A handful of teams represent the cream of the crop in college basketball season.
Duke and Auburn have been in that discussion since Day 1, while Houston's dominant Big 12 run launched the Cougars into that tier before Florida entered the conversation after finishing the regular season and SEC tournament playing better ball than any other team in the country.
It's no surprise the top four teams in every predictive metric earned the four 1-seeds in the 2025 NCAA tournament -- and were the only programs picked to win the national championship in our annual poll of 25 coaches and scouts.
Last season's edition featured 20 of 25 votes for the eventual champion UConn Huskies. But this season, we have some real disagreement and debate, with the most-picked team receiving 10 votes to the No. 2 team's eight, and another two splitting the final seven.
The official vote tally: