zach Edey. The 7-4 big man’s time in West Lafayette was incredible, with everything running through him. The good news is that there are a lot of other pieces returning who helped the Boilermakers reach the National Championship game. It starts with Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer, who both took tremendous leaps as sophomores after getting overwhelmed at times during their freshman campaigns. Smith is one of the top returning playmakers in the country, although it will be interesting how his numbers look without Edey sucking so many defenders towards him. Myles Colvin and Camden Heide will both be back as well after solid freshman seasons and look to take that big leap that both Smith and Loyer did as sophomores. Trey Kaufman-Renn is likely to get the first shot to start at center, although coach Matt Painter will certainly have to rethink his offensive attack with Kaufman-Renn standing at only 6-9. The team’s highest ranked recruit is Daniel Jacobsen, who stands at 7-3 and will give Purdue that size on the interior again off the bench.
Projected Starting Lineup:
PG: Braden Smith (12.0 PPG, 7.5 APG, 5.8 RPG)
SG: Fletcher Loyer (10.3 PPG)
SF: Myles Colvin (3.3 PPG)
PF: Camden Heide (3.3 PPG)
C: Trey Kaufman-Renn (6.4 PPG)
Key Reserves: Caleb Furst (2.2 PPG), Daniel Jacobsen (4-star Freshman), Gicarri Harris (No. 88 ESPN 100), Brian Waddell (1.1 PPG), Raleigh Burgess (3-star Freshman), CJ Cox (3-star Freshman), Jack Benter (3-star Freshman)
23. Mississippi 
The Chris Beard era at Ole Miss is well underway, and he has a roster this season that has a good chance to take him back to the NCAA Tournament. Last season, the Rebels featured two of the premier shot blockers in the country in Moussa Cisse and Jamarion Sharp, but that really didn’t seem to work that well. After both players left, the Rebels bring in Malik Dia as their likely starting center from Belmont. Pairing him alongside Jaemyn Brakefield will give Mississippi a lot of spacing on the offensive end with both players able to step out and hit outside shots. The leading scorer from last season in Matthew Murrell will return for his fifth season with the Rebels and will get some strong running mates in Sean Pedulla from Virginia Tech and Dre Davis from Seton Hall. Both Pedulla and Davis are good scorers in their own right and will be able to give coach Beard a lot of options on the offensive end. Jaylen Murray could start, but I see him as a sixth man spark plug off the bench after shining in his first season with Ole Miss. Add in transfers Mikeal Brown-Jones, Davon Barnes and Ja’Von Benson, along with a shot blocking freshman in John Bol, and this is instantly one of the deepest teams in the SEC.
Projected Starting Lineup:
PG: Sean Pedulla (16.4 PPG, 4.6 APG at Virginia Tech)
SG: Matthew Murrell (16.2 PPG)
SF: Dre Davis (15.0 PPG, 5.9 RPG at Seton Hall)
PF: Jaemyn Brakefield (12.9 PPG)
C: Malik Dia (16.9 PPG, 5.8 RPG at Belmont)
Key Reserves: Jaylen Murray (13.8 PPG, 4.0 APG), Mikeal Brown-Jones (19.0 PPG, 7.5 RPG at UNC-Greensboro), Davon Barnes (13.5 PPG at Sam Houston), T.J. Caldwell (5.5 PPG), John Bol (No. 54 ESPN 100), Ja’Von Benson (7.1 PPG, 5.3 RPG at Hampton), Eduardo Klafke (3-star Freshman)
22. Florida 
Todd Golden’s second season at Florida saw the Gators return to the NCAA Tournament as a seven seed behind a very strong offensive attack. While they will have to replace Zyon Pullin (15.5 PPG) in the backcourt and Tyrese Samuel (13.9 PPG) in the frontcourt, both Walter Clayton and Will Richard are back in the fold, along with Alex Condon, who the team is really excited about following a solid freshman season. This team would have been even higher on the list had it not been for Micah Handlogten (5.3 PPG, 6.9 RPG) suffering a scary fractured leg in the SEC Tournament that resulted in him taking a redshirt for the 2024-25 campaign. The good news is that Rueben Chinyelu comes over from Washington State to add some size and shot-blocking along with Condon in the frontcourt (don’t forget about the ultimate wild card, 7-7 freshman center Olivier Rioux). They also picked up Sam Alexis from Chattanooga who was a nightly double-double threat and averaged 2.1 BPG. Alijah Martin coming over from FAU should offset some of the scoring and shooting losses in the backcourt left by Pullin and Riley Kugel departing. Clayton has to be a dark horse candidate fro SEC Player of the Year.
Projected Starting Lineup:
PG: Walter Clayton (17.6 PPG)
SG: Alijah Martin (13.1 PPG, 5.9 RPG at FAU)
SF: Will Richard (11.4 PPG)
PF: Alex Condon (7.7 PPG, 6.4 RPG)
C: Rueben Chinyelu (4.7 PPG, 5.0 RPG at Washington State)
Key Reserves: Thomas Haugh (3.9 PPG), Denzel Aberdeen (3.3 PPG), Sam Alexis (10.8 PPG, 9.1 RPG at Chattanooga), Isaiah Brown (3-star Freshman), Olivier Rioux (3-star Freshman)
21. UCLA 
The biggest question here is how coach Mick Cronin going to get all these pieces to fit together. He brought in six transfers and two freshman recruits to join starters last year Dylan Andrews, Sebastian Mack and Lazar Stefanovic. With Tyler Bilodeau, Kobe Johnson and Skyy Clark into the fold, one of those guys will likely be the odd man out of the starting lineup. Then you have to factor in transfers William Kyle, Eric Dailey and Dominick Harris, who are all capable of playing minutes as well on this team. Four-star recruit Trent Perry is the future starting point guard of the Bruins, but where does he slot in with the other young talented guards of Andrews, Clark and Mack? Adem Bona (12.4 PPG, 5.9 RPG) was the biggest loss from last season, but Bilodeau, Kyle and Dailey should be able to make up most of that production from the center spot. Last year was certainly a rebuilding year for coach Cronin, reflected by a 16-17 record, but he’s taken less talented teams than this deep in the tournament before. The Big Ten feels pretty open this season, and I get the feeling Cronin will be able to find lineups that work and get his players to accept their roles.
Projected Starting Lineup:
PG: Dylan Andrews (12.9 PPG, 3.7 APG)
SG: Skyy Clark (13.2 PPG, 3.0 APG at Louisville)
SF: Kobe Johnson (10.9 PPG, 3.3 APG, 2.2 SPG at USC)
PF: Lazar Stefanovic (11.5 PPG, 6.1 RPG)
C: Tyler Bilodeau (14.3 PPG, 5.7 RPG at Oregon State)
Key Reserves: Sebastian Mack (12.1 PPG), William Kyle (13.1 PPG, 6.6 RPG at South Dakota State), Eric Dailey (9.3 PPG, 4.8 RPG at Oklahoma State), Trent Perry (No. 27 ESPN 100), Dominick Harris (14.3 PPG at LMU), Eric Freeny (No. 97 ESPN 100), Brandon Williams (3.1 PPG)
We’ll continue with our top-25 countdown on Monday, July 29.
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