College basketball panic meter: Which teams should be concerned?

The 2025-26 college basketball season has started off with a bang for some, with some teams like Michigan, Arizona, Iowa State and plenty more asserting themselves as national championship candidates.

But not every team has had such a hot start, and there’s some real concern hovering around as conference play begins. Whether it was stumbling in a Feast Week tournament, losing high-caliber matchups or just looking discombobulated, all the preseason hype is out of the window. Those that had national title aspirations have turned into hoping to make the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, and those that felt like March Madness could have some success may be spending the rest of the regular season on the bubble.

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There’s still plenty of time to change course, but which teams are in trouble? And how much should they be panicking? We’ll rank it from 1-5, with one being there’s no need to raise the alarm and five meaning the sky is falling.

Florida

It starts with the defending national champions, a team that has learned it may be tougher to keep the crown. Even with all the departures, the Gators had the look of a team that could make it back to the Final Four, but they haven’t been able to knock down shots. While close, they lost to all three ranked opponents they faced and dropped a Thanksgiving neutral site game to TCU. Even when it has beaten teams like Florida State, Miami and Providence, Florida didn’t look dominant.

Panic rating: 4. The Gators are in for some beatings if they can’t execute against the stiffer SEC competition. The recent emergence of Xaivian Lee has helped restore belief, but that will have to go around the rest of the team that can’t afford more off-nights. However, what doesn’t make it a doomsday scenario is the conference isn’t as top heavy as it was last season, and it’s anyone’s guess who can run the table.

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St. John’s

So much for an encore for Rick Pitino, which has gone from starting the season at No. 6 to falling out of the…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/college-basketball-panic-meter-teams-150333745.html

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Publish date : 2025-12-24 15:03:00

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