5 Storylines 25 Days Out From College Basketball

It is that time of year again. The weather is starting to turn a little more crisp, football is in full swing, and the holidays are quickly approaching. However, that also means that college basketball season is right around the corner. The Kentucky Wildcats just completed their annual Pro Day on Tuesday, Big Blue Madness is coming on Saturday, and the Blue-White Game will be played on October 17th. Then, just a week a later, the ‘Cats will play the preseason #1 Purdue Boilermakers in a highly anticipated exhibition game. It is hard to believe how close we are to tipping off the 2025-2026 college basketball season.

In honor of hitting the 25-day-out mark, let’s begin by taking a look at five of the biggest storylines entering the 2025-2026 season. Every five days we will release five more headlines and ultimately reach a total of 25 when the season begins on the 3rd of November. As Kentucky Sports Radio’s resident college basketball junkie, I will have plenty of other preview content, including my annual College Basketball Manifesto, over the next few weeks. It is almost here, folks!

As Jon Rothstein would say: And Here. We. Go.

Purdue’s Braden Smith Chases History

Quite frankly, historical records in college sports have been largely ruined over the past few years. Players being granted five and six years of eligibility has completely rewritten the record books in a way that will be hard to recover from as we return to some semblance of “normalcy.” However, there are still a few instances of legitimate runs at long-standing records.

There have been four players in the history of college basketball dish out over 1,000 career assists. Current Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley is the all-time leader with 1,076 during his illustrious career at Duke. Through three seasons at Purdue, Braden Smith has racked up 758 assists. The Purdue point guard has led the country in dimes each of the last two seasons. If the Boilermakers play 35 games, Smith will need to average nine assists per game to break Hurley’s record. However, if they can play 38 games, that number would fall to 8.4 assists per game. Smith averaged 8.7 assists per game last season. It will be difficult, but it is at least possible that we have a new all-time NCAA assist leader after the 2025-2026 season.

Florida Gators Look to Repeat (Again)

Until Coach Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies did it in 2023 and 2024 no team had won back-to-back National Championships since the Florida Gators in 2006 and 2007. Now, Coach Todd Golden has a chance to do what Coach Billy Donovan did nearly two decades ago. Florida will feature what could potentially be the best front court in college basketball this season. Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon return as skilled forwards. Meanwhile, center Rueben Chinyelu will be one of the best interior defenders in the country.

While the Gators’ front court is championship caliber, there are at least some unknowns in the backcourt. Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee are absolutely good enough to cut down the nets. However, how the two transfers mesh with one another and fit into Florida’s system remains to be seen. Fland was a five-star prospect and one of the best playmakers in the country as a freshman until he got hurt early in conference play at Arkansas. In many ways the Razorbacks were better without Fland though. They started SEC play 0-5 before his injury and ended up righting the ship and advancing to the Sweet 16. Fland played in those NCAA Tournament games, but in a smaller role totaling a combined 12 points and 5 assists.

As for Xaivian Lee, he will be asked to make the significant jump from the Ivy League to the Southeastern Conference. The 6’3″ guard generated some legitimate NBA Draft following a breakout sophomore season and backed it up by averaging 16.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game as a junior at Princeton. Lee is a two-time First Team All-Ivy League selection that can really shoot it from three-point range. Fland and Lee have the playmaking and shotmaking ability to create a dynamic backcourt. However, they certainly aren’t the sure thing that the Gators’ front court is entering the 2025-2026 season.

March Madness (Final Four) Hangover

In 2022, North Carolina made an improbable run to the national championship game as an eight-seed. However, despite entering 2023 ranked number one in the country, the Tar Heels failed to even make the NCAA Tournament. Miami (FL), who advanced to the 2023 Final Four, finished under .500 in 2024 after losing their last 10 games of the season. Similarly, Florida Atlantic brought a lot back from their national runner-up team only to spend much of the season on the bubble and lose in the first round to Northwestern. Last season, NC State went just 12-19 and fired their coach a year after going to the Final Four. For the last few years we have seen a bit of a March Madness hangover effect. Who will be the team to suffer this season?

With all four number one seeds advancing to the 2025 Final Four it feels very unlikely that we see someone miss the tournament entirely in 2026. However, that has been the trend the last three seasons. Defending National Champion Florida and Runner-Up Houston will begin the season ranked in the top three. Duke won’t be too far behind somewhere in the Top 10. Therefore, that leaves Auburn as the theoretical answer. Not only did the Tigers have nine seniors on last year’s team, but Coach Bruce Pearl also announced his retirement on the first day of official practice. His son, Coach Steven Pearl, will take over and returns point guard Tahaad Pettiford alongside a talented stable of transfers. Auburn is still a preseason Top 25 team, but there is at least a chance things go south this season.

Evan Miya’s Top 30 Players & Top 10 Teams

If you are reading this article and aren’t familiar with Evan Miyakawa’s work at this point then you need to add his website to your rotation. KenPom is father of college basketball analytics, but Evan is a younger entrant into the field who has quickly found a foothold of national relevance. His analytics website recently released both their Top 30 individual players for the 2025-2026 season and their Top 10 teams. Let’s take a look at each of those rankings.

Since this is Kentucky Sports Radio, fans will quickly notice that there are no Wildcats in the Top 30. Otega Oweh, who is likely going to be a preseason All-American, seems like the obvious “omission.” However, Kentucky does have five of the Top 100 players which is matched only by Florida. As expected, Braden Smith comes in at number one Evan Miya’s player projections. Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan), JT Toppin (Texas Tech), Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn), and Labaron Philon (Alabama) round out the top five. Freshmen Cameron Boozer (Duke), Darryn Peterson (Kansas), and AJ Dybantsa (BYU) check in at seven, eight, and nine respectively.

As for the Top 10 team rankings, Kentucky was just on the outside at #11. Houston came in at the top spot thanks in large part to being projected as the best defense in the country by a comfortable margin. Similarly, Purdue is projected as the best offense and is second overall. Duke, Florida, and Connecticut round out the Top 5 followed by Michigan, Arizona, Illinois, BYU, and Gonzaga. Arizona and Illinois are the attention-grabbers in terms of teams that Evan’s projections are clearly higher on than most other national publications.

Kentucky’s Insane Schedule

Big Blue Nation is no stranger to seeing the Wildcats play the best of the best. Last season, Kentucky played the third hardest schedule in the country according to KenPom. That was in large part due to the Southeastern Conference being historically difficult. Now, in 2025-2026, Coach Pope has beefed up the non-conference slate. The ‘Cats will waste no time as they travel to rival Louisville, who will be a Top 10 team, on November 11th. There is a matchup with Michigan State Madison Square Garden later in the month as well. Then, in December, the road gets even tougher. Kentucky will host North Carolina, take on Gonzaga in Nashville, host Indiana, and play St. John’s in Atlanta. It is very possible that all of those games are Top 25 matchups at the time they are played.