Entering the 2026-27 season. the talent in college basketball has never been better. Michigan State's Jeremy Fears Jr., Florida's Thomas Haugh and Vanderbilt's Tyler Tanner — the top-three ranked players on the CBS Sports Top 100 And 1 list — bypassed the NBA Draft to return to school. They're among several players on this list who took the payday at the college level instead of entering the draft.
Haugh, in particular, would've likely been a top 20 pick had he entered the 2026 NBA Draft. Instead, he returned to Florida, where the Gators will open the 2026-27 season as the preseason No. 1 team. Florida has three players (Haugh, Alex Condon, and Rueben Chinyelu) ranked in the top 20 of our annual list, which highlights the best of the best in the sport.
There could be even more returning talent in college basketball if members of the high school recruiting class of 2022 — who are seeking an additional year of eligibility after the NCAA implemented a new age-based eligibility model that gives athletes five years to play five seasons — are granted a fifth season. Those 2022 graduates aren't grandfathered into the new age-based model, meaning the only way to get eligibility is to sue. Even with the season less than two weeks away, it's unclear how many of the dozens of players suing for an additional year will actually be eligible to play.
Ten players who fall under the "fifth year" umbrella — with Miami's Malik Reneau being the highest-ranked player — made our Top 100 list. It's important to note that the panel of CBS Sports experts (Gary Parrish, Matt Norlander, David Cobb, Cameron Salerno and Isaac Trotter) was asked to consider the eligibility status and the possibility that those players won't be cleared to play after legal challenges, resulting in their ranking perhaps not being as high if they weren't in legal limbo. Another thing to note: former Purdue star Trey Kaufman-Renn, who signed with Kansas earlier this week, is not ranked.
Kaufman-Renn is a special case, as he is a 2021 high school graduate seeking a sixth year of eligibility. Although Kaufman-Renn redshirted his freshman season at Purdue, he would fall under the five-for-five model the NCAA is trying to implement. If Kaufman-Renn were ruled eligible to play, he would be a borderline All-American player.
However, with his eligibility murky at best, no one on our panel voted for Kaufman-Renn, and he is not included in our Top 100 list. Seniors: 38Sophomores: 22Juniors: 21Freshmen: 10Fifth-years: 10 Fears is the CBS Sports Preseason Player of the Year after averaging 15.2 points and 9.4 assists last season for a Michigan State team that finished 27-8 while advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. In the same year that Braden Smith set the NCAA's all-time assist record, it was Fears who led the nation in assists per game, besting the Purdue All-American by 0.6 assists per contest.
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