Jeff BorzelloDec 18, 2025, 09:00 AM ETCloseJeff Borzello is a basketball recruiting insider. He has joined ESPN in 2014.Follow on X
play1:16Pacific Tigers vs. BYU Cougars: Game HighlightsPacific Tigers vs. BYU Cougars: Game Highlights
play0:23Pryce Sandfort buries bucket against Wisconsin BadgersPryce Sandfort drills bucket vs. Wisconsin Badgers
play0:26Melvin Council Jr. cashes a 3 for Kansas in the clutchMelvin Council Jr. puts Kansas ahead with a huge 3 in the final minute vs. NC State.
play0:28Elyjah Freeman nails the 3 vs. Chattanooga MocsElyjah Freeman hits the trey vs. Chattanooga Mocs
Abilene Christian Wildcats vs. Arizona Wildcats: Game Highlights (1:17)Abilene Christian Wildcats vs. Arizona Wildcats: Game Highlights (1:17)
Pryce Sandfort buries bucket against Wisconsin BadgersPryce Sandfort drills bucket vs. Wisconsin Badgers
Melvin Council Jr. cashes a 3 for Kansas in the clutchMelvin Council Jr. puts Kansas ahead with a huge 3 in the final minute vs. NC State.
play0:18Braden Huff knocks down shotBraden Huff knocks down shot
We’ve always prided ourselves on these Power Rankings being heavily based on résumé, able to justify the order or inclusion by pointing to metrics or quality wins rather than making decisions based on which teams we believe would win on a neutral court tomorrow.
Arizona vs. Michigan at No. 1 is likely to be a constant debate over the next several weeks with Arizona likely comfortably favored in every game until the Wildcats travel to BYU on Jan. 26 and Michigan’s Jan. 30 trip to Michigan State figuring to be the Wolverines’ toughest test in the foreseeable future.
Braden Huff knocks down shotBraden Huff knocks down shot
Pacific Tigers vs. BYU Cougars: Game HighlightsPacific Tigers vs. BYU Cougars: Game Highlights
Pryce Sandfort buries bucket against Wisconsin Badgers
Alabama’s defense is showing some real deficiencies through the first six weeks of the season, allowing seven opponents to score 1.09 points per possession or better. The Tide also gave up 189 combined points in their past two games, 96 in a 21-point loss to Arizona and 93 in a win over South Florida on Wednesday. Two injuries worth monitoring: Amari Allen missed Tuesday’s game with a hip injury, while London Jemison suffered a knee injury in the first half.
It’s not all negative, though. Labaron Philon Jr. has been arguably the best guard in the country this season, with Tuesday’s 29-point, 7-assist performance bringing his season averages to 22.4 points and 5.5 assists. He’s also shooting 43.1% from 3.
Melvin Council Jr. cashes a 3 for Kansas in the clutch
Melvin Council Jr. puts Kansas ahead with a huge 3 in the final minute vs. NC State.
Vanderbilt stayed unbeaten with a road win at Memphis on Wednesday, the Commodores’ hardest-fought victory of the season. The Tigers led by five with nine minutes to go, but Vanderbilt held them to just three field goals the rest of regulation and then pulled away in overtime. It was another terrific performance for Mark Byington’s backcourt of Duke Miles and Tyler Tanner. The two guards combined for 38 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists and an eye-popping 10 steals.
Elyjah Freeman nails the 3 vs. Chattanooga MocsElyjah Freeman hits the trey vs. Chattanooga Mocs
The Wildcats jumped to the top spot after winning at UConn last month, then relinquished their position following Michigan’s romp through Las Vegas in which the Wolverines solidified themselves as the most dominant team in college basketball. And that’s probably still the case, as evidenced by their lofty KenPom ranking, which positions them as the third-best team since the 1996-97 season. But Arizona’s résumé is among the best of all time at this point in a season, with the Wildcats becoming the first team in AP poll history to beat five ranked teams in their first nine games.
Brayden Burries has added a new dimension to the offense since he began his breakout stretch in late November. After averaging 7.8 points in his first five games, Burries is averaging 19.8 points over his past five contests — a stretch that included a 28-point outing against Alabama in which he made five 3-pointers. The Wildcats have scored at least 1.26 points per possession in all five of those games, a mark they failed to reach in four of their first five. They have also made at least six 3s in three straight games after doing it just four times in their first seven.
For a stretch in Saturday’s win over Maryland, Michigan’s invincibility was called into question. The Wolverines trailed by nine points early in the second half, only to put up 54 points in the final 18:48 en route to another blowout win. Their offense was truly remarkable. They shot 60% from the field, 63% from 3 and 86% from the free throw line. They made 12 3-pointers and turned it over just nine times, dishing out 28 assists on their 35 made field goals. And their 1.45 points per possession were the most they’ve scored in a Big Ten game since Jan. 26, 2017, against Indiana. The most impressive part? It wasn’t even their most efficient offensive performance of the season; Michigan’s 1.56 points per possession against Oakland in the season opener tops those charts.
It didn’t take long for Braylon Mullins to stake his claim as one of the wings in Dan Hurley’s starting lineup. The former five-star recruit and projected lottery pick missed the first six games with an ankle injury, and after coming off the bench for four games — a stretch that included going for 17 points in 23 minutes against Kansas — Mullins has been in the starting five for each of the past two contests. He had 10 points against Texas and 12 against Butler, making a pair of 3s in each game.
It shouldn’t have been hard to predict a Braden Huff breakout. He started only four games last season, but three of them were in the postseason. In those three games, he averaged 15.7 points and 5.3 rebounds. A full-time starter this season, Huff has been one of the best big men in the country. He had his most dominant performance yet with 37 points on 16-for-18 shooting and 8 rebounds in Tuesday’s win over Campbell. He went 12 for 12 from the field in the first half, joining Luka Garza in 2020 as the only Division I players in the past eight seasons to make 12 shots in a half without a miss, per ESPN Research. Huff is averaging 25.5 points and 5.3 rebounds over his past four games, shooting 75.9% from the field.
There was some surprise Saturday, when Michigan State announced its starting lineup and Divine Ugochukwu was included for his first start of the campaign — he played only eight minutes in the previous game and entered last weekend averaging just 3.9 points with six made 3s all season. Tom Izzo knew what he was doing, though, as Ugochukwu had 23 points on 5-for-5 shooting from 3 in the Spartans’ win over Penn State. The Miami transfer came back to Earth with two points against Toledo on Tuesday, but Kur Teng (whom Ugochukwu replaced in the starting lineup) responded with 14 points and 4 made 3s.
Kevin Young has BYU and its three stars absolutely humming right now. AJ Dybantsa has scored at least 22 points in four straight games, also dishing out 20 assists over that span. Richie Saunders struggled against Clemson in last week’s Jimmy V Classic but has averaged 21.5 points and shot 5 for 8 from 3-point range in the two games since. And Robert Wright III has now made multiple 3s in seven of his past eight games, totaling 25 assists to eight turnovers over his past four. In Tuesday’s win over Pacific, each of the Cougars’ big three scored at least 22 points, the first time in the past 15 seasons BYU has had three different players hit that mark.
Darius Acuff Jr. and Trevon Brazile are quietly becoming one of the most dynamic inside-outside duos in the country. Acuff has established himself as an elite point guard after going toe-to-toe with Mikel Brown Jr. and Christian Anderson, leading the Razorbacks to wins over Louisville and Texas Tech, respectively. Meanwhile, Brazile is looking more and more like the matchup nightmare he’s shown flashes to be, scoring at least 21 points in three of his past four games while shooting 12 for 18 from 3 in those contests.
How will Seth Trimble’s return — which seems to be just around the corner, potentially as early as Saturday against Ohio State — impact the Tar Heels’ personnel? Hubert Davis has used only two starting lineups this season: Trimble started the first two games before suffering his arm injury, then Luka Bogavac replaced Trimble in the starting five for the past nine games. Does Bogavac automatically return to the bench? The Montenegrin wing has scored in double-figures in all but two games this season, while fellow wing starter Jarin Stevenson has been inconsistent offensively. Davis could opt to go smaller and start Trimble alongside Bogavac. While that would make UNC smaller, the tandem of Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar up front ensures very few teams can overpower the Tar Heels down low.
It wasn’t against the stiffest of competition, but Houston is coming off its best offensive performance since Nov. 29, 2022. The Cougars scored 1.46 points per possession in their 99-57 win over New Orleans on Saturday, making 11 3-pointers for the third consecutive game. After ranking in the bottom 100 nationally in 3-point attempt rate last season, attempting just 34.7% of their field goals from outside the arc, the Cougars are up to 42.4% this season — their highest rate since the 2018-19 season. And they’re getting nearly 36% of their scoring from 3-pointers, their highest percentage since 2020-21.
Nebraska is off to its best start in program history after Saturday’s win at Illinois, the Cornhuskers’ first victory in a ranked vs. ranked matchup since 1991, per ESPN Research. While Pryce Sandfort’s 32-point performance — more specifically, his 15 straight points to start the game and 26 in the first half — drew headlines, it mostly highlighted the fantastic season he’s been having through 11 games. After hitting 20 points just once in his two seasons at Iowa, Sandfort has scored at least 20 in five games. He has also doubled his previous career-high average in assists (1.3 to 2.7).