Dribble Handoff: New Year’s resolutions for Kentucky, Kansas and more contenders

When the calendar flipped from 2024 to 2025, neither of the teams that ultimately played in the national championship game were ranked in the top-five of the AP Top 25 poll. Florida began the new year at No. 6, and Houston started the new year at No. 14.

That they ended up being the last two teams standings inside the Alamodome on April 7 shows that the saying, “new year, new me” can apply to college basketball teams. As 2026 arrives, so does the heart of conference play and a line in the sand.

Didn’t accomplish what you wanted to in November and December? January and February bring a shot for redemption. Houston started slow a year ago before ratcheting up the intensity with the start of Big 12 play to go 19-1. It’s almost as if the Cougars resolved anew to be the nastiest, grittiest team in college basketball.

Against that backdrop, we are setting out to make New Year’s resolutions on behalf of some of college basketball’s 2025-26 contenders for this week’s Dribble Handoff.

I hope Peterson plays Saturday for the first time in three weeks; I gather that’s the plan. Either way, my hope is that everybody can find a way to stay reasonable even if the five-star freshman misses what would be his 10th game of the season at UCF, because, as I’ve said many times on recent episodes of the Eye On College Basketball Podcast, some of the hysteria connected to Peterson’s absence has seemed a little overblown, at least from my perspective.

Has it been frustrating for KU fans? Certainly. Has it been frustrating for KU coach Bill Self? How could it not be? But here’s the truth: basketball players missing multiple weeks, or even multiple months, with injuries and issues like the injuries and issues Peterson has reportedly been dealing with isn’t all too uncommon in the NBA, nor is a player, or his family/advisors, having a say in any plan for a return to the court. From that perspective, all of this has been more normal than it might appear to some. But, yes, it would be awesome if it were a big college basketball story that soon becomes an old college basketball story, because we’re only going to get one year of Peterson in the Big 12, and it would be a shame if the memories from it were mostly tied to the possible No. 1 overall pick of the 2026 NBA Draft sitting on a bench in street clothes watching a season unfold without him . — Gary Parrish

Tennessee: Give Nate Ament a full-time green light

As this 2025-26 freshman class has grown into maybe the strongest in the sport’s history, one top-10 prospect has drifted into the background a bit. Nate Ament has been productive (15.4 ppg, 6.9 rpg) but hasn’t been in that upper-echelon conversation with the likes of Cam Boozer, AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Darius Acuff Jr., Mikel Brown Jr. and even Kingston Flemings. 

I do think Ament could have a stronger second half of the season vs. what we saw in November and December. His shooting splits have to improve, and while Ja’Kobi Gillespie running the point is going to be UT’s most important factor in pushing for the top of the SEC, Ament displaying his array of offensive skills will be nearly as necessary if the Vols are going to be a 4-seed or better for a fifth straight season. I think this is the SEC team with the widest gap between ceiling and floor. The 10-3 Volunteers open up league play this weekend at Arkansas, a spicy test to get January going. Rick Barnes’ team has two high-quality wins (vs. Houston in Las Vegas in November, home against Louisville in December), with losses to Kansas, Syracuse and Illinois also on the docket. Ament hasn’t been his best against the best teams. 

Time for him to level up, and time for Barnes to scheme up his best talent, because we’ll be seeing the same elsewhere in that league at schools like Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama and Auburn. — Matt Norlander

Florida: Stay in the gym until shooting improves

Among the more perplexing early-season developments is defending national champion Florida’s inability to shoot at even a Division I average from 3-point range. It is shooting 6.8% below the Division I average on above-the-break 3-pointers per CBB Analytics data, which last season was one of its many strengths. And its 3-point shooting percentage amid a 9-4 start is 28.2%. That ranks 340th among 344 teams. That is abysmal for a Gators team that ranked No. 3 in the preseason and was fifth nationally in scoring per game just a season ago. 

The Gators have a roster worth millions of dollars and the staff targeted players who’d previously shot it well — among them Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee — but the numbers thus far have been ugly. Fland is shooting 22.2% on 3-pointers and Lee is at 25.3%. And even returning players who previously shot it well from distance like Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh are below their percentages from last season. 

It’s been ugly all the way around. Florida as a team should make a resolution to hold an open gym and lock its doors until this improves. There are bubbling reasons why it has not perhaps been better — the guard play has been inconsistent, turnovers have been an issue and depth (or lack thereof) is a problem. But it’s almost inexplicable that this team is not only the worst among all SEC teams in 3-point percentage — but also the worst among all major conference teams in 3-point percentage. That has to improve, and dramatically, before Florida can even begin to start daydreaming about a repeat. — Kyle Boone

Kentucky: Shoot fewer 3-pointers

Kentucky is 2-1 against high-major opponents when shooting 16 or fewer 3-pointers and 0-3 against high-major opponents when shooting 30 or more 3-pointers. For this UK team, less is more when it comes to outside shooting. In theory, Kam Williams, Jasper Johnson, Collin Chandler and Trent Noah were meant to comprise a solid nucleus of perimeter marksmen. In practice, they are role players who have struggled mightily to find anything resembling a rhythm against quality opponents. UK is at its best when playing in transition, attacking the basket and crashing the glass. 

Second-year coach Mark Pope is tactically brilliant and might prefer an artful style built around a bunch of 40% 3-point shooters. But he needs to acknowledge this Kentucky team won’t be winning an offensive beauty contest this season. The Wildcats should resolve to shoot less from beyond the arc and attack more for the remainder of the 2025-26 season. — David Cobb

Providence: A recommittment to doing the hard things  

It’s soul-searching season for a 7-6 Providence club that was one of the big-money spenders in free agency. Providence can’t go anywhere in the Big East without finding the gumption to settle in and play defense, box out and stop playing “after me, you come first” offense. This defense needs an intervention. The Friars have allowed 1.23 points per possession in six games against top-100 teams, per hoop-explorer. That rates 347th (!) nationally. Whenever big man Oswin Erhunmwunse checks out, Providence’s defense rates 365th nationally against top-100 teams. That’s dead last in America. 

As usual, everything in basketball is interconnected, and it’s hard to watch Providence and not feel that this group is playing unconnected, selfish basketball. The defensive effort is uninspiring at best and horrific at worst. The lack of ball movement offensively and the amount of quick-trigger jacks consistently put this transition defense in bad spots, too. 

This team is unquestionably talented, but something has to give in a hurry. Jason Edwards’ heaters are unstoppable. When he gets his feet set, freshman Stefan Vaaks is a net-shredder. Jaylin Sellers is a freakshow in transition. If rims could talk, they’d be terrified of Sellers’ lefty drives. Jamier Jones looks like a senior linebacker trapped in a freshman’s body. There’s a good team in here somewhere, but it’s getting late early.

We’ll learn a ton about the Friars’ mental fortitude and whether they want to make something of this season in the next six days. Providence travels to St. John’s on Saturday before hosting No. 4 UConn in an enormous tilt on Wednesday.  — Isaac Trotter