Dribble Handoff: Who will be the best player in college basketball for the 2026-27 season?
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- Jeremy Fears Jr. led the nation in assists at 9.4 per game and averaged 15.3 points for Michigan State, making him the highest-rated returning player at KenPom and just the third high-major player in the past 30-plus years to lead the country in assists and return the following season.
- Juke Harris averaged 21.4 points at Wake Forest last season and transferred to Tennessee, a program that has recently produced breakout transfers in Dalton Knecht, Chaz Lanier, and Ja'Kobi Gillespie.
- Thomas Haugh was projected as a sure-fire first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft but returned to Florida, where he is described as a "Swiss Army Knife" capable of doing "a little bit of everything" and who would likely earn the most first-place votes in a preseason NPOTY ballot today.
- Tyler Tanner is just 6 feet tall but threw down 17 dunks last season at Vanderbilt, joining Louisville's Russ Smith and Auburn's Kenny Gabriel as the only high-major players 6-foot or shorter with 17+ dunks in a single season since 2008, per Bart Torvik.
- Caleb Holt, a top-five prospect in the 2026 class, is pegged as the 31st lottery pick of John Calipari's Hall of Fame career and is expected to be the best player on an Arkansas team ranked No. 10 in the latest CBS Sports Top 25 And 1.
- Only three of the 15 CBS Sports All-Americans from 2025-26 are returning to college basketball, and four of the five NPOY candidates — everyone except Fears — will play in the SEC, reflecting the conference's depth rather than any single dominant program.
- The 2026 recruiting class lacks the star power of the 2025 class, which produced the first eight picks of the 2026 NBA Draft, leaving the door open for a new wave of premier stars to emerge.
Why it matters: With 12 of 15 All-Americans gone and the 2026 high school class lacking a top-tier headliner — unlike the 2025 class that produced the first eight 2026 NBA Draft picks — the national player of the year race is unusually wide open, and four of five contenders will suit up in the SEC, meaning the conference's collective depth will likely crown the winner rather than one dominant program.
