One Word for Every AP Top 25 Men's College Basketball Team's Start to the Season
The vast majority of men's college basketball teams have played either two or three games at this point, which is plenty for some early takeaways on how the supposed best of the best have looked thus far.
Insert your preferred "it's still early" or "take it with a grain of salt" tropes here. However, we are already nearly 10 percent through the season, and Selection Sunday will be here before you know it.
Feast Week inevitably will change our opinions on a lot of these AP Top 25 teams, but let's sum them up with one word apiece based on these super-early returns.
25. Kansas Jayhawks: Perimeter-Oriented
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In six of the past seven seasons, Kansas ranked 275th or lower in three-point attempt rate. And in the exception to that rule, it just barely ranked in the top 200.
But with the exception of big man Flory Bidunga, this year's Jayhawks seem pretty committed to letting it fly from downtown, averaging 25.0 three-point attempts per game.
Even with Darryn Peterson not playing Tuesday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 46 percent of Kansas' field-goal attempts were threes.
One other word to describe their early play, though, would be: sloppy. Kansas had 14 turnovers in the loss to North Carolina and 18 more against A&M-CC, neither of which is exactly a ball-hawking defense.
24. Wisconsin Badgers: Defensive
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Let's be sure to clarify Wisconsin isn't defensive in anything close to the way it was in the days of Bo Ryan or Dick Bennett, routinely allowing 55-60 points per game over the course of a season.
Rather, the Badgers have been making "impact plays" on defense like never before under Greg Gard, averaging better than four blocks and nearly 17 turnovers forced per game.
Granted, we're talking about games against Campbell, Northern Illinois and Ball State. Still, the eight blocks in Tuesday's rout of the Cardinals was the most Wisconsin has tallied in a game since March 2021.
That frontcourt tandem of Nolan Winter and Austin Rapp could also continue to cause problems even after the strength of schedule ticks up.
23. Creighton Bluejays: Woof
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In its quest to adjust to life after Ryan Kalkbrenner and Steven Ashworth, Creighton has played two games.
In the first, the Bluejays beat South Dakota by 16, but allowed 21 offensive rebounds and committed 13 turnovers against a Summit League team that has never been anything special in either of those departments in the past. The rebounds, in particular, were staggering, as it tied for the most offensive rebounds the Bluejays have allowed in a game in at least 15 years.
In the second game, they were eviscerated in the second half by Gonzaga en route to a 90-63 blowout. It was Creighton's worst loss since a 75-41 debacle at Villanova in January 2022.
In a stark reminder that Kalkbrenner isn't walking through the door, the Jays allowed 28 two-point buckets (compared to just 11 makes of their own) and didn't block a single shot.
22. Auburn Tigers: Relentless
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Yes, getting taken to overtime by Bethune-Cookman on opening night was a stunning, troubling development. But sometimes you have to grind one out against an opponent who seemingly can't miss from three-point range, which Auburn did with 10 steals and 17 offensive rebounds to help avert disaster.
The Tigers subsequently grabbed 41 offensive rebounds and racked up 18 more steals and had 14 blocks between their blowout victories over Merrimack and Wofford.
Despite the absence of Bruce Pearl and Johni Broome, this may still be the same old Auburn.
Keyshawn Hall is on his fourth team in as many years, but he has been electric so far. If Tahaad Pettiford can snap out of his rough start (12-for-43 from the field) post haste, Auburn's showdown with Houston on Sunday could be quite the slobberknocker.
21. Arkansas Razorbacks: Two-Headed
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In classic John Calipari fashion, it is already clear the Razorbacks will go as far as the freshman stars in the backcourt can carry them.
Through two blowouts of Southern and Central Arkansas and a hard-fought road loss to Michigan State, Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas have averaged a combined 37.7 points, 9.7 assists and fewer than three turnovers. They've each scored at least 16 points in each game and accounted for almost 60 percent of Arkansas' three-point attempts thus far.
It won't always be up to that dynamic duo. Arkansas has a solid eight-man rotation. But we're definitely getting some Malik Monk and De'Aaron Fox vibes here, reminiscent of the last time Calipari truly had a title contender on his hands.
20. Tennessee Volunteers: Putbacks
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In each of its previous 10 seasons under Rick Barnes, Tennessee ranked top-100 in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage. It's nothing new for the Volunteers to have a couple of imposing big men creating second-chance opportunities.
Their average rank, however, was 60.5. They landed in the top 20 only once (sixth in 2022-23).
Basically, it's something they're always good at, but it's rarely what defines them.
That might be changing this year, as the Vols turned 52 offensive rebounds into 61 second-chance points across their first three games against Mercer, Northern Kentucky and North Florida.
With six regulars (including superstar freshman Nate Ament) standing 6'8" or taller, why shouldn't they own the glass?
19. Gonzaga Bulldogs: Back
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Though Gonzaga has managed to somewhat comfortably maintain its streak of playing in every NCAA tournament dating back to 1999, the past few years very much paled in comparison to that stretch from 2017-22 when the Zags made it to two national championships and looked like a top threat to win it all every year.
The Cinderella-turned-juggernaut appears to be back with a vengeance, though, after dismembering both Oklahoma and Creighton.
Sixth-year senior Graham Ike has recorded a double-double in each of their first three games, including hitting four triples against Creighton—after making 23 in the first 115 games of his career.
Fellow sixth-year senior Tyon Grant-Foster didn't get cleared by the NCAA until very late in the offseason, but the Grand Canyon transfer has been a big key to their success.
18. North Carolina Tar Heels: Fractured
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Seth Trimble was huge in UNC's come-from-behind victory over Kansas, scoring 13 of his 17 points in the second half while also grabbing a team-high eight rebounds.
However, a freak accident in the weight room two days later left him with a broken left arm that could keep him out of the lineup until conference play begins on Dec. 30.
As a result, "international transfer" Luka Bogavac from Montenegro got the start against Radford and fired up 18 shots in a quest to find out if he can play a key role for a team that already had some real question marks about its backcourt depth.
17. Michigan State Spartans: Interior
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Tom Izzo's teams have never been particularly reliant on three-point shooting, but they at least used to convert at a high percentage when they did tee up shots from the perimeter.
Last year, however, Michigan State ranked outside the top 300 nationally in both three-point percentage and percentage of field-goal attempts taken beyond the perimeter, averaging just 6.1 made triples per game.
So, for this year, the Spartans are 7-for-35 through two games. They went just 1-for-14 against Arkansas.
Yet, they won the game thanks to their dominance in the paint, finishing plus-12 on the glass while holding the Razorbacks' veteran starting frontcourt of Nick Pringle and Trevon Brazile to nine points, nine rebounds and nine fouls.
16. Iowa State Cyclones: Thievery
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No surprise here, as forcing turnovers has been Iowa State's calling card over the past four seasons with T.J. Otzelberger calling the shots.
In fact, Iowa State and Merrimack are the only teams that ranked top 15 in steal percentage in at least three of the previous four seasons, each doing so in all four years.
Even by Cyclones standards, though, what they did to Mississippi State on Monday night was slightly ridiculous, forcing 26 turnovers and scoring 29 points off turnovers in a 96-80 drubbing.
The only time under Otzelberger that they forced more turnovers against a top 300 opponent was last year's double-OT extravaganza against BYU, in which five of the Cougars' 29 giveaways occurred in the extra periods.
(Godspeed to St. John's and its lack of a point guard against this ball pressure in the Players Era Festival.)
15. UCLA Bruins: Underachieving
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After opening the season with Eastern Washington, Pepperdine and West Georgia, UCLA should have a scoring margin of somewhere between 75 and 90 points.
At any rate, the Bruins closed as either a 29.5-point or 30.5-point betting favorite in each of those games, with KenPom projecting them to win each by at least 24 points.
Instead, their average scoring margin wasn't even 13 points.
Granted, they were without starting forward Eric Dailey (knee) against Eastern Washington and didn't have preseason All-American Donovan Dent (muscle strain) against West Georgia.
Still, allowing one point per possession against that collection of foes was...uninspiring. And that defense is going to have its hands full with Arizona on Friday.
14. Illinois Fighting Illini: Underrated
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The AP voters aren't smelling what Brad Underwood is cooking, but Ken Pomeroy sure is.
Illinois was No. 6 on KenPom in the preseason and had already climbed to No. 3 before Tuesday's marquee win over Texas Tech, thanks to back-to-back victories in which the Illini scored 113 points.
Yet, there were 11 voters in Monday's poll who did not have Illinois in the top 20 and only one brave soul (Scott Richey) who was willing to put this force in the top eight at No. 6.
The absurd part of that win over the Red Raiders is Illinois didn't have its star returning big man Tomislav Ivisic due to a knee injury, which meant no good solution for slowing down NPOY candidate JT Toppin. So, Andrej Stojakovic and Kylan Boswell just went off for 45 points instead.
13. St. John's Red Storm: Offensive
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Reliable shot-making has eluded the Red Storm's grasp for decades. We're talking 25 consecutive seasons with an effective field-goal percentage that ranked 120th or worse in the nation. Often it has been much, much worse, including finishing in 262nd in that department just last year.
The last time St. John's ranked better than 100th in either two-point percentage or three-point percentage was in 2000.
However, early returns suggest this group can actually shoot.
The Johnnies couldn't do anything to slow down Alabama in losing that marquee game, but they averaged 1.14 points per possession, shooting 49.2 percent from the field. This after lighting up Quinnipiac for 108 in the opener.
12. Louisville Cardinals: Aggressive
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It's always a safe bet that a Pat Kelsey-coached squad will take and make a ton of three-pointers.
The Cardinals lost all four of their primary perimeter weapons from last year, but reloaded in a massive way with the additions of Isaac McKneely, Ryan Conwell, Adrian Wooley and stud freshman Mikel Brown Jr. As a result, they've made 35 triples through three games, including 13 in that statement win over Kentucky on Tuesday.
How about the active hands on defense, though?
Louisville had not once recorded 10 steals in its final 30 games of last season, but it has had at least 11 in each game thus far. And the 11 steals in the eight-point win over Kentucky led directly to 15 points.
11. Texas Tech Red Raiders: Multifaceted
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We already knew before the season began that JT Toppin was a sensational talent and easily one of the 10 likeliest candidates for the Wooden Award. And goodness has he ever backed that up, averaging 33.0 PPG, 12.5 RPG, 3.5 APG, 3.0 SPG and 2.0 BPG in his first two games.
But while he missed Texas Tech's opener, Christian Anderson went off for 34 points and 11 assists. UNC-Greensboro transfer Donovan Atwell also scored 41 between the Red Raiders' first two games. And Washington State transfer LeJuan Watts put up 21 in Tuesday's tough loss at Illinois.
Don't sleep on Santa Clara transfer Tyeree Bryan, either. He dropped 35 on Gonzaga in the Kennel last January and can catch fire from distance.
Throw in the plus defense, and there are going to be nights when this team just bulldozes quality competition.
10. Florida Gators: Penetrable
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In the season opener against Arizona, Florida allowed 93 points to an opponent that only even attempted five three-pointers. Koa Peat was a force, but the Gators also let Jaden Bradley get into the paint whenever he darn well pleased.
Likewise, in Tuesday's close call against Florida State, the Seminoles' late comeback attempt was fueled almost entirely by just giving the ball to Robert McCray V and letting him drive to the rim for a layup over and over again.
The Gators have one of the better frontcourts in the nation and did block eight FSU shots. They better fix up that defense along the perimeter, though, if they want to have any hope of repeating.
9. Kentucky Wildcats: Healing
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The rivalry loss at Louisville was a tough pill to swallow, but it might have been a different story had they played the game in its usual mid-to-late December window.
Pitt transfer Jaland Lowe missed UK's opener with a shoulder injury and surely wasn't operating at 100 percent against the Cardinals—and already arrived in Lexington with major defensive concerns before the injury.
The 'Cats are also waiting on Arizona State transfer Jayden Quaintance to make it back from his torn ACL, with hopes that he'll return in about a month. Once they have that eraser at the rim—he averaged 3.6 blocks per 40 minutes as a 5-star freshman—the entire defense should be more formidable.
Even so, they could have hung better with Louisville if Otega Oweh hadn't been held to one of the worst games of his career.
Let's see how things go next Tuesday against Michigan State before we get too worried.
8. Alabama Crimson Tide: Brake-less
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As is the case with several other teams on the list, there's nothing exactly new here. Alabama led the nation in adjusted tempo last year and has ranked in the top 14 in that department in each of its first six seasons under Nate Oats.
And rather than slow down in the slightest with Mark Sears out of the picture, the Crimson Tide appear to be committed to playing faster than ever with Labaron Philon Jr. running the offense.
Comically, in the marquee win over St. John's, they didn't seem to know how to burn clock with a late lead, still shooting with 10-12 seconds left on the shot clock in scenarios when any other team would have been using up every second they could. That's how deeply committed Alabama is to pushing the pace.
7. BYU Cougars: Clean
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Through three games against Villanova, Holy Cross and Delaware, BYU has committed a combined total of 17 turnovers and 32 fouls.
That could be a bad single night at the office for some teams, but it has been a remarkable stretch of the Cougars not shooting themselves in the foot.
The opponents certainly had something to do with it. None of the three have historically been great at forcing turnovers or drawing fouls.
All the same, an impressive start from this three-headed monster of AJ Dybantsa, Richie Saunders and Rob Wright III. If they can continue playing clean basketball, they just might finally reach that elusive Final Four.
6. Michigan Wolverines: Gigantic
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Last year, Dusty May had the dual seven-footers lineup with Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin, but Michigan pretty much always had three guys on the floor who were 6'5" or shorter.
This year, the Wolverines have three large transfers—6'9" Yaxel Lendeborg, 6'9" Morez Johnson Jr. and 7'3" Aday Mara—in their starting lineup, plus 6'8" Will Tschetter scoring 16 off the bench in the opening win over Oakland.
They're still figuring out how to get all those big men to work cohesively, with Lendeborg not yet making anywhere near the impact that everyone was expecting. If and when he gets going, though, Michigan is going to be a matchup nightmare for a whole bunch of teams.
5. Arizona Wildcats: Effortless
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To be clear, this isn't a complaint that Arizona is lacking for effort.
Rather, it's a tip o' the cap to a super-talented team that can make things look effortless en route to 90 points per night.
With three freshmen in the starting lineup plus a fourth in the eight-man rotation, that's no small feat. But it's veteran leader Jaden Bradley who keeps this machine running so smoothly.
Bradley narrowly missed out on a 5-star grade as a coveted point guard in the 2022 recruiting class, and now he's the metronome around which 5-stars Koa Peat and Brayden Burries get to operate.
It doesn't hurt to have veteran big men Motiejus Krivas and Tobe Awaka averaging 17 points, 17 rebounds and three blocks in what is roughly a 50/50 timeshare of the job at center.
4. Duke Blue Devils: Boozy
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Cameron Boozer could be Duke's next No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. Even after a slow start in the first half of the opener against Texas, he's averaging 18.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game and may well lead the Blue Devils in all three plus blocks and steals this season.
His brother, Cayden, has thus far been coming off the bench, but has racked up 24 points and 13 assists over the past two games. He might be the starting point guard before much longer, unless Caleb Foster plays well enough to slam that door shut.
We knew to expect big things from this next generation of Boozers, but this is already shaping up to become the best dynamic duo of brothers since...maybe UCLA's O'Bannons in 1995?
3. Connecticut Huskies: Untested
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As much as any coach in the business, Dan Hurley abides by the "Life is short, eat dessert first" philosophy, annually loading up on cupcakes to open the season.
Over the previous four years, the average KenPom ranking of UConn's first three opponents was 308. This year, Hurley opened with No. 362 New Haven and No. 327 UMass Lowell before kicking things up a notch to No. 211 Columbia.
Needless to say, the Huskies haven't been challenged yet, aside from the personnel issue of playing the opener without primary big man Tarris Reed Jr. (hamstring), who averaged 19.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in the other two contests.
Their next two are against BYU and Arizona, though. Giddy up.
2. Purdue Boilermakers: Incomplete
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Purdue opened the year at No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25 primarily because of the return of the senior trio of Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer and Trey Kaufman-Renn.
Well, the two guards were sensational in the tune-up games against Evansville and Oakland, averaging a combined 35.5 points and 11 assists. But with Kaufman-Renn (hip) unavailable for either contest, the Boilermakers' start to the year feels quite incomplete.
The silver lining is that TKR's absence has allowed the likes of freshman Jack Benter, 7'4" redshirt freshman Daniel Jacobsen and North Florida transfer Liam Murphy to get more run in the early going than they would have, and all three look like they could be great role players—particularly Benter, who can really make it rain.
1. Houston Cougars: Fresh
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Houston always seems to have a few veteran leaders who have been around the program for a few years, and that remains the case with Milos Uzan, Emanuel Sharp and Joseph Tugler still in the fold after each starting more than 30 games during last year's run to the national championship game.
Beyond that trio, though, Kelvin Sampson is relying upon freshmen like never before, with both Chris Cenac Jr. and Kingston Flemings in the starting lineup while Isiah Harwell and Chase McCarty (redshirt freshman) are playing key roles off the bench.
So far, so good with those newbies. Flemings is shooting nearly 80 percent from the field while Cenac seems to grab a rebound for every two trips down the floor. And with five steals in 37 minutes played, Harwell's presence has certainly been made on Houston's bread-and-butter half of the court.
Bring on the "real" competition, though.
