Player of the Year for Every Conference in 2025-26 Men's College Basketball
Selection Sunday for the 2026 men's NCAA tournament is barely a week away, which means we are fully entrenched in the most confusing portion of the season: Some leagues are knee-deep in their conference tournaments while others are still wrapping up their regular seasons.
This also means that some leagues have already declared a Conference Player of the Year, while others won't be doing so for another few days.
But rather than the slow burn of 31 POY announcements spread out over many days, here's all of them all at once.
No, these aren't the official POYs. (Well, some of them are official, and where that is the case, we'll note the actual winner with a little '^' mark.) These are simply our picks for each league.
But most of them will be the winners.
We'll start with the 22 conferences whose POY will only be participating in the NCAA tournament if they first win their conference tournament. Those leagues are broken into four groups of five or six and presented in alphabetical order.
After that, it's four potential multi-bid leagues, followed by the five major conferences, with more real estate dedicated to those selections. (We'll also venture a guess at the full All-Conference first team for each of those five leagues.)
Unless otherwise noted, statistics are current through the start of play Wednesday.
The 22 Near-Certain One-Bid Leagues (1 of 4)
1 of 10
America East: Gus Yalden, Vermont—UMBC won the league, but it did so with a rather diversified portfolio of scoring options, none of the regulars averaging even 18 points per 40 minutes played. This star of the Catamounts, on the other hand, averages 26.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per 40 minutes. If Yalden takes over the America East tournament, Vermont could be back in the NCAA tournament for the 11th time in 24 years.
American Athletic: Izaiyah Nelson, South Florida—If East Carolina hadn't been the second-worst team in this league, Jordan Riley's 24.0 points per game would've been impossible to deny. But Nelson has carried USF to what likely will be an outright regular season title with 16.2 PPG and 10.0 RPG. He leads the team in the former and leads the conference in the latter, boasting 18 double-doubles thus far.
^Atlantic Sun: Camren Hunter, Central Arkansas—Could've also made a case for Austin Peay's Collin Parker, but Hunter was a pretty easy selection for putting Central Arkansas on the map for the first time ever. The Bears had lost at least 19 games in each of the previous seven seasons, but he averaged nearly 20 points per game in carrying them to 20 regular-season wins.
Big Sky: Terri Miller Jr., Portland State—The Vikings limped to the finish line, losing four of their final six games. Miller was huge during their 11-1 start to Big Sky play, though, including a triple-double against Sacramento State in mid-January. He and point guard Jaylin Henderson could be a mid-major dynamic duo to watch out for in the dance, should Portland State get there.
^Big South: Logan Duncomb, Winthrop—The former Indiana transfer suffered a foot injury last week against Charleston Southern, and we're waiting to find out if he'll be available for the Big South tournament. It would be a huge absence, both literally and figuratively, as Duncomb was averaging 29.4 points and 14.3 rebounds per 40 minutes at the time of the injury. For what it's worth, Zach Edey averaged 29.3 and 15.4 in his four-year career at Purdue.
Big West: Kyle Evans, UC Irvine—Hawaii's Isaac Johnson might be the pick, but it really ought to be Evans. He is averaging a nation-best 3.4 blocks per game for an Anteaters squad that leads the country in two-point field-goal defense. Evans also averages 11.7 points and a team-best 8.6 rebounds per game. He's the singular reason they're tied for first place in the Big West heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
The 22 Near-Certain One-Bid Leagues (2 of 4)
2 of 10
Coastal Athletic: Patrick Wessler, UNC Wilmington—With an honorable mention to Hofstra's Cruz Davis having a Bennett Stirtz type of season for a Cinderella hopeful, the CAA's POY is probably going to come from the 26-5 UNCW Seahawks. And Wessler averages 14 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game as their primary big man.
Conference USA: Zach Cleveland, Liberty—After starting 15-0 in league play, Liberty has struggled as of late with two losses and two nail-biters in its last four. But the Flames are still going to win the league by multiple games, and that's largely because of this point-forward who averages 11.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 6.8 assists per game. Cleveland has more triple-doubles (one) than three-pointers made this season (zero).
^Horizon League: DeSean Goode, Robert Morris—Dominating the glass has been a big key for Bobby Mo this season, with both the Horizon League's leading and second-leading rebounders in the starting lineup. But in addition to his 8.6 rebounds per game, Goode also has preposterous shooting percentages, making 59.3 percent of his 59 three-point attempts and 64.3 percent of his twos for a 69.4 eFG% that nearly leads the nation.
Ivy League: Nick Townsend, Yale—Some of these decisions are tough calls. This one is not. The Bulldogs are the best team in the conference, and Townsend leads the team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. He also shoots nearly 50 percent from three-point range.
Metro Atlantic: Kevair Kennedy, Merrimack—Not many freshmen on this list, but Kennedy is quite the exception to the rule. Merrimack's point guard led the MAAC in both points scored and minutes played, while also averaging better than four assists and nearly two steals per game. He may be young, but he was Mr. Everything for a team that won 19 of its final 23 regular-season games.
The 22 Near-Certain One-Bid Leagues (3 of 4)
3 of 10
Mid-Eastern Athletic: Bryce Harris, Howard—He's one half of Howard's dynamic duo that each averages better than 17 points and nearly seven rebounds per game. But while Cedric Taylor III missed the first five weeks of the campaign, Harris has been doing his thing all season long for a Bison team that might win at least 23 games for the first time since 1987.
Missouri Valley: Tyler Lundblade, Belmont—When a team wins its league by a margin of three or more games, the best player on that team usually wins POY. So, with honorable mentions to Bradley's Jaquan Johnson and Murray State's Frederick King, we'll roll with Belmont's leading scorer, who made 112 threes while also shooting 93.4 percent from the free-throw line.
^Northeast: Darin Smith Jr., Central Connecticut State—Alright, so maybe the "win by at least three games" rule is more of a guideline, because Long Island did just that and failed to produce the NEC POY, even though Jamal Fuller arguably deserved it. Smith averaged better than 20 points per game, though, including a 40-burger at New Haven during a season-ending stretch of seven CCSU wins in eight games.
^Ohio Valley: Aaron Nkrumah, Tennessee State—Nkrumah almost led the Ohio Valley in scoring at 17.7 PPG, but he also almost led the nation in steals with 2.9 per game. He had 18 points, nine steals, six rebounds, and five assists in an early win over UNC Asheville, as well as 14, seven, nine, and four, respectively, in a road win over SEMO last week.
^Patriot League: Austin Benigni, Navy—If winning the league by three games is usually good enough, you'd better believe it's someone from Navy here, considering the Midshipmen won the Patriot League by a six-game margin. The only question was whether it should go to the point guard, who averaged 18.1 points and 4.4 assists per game, or the center, who averaged 15.4 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. But the Patriot League already chose the former (Benigni) over the latter (Aidan Kehoe).
The 22 Near-Certain One-Bid Leagues (4 of 4)
4 of 10
Southern: Baraka Okojie, Mercer—The Bears' primary big man, Armani Mighty, averaged a double-double (13.5 PPG, 10.7 RPG), but point guard Okojie is the pick as the SoCon's top assist man (5.4 APG) and second-leading scorer (19.5 PPG). After barely playing at Memphis last season, he has scored in double figures in every game for Mercer.
Southland: Keon Thompson, Stephen F. Austin—Save for Miami-Florida going from 7-24 last year to 23 wins and counting this year, the Lumberjacks had the greatest single-season turnaround in the country, improving from 14-17 to 27-4. A massive part of that transformation was Thompson blossoming from an above-average player into a star, increasing both his points and assists per 40 minutes by 50 percent.
Southwestern Athletic: Daeshun Ruffin, Jackson State—We're bucking the previously established trend of picking a player from a team that wins the league by at least three games and instead going with the star of a .500 Jackson State team who has averaged 27.9 points and 7.0 assists in league play. Ruffin went for at least 30 points in six of his first nine SWAC games, and he averaged 21.3 points and 10.6 assists in the other three. No matter where the Tigers end up seeded, he could take over the SWAC tournament.
^Summit League: Carson Johnson, Denver—Of the POYs that have already been named, this one was the most shocking by far. While Nolan Minessale averaged 20 points and better than four rebounds and four assists per game for a 23-8 St. Thomas team, Johnson averaged 20.2 points, 3.0 assists, and 1.7 rebounds per game for a 15-16 Denver team. Johnson isn't even listed among the five players on the Summit League's all-kenpom team, so what exactly happened here?
^Sun Belt: Chaze Harris, South Alabama—We were so close to a seven-way tie for first place in this conference, but the race for Sun Belt POY wasn't all that close. Harris led the league with 18.9 PPG, ranked second with 4.7 APG, and placed fourth with 1.6 SPG. He's not much of a shooter—3-for-23 on threes, sub-60 percent from the charity stripe—but everything the Jaguars do runs through him.
Western Athletic: Dominique Daniels Jr., Cal Baptist—Daniels was named All-WAC in each of the past two seasons, averaging better than 19 PPG in each. But now that he's north of 22 PPG for a Cal Baptist team that is better than ever before, he should be a pretty easy pick for WAC POY. He went for 47 points in a 78-71 win over Utah Valley back in January.
The 4 Potential Multi-Bid Mid-Majors
5 of 10
Atlantic 10: Robbie Avila, Saint Louis—The Billikens are a classic "whole is greater than the sum of its parts" team. They have seven regulars averaging between 9.3 and 13.0 points, between 1.6 and 4.2 assists, and between 2.7 and 5.7 rebounds per game, riding a seven-man attack to nearly 90 points per game. But Avila leads the way in points and assists (and name recognition) on his way to a long-overdue trip to the NCAA tournament.
Mid-American: Peter Suder, Miami-Ohio—Regardless of how this story ends, we've spent more time talking about Miami-Ohio at a national scale over the past month than we did over the previous two decades combined. And at the forefront of the RedHawks' 90+ PPG is this senior guard who went for 64 points between the overtime wins against Buffalo and Kent State back in mid-January, when people really started paying attention to this undefeated quest.
Mountain West: Mason Falslev, Utah State—Teammate MJ Collins averages 17.3 points per game to Falslev's 16.0, but this Utah native averages more than twice as many rebounds and steals and nearly twice as many assists as his shooting guard counterpart. That makes him the marginally more valuable half of the dynamic duo that is hoping to get Utah State into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1970.
^West Coast: Graham Ike, Gonzaga—Ike went for one point and no rebounds in Gonzaga's 40-point loss to Michigan in what turned out to be the season's ultimate "That little guy? I wouldn't worry about that little guy" performance. He scored in double figures in every other game, averaging 21.9 points and 8.2 rebounds in WCC play, despite losing his frontcourt running mate, Braden Huff, to an injury in mid-January.
Atlantic Coast Conference
6 of 10
ACC POY: Cameron Boozer, Duke
22.6 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 4.0 APG, 1.6 SPG, 40.4% 3PT
It has been a foregone conclusion for some time now that Cameron Boozer is going to win both National Player of the Year and National Freshman of the Year. The only player who had been even remotely within shouting distance of Boozer for either honor in the past month was the Big 12's AJ Dybantsa.
So, yeah, he's going to win ACC Player of the Year, too.
Possibly unanimously so.
Boozer has scored at least 17 points in 24 consecutive games, has tallied at least eight rebounds in 14 straight contests, and has dished out multiple assists in each of his 30 games. The do-it-all 6'9" freshman is also shooting 46.3 percent from three-point range over his last 16 games.
No team other than Duke has had a freshman named ACC Player of the Year, but Boozer will become this league's fifth such player in a little over a decade, joining Cooper Flagg, Zion Williamson, Marvin Bagley III, and Jahlil Okafor on that list.
The rest of the All-ACC First Team:
Caleb Wilson, North Carolina
Ebuka Okorie, Stanford
Boopie Miller, SMU
Malik Reneau, Miami
Big 12 Conference
7 of 10
Big 12 POY: AJ Dybantsa, BYU
24.8 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 3.8 APG, 1.1 SPG, 34.7% 3PT
This is the most difficult pick of them all.
It could go to any of Jaden Bradley, Brayden Burries, or Motiejus Krivas, should the voters reach a consensus on who has been the MVP of that fantastic Arizona squad.
Kingston Flemings and Christian Anderson are both in the running as the dominant lead guards of Houston and Texas Tech, respectively.
Do-it-all big man Joshua Jefferson is squarely in the mix, and probably would have been the pick two weeks ago before the Cyclones dropped three of four.
You could still make the case for JT Toppin, too, even though he was lost for the season a few weeks ago.
But without a clear frontrunner, why not AJ Dybantsa?
Yes, BYU has relentlessly cratered since starting 16-1, losing nine of its last 13 games. However, this freshman is doing everything in his power to keep the Cougars afloat, leading the nation in scoring and putting up at least 20 points in nine consecutive games.
If it's not Dybantsa, it'll probably go to one of the Arizona options, because the biggest argument against BYU's star is BYU's record—much like in 2018, when Trae Young lost out to Devonte' Graham from a No. 1 seed Kansas squad.
The rest of the All-Big 12 First Team:
Christian Anderson, Texas Tech
Kingston Flemings, Houston
Joshua Jefferson, Iowa State
Jaden Bradley, Arizona
Big East Conference
8 of 10
Big East POY: Alex Karaban, Connecticut
13.3 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 2.2 APG, 41.5% 3PT
Statistically speaking, Connecticut has better options for this honor.
Solo Ball is the leading scorer. Silas Demary Jr. leads the team in both assists and steals. And on a per-game basis, Tarris Reed Jr. is ahead of Alex Karaban in all five of the major categories.
But Karaban is the face of UConn basketball.
He's the two-time national champion and the program's all-time leader in wins, who has already been inducted into the "Huskies of Honor."
And save for a rough night in the recent loss to Creighton, Karaban has been the most consistent player throughout their quest to become a No. 1 seed, both in the Big East tournament and in the NCAA tournament.
Maybe Zuby Ejiofor ends up winning the vote. He is leading St. John's in points, rebounds, assists, and blocks, and just tallied a triple-double the other night in a rout of Villanova.
Again, statistically speaking, he's clearly the better choice than Karaban.
This is more of a legacy pick, though, at the end of a season in which no one from the Huskies particularly emerged as an All-American candidate.
The rest of the All-Big East First Team:
Zuby Ejiofor, St. John's
Acaden Lewis, Villanova
Michael Ajayi, Butler
Tarris Reed Jr., Connecticut
Big Ten Conference
9 of 10
Big Ten POY: Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan
14.3 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 3.3 APG, 1.4 BPG, 1.2 SPG, 31.0% 3PT
Cases could be made for a bunch of guards in the Big Ten. Foremost among them is Illinois' Keaton Wagler, but Michigan State's Jeremy Fears Jr., Iowa's Bennett Stirtz, Indiana's Lamar Wilkerson, and Purdue's Braden Smith all belong in the conversation, too.
But how could we justify not picking the best player on arguably the best team in the nation?
Arizona can also lay claim to that title, but it's been debatable all season long who their most valuable player is. That's not the case here, though, where Yaxel Lendeborg entered the season as one of the top candidates for National Player of the Year and has delivered the goods.
Big Yax hasn't rebounded at anywhere near the same rate as he did over the previous two seasons at UAB, but such is life when transitioning from a starting center at a mid-major to a "small" forward in the Big Ten who takes nearly half of his shots from the perimeter.
He still averages 10 rebounds and two blocks per 40 minutes, though. He leads the Wolverines in both points and steals while ranking second in rebounds, blocks, and assists.
Going for 16-7-4-2-2 in the recent road win over Illinois was just another day at the office for Lendeborg.
The rest of the All-Big Ten First Team:
Keaton Wagler, Illinois
Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State
Braden Smith, Purdue
Bennett Stirtz, Iowa
(If you/voters insist upon a second big man instead of four guards flanking Lendeborg, give us Washington's Hannes Steinbach in place of Stirtz)
Southeastern Conference
10 of 10
SEC POY: Darius Acuff Jr., Arkansas
22.0 PPG, 6.2 APG, 3.0 RPG, 42.9% 3PT
If either Thomas Haugh or Rueben Chinyelu receives this honor from a Florida team that has won its last 10 games by 23.2 PPG, no argument here. The Gators have turned the SEC into their personal playground and perhaps should produce the conference's POY because of it.
But Darius Acuff Jr. is leading the SEC in both points and assists and has forced us to grapple with the possibility that we are watching the greatest lead guard that John Calipari has ever coached.
IMHO, if we're only talking about offense, he truly might be. But John Wall still has Acuff beat if we're talking impact on both ends. It's a conversation worth having, though. And Acuff is, at worst, top five on a ridiculously loaded list that also includes Derrick Rose, De'Aaron Fox, Jamal Murray, and dozens of other first-round picks.
Regardless of where Acuff ranks in Calipari history, though, we're talking about a freshman who has scored at least 17 points in 23 consecutive games, while also dishing out at least five assists in 20 of those 23 contests.
If nothing else, he has made every Arkansas game entertaining to watch, as it's always a race to 85, if not 100.
The rest of the All-SEC First Team:
Labaron Philon Jr., Alabama
Thomas Haugh, Florida
Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt
Rueben Chinyelu, Florida
.jpg?w=480 "NFL Meetings Football")
.jpg?w=600 "Jeremiyah Love on Giants' Radar")
