Candid Coaches: Who will be college basketball's best player for the 2024-25 season?

Duke's Cooper Flagg is a frontrunner for NPOY, but a four-pack of studs separates from the rest as we head into the fall

By Matt Norlander Aug 14, 2024 at 10:58 am ET• 7 min read

CBS Sports college basketball insiders Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander surveyed100-plus Division I men's basketball coaches for our annual Candid Coaches series. They polled across the sport's landscape: some of the biggest names in college hoops, but also small-school assistants in low-major leagues. Coaches agreed to share unfiltered opinions in exchange for anonymity. We asked 10 questions and will post the results over a three-week span. Today is Question No. 2.

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There are three questions we ask pretty much every year in this series, because every year there is a lot of interest in these three particular topics. 

Who's going to be the best team? 

Who's going to be the best player?

Who was the best coaching hire in this cycle?

That first question was also the first one we published this time around; you can head over here to see the results. The third Q will be revealed on Friday; the voting for that was really interesting in what was the most loaded year for coaching turnover we've ever seen. 

Today, we're unveiling the answers to Question 2. Though a lot of these coaches aren't exactly concerning themselves with other teams and players in the thick of the offseason, many of them obviously love the sport and are dialed in enough to have an opinion on who they believe will be the best in the game. And we're happy to return to this question after two years. We opted against it last year, because Zach Edey would've been the runaway winner. So, let's get right to the evidence, shall we?