With college basketball tipping off this week, Jay Bilas released his initial ranking of the Top-68 teams in the country on Thursday.
‘The Bilas Index’ included several of the same that are atop the AP Preseason Top-25, Coaches Poll, and rankings at KenPom. Still, with the year starting just a few days ago, the whole season is left to go for these teams to make it into the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Within the Top-25, Bilas had the Southeastern Conference having the most teams in total with nine. However, the Big 12, which had the second-most with six, had five of those six making up half of the Top-10. The Big Ten then had four, the Big East had three, and the ACC had a pair along with one out of the West Coast Conference.
Here’s how Bilas rated the top teams in college basketball to start of the season in November:
Connecticut is the No. 1 team for Bilas and obviously so in his opinion. As he put it in the article, ‘if you are making a projection or pick, how could any reasonable person choose a preseason favorite other than UConn?’.
Dan Hurley and the Huskies have won each of the last two national titles while posting an overall record of 68-11 (.861). Contending for another, let alone achieving a three-peat, would further set them atop the sport with him seeing it as them reaching for ‘undeniable dynasty territory’.
Alabama, ‘arguably the most entertaining team in America to watch’ per Bilas, was No. 2 for him in the Top-25. That comes after the Crimson Tide too were in the Final Four, their first in school history, in March Madness.
Now, Nate Oats brings several pieces back from that roster while also adding in four top transfers and a top-three recruiting class of freshmen. That has ‘Bama in a close second to UConn with the back-to-back titles being the only separator for him between the two.
Bilas didn’t question the talent or pedigree of the program at Kansas. However, after how last season went, he thinks the Jayhawks did better address the depth of their overall roster.
Much like Alabama, KU brought back multiple key starters while adding a top-rated portal class along with a pair of four-star freshmen. That should be more than enough for Bill Self to have them back in contention in both of the Big 12 and for the NCAA Tournament.
If nothing else, Bilas has respect of Houston for ‘(leading) the nation in playing hard’. That’s a big reason why they are 265-79 (.770) and have made at least the regional, if not further, in each of the last five postseasons under Kelvin Sampson.
The Cougars may not have as much star power as all the other top teams nationally. Still, the way that they play is a ‘force multiplier’ that consistently has them as one of the best teams in the country, including here at No. 4.
Duke, who Bilas says is ‘the most talented team in the country and arguably the deepest in pure talent’, is at No. 5. Much of that comes from the No. 1 recruiting class coming to Durham with several projected lottery picks for the 2025 NBA Draft, including the top prospect in the sport in Cooper Flagg.
Even so, Jon Scheyer, who is now at 55-18 (.753) to start his third season as head coach of the Blue Devils, also has experience to add to them with some transfers along with two returning guards. As he said, ‘expectations are high, but this crew can meet them’ at Duke.
Iowa State is coming off of one of their best seasons in school history at 29-8 during their third season under T.J. Otzelberger. That earned them a No. 2 seed in March Madness where they made it to the Sweet 16.
A lot of that team now returns for this season in Ames. With that, the Cyclones are ‘prepared’ and ‘ready’ to improve again with him expecting them to make a run in a fourth consecutive tournament berth.
This may not look correct based on the result from earlier this week between the next two teams on the list for Bilas. Still, since it was released just yesterday, Bilas was still giving credit where he felt it was due to Baylor at No. 6.
Bilas likes how the Bears’ roster has come together again for this season with the mix of experience and young talent. Add in the consistency of Scott Drew, who, in building ‘a model program’ in Waco, has averaged 24.1 wins over the last 17 season, and he trusts them to continue with that this year.
Again, this may appear wrong after Gonzaga beat the Bears by 38 to open each of their seasons on Monday. Still, the context of how and when Bilas released the ranking is important despite that result.
The ‘Zags, though, another one of those very consistent programs in college ‘hoops’, are back again under Mark Few with multiple pieces returning to this team while also only adding to that from the portal. That projects the Bulldogs to once again be back for a 26th consecutive berths in March Madness and what could be another deep run based on what they’ve done over the last two decades.
Arizona, which comes in at No. 9, is one of the first teams in this rating that may have lost more than they may have necessarily added from last season to this one.
With that said, the Wildcats retained multiple key guards in their backcourt while brining in new additions to the frontcourt. That gives a team to Tommy Lloyd, who is now at 89-20 (.817) through the start of his fourth year in Tucson, that Bilas expects to ‘be formidable by the end of the season’.
North Carolina closes out the Top-10 for Bilas with a different roster than in seasons past.
Like Arizona, the Tar Heels will be fine up top in the backcourt while needing to replace plenty down low in the frontcourt. Still, as he said as far as UNC, ‘different isn’t a bad thing’ with how they could now play this year in Chapel Hill.
11. Arkansas Razorbacks
12. Auburn Tigers
13. Creighton Bluejays
14. Texas A&M Aggies
15. Kentucky Wildcats
16. Indiana Hoosiers
17. Tennessee Voluteers
18. Marquette Golden Eagles
19. Ole Miss Rebels
20. Cincinnati Bearcats
21. Purdue Boilermakers
22. Texas Longhorns
23. Florida Gators
24. UCLA Bruins
25. Rutgers Scarlet Knights
There’s plenty of excitement across college basketball with the quality of teams in each conference across the country. Five months now come between now and March for all of these teams to be in contention for and in the bracket of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
