College basketball rankings: Top 100 And 1 players entering the 2026-27 season — SkimNews
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- Jeremy Fears Jr. was named CBS Sports Preseason Player of the Year at No. 1 after averaging 15.2 points and 9.4 assists for a 27-8 Michigan State team that reached the Sweet 16, edging Braden Smith by 0.6 assists per game for the national lead.
- Thomas Haugh came in at No. 2, with Florida placing three players in the top 20 and opening the season as the preseason No. 1 team after Haugh turned down a likely top-20 NBA Draft slot to return as college basketball's most well-compensated player.
- Vanderbilt's Tyler Tanner earned the No. 3 spot after a breakout sophomore year of 19.5 points, 5.1 assists and 2.4 steals, choosing to stay in school rather than enter the draft.
- Illinois' David Mirković checked in at No. 4 and Kansas freshman Tyran Stokes at No. 5, with Stokes tabbed as the likely No. 1 pick in the 2027 NBA Draft after Kansas' late-cycle additions of Melvin Council Jr., Tre White and Trey Kaufman-Renn.
- Ten players in the rankings are suing the NCAA for a fifth year of eligibility under the new age-based model — none are grandfathered in — with Miami's Malik Reneau the highest-ranked among them and panel members explicitly factoring legal limbo into their votes.
- Former Purdue star Trey Kaufman-Renn was left off the Top 100 entirely despite being a borderline All-American, because his sixth-year eligibility case is 'murky at best' and no panelist voted him in.
- The SEC leads all conferences with 30 of the 101 players, ahead of the Big Ten (23), Big 12 (17) and ACC (15), with seniors making up 38 of the 101 selections versus just 10 freshmen.
Why it matters: The ranking is the season's first major preseason benchmark, with three top players bypassing the NBA for NIL paydays and ten more in legal limbo on a fifth-year eligibility suit. Florida, with three top-20 players, opens as consensus No. 1 trying to be the first preseason No. 1 to win a national title in 18 years.
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