Missouri v Kentucky
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The Dribble Handoff often centers on the best teams, best players and best stories in college basketball. We often use this space to highlight big games, project postseason award winners or give love to mid-major darlings. But as we dive into the heart of conference play in early 2026, it's time to look at the teams that are failing to meet the mark.

Expectations are a dangerous dynamic in the NIL era. You can buy the talent and sell the vision, but you can't always coach the chemistry. Whether it's Rick Pitino's St. John's squad struggling to find a rhythm despite a rockstar transfer class or Florida struggling to meet the standard of a reigning national champion, returns from the first half of the season for many across the sport have been underwhelming. 

There is still time for programs to turn things around, and often teams with a ton of new faces just need time to gel. But with a significant sample size now in hand, it's getting harder to hide the warts.

So, today we're pivoting and asking our crew to identify the teams they are most disappointed in so far in the 2025-26 season.

St. John's

The highest-ranked team in the Associated Press Top 25 preseason poll that is no longer ranked is Florida. So a case can be made for the Gators. And Kentucky is obviously a mess. But, for me personally, college basketball's most disappointing team this season is St. John's.

I had the Red Storm ranked No. 1 in the preseason.

That was clearly a mistake -- mostly because Rick Pitino spent a lot of money building this roster but failed to secure the services of a point guard capable of running his team. Now he's paying a price for that oversight/miscalculation, undeniably. The Red Storm are just 10-5 with a loss at home to unranked Providence and look incapable of competing with UConn at the top of the Big East despite starting just one spot behind Dan Hurley's Huskies in the preseason AP poll at No. 5. -- Gary Parrish

Marquette

MU wasn't ranked in the preseason, but this has to be the most disappointing team of them all. The Golden Eagles took loss No. 10 by Week No. 9 after Shaka Smart shirked the portal (again) in favor of building his team entirely from within. It's turned into the most notorious backfire in college basketball. I am positively stunned it's gotten this bad after Smart went to four straight NCAA tourneys with single-digit seeds in his first four seasons in Milwaukee. The last time Marquette was this poor was 1990-91, when it was in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference and finished 11-18. -- Matt Norlander

Florida

There's a strong case to be made for Kentucky and St. John's, and UCLA was considered as well. But for my money, no team's preseason expectations have been dimmed more by its in-season reality than Florida.

It is, as GP noted above, the highest-ranked team in the AP Top 25 preseason poll at No. 3 that is currently unranked. Coming off a championship season in which it won a program-record 36 games, a 10-5 start is undeniably disappointing.

The losses are largely understandable if you're inclined to extend some grace. Three of Florida's five defeats have come against teams currently ranked No. 1 (Arizona), No. 4 (UConn) and No. 6 (Duke). But at Florida -- a place synonymous with championship basketball -- there is no such thing as quality losses or moral victories.

The Gators simply have not been good enough.

That reality is magnified by an offseason haul that allowed Florida to effectively handpick its incoming talent, fueled by the postseason momentum of a title run. For now, Florida is the clear winner among the losers, and by a wide margin.

Long term, I'm bullish and buying stock. The Gators rank 13th at KenPom, sit top 10 nationally in defensive efficiency, are elite on the offensive glass and are loaded with talent. But the shot-making has lagged behind expectations, and the pieces have not fully clicked -- at least not yet. -- Kyle Boone

Ole Miss

The good news for Ole Miss is that Rebels fans are so enamored with the football program's greatest season of all time that the basketball team isn't receiving the same level of scrutiny that it otherwise might. But there's no sugar-coating how poor of a season Ole Miss is having on the hardwood. 

On the heels of a 24-win campaign highlighted by the program's first Sweet 16 since 2001, the Rebels are just 8-7 (0-2 SEC) following Wednesday's 94-87 home loss to Arkansas. None of the eight wins are against high-major opponents. The problem is that there's not just one problem. The Rebels are struggling across the board, having used six different starting lineup combinations in search of something that works.

Kansas transer AJ Storr isn't providing the hoped-for offensive jolt, and French import Ilias Kamardine is averaging just eight points per game regressed following a solid first seven contests. 

Third-year coach Chris Beard had a lot to replace from last year's squad, but he retained star forward Malik Dia and appeared to do a serviceable job in adding pieces around him. But rebounding remains an issue, and there is no clear identity for the Rebels on either side of the ball. It will take a miracle for Ole Miss to reach at-large consideration unless something drastic changes in a hurry. -- David Cobb

Kentucky

I can't believe we've gotten to this point with Kentucky. The 'Cats just aren't a good enough basketball team. Kentucky sits 9-6 overall and 0-2 in SEC play with warts that feel unfixable. The lack of secondary creation on this roster is jarring. Mark Pope is forced to try and play a smashmouth style of basketball that doesn't seem to suit his ethos. Wins are there to be had in a slightly watered-down SEC, but it's hard to shake the feeling that this team just is what it is.

My biggest preseason whiff was believing that Pope could get all these individual creators to buy into the ball movement that has been a staple of his offenses. Instead, Kentucky looks slow and lethargic, which has led to rushed, clunky shots. That's a dreary combination. Inserting Jaland Lowe and Jayden Quaintance into the starting lineup will raise the floor for this group, but Kentucky appears to have a few too many flaws to truly contend. -- Isaac Trotter