How the forecasted ranking of top men's college basketball teams for 2025-26 is changing

When we debuted the first edition of our Way-Too-Early Top 25 on the final Monday night of the 2024-25 college basketball season, Texas Tech barely had enough players to fill out a projected starting lineup and BYU didn't have a point guard on its roster, earning each a spot in the back half of the rankings.

Ten days later, both Big 12 teams have an argument as a potential national championship contender.

Texas Tech sees the biggest rise from version 1.0 to 2.0, jumping 19 spots in the rankings to leave only Houston and Purdue ahead of the Red Raiders. JT Toppin's decision to forgo the NBA draft and return to Lubbock was the biggest reason for the leap, as he gives Grant McCasland a legitimate preseason first-team All-American. But Tech also hit the transfer portal to add potential starters LeJuan Watts (Washington State), Donovan Atwell (UNC Greensboro) and Tyeree Bryan (Santa Clara).

Meanwhile, BYU moved up 10 spots after adding Baylor transfer Robert Wright III at the point guard position. Wright was one of the best freshmen in the country this past season, showing incredible dynamism with the ball in his hands. Surrounding him with A.J. Dybantsa and Richie Saunders will cause nightmares for opponents.

That's how quickly things can change at this point in the offseason -- and with less than one week until the transfer portal closes, the roster additions will only increase, so we'll roll out version 3.0 shortly after the April 22 deadline. But for now, here's the latest forecast of the top 25 teams for the 2025-26 season.

1. Houston Cougars

Previous ranking: 1