CBS Sports released its Top 100 And 1 player rankings and the 2024-25 season is expected to be defined by outstanding guard play. Alabama’s Mark Sears and North Carolina’s RJ Davis are the top two players on our preseason list.
Centers and bigs dominated the top of our rankings last season — headlined most notably by two-time national player of the year Zach Edey, who is off to the NBA after a stellar career at Purdue. Even with Edey gone, there are still star centers returning to school. Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson and Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner were voted on the CBS Sports All-American team last season and checked in at No. 4 and 5 on our preseason rankings.
We broke our rankings into seven positions: point guard, lead guard shooting guard, small forward, wing, power forward and center. Power conference players dominated the top of the list.
Ranking top players by position
Point guards
Smith checks in as our top-ranked true point guard. Smith was voted the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year and will shoulder more of a scoring responsibility after Edey left. Another notable selection on this list is Harper – the No. 3 overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting cycle by 247Sports. Harper has been compared to former Oklahoma State star Cade Cunningham – the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Lipsey, Roach and Harris are all veteran starters for their respective teams.
Lead guards
The top two ranked players on our Top 100 And 1 list are lead guards. That would be Sears and Davis – two of the top contenders to win national player of the year. All five players are seasoned veterans who have played at least three seasons at this level. Sallis is coming off a breakout season after spending the first two years of his career at Gonzaga.
Shooting guards
All five shooting guards listed are top 25 players on our preseason list. Love earned All-American honors in his first season at Arizona after…
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