The 2025-26 college basketball season is officially in the books with the Michigan Wolverines coming away as national champions. It was a historic year for the sport filled with drama, excitement, and entertainment from start to finish. Let’s take a look at 10 defining storylines that shaped this college hoops season.
1. Michigan's Dominance
It was a dominant season for Dusty May’s Wolverines that ended with a national championship. While things looked a little shaky early, Michigan hit their stride at the Players Era Festival with three wins by 30+ points. That momentum carried them through the rest of the season and on to a convincing run to the title that included an 18-point win over Arizona in the Final Four that showed they were the best team in the country. May built the perfect team for his vision, led by Yaxel Lendeborg, to get the Michigan program its second national title in just his second season in Ann Arbor. With their overall dominance and half of their wins this year coming by 18 points or more, this Wolverines team will be remembered as one of the all-time greats in college basketball.
2. Duke's Choke
It was another strong season for Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils, that once again ultimately ended in heartbreak. Despite how good this team was and the phenomenal play of Naismith Player of the Year Cameron Boozer, they will always be remembered for their collapse in the Elite Eight against UConn. What makes it even worse is that Duke had beaten the team that went on to win it all in Michigan just a little over a month prior.
3. UConn’s Run to the National Championship Game/Braylon Mullins’ Shot
On the other side of Duke’s collapse was Braylon Mullins’ shot, a moment that will go down in March Madness history. The Huskies were a strong team all season but struggled at times in Big East play and in big games. This had many doubting them come tournament time, especially in a loaded East region. Dan Hurley proved why he is the best active coach in the sport though leading UConn on a surprising run to the title game, and coming just one win short of the start of a new sports dynasty.
4. Year of the Freshman
It’s impossible to talk about this college basketball season without highlighting the stellar play of freshmen across the country. No matter what game you watched, it seemed like a freshman was putting on a star performance. I think of late January, when three different freshmen (Keaton Wagler, Kingston Flemings, and AJ Dybantsa) all scored 40+ points on the same day.
There was Darryn Peterson and AJ Dybantsa battling for the top spot in the draft, POY Cameron Boozer, Arizona’s Koa Peat and Brayden Burries, Nate Ament, Mikel Brown Jr., Darius Acuff Jr. who became one of the most exciting players we’ve ever seen, Hannes Steinbach, who didn’t get the attention he deserved on a struggling Washington team. And that’s just to name a few of so many standout freshmen that made this arguably the greatest freshman class of all time.
5. Darryn Peterson Situation
One of those star freshmen that was constantly in the headlines was Kansas’ Darryn Peterson. Unfortunately, most of that attention came for the wrong reasons as injuries kept him off the court numerous times this season. When he did play though, he was the best player on the floor making 20+ point performances look effortless. Peterson remained healthy down the stretch, but the season ultimately ended with another missed Sweet 16 for Bill Self and the Jayhawks.
6. Mid-Major (Conference Tournament) Madness
We didn’t get the early NCAA Tournament mid-major upsets that fans love to see, but the madness came in the mid-major conference tournaments. Several top seeds that looked like strong upset contenders such as Belmont, Liberty, and UNC Wilmington, fell early in their conference tournaments as we never got to see them in the Big Dance. This sparked a major conversation about how conference tournaments are structured and how much they should reward a team’s regular-season performance. It will be interesting to see if this season’s results lead to any changes in the future.
You also can’t talk about this season without mentioning the Miami (OH) RedHawks, who were undefeated in the regular season but were upset in the first round of the MAC tournament. They did get a spot in the Field of 68 though after being the talking point of the bubble all season.
7. Major Injuries
Injuries are the worst part of sports, and this season we saw some major players go down including Texas Tech’s JT Toppin. The Red Raiders were having another strong season and looked like serious contenders in March until Toppin was sidelined with a season-ending torn ACL. Texas Tech was immediately counted out after the news of Toppin’s injury, but the team surprisingly carried on better than expected, including a road win over Arizona. However, without Toppin on the floor the Red Raiders became too reliant on their guards and perimeter shooting, which ultimately led to an embarrassing loss in the second round of the tournament.
On top of Toppin, BYU’s Richie Saunders and North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson also missed the end of the season due to injury for two teams that could have had a very different endings to their season had they stayed healthy.
8. Mick Cronin’s Antics
Whenever Mick Cronin stepped in front of a microphone or coached a game this season, it produced fireworks. From ejecting his own player from a game to his “are you raising your voice at me?” comment, Cronin was can’t-miss content. In a sport where head coaches are the face of their programs and carry so much weight, Cronin did a great job of producing entertainment and bringing attention to college basketball. Even if you didn’t like him and thought his actions were over the top, Cronin grew on people as the season went on and you can’t deny that he was entertaining.
The funniest part is with the way Cronin acted, it seemed like his UCLA team hadn’t won a single game all season. In reality, they had a solid year posting a 24-12 record and advancing to the second round of the tournament.
9. Decline of the Maui Invitational
The Maui Invitational used to be the early-season highlight of college basketball, but this year it felt like the event really lost its juice. What was once a tournament that hinted at which teams could make a deep run in March featured only two teams this year that ultimately made the NCAA Tournament. The decline of the Maui Invitational can be attributed to the rise of other early in-season tournaments that offer programs more incentives or benefits. As a college basketball fan, it was sad to see what the Maui Invitational had become this season.
10. Pro Players Coming Back
The idea of former pro players returning to college basketball sounds crazy, but that just shows how wild this season was. Baylor brought in James Nnaji, who was selected in the 2023 NBA Draft and played professionally overseas. Alabama brought back Charles Bediako, who was with the Tide from 2021-23 and spent the last three seasons in the G-League. Even Amari Bailey went on a visit in the middle of the season trying to get back into college basketball after playing in NBA games. While the changes in college athletics can bring some positives, this is one of the many downsides that hopefully gets solved and left in the past.