Summer workouts are over, rosters are nearly set and the battles for playing time will ramp up in earnest in short order with the college basketball season a mere 69 days away.
My CBS Sports colleague Gary Parrish, aka the King of the Top 25 and 1, has his 2025-26 rankings firmly in order. Reminder, these are his ratings, not mine! He may have a team ranked No. 1 that I do not have as the top dawg in its own league (I’m buying UConn as a massive bounce-back candidate), but we appreciate differing schools of thought to keep things spicy ahead of tipoff.
Let’s dive into the projected starting lineups and the biggest preseason personnel battles on tap for all 26 teams.
Projected starting lineup
Top reserves: G Joson Sanon, G Dylan Darling, F Ruben Prey, G Kelvin Odih
Biggest preseason battle: Four starting spots seem set in stone (Jackson, Hopkins, Mitchell and Ejiofor), but Sellers and Sanon are going to duke it out for that fifth and final slot. Both proven shot-makers will play plenty, but it’s the little things like defense, motor and decision-making that will decide who’s on the floor in crunch time.
Projected starting lineup
Top reserves: G Kingston Flemings, F Kalifa Sakho, G Mercy Miller, G Ramon Walker, G Chase McCarty
Biggest preseason battle: If everyone is healthy, Houston’s starting lineup seems pretty self-explanatory. It’ll be the three returners…
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