After back-to-back runs of freshmen winning National Player of the Year, college hoops might transition back to a place where the most valuable player in the sport is someone who's spent three or four years at this level.
Duke boasted the best player in college hoops the past two years in Cooper Flagg and Cameron Boozer, but prior to that we saw the likes of Zach Edey, Oscar Tshiebwe, Luka Garza and Obi Toppin make their everlasting marks on the sport.
Will another vet take the POY crown in 2026-27? We think so, but our ballots had three players earn votes. One of them was First Team All-American Tyler Tanner, who might wind up with the highest usage rate of any point guard in the country at Vanderbilt this season. Tanner has put on weight and could put up the best season by any Vandy player ever if it all comes together.
Florida senior Thomas Haugh also received votes, and rightly so after he opted to return to the Gators, turning down likely being a top-20 NBA pick in the process. Haugh is surrounded by the best frontcourt in college basketball, which will both benefit him as a player — but also could see his teammates (Alex Condon, Rueben Chinyelu) steal the spotlight from game to game.
Which leaves us with the third player, and our preseason honoree.
Shawn Respert, Draymond Green and Denzel Valentine are the only Michigan State Spartans to earn a National Player of the Year award. (Surprisingly, Magic Johnson did not win it; Larry Bird swept all the awards in 1978-79.)
After leading the nation in assists, Tom Izzo has his floor general back — and quite possibly the most valuable player in the country.
Note: The CBS Sports preseason awards were voted on by college basketball writers at CBS Sports and 247Sports, as well as some broadcasters from CBS/CBS Sports Network.
CBS Sports Preseason Player of the Year
Jeremy Fears Jr. | PG | Michigan State | 6-2 | R-Jr.
Entering the 2025-26 season, Jeremy Fears Jr. had something to prove. The former McDonald's All-American spent most of his first season in 2023-24 recovering from a gunshot wound and much of his second season sharing the spotlight in Michigan State's backcourt. Finally, with Michigan State replacing its top-three scorers from a 30-win team, Spartans coach Tom Izzo needed Fears to take a step toward stardom. He did all that and more a year ago while leading the Spartans in scoring at 15.2 points per game and leading the nation in assists at 9.4 per contest.
Now, after earning CBS Sports third-team All-American honors while shepherding Michigan State to a 27-8 season and Sweet 16 appearance, he's back for more. The CBS Sports Preseason Player of the Year is already one of college basketball's elite pick-and-roll players, and there's still plenty that he can improve upon.
As Fears seeks to make lofty preseason expectations a reality, there is room for growth in his perimeter shooting and interior finishing. After hitting just 32.1% of his 3-pointers on 3.1 attempts per game last season, Fears should expect defenders to go under on screens. If he can more reliably drain triples, it will open up additional driving lanes for one of the sport's top passers. Similarly, if he can elevate his 52.6% shooting percentage at the rim, it will mean that even more dump-off passes are available once he reaches the paint.
The idea of Fears elevating his game even further should strike fear into the Big Ten and the rest of the nation. -- David Cobb
Dating back to the 2011-12 season, here are the players we have picked for CBS Sports Preseason National Player of the Year and, in turn, the eventual NPOY (in parentheses). If we nailed it from start to finish, the pick is in bold.
- 2011: Jared Sullinger (Anthony Davis)
- 2012: Cody Zeller (Trey Burke)
- 2013: Andrew Wiggins (Doug McDermott)
- 2014: Jahlil Okafor (Frank Kaminsky)
- 2015: Kyle Wiltjer (Denzel Valentine/Buddy Hield)
- 2016: Grayson Allen (Frank Mason III)
- 2017: Jalen Brunson
- 2018: RJ Barrett (Zion Williamson)
- 2019: Cassius Winston (Obi Toppin)
- 2020: Luka Garza
- 2021: Drew Timme (Oscar Tshiebwe)
- 2022: Drew Timme (Zach Edey)
- 2023: Zach Edey
- 2024: Mark Sears (Cooper Flagg)
- 2025: Braden Smith (Cameron Boozer)
