These are the top 10 teams that could bounce back this season, ranked by Andy Katz.
1. NC State
Will Wade got the transfers in place to take a team seven games under .500 to a potential single-digit NCAA tournament seed with the additions of Darrion Williams, Tre Holloman and Terrance Arceneaux.
Darrion Williams is heading to Raleigh 🔥
NC State makes the transfer news official 👏 pic.twitter.com/yOt1XfUm7p
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) May 23, 2025
2. Southern Cal
The Trojans got Rodney Rice and Chad Baker-Mazara, two players with NCAA tournament experience to get the Trojans into the Big Dance.
First looks at @rodneyrice__ in the Cardinal and Gold 👀✌️ pic.twitter.com/bJnHKNAlYw
— USC Men’s Basketball (@USC_Hoops) July 9, 2025
3. Ohio State
The Buckeyes should have been an NCAA tournament team last season but collapsed late. The core of the team is back and so are the Buckeyes.
4. Indiana
The Hoosiers missed the NCAA tournament, but a coaching change and a transfer-led class featuring Tucker DeVries should mean a bid.
5. Kansas State
The Wildcats reached the Elite Eight in year one of the Jerome Tang tenure, advanced to the NIT in the second season and missed the tournament last season. But the addition of all-American PJ Haggerty from Memphis should get the Wildcats back to the NCAA tournament.
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6. Iowa
Ben McCollum has won at every stop. He should do the same with Bennett Stirtz leading the way again to the NCAA tournament.
7. Washington
The Huskies finished last in the Big Ten, but they have USC’s best players from last season, Desmond Claude and Wesley Yates, to make them tournament worthy.
Hold up, wait a minute, y’all thought we were finished?
📰 https://t.co/AXy793JA1H pic.twitter.com/8gTvvUGjps
— Washington Men’s Basketball (@UW_MBB) June 10, 2025
8. Georgia Tech
The Yellow Jackets were a .500 team a year ago but are poised to be NCAA-bound with the return of Baye Ndongo.
9. Georgetown
The Hoyas got the necessary returnees and transfers to infuse confidence that they could return to the NCAA tournament.
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10. Virginia
Ryan Odom has won at every stop and got the necessary scoring in the portal to take the Cavaliers from finishing two games under .500 to being in the NCAA tournament this season.
Andy Katz is an NCAA.com correspondent. Katz worked at ESPN for 18 years as a college basketball reporter, host and anchor. He’s covered every Final Four since 1992, and the sport since 1986 as a freshman at Wisconsin. He is a former president of the United States Basketball Writers Association. Katz can also be seen covering college basketball on Big Ten Network during the regular season. Follow him on Twitter at @theandykatz.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NCAA or its member institutions.
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