Dribble Handoff: USC, Virginia expected to be among college basketball's most-improved teams for 2025-26

In the span of just over one calendar year, Florida went from a No. 7 seed that was eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to a No. 1 seed hoisting the national championship trophy. The Gators' year-over-year improvement brought an uptick in victories from 24 to 36 and also included an SEC Tournament title.

However, the Gators weren't college basketball's most-improved high-major team last season. That title goes to Louisville. Though the Cardinals suffered a disappointing 14-point loss to No. 9 seed Creighton in the first round of the Big Dance, it was nonetheless a tremendous season of progress. A year after limping to an 8-24 finish, the Cards immediately improved to 27-8 under first-year coach Pat Kelsey. The Cardinals' resurgence was highlighted by an 18-2 ACC record behind an offense that was unafraid to take and make a stream of 3-pointers. Major strides also came for programs like Missouri (8-24 to 22-12), Michigan (8-24 to 27-10) and Vanderbilt (9-23 to 20-13), just to name a few.

With rosters essentially finalized for most of college basketball, we are surveying the national landscape to assess which team could be in line to make a big turnaround in 2025-26. For this week's edition of the Dribble Handoff, our writers made their picks for most-improved teams in the season ahead.

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Needless to say, some power-conference program that was bad last season will be respectable this season and make major year-to-year jumps in the computers, if only because that always happens. It often leads to conference Coach of the Year awards. But rather than try to identify that school, I'd rather focus on a program I expect to go from good to great, from intriguing to elite and from interesting to title-contender.

For me, that program is BYU.

The Cougars were good last season, going 26-10 overall, including 14-6 in the Big 12. They advanced to the Sweet 16 and finished 26th at KenPom.com. Again, all of that is good -- but also a bit misleading considering BYU was ranked No. 7 at BartTorvik.com over the final eight weeks of the season behind only (in order) Duke, Houston, Florida, Auburn, Gonzaga and Alabama.

In other words, BYU might've only received a 6-seed in the NCAA Tournament because of its total body of work, but in reality, the Cougars spent the final two months of the season operating like a top-10 team. Now, two starters from that roster -- leading scorer Richie Saunders and 6-foot-8 big Keba Keita -- are back, and you can reasonably argue that BYU upgraded its other three starting spots with Baylor transfer Rob Wright, Southern Illinois transfer Kennard Davis Jr. and five-star wing AJ Dybantsa, the last of whom I've projected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.

Will BYU be picked to win the Big 12? Probably not, because Kelvin Sampson and Houston exist. But, on paper at least, BYU looks like a legitimate national championship contender, proving that a competent coaching staff armed with top-shelf financial resources can build something special pretty much anywhere these days. For what it's worth, I have the Cougars ranked No. 3 in the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1. St. John's and Houston are the only teams ahead of them. -- Gary Parrish

After spending last week on the recruiting trail and checking in with a medley of coaches, I can report that many a coach in college hoops believes Ryan Odom's Virginia Cavaliers will take a big jump in his first season. The Wahoos went 15-17 last season, fated to toil under Ron Sanchez in the wake of Tony Bennett's head-turning retirement in mid-October. Odom was plucked from nearby VCU, given a $10 million-plus roster budget for the upcoming season and has been able to load up on a team that figures to be top-five in the ACC.

BYU transfer Dallin Hall and former Kansas State forward Ugonna Onyenso have to vastly improve their production from last season, and the additions of three high-level mid-major scorers will give Virginia plenty to work with on offense. Malik Thomas (19.9 ppg at San Francisco), Jacari White (17.1 ppg at North Dakota State) and Sam Lewis (16.2 ppg at Toledo) will likely combine to put up more than 30 points per night. Then there's one of the best gets of the offseason, Belgium forward Thijs De Ridder, who has two years of professional experience in Spain underneath his belt. The 6-foot-8 combo forward put up 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds while shooting 39.1% from 3 in one of the best Euro leagues.

Odom -- who has a career .636 winning percentage over more than a decade of coaching mid-major programs -- is ready for this. Virginia has the pieces. I'll be surprised if the Cavs aren't a single-digit seed in the NCAA Tournament next season. -- Matt Norlander

First-year coach Will Wade should immediately get NC State back to the NCAA Tournament and the ACC's upper class. Among a plethora of additions for the Wolfpack are six transfers who played key roles for NCAA Tournament teams last season, including No. 6 overall transfer Darrion Williams from Texas Tech. Love him or hate him, Wade has proven he's a winner at every stop of his coaching journey. McNeese finished 11-23 the season before his arrival, but he immediately turned the Cowboys into a 30-win team that reached the 2024 Big Dance.

Can NC State replicate what Louisville did last season in Year 1 under Pat Kelsey when the Cardinals finished 18-2 in the ACC? That seems a tad far-fetched. But the league is gettable enough that the Wolfpack should make major strides following a 12-19 (5-15 ACC) season. -- David Cobb

I love what USC did this offseason. It would be surprising if, at minimum, USC isn't in the hunt to reach the NCAA Tournament in Year 2 of Eric Musselman's tenure. The headliners of that transfer class are Auburn's Chad Baker-Mazara and Maryland's Rodney Rice -- both of whom were key contributors on teams that reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Former Virginia forward Jacob Cofie could also prove to be an underrated transfer. The wild card is incoming freshman Alijah Arenas. The son of former NBA All Star Gilbert Arenas was the No. 10-ranked player in the 2025 recruiting cycle in the 247Sports rankings and could be a lottery pick next summer.

USC went 17-18 last season, but there were some big wins -- especially in Big Ten play -- against Illinois and Michigan State. The Big Ten race should be interesting, with Purdue looking like the clear-cut favorite to win the league. Don't be surprised if USC finishes in the middle of the standings and hears its name called on Selection Sunday. -- Cameron Salerno