Latest 2025-26 Men's College Basketball National Player of the Year Rankings
Earlier this week, the Wooden Award committee released its "late midseason watchlist," featuring 20 of the best players in the country. Of that group of stars, 17 overlapped with the 20 that we had in our NPOY rankings two Fridays ago, so we can't argue too much with it.
Do we really need 20 candidates this late in the season, though?
Heck, do we even need two? It's pretty clearly Cameron Boozer's race to lose at this point.
While the top spot on the list isn't exactly open to debate, we're going to continue with these rankings for purposes of projecting the All-American teams. And for this one, we're just going to rank the 20 players who were on that watchlist.
All-American Honorable Mentions
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20. PJ Haggerty, Kansas State
23.3 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 4.1 APG, 36.7% 3PT
The stats are great, but no one paid attention when he put up similar numbers at 16-15 Tulsa two years ago, and I fail to see why he should be anywhere close to the All-American conversation for a 10-15 Kansas State team this year.
19. Graham Ike, Gonzaga
19.7 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 2.6 APG, 35.9% 3PT
Great full-season numbers, including a 21-point double-double against Alabama and a 28-point double-double against Kentucky. But going for one point and zero rebounds in the 40-point loss to Michigan was quite the "Dude, what?" outlier in Gonzaga's only game against a top 15 team.
18. Bennett Stirtz, Iowa
20.4 PPG, 4.9 APG, 2.4 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 40.5% 3PT
Probably should have been an All-American last year for what he did in leading Drake to 31 wins, and he's doing similarly ridiculous things for a Hawkeyes team that's in the mix for a No. 6 or No. 7 seed. Big chances still to come against Purdue, Michigan, and Nebraska (twice) to put on a show in the national spotlight.
17. Darryn Peterson, Kansas
20.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 1.7 APG, 1.3 SPG, 41.9% 3PT
Peterson's per-possession numbers are ridiculous, but even more ridiculous is the sheer number of possessions for which he has been unavailable to Kansas due to a hamstring or a quad or an ankle or general cramps or flu-like symptoms or (insert your favorite conspiracy theory here). He might be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, but Peterson is on the fast track to having a collegiate legacy on par with Kyrie Irving.
16. Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State
15.1 PPG, 9.1 APG, 2.7 RPG, 1.3 SPG
The...let's call it "extracurriculars pertaining to the more-than-occasional questionable placement of Fears' feet"...may well keep him out of the All-American conversation. We'll see how that narrative plays out over the month that remains until Selection Sunday. Averaging 15 points and nine assists per game, though, is pretty ridiculous, and he could get into the mix for at least second-team All-American honors if no more controversies arise.
Third-Team All-Americans
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15. Christian Anderson, Texas Tech
19.1 PPG, 7.7 APG, 3.3 RPG, 1.5 SPG, 43.8% 3PT
There have been instances over the years when a team had multiple consensus first-team All-Americans, such as Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren, both named second-team All-Americans for Gonzaga in 2021-22, or Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett, both named first-team All-Americans for Duke in 2018-19. But those were No. 1 seeds and title favorites. Texas Tech might be a No. 4 seed. And JT Toppin is going to steal a lot of spotlight from Anderson. Still, third-team AA is possible for this Robin to Toppin's Batman.
14. Jaden Bradley, Arizona
13.5 PPG, 4.5 APG, 3.5 RPG, 1.9 SPG, 42.1% 3PT
Bradley came through in the clutch so many times during Arizona's 23-0 start to the season, which got him up to No. 9 in our ranking two weeks ago. But he sure did lay an egg in that loss at Kansas on Monday. Teammate Brayden Burries might be the better candidate for an All-American spot, but we'll roll with the list the Wooden Watch published.
13. Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama
21.4 PPG, 4.8 APG, 3.6 RPG, 1.3 SPG, 38.6% 3PT
Philon's per-game numbers do need to be taken with an "Alabama plays at the fastest tempo in the nation" grain of salt. But he's also the driving engine of that efficiently break-neck freight train. The road wins over St. John's, Illinois, and Auburn never would've happened if he hadn't gone for at least 24 points in each.
12. Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
20.8 PPG, 6.3 APG, 2.9 RPG, 41.1% 3PT
With Arkansas slipping to a consensus No. 6 seed, the "team success" component of the NPOY conversation is really starting to work against Acuff. But this freshman point guard has put up at least 17 points in 18 consecutive games, averaging 22 points and seven dimes dating back to Thanksgiving. The competition in this year's All-American race is just so, so strong.
11. Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt
18.9 PPG, 5.3 APG, 3.5 RPG, 2.5 SPG, 38.2% 3PT
The big question here is whether Vanderbilt will finish strong enough to keep Tanner in the mix for accolades like "second-team All-American" and "SEC Player of the Year." Because the unfortunate reality is that his 37-point, nine-assist, five-steal spectacular this past weekend fell on deaf ears in what was a home loss to Oklahoma. Can he carry the 'Dores to a victory at Rupp Arena, or in either of their two games against Tennessee?
Second-Team All-Americans
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10. Thomas Haugh, Florida
17.5 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.0 SPG, 34.4% 3PT
Florida has been on a rampage over the past two months, and Haugh has been at the heart of that 13-2 surge, even averaging 25.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in the pair of losses while his supporting cast left him hanging. If the Gators win the SEC, there's a solid chance Haugh wins conference POY—unless teammate Rueben Chinyelu's Oscar Tshiebwe impersonation becomes too much to ignore. Chinyelu had his third 20-rebound game of the season in Wednesday's rout of Georgia.
9. Caleb Wilson, North Carolina
19.8 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 2.7 APG, 1.5 SPG, 1.4 BPG
Wilson was awesome in UNC's upset of Duke, but he unfortunately suffered a fractured left hand in the subsequent game against Miami. Prior to that, though, Wilson had scored at least 20 points in 13 of his last 15 games, carrying the Tar Heels back into the protected seed conversation. Here's hoping he makes it back in time for the NCAA tournament.
8. Joshua Jefferson, Iowa State
17.0 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 5.3 APG, 1.5 SPG, 40.6% 3PT
For the most part, he has been great. But Iowa State has played only two games against teams that would definitely be top-four seeds today, and Jefferson struggled in both at Purdue and Kansas. He also shot 5-for-14 with six turnovers in the recent loss at TCU. But opportunities abound for him to rewrite that narrative, with five of ISU's next six games coming against Kansas, Houston, BYU, Texas Tech, and Arizona. Jefferson could storm to No. 2 with a strong finish.
7. Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan
14.3 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.4 BPG, 1.3 SPG, 28.7% 3PT
Lendeborg was the clear choice for Michigan's NPOY candidate early in the year, but the Wolverines have become such a "whole is greater than the sum of its parts" team that it has become difficult to rank him ahead of players carrying their title contenders. Should Michigan become the clear-cut No. 1 overall seed, though, I'd like Lendeborg's chances of sneaking onto the first team.
6. Braden Smith, Purdue
15.1 PPG, 8.8 APG, 3.8 RPG, 1.8 SPG, 41.9% 3PT
Smith is up to No. 7 on the all-time assists list, but he's going to need to pick up the pace and/or help lead Purdue on some deep runs in both the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments to chase down Bobby Hurley at No. 1. Smith did go for 13 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds with just one turnover in the road win over Nebraska this week. That was big time to stay in the hunt for first-team AA.
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5. Kingston Flemings
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Season Stats: 16.6 PPG, 5.4 APG, 3.5 RPG, 1.8 SPG, 36.5% 3PT
It's hardly out of the ordinary for even the great freshmen to hit a proverbial wall at this point in the season. Most of the first-year studs in this conversation have thus far avoided that fate, but it does seem to have befallen Kingston Flemings.
Between the Jan. 31 win over Cincinnati and the victory at Utah on Tuesday night, Flemings shot a combined 4-for-18 from the field, scoring just 11 points. He also hasn't made a single three-pointer in his last four games after hitting 27-of-67 (40.3 percent) prior to that.
Here's the scary news for the rest of the country, though: It hasn't slowed Houston down in the slightest. The Cougars still won all four games—they also beat BYU and UCF—by double digits, holding those opponents to 56.8 PPG.
And Flemings does play a huge role for them on that end of the floor, leading the team in defensive win shares and trailing only 2025 Big 12 DPOY JoJo Tugler for the team lead in defensive box plus/minus. He also still had 21 assists during that four-game stretch, so even though his shots haven't been falling as consistently over the past two weeks, Flemings still has fingerprints all over Houston's success.
Massive stretch coming up, in the form of consecutive games against Iowa State, Arizona, and Kansas. If Houston wins all three, it will likely vault them to the projected No. 1 overall seed. And if Flemings snaps out of his funk to play a big role in those wins, what a fun debate we could be approaching.
4. AJ Dybantsa, BYU
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Season Stats: 24.5 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.1 SPG, 37.2% 3PT
It's tough to say where AJ Dybantsa belongs on this list.
He's absolutely in the top 10, as most of the sportsbooks still list him as the closest thing to a challenger to Cameron Boozer. Understandably so, as Dybantsa is leading the nation in scoring while the debate rages over whether he or Darryn Peterson should be drafted No. 1 overall. And at the end of the day, things like NPOY and All-American honors are inherently popularity contests.
However, if our biggest knock on Darius Acuff Jr. and Bennett Stirtz was that their teams are projected to be No. 6 or No. 7 seeds in the dance, shouldn't that also be a problem for Dybantsa?
Prior to winning at Baylor on Tuesday, BYU had lost five of six games, still searching for its first elite win of the season. (The collection of neutral-site wins over Clemson, Villanova, Wisconsin, and Miami-Florida is great, but where's the "Oh, this team can win it all" victory?) At this point, the Cougars are also down in the projected No. 6/7 seed range.
Even in most of their losses, though, Dybantsa has been special. And through three games in February, he's merely averaging 33.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 5.0 assists on 66.7 percent shooting from the field.
The next 10 days should give us a better idea of both the floor and ceiling for Dybantsa's NPOY standing. BYU plays at Arizona on Wednesday, followed by a home game against Iowa State. It's not outlandish to think he could drop 40 in either game, propelling BYU to a win and sparking a "Not so fast" narrative around Boozer's inevitable march to a lot of individual trophies.
3. Keaton Wagler, Illinois
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Season Stats: 18.5 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 4.3 APG, 43.7% 3PT
Thrice in the past week, Keaton Wagler almost had his iconic singular moment.
Oh, he's had a great season with a bunch of stellar games, like that incredible 46-point performance in the road win over Purdue. But a game-winning buzzer-beater or two could really light a fire under his NPOY campaign.
At Michigan State on Saturday, he attempted and missed what would have been the game-winning three-pointer at the end of regulation. But after Jake Davis hit two massive free throws to send the game to overtime, Wagler once again had a chance at greatness.
Down six with six seconds to go, Wagler drained a triple and stole the ensuing inbounds pass. Rather than force up a contested shot in the corner, though, he passed the buck, and it was Zvonimir Ivisic throwing up a shot that didn't even hit the rim.
Then, down by two with time running out on Tuesday against Wisconsin, Wagler got up a pretty clean look at what would have been the game-winning three at the end of overtime, but left it short.
Painstakingly close to legendary moments, but a good reminder that he has become the sine qua non for the Illini. Wagler is averaging 20.8 points, 5.4 assists, and 4.8 rebounds and shooting 46.3 percent from distance since the beginning of December while propelling Illinois into the mix for a No. 2 seed in the dance.
Had he hit those shots and scored marquee wins over the Spartans and Badgers, though, they'd be a clear No. 1 seed and Wagler would be nipping at Boozer's heels for the Wooden Award.
2. JT Toppin, Texas Tech
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Season Stats: 21.5 PPG, 10.9 RPG, 2.0 APG, 1.7 BPG, 1.3 SPG
Last year, JT Toppin was a consensus second-team All-American and the Big 12 Player of the Year for a Red Raiders team that earned a No. 3 seed.
This year, he has increased his per-game averages by 3.3 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 0.8 APG, 0.5 SPG, and 0.2 BPG for a Red Raiders team that is once again roughly on track for a No. 3 seed. (We'll see how they fare in those remaining road games against Arizona, Iowa State, and BYU, though.)
Toppin has been one half of one of the best one-two punches in recent memory, dominant in the paint while Christian Anderson thrives at point guard.
One major recent development amid his propensity for double-doubles has been drastically improved free-throw shooting.
Toppin shot 30-for-66 (45.5 percent) from the charity stripe in nonconference play. And you would have thought if there was just one thing he would have spent the entire offseason working on, it would be free-throw shooting. Because in Texas Tech's 84-79 loss to Florida in the Elite Eight, Toppin missed all five of his free-throw attempts, including the front end of a one-and-one while they were clinging to a late three-point lead.
If that didn't change, Texas Tech would need to figure out how to overcome a possible Hack-a-Shaq situation. (Bop-a-Top, if you will.)
In Big 12 play, though, he's shooting 77.4 percent from the free-throw line, as well as 36.7 percent from three-point range after starting out 4-for-23.
Toppin had 31 and 12 in the win over Houston (as well as 18 and 11 in the loss at Houston), 27 and 13 in the win over BYU and 19 and 10 in the win over Duke. He also went for 30 and 11 in the loss to Arkansas and 35 and 11 in the loss at Illinois. He has been massive in just about every game, except the loss to Kansas—and even that's understandable, between Flory Bidunga's defensive presence and the fact that the Jayhawks were able to solely focus on slowing down Toppin with Anderson missing that game.
Really looking forward to seeing what he can do Saturday night against Arizona's frontcourt. If the Wildcats can't stop him, who can?
1. Cameron Boozer, Duke
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Season Stats: 23.0 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 4.0 APG, 1.8 SPG, 38.3% 3PT
In Saturday's loss at North Carolina, Cameron Boozer went for 24 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists. He had four turnovers; it took him 21 field-goal attempts to get those 24 points, and he failed to convert on either of his drives with the game tied in the final 75 seconds. But it was a strong showing that would've been impressive for a lot of mortals.
For Boozer, though, the 107 O-rating that he ended up with was his worst of the season, with the exception of a 95 in the opener against Texas.
So, yeah, 24 and 11 on the road against a potential No. 4 seed was almost his worst game of the year.
Must be nice.
That's been the moral of the story as Boozer has steadily distanced himself from the pack, though.
He'll occasionally score 30. Maybe even 35. But while he doesn't have the 40-point eye-poppers like Wagler, Flemings, and Dybantsa, he, more importantly, hasn't had a single eyebrow-raising off night.
If ESPN were still making those "This is SportsCenter" commercials, maybe they could bring in Boozer to recreate that one where Albert Pujols was a machine who could communicate with the photocopier. (Of course, someone might need to first explain to this 18-year-old what purpose a photocopier served.)
Big game coming up in two Saturdays against Michigan. Boozer could have his work cut out for him against Aday Mara, Morez Johnson Jr., and Yaxel Lendeborg. But we'll pencil him in for around 20 and 10, per usual.
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