College basketball rankings: Kansas helps Big 12 lead conference race for most Top 100 And 1 players

By Cameron Salerno

Our annual rankings of the Top 100 And 1 players in college basketball was released on Thursday, highlighting the best individual players in the sport ahead of the 2023-24 season. Every team in the preseason AP Top 25 poll had at least one player selected and 13 different conferences are represented on the prestige preseason list. 

To no surprise, Zach Edey, the CBS Sports Preseason Player of the Year, was tabbed as the No. 1 player in our rankings. The Purdue big man is coming off a season in which he averaged 22.3 points and 12.9 rebounds. Edey is one of three Boilermakers players who made the rankings.

The Big 12 had the most overall selections with 16. That includes four players from the Jayhawks roster (Hunter Dickinson, Dajuan Harris, Kevin McCullar Jr. and KJ Adams) who hope to help Kansas live up to its preseason billing as the No. 1 team in both the AP Top 25 and Coaches Poll. Baylor, Houston, Kansas State, TCU, Texas, and West Virginia all had multiple players selected.

Three of the most experienced teams in college basketball have the most selections on the Top 100 And 1 list, go figure. Creighton lost guard Ryan Nembhard to Gonzaga, but used the transfer portal to land former Utah State guard Steven Ashworth to pair with returners Ryan Kalkbrenner, Trey Alexander and Baylor Scheierman. Creighton was seconds away from going to the Final Four and they have the firepower this season to get over the hump.

All four of Duke’s ranked players were in the starting lineup last season. The Blue Devils lost center Dereck Lively II to the NBA but welcome the No. 2 recruiting class to campus that should help soften the blow. Duke star center Kyle Filipowski was tabbed by CBS Sports as the ACC Preseason Player of the Year.

Speaking of preseason honors, Kansas added the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year by CBS Sports in Dickinson. After spending the first three seasons of his career at Michigan, Dickinson left the program to join the Jayhawks in their pursuit of a national championship.

Here’s a further breakdown of the Top 100 And 1 best college basketball players by conference and teams with most players ranked.

Check out the full CBS Sports Top 100 And 1 best college basketball players rankings

Duke: 4 

Kansas: 4

Creighton: 4 

Schools with 3 players in the Top 100 And 1 rankings: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Gonzaga, Kentucky, Marquette, Miami, North Carolina, Purdue, UConn.

Schools with 2 players in the Top 100 And 1 rankings: Arizona, Baylor, FAU, Houston, Illinois, Kansas State, Memphis, Michigan State, St. John’s, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, USC, Villanova, West Virginia.

Schools with 1 player in the Top 100 And 1 rankings: Auburn, Boise State, Clemson, Colorado State, Dayton, Drake, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi State, New Mexico, Northwestern, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Pitt, Providence, Rutgers, Saint Mary’s, San Diego State, Syracuse, Texas A&M, UCLA, UNC Asheville, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Weber State.

Top 100 And 1 players by conference