| Rank | Team | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Duke | 1A. Good win over KU at MSG. Arkansas on Thanksgiving should be fun. |
| 2 | Arizona | 1B. 2 of the best wins of anyone in the country rn, wish they were in one of the MTEs |
| 3 | Purdue | Completely flipped my perception of them by blowing Texas Tech out. |
| 4 | Louisville | Gritty win over Cincy, Brown and Conwell are 2 of the best guards in the country |
| 5 | Gonzaga | They've destroyed everyone so far. Potential future #1 if they win the Players Era? |
| 6 | UConn | Close home loss over a good Arizona team isn't something to be too worried about. |
| 7 | Houston | Something feels sort of off about this team, we'll know a lot more about them after the Players Era |
| 8 | Alabama | ELITE offense as usual, can't wait to watch them in the Players Era |
| 9 | BYU | Blew Wisconsin out handily on Friday. |
| 10 | Michigan | Another team headed to Vegas looking to make a splash. |
| 11 | Illinois | Still a believer in Illinois even after losing to Bama at home. |
| 12 | Iowa State | Players Era is just absolutely stacked, gonna be must watch TV early in Feast Week. |
| 13 | Michigan State | Convincing blowout over UK in MSG, not sure if it's more of an indictment on how good Sparty is or how bad UK is. |
| 14 | North Carolina | UNC seems kinda hard to evaluate but I do think they're pretty good. |
| 15 | Florida | Florida visually seems off from last year but hard to live up to a championship team. Good chance to make a splash in San Diego. |
| 16 | Tennessee | Yet another team headed to Vegas for feast week. |
| 17 | Vanderbilt | One of the most efficient offenses in the country, looking to possibly run the table in Atlantis |
| 18 | St. John's | Another Players Era team. God I wish UK was in this. |
| 19 | Kentucky | Speaking of UK, they got embarrassed in MSG. I think this team can still be good, I just need to see Pope and co. get a signature win. |
| 20 | Indiana | Couple of cupcake teams played them a bit closer than expected. |
| 21 | NC State | Good home win over a probably underrated VCU team. |
| 22 | Auburn | Auburn keeps looking better with every game imo, headed to Vegas for Feast Week. |
| 23 | Georgetown | Still a believer in Georgetown. Metrics hate them but they've passed the eye test to me for the most part. Malik Mack is a star. |
| 24 | Arkansas | Was super lucky to beat Winthrop of all teams after Nick Pringle lost his cool. Got Duke on Thanksgiving. |
| 25 | Iowa | Iowa continues to impress early. Got a good chance to prove themselves in Cali during Feast Week. |
HM: Clemson, Oklahoma State, George Washington, Georgia, Nebraska, Wake Forest, VCU