Analyst Jon Rothstein hypes up "monster" marquee matchups with Duke, Florida, and more to start 2025-26 season: "This is what the sport needs" 

The 2025-26 college basketball season is still months away, but CBS Sports analyst Jon Rothstein is building up hype for the campaign. Rothstein highlighted the high-profile matchups slated for the first week of the season, during his show on CBS Sports on YouTube.

On Friday, Rothstein tweeted about Duke and Texas finalizing a matchup for the nonconference schedule, taking place in a neutral location at Spectrum Center on Nov. 4.

Defending national champions Florida Gators will also be in action on opening night, against Arizona at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Similarly, Villanova will face BYU on the same night at T-Mobile Arena.

"So in the first two days of the 2025-26 college basketball season ... we have Florida against Arizona in Las Vegas, two teams who should start next season in the top 15," Rothstein said. "And then we have Villanova — its first game with Kevin Willard as head coach, taking on BYU.

"This is what the sport needs. This is how the sport is going to separate itself, coming shot out of a cannon during the first week of the regular season," he added.

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Rothstein added that Sean Miller will coach his first game with Texas against the Blue Devils. He placed Texas at the back end of his preseason Top 25 in his Rothstein 45 rankings.

"So right now, and we still have a couple more, obviously, months before the start of the next season, and there's opportunities to add to the schedule," he said. "We know we have three monster games in the first two days."

Latest Jon Rothstein 45 reveals Duke holding 8th spot, champion Florida now at 17th

Rothstein updated his "Rothstein 45" college basketball rankings every day to track teams throughout the offseason. In his latest edition, Jon Scheyer's Duke maintains a top-10 rank, while the national champion Florida Gators sit outside the top 15.

The Gators, who beat Houston in the championship game last month, lost several key players in the offseason. Walter Clayton Jr, Alijah Martin and Will Richard — three of the Gators' top scorers — exhausted their college eligibility.

Sophomore forward Alex Condon, the only other player to average double-digit points, declared for the upcoming NBA draft. Florida also lost junior Denzel Aberdeen, who transferred to Kentucky.

Duke, on the other hand, also had several departures — most notably Maine native Cooper Flagg, the consensus projected top pick in this year's draft. The Blue Devils landed Cedric Coward and Ifeanyi Ufochukwu for their transfer haul.