College basketball rankings: St. John’s climbs into top five, Duke slides amid NBA Draft declarations
Rick Pitino insisted during the regular season that he would restock his St. John’s roster via the transfer portal as opposed to with high school prospects. True to his word, just two weeks after the season concluded, the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame coach has added four high-level transfers who should, on paper, give the Red Storm a chance to win back-to-back Big East championships.
Will UConn have something to say about that?
Yes, I think so.
But Pitino is undeniably delivering on his promise to build a roster capable of keeping St. John’s at the top of the Big East with the latest addition coming Monday afternoon, when Ian Jackson, a 2024 McDonald’s All-American who just finished his freshman year at North Carolina, publicly committed to the re-energized program. It’s a move that will allow Jackson to play home games inside Madison Square Garden, just seven miles from where he was born in Harlem.
“We had big shoes to fill at the point,” Pitino posted Monday on X, previously known as Twitter. “Kadary [Richmond} and Deivon [Smith] were awesome [this past season]. The ball is now in the hands of our next great point. Let’s go Ian!”
The addition of Jackson — which followed the additions of Arizona State transfer Joson Sanon, Providence transfer Bryce Hopkins and Stanford transfer Oziyah Sellers — means St. John’s could start this way Opening Night:
G: Ian Jackson
G: Oziyah Sellers
G: Joson Sanon
F: Bryce Hopkins
C: Zuby Ejiofor
That lineup would feature three seniors (Hopkins, Ejiofor, Sellers) and two sophomores who were top-25 national prospects in the Class of 2024 (Jackson, Sanon). Each of those five players has already averaged double-figures at the power-conference level, point being Pitino has built a team that’s both talented and experienced, which is among the reasons I’ve moved the Red Storm up to No. 4 in Version 8 of the 2025-26 CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 college basketball rankings.
Houston remains No. 1.
Why Houston?
It’s because the Cougars are projected to return three starters — specifically Emanuel Sharp, Milos Uzan and Joseph Tugler — from a team that finished 35-5 after falling to Florida in the national championship of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. That core will be joined by a recruiting class highlighted by Creighton transfer Pop Isaacs, five-star freshman Chris Cenac Jr., and four-star freshmen Isiah Harwell and Kingston Flemings, each of whom should play a role in helping Kelvin Sampson try to take the Cougars to the Final Four for the third time in a six-year span.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
7 7
Rk Teams Chg Rcrd
1
team logo
Houston
— 35-5
2
team logo
Purdue
— 24-12
3
team logo
UConn
— 24-11
4
team logo
St. John’s
7 31-5
5
team logo
BYU
1 26-10
6
team logo
Texas Tech
1 28-9
7
team logo
Michigan
2 27-10
8
team logo
UCLA
1 23-11
9
team logo
Arizona
1 24-13
10
team logo
Kentucky
3 24-12
11
team logo
Iowa St.
1 25-10
12
team logo
Louisville
— 27-8
13
team logo
Duke
7 35-4
14
team logo
Michigan St.
1 30-7
15
team logo
Florida
1 36-4
16
team logo
Oregon
— 25-10
17
team logo
Kansas
— 21-13
18
team logo
Auburn
— 32-6
19
team logo
Arkansas
— 22-14
20
team logo
Tennessee
3 30-8
21
team logo
Texas
1 19-16
22
team logo
Alabama
1 28-9
23
team logo
Ohio St.
1 17-15
24
team logo
Wisconsin
1 27-10
25
team logo
Gonzaga
1 26-9
26
team logo
N. Carolina
2 23-14
