Who’s College Basketball’s Best In 2026?

One of NCAA college basketball’s main storylines in a 2024-25 season full of them was the hotly contested battle between Duke’s Cooper Flagg and Auburn’s Johni Broome for the various national player of the year awards across the country. Ultimately, Flagg swept everything but the Sporting News Player of the Year Award, which went to Broome. It was an interesting dynamic to compare the 18-year-old phenom Flagg with the 23-year-old stalwart Broome throughout the season.

With an incoming freshman class that includes two potentially generational prospects in Darryn Peterson and A.J. Dybantsa, as well as a returning crop of players that includes 2025 Big Ten Player of the Year Braden Smith and the top target in the transfer portal this offseason in Michigan’s Yaxel Lendeborg, the national player of the year debate figures to be more wide-ranging this year with an excellent crop of high-end talent. 

Not to mention players like Texas Tech’s JT Toppin, who’s fresh off an Elite 8 appearance with the Red Raiders, or his star ex-teammate Darrion Williams, who elected to transfer to Will Wade’s operation at NC State with a hefty price tag included. Then you have players like UCLA’s Donovan Dent, who commanded a reported $3 million NIL deal during transfer portal negotiations. Or Duke freshman Cameron Boozer, who is arguably the most accomplished prep basketball player of all time.

This two-part series will break down the eight players in college basketball this season who are in the running for the hypothetical “Best Player In College Basketball” superlatives ahead of this upcoming season.

Braden Smith, Purdue (6-0, PG, Jr.) Age: 22 

Braden Smith is currently the odds-on favorite to sweep the National Player of the Year Awards. Frankly, that’s hard to argue given his importance to the Purdue Boilermakers throughout his time with the program. Smith is coming off a banner campaign in 2024-25 that saw him earn Big Ten Player of the Year and first-team All-American honors after averaging 15.7 points and 8.7 assists per game, the latter of which was good for second in the nation behind current Dallas Mavericks rookie point guard Andrew Nembhard (Gonzaga). 

Smith is the definition of a true point guard and is arguably the best passer in all of college basketball, already having carved his place on the top of the all-time assists leaderboard for Purdue’s storied basketball program. Smith’s strong 6’0 frame also allows him to finish effectively at the rim and he’s almost a career 40 percent shooter from beyond-the-arc, to boot.

Smith has another Player of the Year contender in Trey Kaufman-Renn alongside him in Purdue’s starting lineup, but Las Vegas clearly sees that as beneficiary for his Player of the Year Award odds as opposed to the opposite.

Darryn Peterson, Kansas (6-5, CG, Fr.) Age: 18

Kansas’ Darryn Peterson is going to become a household name among basketball fans sooner rather than later. The projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft has been considered by some to be a generational guard prospect, including coach Bill Self, who said Peterson is “the best player he’s recruited” since he’s been the head man in Lawrence. 

Peterson, a 6’5 combo guard, was the 2025 Naismith High School Player of the Year, and the runner-up to Cam Boozer for Mr. Basketball USA, out of Prolific Prep in Napa, California. He averaged eye-popping numbers during his senior season, scoring 30.4 points while grabbing 7.4 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game. Although Peterson has been somewhat overlooked compared to the other top 2025 high school prospects because of his late-stage emergence over AJ Dybantsa, he’s arguably the most polished guard prospect on this side of the 2020s.

Peterson is a Cade Cunningham-esque jack-of-all-trades guard with elite driving and finishing ability, along with a solid shooting stroke from beyond the arc. He makes the offensive game look easy and enters college as arguably the most gifted playmaker in the country and should have little to no trouble putting together a balanced highlight reel with the Jayhawks this season. He’s going to be asked to do a lot for one of the most visible programs in college athletics, and everything we’ve seen from him suggests he’s up for the task.

A.J. Dybantsa, BYU (6-9, SF, Fr.) Age: 18

Peterson has emerged as the No. 1 2026 draft prospect in recent months, but it was BYU’s A.J. Dybantsa who was the number one-ranked recruit in the country for most of the 2025 class cycle while being one of the most sought after prep talents of the last decade. Dybantsa’s odds to win the Wooden Award are actually more favorable than Peterson’s at the moment, and given the recent trajectory of their respective programs, it’s not hard to see a scenario where BYU is the premier team in the Big 12 this season with Dybantsa leading the way. 

Dybantsa is a 6’9 freak of nature wing with a guard-like handle and a consistent ability to score at all three levels. He can make shots off the dribble, hit pull-ups, and finish above the rim, and he rarely forces things or play out of control. Dybantsa moves well enough defensively to effectively guard the perimeter at his height and he’s athletic and long enough to effectively guard forwards, too. He’s not a rim protector by any means, but his lengthy fellow freshman,  6-11 Xavion Staton, will be counted on in that area for the Cougs.

Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan (6-9, PF, Sr.) Age: 22

Yaxel Lendeborg would have been a guaranteed first-round pick if he had kept his name in the NBA Draft this spring, but the UAB transfer made it known he was going to play for Dusty May’s Michigan Wolverines if he didn’t receive a guarantee from a team in the top 20. As it turns out, that guarantee never came, because Lendeborg withdrew his name from the field and elected to take his talents to play for a Michigan team that won the Big Ten Tournament while he was still in Birmingham this past March. 

Lendeborg’s 2024-25 campaign has only one historical parallel, as he became the second player in Division I history (alongside Indiana State’s Larry Bird) to record 600-plus points, 400-plus rebounds and 150+ assists in a single season. He averaged 17.7 points, 11.4 rebounds (fourth nationally) and 3.4 assists per game, leading UAB to an AAC tournament championship game. Lendeborg was also a nuisance on the defensive end, averaging 3.5 stocks (1.7 steals, 1.8 blocks) per game.

One advantage he does have over the others is experience, as this will be his sixth season of college basketball at some level, having started off in the junior college ranks in 2020-21.