‘Tis the season of giving, so this year we’ve picked 10 needy men’s college basketball teams to receive a Christmas boost before they head into the thick of conference play.
Now you might be saying “hey, these are all power conference programs, the teams that really need gifts are at the mid-major and low-major levels.“ You’re right, but that’s not the true Christmas spirit. Santa, for whatever reason, always seems to be more generous to the kids that don’t really need a boost in the toy department. We are simply following his lead.
Also, don’t tell us how to Christmas.
Kansas: A healthy Darryn Peterson
This is without question the easiest gift on the list.
Peterson, a likely top three pick in next June’s NBA Draft, has scarcely seen the floor the Jayhawks so far this season because of a hamstring injury and cramping issues. Peterson has seen action in just four games this season, but has been spectacular when available. He’s averaging 19.3 ppg on 52.3 percent shooting from the field.
With Peterson, Kansas could be a legitimate threat to win the Big 12. Without him, they’re a good, not great team with little to no chance of making a Final Four or winning the national championship.
Take this however you want: A new player with the ultimate clutch gene, a head coach who takes over specifically when the Blue Devils have a 12+ point lead and there’s less than eight minutes to play, better free-throw shooting, literally Mariano Rivera. The fact of the matter is that Duke now has an established issue under Jon Scheyer when it comes to blowing big leads in big games.
It happened most famously in last season’s Final Four loss to Houston, and it happened most recently in last Saturday’s loss to Texas Tech. Duke led the Red Raiders by 17 points with 16:31 to play, and by 11 points with 6:29 to play. They lost by 1.
Purdue: An athletic defender
No one doubts that Purdue has the offense necessary to win the program’s first national championship. While the Boilermakers improved defensively with the offseason additions of Oscar Cluff and Daniel Jacobsen, there are still some concerns about the team’s tenaciousness on that end of the court. There are also concerns about their ability to handle the most athletic teams in the country come March.
It feels like Matt Painter is an NBA caliber athlete away from having everything you need to cut down the nets on the first Monday of April.
Kentucky: A 100% Jayden Quaintance for the second half
Big Blue Nation finally got a glimpse of what its team could look like with a completely healthy roster when Kentucky smacked St. John’s 78-66 last weekend in Atlanta.
The game marked the Wildcat debut of big man Jayden Quaintance, who spent the first seven weeks of the season still working his way back from the torn ACL that cut his freshman season at Arizona State short.
Quaintance looked very much like the lottery pick he’s projected to be, finishing with 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. His toughness and seemingly endless motor also seemed to rub-off on his teammates, who had been accused of looking lethargic at various points early in the season.
If Quaintance can stay healthy and continue to evolve after the calendar flips to 2026, Kentucky has a legitimate chance to live up to its preseason expectations.
Missouri: That Memory-Eraser Thing from Men in Black
Losing to a rival just before Christmas is rough.
Losing to a rival by 43 just before Christmas is enough to ruin even the most jolly Tigers’ holiday.
I would also just delete this tweet.
St. John’s: A point guard
The Johnnies have been one of the most disappointing teams in college basketball so far, owning a 7-4 record and no wins over teams that seem like locks to make the NCAA Tournament.
The biggest issue for Rick Pitino’s team through the season’s first two months has been point guard play. Dylan Darling and Oziyah Sellers have both struggled mightily at the position, and while Ian Jackson has shown signs of improvement, Pitino has repeatedly noted that the North Carolina transfer is not a true point guard.
Following St. John’s loss to Kentucky over the weekend, Pitino talked at length about the team’s lack of a point guard and ultimately blamed himself and his staff for not securing one during the offseason.
“I think you can see that (UK point guard) Jaland Lowe, him coming in — we don’t have somebody coming in like him,” Pitino said. “That’s our fault as a staff for not having a big time point guard that makes people better.
“We don’t have it, so we’ve got to make sure the other guys can bring it up, do the job. That’s our fault in recruiting. We lost out on four different big-time point guards that we went after, and we’ve got to make the best of a situation by collectively other people handling the ball and bringing it up.”
With two freshman starters and four freshmen featured heavily in his rotation, this is not your typical Kelvin Sampson team at Houston.
The talent level of these freshmen isn’t up for debate, but their ability to fully grasp Sampson’s multi-layered defensive philosophy certainly is. There’s a reason why Sampson has typically employed the “get old, stay old” tactic of roster construction up until this point.
Sampson has done everything in his career but win a national championship. He has the talent to do it this season, but he might not have the experience.
Arizona: A second outside shooter
Can you win a national championship in 2026 getting 80 percent of your scoring from inside the three-point line? Arizona is going to try.
The Wildcats currently rank 358th out of 364 Division-I teams in three-point attempts. Freshman Brayden Burries drilled five threes against Alabama a couple weeks ago, but ‘Zona doesn’t really have anyone else who can consistently knock down the outside shot. A second lethal perimeter threat would give Tommy Lloyd a few more options offensively come March.
Nebraska: At least one NCAA Tournament win
Nebrasketball is famously the only power conference program in college basketball that has never won a game in the NCAA Tournament. That might be three months away from changing.
The Cornhuskers are off to the best start in school history at 12-0, and own resume-building victories over Oklahoma, Kansas State, Wisconsin, Creighton and Illinois.
A handful of Husker fans are already saying that if it doesn’t happen this year, they’ll be convinced it never will. It’s hard to blame them.
It’d be nice to give them a guarantee going into the New Year.
Michigan: Some festive socks
Look, you’re beating everyone by like 50 right now. You don’t need anything else.
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