College basketball rankings: Breaking down the top five players at every position entering the 2024-25 season

CBS Sports released its Top 100 And 1 player rankings and the 2024-25 season is expected to be defined by outstanding guard play. Alabama's Mark Sears and North Carolina's RJ Davis are the top two players on our preseason list.

Centers and bigs dominated the top of our rankings last season — headlined most notably by two-time national player of the year Zach Edey, who is off to the NBA after a stellar career at Purdue. Even with Edey gone, there are still star centers returning to school. Kansas' Hunter Dickinson and Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner were voted on the CBS Sports All-American team last season and checked in at No. 4 and 5 on our preseason rankings.

We broke our rankings into seven positions: point guard, lead guard shooting guard, small forward, wing, power forward and center. Power conference players dominated the top of the list. 

Ranking top players by position

Point guards

Smith checks in as our top-ranked true point guard. Smith was voted the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year and will shoulder more of a scoring responsibility after Edey left. Another notable selection on this list is Harper - the No. 3 overall prospect in the 2024 recruiting cycle by 247Sports. Harper has been compared to former Oklahoma State star Cade Cunningham - the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Lipsey, Roach and Harris are all veteran starters for their respective teams.

Lead guards

The top two ranked players on our Top 100 And 1 list are lead guards. That would be Sears and Davis - two of the top contenders to win national player of the year. All five players are seasoned veterans who have played at least three seasons at this level. Sallis is coming off a breakout season after spending the first two years of his career at Gonzaga.

Shooting guards

All five shooting guards listed are top 25 players on our preseason list. Love earned All-American honors in his first season at Arizona after transferring from North Carolina. Taylor is once again a popular pick to earn All-American honors and will be the head of the snake for Texas A&M. Edgecome was one of the highest-ranked freshmen on our list and will be an X-Factor for Scott Drew at Baylor.

Small forwards

The highest-ranked small forward on our list was Karaban. Sandfort, who went through the NBA's predraft process this summer and elected to withdraw and return to Iowa, ranked second. Ranked a few spots below the returning star is McNeeley — the fifth-highest-ranked freshman on our list. McNeeley will play a key role for the two-time reigning national champions.

Wings

Every team in the country is looking for the next great wing, and this list is full of them. Murray-Boyles had a standout freshman season at South Carolina and could play his way into a lottery pick. Hopkins is coming off a devastating knee injury that ended his season prematurely. Bailey is a contender alongside Flagg to go No. 1 in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Power forwards

The headliner of this list is Flagg, who many believe is the consensus No. 1 NBA Draft pick already without playing a single college game. Flagg is a game wrecker on both ends of the floor and enters college as one of the most hyped-up prospects in the modern era. Osobor is Washington's "$2 million" man. Ososbor followed his coach, Danny Sprinkle, from Utah State to Washington this offseason and is expected to be one of the top players in the new-look Big Ten. Dixon is a scoring machine for Villanova.

Centers

Yes, Edey is gone, but college basketball will have plenty of star centers to follow. Kalkbrenner and Dickinson are reliable veterans who will anchor their respective teams. The same can be said about Ballo, Omoruyi and Avila. All three players transferred into a new program this offseason.