Matt Norlander's Top 100 And 1 college basketball teams: CBS Sports' preseason rankings for 2026-27

The season is less than a week away, title contenders are everywhere and more NCAA bids are there for the taking. Here It has never been more challenging to make specific projections about how college basketball teams will perform over a five-month period than right now. The season is less than a week away and there are more than 100 players across high- and mid-major basketball who are suing to get a fifth year of eligibility. Some of these players rank among the 30, 40 or 50 best in the sport. Their eligibility will likely sway the success, or lack thereof, with a litany of programs. Best of all: Because the NCAA is resisting allowing a blanket waiver for all fifth-year cases for 2026 graduates (when everyone else who graduates in 2027 and beyond is qualified) nobody knows who will be allowed to play and for how long.

It's possible some of these fifth-year cases will get yanked more than a month into the season and cause significant recalibrations for those teams. More than 40% of the teams listed in this story are grappling with player-initiated lawsuits. Aside from the 2020-21 season during the COVID-19 outbreak that led to hundreds of postponements and game cancellations over the course of five months, there has never been a season with more uncertainty