The transfer portal is nearly complete, and the 2025–26 outlook for teams has already begun. It’s only May, but the great analytic mind Bart Torvik dropped his first 2026 rankings of the season on his website. These rankings might be premature, but they’re giving fans something to get excited about.
Some big fish in the portal have yet to make their decision, but we can still get a good idea of what rosters will look like going into next season. Bart Torvik is another site that uses adjusted offensive efficiency and adjusted defensive efficiency to predict results.
The top of the rankings features some familiar faces, as Houston is slotted as the preseason No. 1 team. They return just 27.5% of their minutes from last year’s Final Four team, but it’s hard not to trust head coach Kelvin Sampson.
Purdue is ranked No. 3 overall, and they would be my pick as the No. 1 team in the nation as it stands today. The Boilermakers bring back 69.7% of their minutes, including the best guard in the entire country, Braden Smith.
The Duke Blue Devils are just behind at No. 4 following their Final Four run. They’ll lose numerous first-round picks and National Player of the Year Cooper Flagg, but they’ll bring in the Boozer twins (yes, those Boozers—Carlos’ kids), who should pick up where Flagg left off as two of the best freshmen in the sport.
Rosters aren’t fully set, and it’s probably way too early to be talking preseason rankings, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get excited. The current 2025–26 top 10 rankings, courtesy of Bart Torvik, are highlighted below:
- Houston
- BYU
- Purdue
- Duke
- Michigan
- UCLA
- St. John’s
- Illinois
- Arkansas
- UConn
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