Sports
‘There’s a lot of hate:’ These games define the Mizzou-Kansas rivalry
Around 5 or 5:15 p.m. local time on Saturday, the second Missouri Tigers home game of the season will go to a commercial break before the fourth quarter begins, and as has become customary in recent seasons, the Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” will play over the loudspeaker.
It has also become customary that the Mizzou fans in attendance at Memorial Stadium will lob F-bombs in unison at their biggest rival.
For the first time in quite a few years, that rival will be in said stadium to hear it.
Missouri and the Kansas Jayhawks will meet on the gridiron for the first time since 2011 (3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2) and for the first time in Columbia since 2006. When Mizzou left the Big 12 for the SEC in 2012, the rivalry went on pause. The basketball rivalry resumed in 2021, with Kansas winning the first three games and Mizzou finally getting back on the board last December. Now it’s football’s turn.
This rivalry’s roots stem from Civil War days. Both schools’ nicknames were derived from Civil War nomenclature — “Jayhawkers” were robbers and raiders who terrorized slave-state supporters in Missouri counties bordering Kansas, while “Tigers” refers to a group of soldiers who protected the city of Columbia from pro-Confederacy guerillas, including some of the same people who participated in burning Lawrence to the ground in 1863. Mizzou and Kansas fans have certainly leaned into Civil War and Burning Lawrence connotations through the years, as problematic as it may look from the outside.
The rivalry’s name was changed from “Border War” to “Border Showdown” in the 2000s, but it didn’t tamp down the hostility. For that matter, neither did conference realignment. If you’re a KU or MU fan living in Kansas City, you probably have an MU or KU neighbor. The jawing has never really stopped, and if you didn’t believe that before Mizzou fans began adding a “F— KU” chant before the bridge to “Mr. Brightside,” no matter the day’s opponent, that certainly served as a pretty vivid and profane reminder.
“This is deeply seated,” Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz told ESPN. “There’s a lot of hate, and whether it’s been basketball games that we’ve seen or soccer matches or now football games, we know it’s important to the fan base.”
“I’ve gone to those [basketball games], and obviously the crowd’s extremely into it and they’re exciting to see,” Kansas coach Lance Leipold said. “You can see that there’s an extra intensity during the game.”
The crowd in Columbia on Saturday will be awfully hostile, and the players will have to meet the moment. That’s a tricky thing when almost no player on the field actually grew up with the rivalry. The last time the game was played, after all, current freshman football players were about 4 years old.
“It’s important to go back all the way to the history of it,” Drinkwitz said. “We had Andy Hill, a former Mizzou player and coach, come back and share with us. We had [former ESPN anchor and Mizzou alum] John Anderson come back and share. We’ve really tried to emphasize the importance to the team. We had to educate them on what it is.”
“As this game’s been on the schedule, when I’m out in public appearances and things, people have come up to me and talked more about this one than any other game in recent years,” Leipold told ESPN. “There’s excitement that these two teams are playing again.”
The Mizzou-Kansas football rivalry hasn’t necessarily packed the same number of wild finishes or memorable moments as the men’s basketball rivalry has through the years. But it’s still tremendously hostile, and it still had an impact on multiple national title races, school rushing records and the invention of homecoming. It provided a trio of unbelievable neutral-site games in the 2000s, too. Let’s walk through 10 games that accurately describe the stakes and strange history of this reborn rivalry.
1911: Missouri 3, Kansas 3
“The most impressive feature of a Yale-Harvard game is the meeting of the old ‘grads’ who have come back to their college town to see the contest. After a few years this will be the case with the Missouri-Kansas game.” — Columbia Missourian, 1911
Mizzou claims the oldest homecoming gathering, or at least the oldest continuous homecoming, or at least the most homecoming-like substance, with rallies and parades and whatnot a part of its own homecoming since 1911. No matter what, it all started with KU. In front of about 9,000 fans on Rollins Field in Columbia — Memorial Stadium wasn’t built until the 1920s — Jimmy Shuck’s field goal allowed the home team to tie the game with about five minutes left and salvaged a smidgen of pride from a disappointing 2-4-2 season.
1958: Missouri 13, Kansas 13
You need some impossibly silly endings to drive a proper rivalry, and in the first Border War for new head coaches Dan Devine (Mizzou) and Jack Mitchell (Kansas), two near-.500 teams ran up the silly points here.
Mizzou burst to an early 13-0 lead in front of a sellout crowd of 32,000, thanks in part to a long touchdown off of a downfield lateral from Ed Mehrer to Jerry Curtright. The lead seemed like it was going to hold up despite a trio of missed field goals, but after a short touchdown by KU’s Bill Crank made it 13-7, Homer Floyd reeled in a pass over the middle with just 18 seconds left and raced for a stunning 80-yard touchdown. Victory seized from defeat? Nope! Mizzou’s Dale Pidcock blocked the ensuing PAT attempt. Tie game.
1960: Kansas 23, No. 1 Missouri 7
In almost any broadcast for any Mizzou-Kansas game, you’re almost guaranteed to hear something to the effect of, “These rivals are so bitter, they can’t even agree on the series record!” This game is the reason why.
By his third season in Columbia, Devine had Mizzou on the brink of its first national title. The Tigers had just moved to No. 1 for the first time ever following a blowout of Oklahoma, and with the final AP poll vote coming before bowl season, all Mizzou had to do was beat Kansas to wrap things up. But at 6-2-1, with losses only to two previous No. 1 teams (Syracuse and Iowa), Kansas was on the rise itself. Mitchell had brought in quite a few talented players, including a TCU transfer named Bert Coan. The Jayhawks were ineligible for an Orange Bowl bid because of violations that occurred during Coan’s recruitment, but he hadn’t yet been deemed ineligible himself, so he played against Missouri.
This was one of the most anxious and ruthlessly physical games in the rivalry’s history, producing just 353 combined offensive yards and eight turnovers. But the 6-foot-4 Coan reeled in a touchdown pass from John Hadl to make it 10-0 in the third quarter, then scored again to put the game out of reach.
Nearly three weeks after the game, the Big 8 Conference officially voted Coan ineligible and ordered KU to forfeit two games in which Coan played. That made Missouri the conference champion. An Orange Bowl win over Navy completed an “unbeaten” season — one-loss Minnesota was still named the AP’s national champion (and then lost again in the Rose Bowl) — and Mizzou lists the forfeit as the official result. But since the NCAA never officially recognized the forfeit, Kansas continues to claim a win as well. According to Mizzou, the Tigers lead the overall series 57-54-9. According to Kansas, it’s 56-55-9.
1976: Kansas 41, Missouri 14
The 1960s were a decade of success for both programs, as they combined for three conference titles (two for Mizzou) and 15 winning seasons. But Kansas grew increasingly inconsistent in the 1970s, and after Devine left for the NFL, Al Onofrio’s Tigers went from giants to inconsistent giant killers.
In six seasons from 1972 to 1977, Mizzou beat nine top-10 teams … and went 1-5 against Kansas. Depending on which team you root for, either the peak or nadir of this strange period came in 1976. Kansas came to Columbia 5-5, having lost five of its last six games thanks to an injury to quarterback Nolan Cromwell. Mizzou, meanwhile, had beaten both No. 8 USC and No. 2 Ohio State on the road in nonconference play, then toppled No. 3 Nebraska in the Big 8. The Tigers had risen as high as sixth in the AP poll. But they were also leaking fuel, having lost three of their last five games to fall to 6-4.
Only one team showed up at Faurot Field. Kansas scored 24 second-quarter points and led by as much as 34 as, in the words of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Bob Broeg, “Comeback Kansas embarrassed (1) mystifying Missouri, (2) the red-faced Sun Bowl committee, (3) solemn Al Onofrio and (4) most of a hang-dog crowd of 62,559 Saturday.” Onofrio was fired a year later.
1988: Missouri 55, Kansas 17
Within a decade or so, Mizzou didn’t have to worry about beating giants anymore. Neither did Kansas. By 1986, Sports Illustrated was calling the Mizzou-Kansas-Kansas State trio the “Bermuda Triangle” of college football, “for lost fans, lost coaches, lost attendance.” K-State had never generated much football traction (at least until hiring Bill Snyder in 1989), Kansas enjoyed only one winning season between 1977 and 1990, and Mizzou didn’t manage a single one from 1984 to 1996. The Tigers’ and Jayhawks’ combined destitution was at its worst in 1988, when they managed only four combined wins — two against 0-11 Kansas State, one against Utah State, and one head-to-head.
Kansas took an early 10-7 lead in this one, but Mizzou won the last 3½ quarters by a 48-7 margin. Led by running back Mike Jones — who would switch to linebacker in the pros and make one of the most famous tackles in Super Bowl history — the Tigers rushed for 471 yards while forcing five turnovers. It continued an odd streak: Despite the teams being evenly matched in most of the 14 years from 1983 and 1996, only two games finished within single digits.
1991: Kansas 53, Missouri 29
Glen Mason’s tenure as Kansas’ head coach began disastrously in 1988, but by 1991 he was generating some traction: The Jayhawks would go 6-5 that year and keep inching upward toward a 10-win 1995 breakthrough. They won four of five against the destitute Tigers in this span, and one win broke records.
With both the temperatures and the winds in the mid-30s at kickoff and just 28,000 in the stands in Lawrence, Mizzou found brief success with its passing game in the second quarter, and KU led just 25-22 at halftime despite 156 rushing yards from the Jayhawks’ Tony Sands. But Mizzou’s Jeff Handy stopped completing passes in the second half, and Sands just kept running. He had 141 yards in the third quarter alone. And then he produced another 99 in the fourth quarter. He ended the day with 58 carries — hey, why not, it was the last game of the season — and a then-record 396 yards. Four players have since topped 400 yards in a game, but no one did it against their most bitter rival.
•”Kansas. Missouri. A rivalry that never disappoints – this game leave your brick from start to finish. 🔥 #BorderWar” @FansOfKU @KUAthletics @JayhawkSlant @nostalgic_ku @JayhawkTakeover @JayhawkTakeover @KUJHawks @jaylassoku @JayhawkTalk @JayhawkFocus @Brewenor @BarstoolKU pic.twitter.com/uJw1IRy4WS
— Tony sands (@tonysands24) August 31, 2025
1998: No. 25 Missouri 41, Kansas 23
The 1990s ended with a reversal. Mason left for Minnesota, and KU would suffer nine straight losing seasons; Mizzou, meanwhile, briefly emerged from its stupor under Larry Smith and came achingly close to greatness in 1998. The Tigers led four different top-10 teams at halftime but lost all four games, three by one score. But at least they exacted some Sands-ian revenge.
In a rare early-season meeting, running back Devin West needed only 32 carries to gain 319 yards. Upset-minded KU took a 23-20 lead midway through the third quarter, but rushing scores from West, then quarterback Corby Jones, then West again from 45 yards out, allowed the Tigers to pull away. “I’m going to lie down,” West told the Kansas City Star’s Joe Posnanski after the game, “and I might not get up for a long, long time.”
2007: No. 3 Missouri 36, No. 2 Kansas 28
This rivalry might have all the bitterness in the world, but it hasn’t seen a ridiculous number of tight games. The stars aligned in the early 2000s, however. For three straight years at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, the Tigers and Jayhawks both fielded solid to great teams — another rarity — and played absolute classics.
The first of the trio was, by any measure, the rivalry’s biggest game. Near the end of the most chaotic season in college football’s history, the rivals met in Kansas City as the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the country, and with No. 1 LSU having lost the day before, the winner was guaranteed to move to the top spot and, with a win in the following week’s Big 12 championship game, lock up a berth in the national title game. ESPN’s “College GameDay” and a record-at-the-time “GameDay” audience awaited.
The game was cagey, weird and, by the end, incredibly tense. Missouri’s Chase Daniel threw a touchdown pass in each of the first three quarters, and Gary Pinkel’s Tigers eased out to a 28-7 fourth-quarter lead, but Todd Reesing and the KU offense got rolling late. They scored three times and got the ball back with a chance to win, down 34-28. But Mizzou’s defensive line dogpiled Reesing in the KU end zone for a safety with 12 seconds remaining. Mizzou went to No. 1 for a week, but after a second-half collapse against Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship, the Tigers fell short of a national title shot.
2008: Kansas 40, No. 12 Missouri 37
The stakes weren’t the same a year later, with Missouri having already clinched a second straight Big 12 North title and Mark Mangino’s Kansas having lost four of five after starting the year in the AP top 15. But revenge is always sweet, and the Jayhawks got theirs in a snowy and particularly picturesque Arrowhead.
This time it was KU’s turn to take a commanding lead, as two Reesing TD passes and a 19-yard run by Jake Sharp made it 26-10 Jayhawks midway through the third quarter. The Tigers struck back with TD passes from Daniel to Jeremy Maclin and Tommy Saunders, and we were all set for a classic ending. Mizzou took its first lead (30-26) on a short Chase Coffman touchdown, but Reesing and Kerry Meier made it 33-30 Jayhawks barely two minutes later. Mizzou’s Derrick Washington plunged in from 6 yards to make it 37-33 Mizzou with 1:50 left, but on fourth-and-7 from the Mizzou 26, with just 33 seconds remaining, Meier broke loose in the Tigers’ secondary and reeled in a touchdown lob. Phillip Strozier blocked a last-second, 54-yard field goal attempt, and Kansas scored one of the rivalry’s wildest wins.
2009: Missouri 41, Kansas 39
The Arrowhead rubber match had the lowest stakes: Mizzou was 7-4 following the departures of Daniel and other stars, while Kansas had plummeted from 5-0 to 5-6 and was just hoping to salvage bowl eligibility. But in terms of drama, this game was almost impossible to match. It featured 1,100 total yards, four turnovers and another well-timed safety. After trailing by 11 late in the first half, Mizzou seized the advantage with help from a 68-yard touchdown catch by All-American Danario Alexander. But Reesing and Dezmon Briscoe connected for a 74-yard score, and a field goal put KU back on top.
The Jayhawks got the ball back with a chance to run out the clock, but the script writers cued up another safety on another sack of Reesing — in the same end zone as the 2007 safety, no less — and down 39-38, Mizzou got one last chance to win. A quick pass to Alexander and a 27-yard run by Washington (who intentionally went down at the KU 5) set up Grant Ressel for a 27-yard game winner, and he nailed it as time expired.
The game remained at Arrowhead for Mizzou’s final two Big 12 seasons, but Kansas’ post-Mangino collapse was well underway, and both games were forgettable Tigers wins. Still, for three years, the potential of this gridiron rivalry was fully realized.
Both Leipold and Drinkwitz have been part of classic rivalries through the years. Leipold was part of Wisconsin-Minnesota when he was a graduate assistant, then took in Nebraska-Oklahoma and Nebraska-Colorado when he was an assistant in Lincoln. Drinkwitz got to know the Iron Bowl in two seasons as a young Auburn quality control coach, and he spent three years immersed in UNC-NC State when he was in Raleigh. There’s a pent-up hostility that could make Saturday’s matchup unique, but both coaches understand the importance of balancing the extreme need to win this game versus the fact that there are still three more months left in the season.
“If you put all your eggs in that basket, if you lose the game, how are you going to get your team back?” Leipold said. “And if you win the game, how are you going to keep ’em humble enough to be energized, come back and play the next week? The environment will be exciting, and we’re playing a team that’s won 21 football games over the last two years. But keeping the balance — that wherever the game takes us, we’ve got to get ready for a conference season shortly thereafter — will be a big focal point.”
“The players have to understand the intensity level of the rivalry,” Drinkwitz said, “but they’ve also got to understand that raw emotion isn’t going to help you block somebody else or tackle. You’ve got to really bring your fundamentals. It was important for me throughout the summer and offseason to share about the rivalry, but once we’re into game week, it’s going to be about fundamentals and technique and execution.”
Into the future, the Border Showdown will become the latest of what you might call the post-realignment rivalries. Pitt and West Virginia rekindled the Backyard Brawl to great excitement, but only in four-year chunks — 2022-25, then 2029-32. Pitt played Penn State from 2016-19, too. Oklahoma and Nebraska played in 2021 and ’22 and have another home-and-home series set up for 2029 and ’30. Nebraska and Colorado played in 2018 and ’19 and 2023 and ’24. Mizzou and Kansas State played in 2022 and ’23, and Mizzou will play Colorado in 2030 and ’31. (The Tigers will host the Buffaloes on the 40th anniversary of the Fifth Down.) UCLA and Cal, recently separated, have scheduled games for 2026-29.
Mizzou and Kansas have scheduled home-and-home series for 2025 and ’26 and 2031 and ’32. It’s something, but watch 30 seconds of Saturday’s game, and you’ll wonder, as with the Backyard Brawl, how in the hell college football isn’t making sure this game happens every year. It’s a waste of hostility, a waste of a sellout crowd and — an increasing rarity — a waste of a drivable game for local fans.
“Almost everybody except the SEC, I think, has gone almost coast-to-coast with conference members,” Leipold said, “and it makes it more difficult for fans to travel and pick what games they’re going to. When you have these types of matchups, which are very drivable, I think it’s healthy for attendance and all the other things that are also important in today’s college athletics. Anytime you can play bordering states where there’s a past history of competitiveness, I think it’s healthy. It’s great for college football.”
The healthiest version of the sport is when teams are playing games fans want them to play and players are well taken care of. We’ve made great headway on the latter, but we’re inching further and further from the former.
Of course, since teams continue to draw up their nonconference schedules for five or 10 years out, there aren’t exactly holes to fill with these types of games. You’d have to buy out contracts with other schools, and while there would probably be a financial benefit from doing so, it’s not something that happens often. Plus, since the SEC has announced it is expanding to a nine-game conference schedule starting in 2026 and Mizzou has four nonconference games scheduled from 2027-31, it already has some games to get rid of.
Granted, when they put me in charge of the sport, I’ll just draw up the schedules by hand and make sure that the Border War, Backyard Brawl, Bedlam and lots of other semi-lost rivalries are played annually.
“It’s one thing when people tell you about the past history of something,” Drinkwitz said, “but it’s another thing to try to learn it and understand it and realize its significance. That’s really what we try to do is make sure they understand the significance. And this is Team 136 [at Mizzou] — just because we haven’t played them for 13 years doesn’t mean that Teams 1 through 122 don’t have significant feelings about this game.
“That’s really important for us. We get a chance to represent all the past teams when we play.”
In the months ahead, the top men’s college basketball talents will fight to secure player of the year honors in their respective conferences.
Who is most likely to battle for those rights is more apparent in the major conferences. Duke’s Cameron Boozer and NC State’s Darrion Williams are candidates in the ACC. Donovan Dent, the UCLA star who transferred from New Mexico, could push Purdue’s Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn in the Big Ten. Kentucky’s Otega Oweh and Florida’s Alex Condon lead a crowded field of candidates for individual honors in the SEC. And BYU’s AJ Dybantsa and Kansas’ Darryn Peterson could compete for Big 12 — in addition to the No. 1 spot in the 2026 NBA draft.
But those leagues shouldn’t get all of the buzz; these races are intriguing in every conference. That’s why we’re here to identify the strongest candidates — and their top competition — in all 31 conferences entering the 2025-26 season.
Note: Stats are from 2024-25 season unless otherwise noted.
Jump to a conference:
A-10 | American | ACC | America East | ASUN | Big 12 | Big East | Big Sky | Big South | Big Ten | Big West | C-USA | CAA | Horizon League | Ivy League | MAAC | MAC | MEAC | Mountain West | MVC | NEC | OVC | Patriot League | SEC | Southern | Southland | Summit League | Sun Belt | SWAC | WAC | WCC
America East Conference
Until last season, Vermont had lost just 13 conference games since the start of the 2016-17 season on its way to an eight-year run as regular-season champion in the America East. This season, Hurley aims to help the Catamounts start a new streak finishing second in the standings last season. The 6-foot-5 guard, who averaged 15.8 points and connected on 38% of his shots from beyond the arc, was an All-America East selection a year ago.
Top competition: TJ Long, Vermont (11.1 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.3 SPG)
American Conference
Rowan Brumbaugh, Tulane Green Wave
In a tough one-point loss to Memphis in last season’s American Conference tournament semifinals, the 6-foot-4 Brumbaugh scored 22 points to keep Tulane alive until the final seconds. This season, Brumbaugh — an all-conference selection in 2024-25 (15.5 PPG, 4.8 APG, 1.6 SPG) — is the league’s top returning scorer.
Top competition: Jordan Riley, East Carolina (14.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.0 SPG)
Atlantic Coast Conference
Cameron Boozer, Duke Blue Devils
The son of former Duke standout Carlos Boozer will try to establish a legacy of his own as the program hunts for Jon Scheyer’s first national championship. Cooper Flagg won the Wooden Award as a freshman last season, and this year, the versatile 6-foot-9 forward and two-time Gatorade Player of the Year will begin the season with the same ambitions.
Top competition: Darrion Williams, NC State (15.1 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.3 SPG at Texas Tech)
ASUN Conference
Jack Karasinski, Bellarmine Knights
The 6-foot-7 center finished top-10 in ASUN scoring a year ago, including field goal and free throw percentage. Unfortunately, Karasinski’s impressive numbers — 15.4 PPG, 39% from 3 and 77% from the charity stripe — were not enough to keep Bellarmine out of the basement (the Knights went 5-26). But a rebooted roster led by Karasinski should change the program’s fortunes this season.
Top competition: Chris Ashby, Queens (12.7 PPG, 89% FT%, school record 115 3-pointers made)
Atlantic 10 Conference
Robbie Avila, Saint Louis Billikens
Avila is still wearing the goggles. A year after leading Indiana State to the NIT championship game, Avila (17.3 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 1.2 SPG) had similar success at St. Louis. He was a second-team all-conference in 2024-25, and if the silky 6-foot-10 center can regain the 3-point stroke he had at Indiana State (39.4% 3P% in 2023-24), he could become the most dominant force in the A-10.
Top competition: Rafael Castro, George Washington (14.0 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 1.4 BPG)
Big East Conference
Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s Red Storm
Ejiofor played a critical role in St. John’s winning the Big East crown for the first time in 33 years and securing the Big East tournament championship for the first time in 25 years. The 6-foot-9 forward was rewarded with an All-Big East nod (14.7 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 1.4 BPG) to go with the league’s most improved honor.
Top competition: Alex Karaban, UConn (14.3 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.5 BPG)
Big Sky Conference
Money Williams, Montana Grizzlies
The 6-foot-4 guard averaged 13.2 points and made 80% of his free throw attempts last season, but he saved his best for last. In the final month of a season that ended with Montana’s first NCAA tournament appearance in six years, Williams averaged 17.1 points per game over six contests. If he carries that momentum into this season, he could end the year with a Big Sky Player of the Year trophy.
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Money Williams drains the long 3-pointer
Money Williams drains the long 3-pointer
Top competition: Terri Miller Jr., Portland State (12.1 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 1.6 SPG)
Big South Conference
Toyaz Solomon, UNC Asheville Bulldogs
A 6-foot-9 forward, Solomon’s prominence is the result of durability: he was the only player on UNC Asheville’s roster to start every game last season. After connecting on 61% of his field goal attempts and earning second-team All-Big South honors last season (15.7 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 1.6 BPG), Solomon can build on that effort to fight for player of the year honors.
Top competition: Rob Martin, High Point (14.8 PPG, 4.5 APG, 40% 3P%)
Big 12 Conference
JT Toppin, Texas Tech Red Raiders
A second-team AP All-American last season, Toppin will enter this one as a serious contender for the Wooden Award. He had arguably the most surprising breakout season after transferring from New Mexico to Texas Tech, averaging 18.2 PPG, 9.4 RPG and 1.5 SPG for the Red Raiders. The 6-foot-9 forward withdrew from the NBA draft to help Texas Tech chase its first national title and boost his draft stock.
Top competition: Darryn Peterson, Kansas (No. 2 recruit in SC Next 100; projected No. 1 pick in ESPN’s latest 2026 mock draft)
Big Ten Conference
Braden Smith, Purdue Boilermakers
In ESPN’s ranking of the 2022 recruiting class, Smith was listed as the 31st-best guard. Fast forward three years, Smith enters this season as the favorite to win the Wooden Award. The 6-foot guard, who earned a spot on the AP All-America team last season, is back after earning Big Ten Player of the Year honors (15.8 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 2.2 SPG, 38% 3P%). He could become Purdue’s third Wooden Award winner in four years.
Top competition: Donovan Dent, UCLA (20.4 PPG, 6.4 APG, 1.4 SPG, 40% 3P% at New Mexico)
Big West Conference
Aidan Mahaney, UC Santa Barbara Gauchos
Mahaney’s decision to leave Saint Mary’s for UConn following back-to-back All-West Coast Conference seasons did not yield the results he had anticipated. But if the 6-foot-3 guard can put that lackluster 2024-25 showing behind him and once again look like the young star he was in the WCC (13.9 PPG, 81% FT% at Saint Mary’s in 2023-24), he could make an immediate splash in his third conference in three years.
Top competition: Jason Fontenet II, UC Santa Barbara (9.9 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 77% FT%)
Coastal Athletic Association
Colby Duggan, Charleston Cougars
Duggan’s 32-point explosion in Campbell’s 97-81 loss to North Carolina last season — he led all scorers and finished 5-for-9 from beyond the arc — proved that the 6-foot-7 forward can compete against the game’s top tier. After that outing, he went on to lead the CAA in scoring (19.9 PPG) before transferring to Charleston.
Top competition: Tyler Tejada, Towson (16.7 PPG, 82% FT%)
Conference USA
Simeon Cottle, Kennesaw State Owls
When the 6-foot-2 guard scored 32 points in a win over New Mexico State in last season’s Conference USA tournament, it wasn’t a shocker. In fact, it was Cottle’s eighth outing with 25 or more points during the 2024-25 campaign. Another strength for Cottle? He has a gift for drawing fouls and making his free throws (87%).
Top competition: Jemel Jones, New Mexico State (18.9 PPG at Cal State Bakersfield)
Horizon League
Tuburu Naivalurua, Oakland Golden Grizzlies
In addition to the 6-foot-8 Australian forward’s raw numbers last season (13.9 PPG and 7.1 RPG), the Oakland star was also one of his conference’s most efficient players. Naivalurua made 56% of his shots inside the arc and was ranked sixth in the Horizon League among players with a usage rate of 20% or higher, per KenPom.
Top competition: Orlando Lovejoy, Detroit Mercy (16.4 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.6 APG)
Ivy League
The 6-foot-7 forward made an incredible leap from a sophomore reserve to a junior star and All-Ivy League selection last season, proving he’s a top contender for the league’s player of the year honors. A year ago, the third-generation Ivy League star — his mother and grandfather both played sports at Harvard — averaged 15.4 points and made 48% of his 3-point attempts. He could take his game to another level in 2025-26.
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Nick Townsend fights off defender for and-1
Nick Townsend fights off defender for and-1
Top competition: Brandon Mitchell-Day, Dartmouth (13.6 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 2.8 APG)
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Amarri Monroe, Quinnipiac Bobcats
Monroe has been a catalyst for Quinnipiac’s 2023-24 and 2024-25 conference titles (18.1 PPG, 9.1 RPG, 2.3 SPG last season). Rather than bolt for a higher-profile team, however, the 6-foot-7 forward quickly exited the portal and returned for a third year. He’ll be a school legend if he can lead the Bobcats to the NCAA tournament for the first time as a Division I program.
Top competition: Justice Shoats, Siena (16.1 PPG, 4.7 APG)
Mid-American Conference
Peter Suder, Miami (OH) RedHawks
The 6-foot-5 wing secured All-MAC honors after helping his squad win 25 games to finish second in the conference standings last year. Suder, who started all of his team’s 34 games in 2024-25, connected on 57% of his shots inside the arc and 77% of his free throw attempts, while also compiling averages of 13.7 PPG, 4.9 RPG and 3.8 APG.
Top competition: Tavari Johnson, Akron (13.0 PPG, 3.8 APG, 39% 3P%)
Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
Ahmad Torrence, Norfolk State Spartans
A year after leading Norfolk State to its first MEAC conference tournament title and NCAA tournament appearance in three years, Robert Jones has reassembled a new team that will be led by Torrence, a three-star recruit. The New York prep standout could have picked a handful of mid-majors, but the 6-foot-5 combo guard chose to compete for a Norfolk State team that has won three of the last five MEAC regular-season titles.
Top competition: Bryce Harris, Howard (16.6 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 38% from 3P% in 2023-24; suffered a season-ending foot injury and played just seven games in 2024-25)
Missouri Valley Conference
Chase Walker, Illinois State Redbirds
The 6-foot-9 forward earned all-MVC honors last season with a dominant effort: 15.2 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 60% mark inside the arc. But Walker is in this spot because he finished the 2024-25 campaign with an excellent effort during his team’s run to the CBI championship (20.0 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 1.3 BPG in three games).
Top competition: Johnny Kinziger, Illinois State (14.6 PPG, 39% 3P%)
Mountain West Conference
Mason Falslev, Utah State Aggies
The 6-foot-3 wing helped Utah State finish third in the one of the strongest Mountain West races in recent history as the conference received four bids in last season’s NCAA tournament. The anchor of an Aggies squad that finished 20th in adjusted offensive efficiency and won 26 games (15.0 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 3.7 APG, 2.3 SPG, 39% 3P%), Falslev could become one of America’s best players this season.
Top competition: Elijah Price, Nevada (10.5 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 1.3 BPG, 1.3 SPG)
Northeast Conference
Malachi Davis, Long Island University Sharks
In his first year with the program after transferring from Arizona State, Davis earned All-NEC honors after averaging 17.7 PPG and 3.2 APG. The 6-foot-4 guard saved his best performance for the end of the season, though: he averaged 19.5 points as his team won seven of its last eight games in 2024-25.
Top competition: Jamal Fuller, Long Island (12.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 37% 3P%)
Ohio Valley Conference
KK Robinson, Little Rock Trojans
Entering last season, Robinson (15.8 PPG, 5.6 RPG, 4.3 APG, 1.2 SPG in 2023-24) was picked as Blue Ribbon’s Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Player of the Year before a knee injury ended his 2024-25 campaign. This season, the 6-foot guard is back to lead a new roster at Little Rock, which is seeking its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2016.
Top competition: Johnathan Lawson, Little Rock (15.4 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 3.6 RPG, 1.8 SPG, 43% 3P%)
Patriot League
Austin Benigni, Navy Midshipmen
His 18 points weren’t enough to lead Navy past American in last season’s Patriot League tournament title game, but that lopsided 74-52 loss should give the 5-foot-11 guard — who averaged 18.8 PPG and 4.3 APG — motivation to push his squad to compete for the program’s first conference tournament championship and NCAA tournament appearance since 1998.
Top competition: Kyrone Alexander, Boston University (12.9 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.2 SPG)
Southeastern Conference
The brother of Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Odafe Oweh, the 6-foot-5 guard could become the family’s brightest star if he earns an All-America nod, competes for the Wooden Award and leads Kentucky to the Final Four after a decadelong drought for the program. For Oweh, the SEC’s Preseason Player of the Year, all of those goals seem attainable. He’s on a shortlist of the best players in the country in 2025-26.
Top competition: Alex Condon, Florida (10.6 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 1.3 BPG)
Southern Conference
Rickey Bradley Jr., VMI Keydets
Bradley is one of the rare players in college basketball who left a school, transferred to another program (Georgia State), then returned to his original program. The 6-foot-2 guard made the most of that homecoming when he earned third-team All-Southern Conference honors (16.3 PPG, 37% 3P%) and led his team to the conference tournament semifinals, where the Keydets lost to Wofford.
Top competition: Billy Smith, Chattanooga (14.0 PPG, 39% 3P%, 95% FT% at Bellarmine)
Southland Conference
Javohn Garcia, McNeese Cowboys
Garcia, the reigning Southland Player of the Year who led his team to the second round of the NCAA tournament, was the perfect candidate to make a move in the portal. But even with Will Wade’s departure for NC State, Garcia (12.6 PPG, 81% FT%) stayed at McNeese State, where the 6-foot-2 guard can tack onto a remarkable 2024-25 season.
Top competition: Jakevion Buckley, New Orleans (14.5 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 4.1 APG, 1.8 SPG at Southeastern Louisiana)
Summit League
Isaac Bruns, South Dakota Coyotes
The 6-foot-4 guard made a leap of more than eight points per game between his freshman and sophomore season at South Dakota (14.6 PPG in 2024-25). That jump helped him earn All-Summit League honorable mention honors last season. This season, he can compete for player of the year if the 6-foot-4 guard can once again connect on 56% of his shots inside the arc and 85% of his shots from the charity stripe.
Top competition: Nolan Minnessale, St. Thomas-Minnesota (11.2 PPG, 1.2 SPG, 63% 2P%)
Sun Belt Conference
Robert Davis Jr., Old Dominion Monarchs
Davis is a volume shooter who led the Sun Belt in minutes played (nearly 36 per game) and launched more 3-pointers than any player in America (348). The 6-foot-6 guard’s next challenge is to become more efficient (15.6 PPG, 84% FT%, 38% 2%, 33% 3P%). If he can do that this year, he can be a more dominant force in the conference.
0:19
Robert Davis Jr. drains 3 vs. Troy Trojans
Robert Davis Jr. drains 3 vs. Troy Trojans
Top competition: Jalen Speer, Marshall (10.8 PPG, 81% FT%)
Southwestern Athletic Conference
Daeshun Ruffin, Jackson State Tigers
The impact of the 5-foot-10 guard on former NBA standout Mo Williams’ team was evident last season. Although Jackson State played a challenging nonconference schedule with matchups against Houston, Xavier, Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Iowa State, the Tigers finished 16-8 when Ruffin (15.7 PPG, 4.2 APG) — who returned from a season-ending injury the previous year — was on the court.
Top competition: Michael Jacobs, Southern (11.3 PPG, 2.8 APG)
Western Athletic Conference
Dominique Daniels Jr., California Baptist Lancers
Last season, the 5-foot-10 guard scored at least 21 points in 11 games, a stretch that helped him earn All-WAC honors. He also finished with an average of 19.6 PPG, a tie for 27th place nationally with John Tonje, who was a second-team AP All-American at Wisconsin. Daniels’ 3.1 assists per game showed his unselfish approach to the game, too.
Top competition: Kendal Coleman, California Baptist (11.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 37% 3P%)
West Coast Conference
Surprise, surprise: Mark Few has another squad strong enough to potentially end the season with the program’s first national championship. The return of Ike (17.3 PPG, 7.3 RPG) gives the Bulldogs another star who should keep them alive deep into March. The 6-foot-9 forward earned All-WCC honors last year and is one of the most complete players (62% 2%, 81% FT%) in America.
Top competition: Paulius Murauskas, Saint Mary’s (12.1 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 74% FT%)
San Francisco hired University of Tennessee coach Tony Vitello, who has no professional baseball experience of any kind.
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Inspirational thought of the week:
(Cole Trickle drives his mangled Chevy Lumina into the pit stall)
Buck Bretherton: “Well, how about that? Something we don’t have to fix!”
(Crew chief Harry Hogge walks over and kicks a dent into the side of the car Bretherton is looking at)
Harry Hogge: “I don’t want you to get spoiled, Buck.”
— “Days of Thunder”
Here at Bottom 10 Headquarters, located behind the footlocker on the “College GameDay” bus where Nick Saban keeps his secret stash of “Anchor Down” Vanderbilt football apparel, we are beginning to worry that perhaps those of you who visit these rankings, as the kids say, “on the regular” might be like those who benefited from Saban’s time in Tuscaloosa. You’re getting a little spoiled.
Just two weeks ago, we had an all-time majestically meh Pillow Fight of the Week of the Year Mega Bowl matchup between UMess and State of Kent, winners of a lot of the most recent Bottom 10 titles. (We tried to look up exactly how many, but someone spilled Yoo-hoo on the archival floppy disk.) Then, this past week, we had the Sam Houston Bearkats kutting it up with UTEPid. Now the stage is set for a third consecutive PFOWY, as Georgia State Not Southern hosts the South Alabama Redundancies. And, as you will read in the words ahead, this is just the tip of a season-sinking iceberg of not-big games coming, as the spotter on the Titanic shouted way too late, “Right ahead!”
So, for all the talk about Power Autonomous Haughty Four conference realignment, in-conference scheduling, CFP committee résumé reading and the headliner showdowns that all of the above seem to bring with them, how about some props for the same happening down here with us? And by props, I totally mean rubber chickens, whoopee cushions and one of those Groucho Marx plastic-nose-on-the-glasses things.
With apologies to former Wichita State wide receiver Mike Proppe, former Drake tight end Hal Proppe, USC DB Prophet Brown and Steve Harvey, here are the post-Week 8 Bottom 10 rankings.
The Minuetmen continued their Backtion in #MACtion schedule, playing a former fellow Bottom 10 anchor, the Buffalo Bulls Not Bills. With 59 seconds remaining, the Amherst Amblers hauled in an interception that seemed to ice a 21-20 win. As the ESPN Analytics Ouija board said they had a 90.9% chance of victory, UMass players proceeded to demonstratively wave goodbye and do faux snow angels in celebration, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. After a three-and-out followed by a punt, the Minuetmen surrendered a four-play, 50-yard, 22-second TD drive to lose in the closing seconds, their lead turning out to be as real as that snow.
The bad news? The Bearkats lost the Pillow Fight of the Week of the Year Episode II: Attack of the Groans to UTEPid 35-17. The good news? If they don’t tell anyone it happened, no one is likely to ever know, because the crowd they played in front of was so small it would have saved time in the pregame to have had the PA announcer introduce the people in the stands to the starting lineups instead of the starting lineups to the people in the stands.
Official attendance for Sam Houston vs. UTEP : 671
Smallest crowd in SHSU history https://t.co/rnNmBetqfQ
— UTEPnews (@theUTEPnews) October 16, 2025
What a stretch for the Beavs. They finally won a game, beating the Lafayette Leopards, current leaders of the Patriot League. After a week versus the Fightin’ Bye of Open Date U, they will play the first of their in-season home-and-home double feature against Washington State, with whom they are currently tied for first in the 2Pac. Then they host Sam Houston State in the Pillow Fight of the Week of the Year Episode IV: A New Dope.
The Minors won their second game of the season, but their boat remains mired in the Bottom 4 because Pillow Fight victories over other teams in the Bottom 4 come with trophies made of lead. Plus, that pickax of theirs is always accidentally punching holes in the boat.
Ah, the rites of autumn. You can set your clock to their inevitability. The cool dip of the evening temperatures. The changing colors of the leaves. Suburban moms mainlining pumpkin spice. The Miami Hurricanes interrupting their latest “We’re back!” campaign with a midseason loss that lands them in the Coveted Fifth Spot. And the fans of those Canes not understanding what the Coveted Fifth Spot is despite the fact that they are here every year and thus raise Cane by filling my social media timelines with strings of cuss words stronger than Cuban coffee.
The Woof Pack keeps losing close games, the latest being their two-point defeat at the paws of New Mexico. But you know what they say. Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. And atomic bomb tests, which happened about 300 miles east of Reno. Feels pretty close to us.
Much like we should all keep a safe distance between ourselves and atomic bomb testing, the Blew Raiders have a built-in buffer between Murfreesboro and the Bottom 5 in the form of Novada, whom they edged by the closest of margins, 14-13 way back in Week 3. But their Nov. 22 visit from Sam Houston does have the makings of a possible boundary-smashing Pillow Fight of the Week of the Year Episode VII: The Farce Awakens.
Meanwhile, the Pillow Fight of the Week of the Year Y’all Edition was won by Georgia Southern Not State over Georgia State Not Southern. I made a joke last week that the loser would have to change their name from GSU to GUS but was angrily informed that this game already has a GUS in the form of the Georgia Southern Eagles mascot named, yes, Gus. The nastiest letter I received wasn’t signed, but it was covered in white feathers.
Our second-favorite red, white and blue team named USA returns to these rankings just in time for its matchup with Georgia State Not Southern, a meeting of the last-place teams in each division of the Fun Belt, aka the Pillow Fight of the Week of the Year Episode V: The Empire Looks Wack.
In my mind I can see this one resident of Massachusetts who had his heart broken by the Red Sox to start the MLB postseason … so he decided to go to the UConn-Boston College game to clear his head, only to watch the Eagles get run over by the Artist Formerly Known As U-Can’t … but then had the thought, “Hey, I can make it out to Amherst for the second half!” and started waving bye with 0:59 remaining when he thought UMass was going to win and watched the Minuetmen blow it … so, when he finally got home to Southie, and after his dog bit him, he made himself feel better by opening a six-pack of Sam Adams and going on the new ESPN App to watch the replay of Bill Belichick’s Tar Holes losing to Cal by fumbling the ball at the goal line late in the fourth quarter.
Waiting list: Northern Ill-ugh-noise, State of Kent, EMU Emus, Oklahoma State No Pokes, Charlotte 1-and-6ers, Wisconsin Bad-gers, Akronmonious, UNC Chapel Bill, the USC-Notre Dame series ending.
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