Earlier than the main target totally shifts to the 2025-26 males’s faculty basketball season, we’re evaluating how this previous season went.
With grades for the Massive East, Massive Ten and ACC already in, we’re transferring on to the Massive 12, with our report card for every of the 16 groups beneath.
A part of this course of is simple: A very good staff that performed like a very good staff will earn a robust grade, and a very good staff that performed like a nasty staff won’t. However will probably be sophisticated for sure groups. Some had championship goals. Others hoped to win only one sport. Both method, we’re judging every squad’s season based mostly on preseason expectations whereas providing grace on a case-by-case foundation for any unlucky midseason occasions.
Verify again subsequent Wednesday as we grade the SEC within the ultimate installment of this collection.
Observe: Groups listed in alphabetical order below every grading tier.
Leap to a staff: Arizona State | Arizona | Baylor | BYU | Cincinnati | Colorado | Houston | Iowa State | Kansas | Kansas State | Oklahoma State | TCU | Texas Tech | UCF | Utah | West Virginia
A grades
Grade: A
The thrill round BYU grew when prime recruit A.J. Dybantsa signed with this system, however first-year coach Kevin Younger didn’t make followers wait till 2025-26 for a profitable season.
Projected to complete Tenth within the Massive 12’s preseason ballot, the Cougars orchestrated probably the most fruitful campaigns in program historical past. With Richie Saunders (16.5 factors per sport) and 6-foot-9 freshman Egor Demin, they ended the common season on an eight-game profitable streak. And powered by the nation’s greatest offense within the final two months of the season, they reached the Candy 16 for the primary time since Jimmer Fredette starred for BYU greater than a decade in the past.
Grade: A
Kelvin Sampson, 69, as soon as once more proved he’s among the many biggest coaches in faculty basketball with a 35-5 marketing campaign that included one of many biggest comebacks in NCAA match historical past with Houston’s Closing 4 win over Duke.
L.J. Cryer, Milos Uzan, J’Wan Roberts, Joseph Tugler and Emanuel Sharp anchored a staff that misplaced just one sport between Nov. 30 and the nationwide championship tilt. And even within the title sport, the Cougars had a late lead over Florida earlier than the Gators launched a comeback and sealed the win on a chaotic ultimate play. Houston was simply seconds from Sampson’s first nationwide title earlier than issues fell aside, however every little thing earlier than that second had been bliss.
Grade: A
Texas Tech had among the best seasons in faculty basketball in 2024-25. Grant McCasland in all probability cannot abdomen the footage of his staff’s Elite Eight loss to eventual champion Florida, contemplating the Purple Raiders had a 75-66 lead over the Gators with lower than three minutes to play. However that is the one “blemish” on the Purple Raiders’ marketing campaign. And it is clear given how shut that sport was that Texas Tech was a professional contender to win the crown.
The Purple Raiders completed second within the ultimate Massive 12 standings behind Houston after they have been picked seventh within the preseason ballot. JT Toppin additionally earned AP second-team All-American honors.
Grade: A
If Kelvin Sampson had not received Massive 12 Coach of the 12 months, the honour doubtless would have gone to Darian DeVries. His son Tucker DeVries, the two-time Missouri Valley Convention Participant of the 12 months from his time at Drake, was obtainable for the Mountaineers for under a handful of video games as a result of an upper-body harm. In Tucker’s absence, Javon Small (AP All-American honorable point out) stepped up and led the Mountaineers to wins over Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas and Iowa State.
The Mountaineers have been broadly considered the most important snub on Choice Sunday, and so they overcame the lack of Tucker, which didn’t derail a brand new coach in his first and solely season with this system earlier than taking on at Indiana.
B grades
Grade: B
Tommy Lloyd’s staff misplaced three of its prime 4 scorers from the earlier season, however the return of Caleb Love — the Pac-12’s ultimate Participant of the 12 months — lifted expectations for Arizona’s first yr within the Massive 12. The season performed out in chapters. After beginning 4-5, the Wildcats received 13 of their subsequent 14 video games earlier than one other turbulent stretch of 3-4 within the ultimate month of the common season. However Love, an All-Massive 12 first-team choice, carried them to the Candy 16, the place they misplaced in a 100-93 thriller to Duke.
Grade: B
T.J. Otzelberger sustained his observe file of creating gamers in addition to any coach within the nation. Curtis Jones (17.4 PPG, 37.4% from 3) turned one of many prime reserves within the nation, incomes an AP All-American honorable point out. Keshon Gilbert was on an analogous trajectory previous to a late-season harm. And as soon as he was wholesome, Milan Momcilovic (11.5 PPG, 39.6% from 3) turned a key contributor. However the Cyclones completed fifth within the Massive 12 and fell wanting their postseason potential once they misplaced to Ole Miss — a sport Gilbert missed due to a groin harm — within the second spherical of the NCAA match.
C grades
Grade: C
After a prolonged stint as an assistant, Steve Lutz earned his first high-major job when Oklahoma State employed him in April 2024, following the Cowboys’ 12-win marketing campaign helmed by Mike Boynton. Though a Tenth-place end within the Massive 12 and a run to the NIT quarterfinals may not look like main achievements, the Cowboys have been projected at 14th within the league coming into the season. So, it was a notable enchancment from the earlier marketing campaign for a program that additionally completed within the prime 40 in defensive turnover proportion.
Grade: C
The Horned Frogs have been picked to complete Tenth within the Massive 12’s preseason ballot; they ended up tied for ninth. It was one of many worst campaigns at TCU for Jamie Dixon, who completed .500 or worse for simply the third time throughout his 9 seasons in Fort Price. Frankie Collins, who suffered a season-ending foot harm after simply 9 video games, may have helped down the stretch. However this was nonetheless a TCU staff that completed decrease than Duquesne and Idaho State in adjusted offensive effectivity.
Grade: C
Johnny Dawkins signed Mikey Williams, who by no means performed at Memphis as a result of authorized points, as a result of Dawkins stated he believed the previous five-star recruit would shine in Orlando. However Williams (5.1 PPG), like the remainder of the staff members, by no means discovered his stride.
At 10-2 general on Dec. 31 following a win over Texas Tech within the first sport of their convention slate, the Knights regarded like they may shock the Massive 12 and compete for a spot within the prime half of the standings. However a protection ranked fifteenth out of 16 groups wasn’t enough to keep away from a collapse throughout the remainder of league play.
D grades
Grade: D
The late-season losses of Jayden Quaintance (proper ACL) and BJ Freeman (dismissed for conduct detrimental to the staff) have been vital, however Bobby Hurley’s Tenth marketing campaign was a catastrophe lengthy earlier than that. The Solar Devils have been 3-12 in Massive 12 play when Freeman was dismissed, just one sport earlier than Quaintance’s final outing of the season. Arizona State in the end completed even decrease (fifteenth) than its Twelfth-place projection within the convention’s preseason ballot.
Grade: D
4 years faraway from its first nationwide championship, Baylor appeared outfitted with the gamers to succeed in these heights once more. The addition of VJ Edgecombe, a five-star recruit, boosted expectations, whereas Norchad Omier (Miami) and Jeremy Roach (Duke) have been thought-about elite transfers. However even with Robert Wright III maturing into one of many prime freshmen within the nation, the Bears by no means discovered the momentum many had anticipated they’d coming into the season. Scott Drew’s staff in the end completed seventh within the Massive 12, incomes a 9-seed within the NCAA match, the place they misplaced to Duke by 23 factors within the second spherical.
Grade: D
Wes Miller’s fourth yr at Cincinnati had the best components to be his greatest. Two of his prime three scorers from the 2023-24 season returned. Jizzle James (12.7 PPG) grew into the Bearcats’ main scorer, and Texas switch Dillon Mitchell added to their frontcourt depth. However they received simply seven Massive 12 video games for the second yr in a row on solely 30.2% capturing from the three arc in convention play, and so they prolonged their NCAA match drought to 6 years.
Grade: D
Earlier than the season tipped off, Invoice Self stated he believed he had the best gamers to compete for a nationwide championship after his staff unraveled late within the 2023-24 marketing campaign earlier than dropping within the second spherical of the NCAA match. However the 2024-25 staff ended up being much more disappointing.
Kansas spent hundreds of thousands on transfers AJ Storr, Zeke Mayo and Rylan Griffen. It additionally had a returning All-American with Hunter Dickinson in addition to two gamers — KJ Adams Jr. and Dajuan Harris Jr. — who had received a nationwide title with the Jayhawks in 2022. However they by no means regarded just like the staff they have been purported to be. Excluding the pandemic season, their 21-13 marketing campaign — which concluded with a first-round NCAA match loss to Arkansas — was the worst of Self’s 22-year tenure in Lawrence. That is far beneath KU’s normal.
Grade: D
The NIL period has altered the best way a staff’s potential is analyzed. The extra a staff spends, effectively, the extra their followers anticipate. That is what occurred with Kansas State this previous season.
Coleman Hawkins, a switch from Illinois, reportedly made $2 million after he picked the Wildcats over a listing of different elite applications — and he wasn’t the one extremely compensated switch whom Jerome Tang added. However the staff missed the mark. Tang and Michigan switch Dug McDaniel weren’t on the identical web page, and Samford switch Achor Achor left the staff for private causes after taking part in simply seven video games.
It was this system’s first sub-.500 season since Bruce Weber’s ultimate yr in 2021-22.
Grade: D
Utah fired Craig Smith earlier than the top of the common season in what could be the fourth consecutive yr with out an NCAA match look below its former coach. This system is going through the identical soul-searching second different energy convention applications have endured within the new local weather: At 16-17 and 8-12 in Massive 12 play (eleventh), Utah nonetheless had wins over BYU and Kansas however did little else to get its fan base excited in regards to the future.
F grade
Grade: F
It was an unsightly season for a Colorado staff that had reached the NCAA match for the sixth time below Tad Boyle in 2023-24. The Buffaloes did not restock their expertise pool after dropping their prime 5 scorers from that squad to both the professionals or the switch portal, and it confirmed, as they completed final within the Massive 12. Julian Hammond III and the returning crew began convention play with an 0-13 mark and by no means recovered.
