The college basketball season is back and the 2025-26 campaign figures to be as crazy as ever. Although Week 1 didn't deliver a ton in the drama department, we got to enjoy some new stars making their collegiate debuts and some intriguing non-conference tests, such as Arizona's upset of reigning national champion Florida on opening night and a highly-entertaining Alabama-St. John's showdown at Madison Square Garden.
Throughout the college hoops regular season, FanSided will drop a Stock Watch early in the week to keep track of the biggest trends in the basketball scene. Let's dive into the first stock watch of the year with arguably the biggest headline of Week 1: the return of the star freshman to the landscape.
College Basketball Stock Watch - Risers
Fabulous Freshmen
The era of player movement has made it cool to be old again as veteran teams have had tremendous success in March, but there is still something fun seeing future NBA stars plying their trade on the college hardwood. The freshman class has come back with a vengeance this year, with a slew of stars showing the potential to carry their teams to new heights in the regular season.
NBA scouts have been keeping a close eye on the exploits of BYU's A.J. Dybantsa, Kansas' Darryn Peterson and Duke's Cameron Boozer. All three had strong debuts, but the class has shown even more pop as Arizona's Koa Peat was the best player on the floor in the Wildcats' win over Florida, while Peterson was out-dueled by North Carolina's Caleb Wilson in Chapel Hill on Friday. These five are just a handful of the top freshmen making an early impact, which is a great sign for the health of the game.
Alabama
While the people in the know recognize Nate Oats as a tremendous college coach, traditional fans have been a bit slower to embrace his skill at turning Alabama into an analytically savvy offensive machine. Perhaps those holdouts will recognize Oats' work after Saturday's 103-96 win over St. John's at MSG as a sign that his new age approach will continue to yield success in the college game.
The Crimson Tide worked Rick Pitino's team hard, continually breaking the press by driving to the basket and kicking out for threes. While guard play is an issue for the Red Storm, the fact that Alabama put up 100 points on a Pitino team is a strong sign of their ability to be a factor in the SEC this season.
Gonzaga
It was a bit of a quiet offseason for the Zags, who didn't make a splashy portal add that had pundits buzzing, but Mark Few built one of the most experienced rosters in college basketball. The Bulldogs kicked off their final season in the West Coast Conference in style, stacking two strong wins to begin the campaign, including an emphatic 83-68 win over an Oklahoma team that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
KenPom is very high on Gonzaga, which it views as a Top 10 team in both offensive and defensive efficiency, and Few's ability to go 9-deep in his initial rotations is a big strength that can wear down opponents. With a slew of power conference teams on their schedule, including a showdown with No. 23 Creighton on Tuesday night, the Bulldogs can quickly build a case to be a title threat.
College Basketball Stock Watch - Fallers
St. John's
Expectations were sky high for the Red Storm, who arguably stacked the best transfer class of the year with headliners like Bryce Hopkins and Ian Jackson to join returner Zuby Ejiofor as the core of Pitino's roster. Fresh off sweeping the Big East's regular season and tournament titles, the hope was that St. John's could build on that momentum and reach the second weekend of March Madness.
That hope was delayed after a humbling defeat to Alabama on Saturday, when the Crimson Tide exposed the Red Storm's kryptonite: suspect guard play. There is time for Pitino to figure out how to get better performance on the perimeter, but a rigorous non-conference schedule could lead St. John's to take a few lumps along the way.
Arkansas
It's tough to call a tough road loss to a ranked team a disappointing result but it sure feels like Arkansas let one slip away in East Lansing on Saturday night. Michigan State gutted out a three-point win at the Breslin Center, but the result felt like pulling teeth as the Spartans had difficulty generating outside shots, relying on rebounding and physicality to stack enough points to earn the victory.
John Calipari returned the majority of his Sweet 16 roster this season, so the Razorbacks shouldn't have been overwhelmed by the environment of a true road game in November. Losing the rebound battle by 12 is not a good look for Arkansas, which is capable of being tougher than what they showed on Saturday night.
Week 1 Upsets
While we have seen more ranked-on-ranked games early in the season, which is good for the health of the sport, there wasn't a truly earth-shattering upset to rattle the college basketball world in Week 1. The sport is more fun when you have the moment that makes Twitter explode, such as when James Madison went to East Lansing a few years ago and upset a Top 5-ranked Spartans team, than if the teams we expect to do well in the preseason poll perform.
The only losses for teams inside the AP Top 25 came against each other, which led to some movement up and down the polls but no new blood being ranked. Fans are definitely hoping for some sort of chaos in Week 2, which has some more challenging games now that teams have gotten their feet wet.