Every season, we know who the stars are supposed to be. The All-Americans, the high-usage veterans, the five-star freshmen — they dominate the headlines and preseason lists. But the difference between a good year and a great year for most teams usually comes from somewhere else. It’s from the players who are already solid, maybe even really good, but who have another gear to reach. Those are the guys who can change the trajectory of a season, the ones who can take a team from “interesting” to “legitimate contender.”
That’s what The Leap List is about. These aren’t breakout candidates in the traditional sense — they’ve already shown they can play at a high level and have often already had a breakout season in their college careers. However, they have shown the potential for more. If they go from good (or very good) to great, everything changes for their teams. Think of them as the swing players of the upper tier, the ones who elevate ceilings and be All-Americans by season’s end.
I wanted to avoid transfers and newcomers for this exercise. There are a number of players primed to take leaps forward given a new opportunity or new system, but this list is different. This is about players returning to their programs and are set to go from quality starter to superstar - or potentially even star to superstar.
Jalen Brunson and Frank Mason represent past examples of this leap, as both players went from quality starters on great teams to winning National Player of the Year. Walter Clayton Jr. fits this mold, too, as we saw him go from a second team All-SEC player as a junior to a consensus first team All-American and March legend as a senior.
This year, five names stand out: Solo Ball (UConn), Milan Momcilovic (Iowa State), Jaden Bradley (Arizona), Zuby Ejiofor (St. John’s), and John Blackwell (Wisconsin). Each has already proven themselves in different ways, and each is in position to do even more.
Solo Ball, UConn
Solo Ball didn’t sneak up on UConn fans last season, but he might have snuck up on everyone else. When a player averages double-figures as a sophomore in Dan Hurley’s system, on a roster already loaded with talent, you take notice. When that player also shows flashes of being the guy who can steady the offense, carry it for stretches, and knock down shots at an efficient clip, it forces you to start rethinking expectations.
That’s where Ball sits entering the 2025–26 season: a good player on the verge of being great, and the kind of piece who could define whether UConn stays in the national title conversation or just hangs around the top 15.
The Huskies already have their foundation. Alex Karaban is back and remains one of the most versatile forwards in the country with Tarris Reed Jr. anchoring the paint and bringing physicality you can trust every night. Freshmen like Braylon Mullins and Eric Reibe, along with transfers like Silas Demary Jr. and Malachi Smith, inject new talent. On paper, it’s the kind of roster that makes UConn UConn: deep, versatile, and more than capable of winning in different ways. But if you want to find the player who can swing their season from “really good” to “legitimately special,” you land right back at Solo Ball.
He’s always had the pedigree. A top-50 recruit out of California, Ball arrived with the reputation of being a big-time scorer who could shoot from deep, handle the ball, and play multiple guard spots. His freshman season was quiet, the kind where flashes were buried in limited minutes behind more experienced guards. Last year was the breakout: 14.4 points per game (second on the team behind Liam McNeeley) on 43.9% shooting from the field and 41.4% from three. He wasn’t just efficient; he was opportunistic, stepping into games where UConn needed an extra push and delivering. In a rotation that didn’t need him to carry the load every night, Ball still showed he could.
That scoring punch matters because of how Hurley wants to play. UConn’s offense thrives when the ball doesn’t stick, when shooters space the floor and cutters are rewarded for activity. Ball’s shooting stroke fit seamlessly. He shot confidently in catch-and-shoot spots, attacked closeouts when defenders scrambled, and proved comfortable operating as a secondary handler when the primary action broke down. Those touches didn’t just pad his stat line — they kept UConn balanced. Every high-level offense needs that release valve, the player who can punish defenses for over-helping. Ball was exactly that.
But the thing about being that kind of player is that defenses eventually adjust. Late in the season, opponents started crowding him more on the perimeter to test if he could create off the bounce consistently. The results were mixed as his efficiency and playmaking dipped in March from where they had been in January and February.
That’s where the leap lies. Ball has shown he can be a reliable catch-and-shoot threat, but if he wants to be the next in the line of breakout stars under Hurley, he has to become a consistent creator. UConn doesn’t need him to be Kemba Walker, but it does need him to make defenses pay when they run him off the line, to turn those possessions into something other than reset passes or forced shots.
That’s where the conversation around his defense comes in, too. Nobody is going to confuse Ball with Jaylin Stewart when it comes to on-ball defense. He hasn’t always been consistent on that end, sometimes struggling with footwork or getting caught flat-footed by quicker guards. Hurley doesn’t hide from that — he demands it improve. And if Ball does take a step forward there, it changes everything about his usage.
There’s also a confidence factor you can’t ignore. Hurley has made it clear this offseason that Ball isn’t just another rotation player anymore.
"I mean the residual confidence carry-over of being an All-Big East player, a guy that's proven." Hurley explained to reporters in June. "He knows that he didn't end the season shooting great in the last couple of games, but I mean his shooting last year, he's as good of a shooter as there is returning to college. He's gotten stronger, we've emphasized rim finishing, handling, passing and defense. He's going to be better in all those ways than last year, and then bring improved shooting with him back, more range, more dangerous."
If he lingers in that “shooter-only” category, his ceiling stays capped. If he rounds into a two-way contributor, he’s suddenly indispensable. The flashes he showed last season as a creator, particularly in UConn's win over Marquette in Milwaukee, demonstrated how lethal he has the potential to be.
The roster around him makes his leap even more essential. Karaban is steady but won’t dominate the ball. Reed does his work inside. Mullins is talented but still a freshman adjusting to the college game. Stewart will bring value in multiple ways but isn’t a go-to scorer. That leaves space for Ball to become the perimeter engine, the one who can bridge possessions when the ball movement stalls or when teams take away the first option. It’s not about being the No. 1 scorer every night, but it is about being the guy who can be No. 1 when the game demands it.
Every UConn championship team under Hurley has had someone make that leap. Jordan Hawkins did it. Tristen Newton did it. Last year, Karaban stepped further into that role. Ball is next in line. The tools are all there: the shooting stroke, the offensive instincts, the frame to defend multiple spots if the consistency catches up. The question is whether he embraces the challenge, and if he does, UConn can win its third national title in four years.
Jaden Bradley, Arizona
If Solo Ball represents the kind of young, still-rising star who could redefine UConn’s ceiling, Jaden Bradley represents something slightly different but just as important for Arizona: the veteran guard who has been good, steady, reliable — and now has the chance to be great.
Bradley’s first two seasons in Tucson have been a study in patience. He arrived as a former McDonald’s All-American, transferring from Alabama, where he spent his freshman year playing behind Jahvon Quinerly, Mark Sears and Brandon Miller while learning how to operate in Nate Oats’ high-tempo offense. His move to Arizona was supposed to unlock him, but two years playing alongside Caleb Love largely kept him from stepping into a ball-dominant role. Bradley still carved out a consistent role under Tommy Lloyd and posted career highs across the board last season, averaging 12.1 points, 3.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game. He started most nights, guarded the other team’s best perimeter scorer, and was the kind of player every coach trusts in crunch time.
But if you ask Arizona’s coaching staff, there’s still a sense of untapped potential. Bradley has always been more than his numbers, yet those numbers matter, too. His shooting hasn’t caught up to his reputation — 32.1 percent from three last season, which is the stat everyone circles when debating what kind of guard he can really be. His efficiency inside the arc is solid (around 43%), he’s strong finishing through contact, and he gets to the line, but the lack of reliable three-point shooting has limited how much Arizona can lean on him offensively. Defenses know the scouting report. They sag, they go under screens, they dare him to take the shot. And when he doesn’t make them pay, Arizona’s spacing suffers.
That’s the hinge point because Bradley brings so many other things to the table. He’s one of the best rebounding guards in the Big 12 now that Arizona has made the league switch, a 6-foot-4, 200-pounder who plays bigger than his size. He’s strong, physical, and rarely gets bullied defensively. He reads passing lanes, he makes smart rotations, and he doesn’t gamble unnecessarily. Those things don’t show up in headlines, but they show up in winning basketball.
Yet Arizona’s roster construction this season makes it clear: Bradley has to be more than steady. With Carter Bryant and Caleb Love off to the pros, along with KJ Lewis transferring to Georgetown, the Wildcats need Bradley’s offense to scale. He doesn’t need to suddenly become a 20-point scorer — that’s not realistic or necessary, given the upside of five-star freshmen Brayden Burries and Koa Peat. What he does need is to become a credible enough shooter that defenses can’t shrink the floor and to take better care of the ball Lloyd can trust him to carry possessions late in games.
The good news is there are signs. Bradley’s form isn’t broken. His shot mechanics are sound, his free-throw percentage (around 70%) suggests there’s room for growth, and his confidence didn’t waver even when the results weren’t there. Lloyd has praised him this offseason for the work he’s put in, and Arizona’s staff has been intentional about tailoring workouts around getting him more comfortable on catch-and-shoot threes.
And here’s the thing: Bradley doesn’t need to be elite at it. He just needs to be average. Because everything else he does already makes Arizona better. He can pressure the rim, he can play in transition, he can run secondary pick-and-rolls, he can defend multiple positions. He’s strong enough to post smaller guards and smart enough to move without the ball when playing next to a true primary scorer.
That balance is what makes him so fascinating in this Leap List context. He’s already good enough that Arizona can count on him every night. The leap would be going from being a reliable role player to being the piece that opponents fear in March.
Think about Arizona’s recent tournament exits. The Wildcats have had size, talent, depth, and balance. What they’ve lacked in those crunch moments is a guard who can just go get a bucket, who can punish defenses for loading up on the stars. Bradley has that kind of pedigree. He was once one of the most heralded guards in his class. He’s been in high-leverage games at both Alabama and Arizona. He’s played with and against elite competition since high school.
This season, the opportunity is right there. Arizona doesn’t have a clear alpha in the backcourt and, while Bradley has spent the first three seasons of his career playing second (or third) fiddle to more established stars, can be that alpha.
It’s worth remembering, too, that Bradley has already shown glimpses of that version of himself. There was the 21-point outing against Kansas and 22-point showing at Wisconsin. He was seemingly the only Wildcat that met the challenge against Duke in November, scoring 18 points while scoring from all three levels. He also averaged over 15 points per game in the NCAA Tournament on 54.3 percent shooting - including 5/9 from deep across three games.
There were also plenty of smaller games where his defense and rebounding tilted the result even when his shot wasn’t falling. The leap isn’t about him becoming something totally new. It’s about doing what he’s already flashed — only more consistently, and with a jumper that keeps defenses honest.
Arizona has depth and talent, but the leap from being a Sweet 16 team to being a Final Four team often comes down to the backcourt. It comes down to whether you have someone who can take control late, who can hit the shot that keeps your season alive. Bradley is the candidate to be that guy. And if he is, Arizona’s ceiling is higher than most people are giving them credit for.
Zuby Ejiofor, St. John’s
If you want to talk about leaps in college basketball, Zuby Ejiofor might be the best example of one we saw last season. 24 months ago, he was viewed as a Kansas castoff. A former four-star prospect, sure, but one who barely played as a freshman and didn’t make much of an impression outside of recruiting circles. Fast forward to this past March and he was a first-team All-Big East forward, the league’s Most Improved Player, and the rising star of a St. John’s team that tied the school record with 31 wins.
That transformation didn’t happen by accident. Ejiofor carved out his reputation by doing the things every coach wants but few players consistently provide: dominating the glass, defending the rim, and bringing relentless energy. He averaged 14.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.4 blocks on 57.7% shooting. He led the entire nation in offensive rebounds, grabbing more than four a game, and collected ten double-doubles. When the Red Storm needed toughness, when they needed a play that swung momentum, it was often Ejiofor who made it.
The leap was real, but now the question is whether he can do it again. Because as good as he was last year, the expectation in Queens is that Zuby still has another level to hit — one that helps elevate St. John’s past the Round of 32 and to the Final Four.
What makes Ejiofor so valuable in Rick Pitino’s system is how much he simplifies everything around him. St. John’s is always going to play fast and lean on perimeter chaos, but that system collapses if there isn’t someone inside to anchor it all. Ejiofor gave them that presence last year, punishing switches, finishing in traffic, and cleaning up every miss. Without him, all that perimeter talent would’ve been forced to bend out of position, and their lack of shooting would’ve cost them more wins during the regular season.
It wasn’t just production, though. Ejiofor also emerged as a leader. Pitino named him a captain, and teammates consistently pointed to his voice in the locker room and his example in practice as reasons for their turnaround. On a roster filled with transfers and new faces, Zuby was the connective tissue that made the whole thing work.
This season, the responsibility only grows. St. John’s reloaded with talent again — Bryce Hopkins and Dillon Mitchell join Ejiofor in the frontcourt while Ian Jackson, Joson Sanon and Oziyah Sellers add scoring punch and Dylan Darling brings playmaking. All those pieces appear, on paper, to make the Johnnies less vulnerable to an early NCAA Tournament upset. That said, there are major point guard questions and if they have enough shooting.
Zuby is the piece that ties everything together, particularly in the frontcourt. Hopkins thrives when he doesn’t have to bang inside every possession, and Mitchell is more of a slasher and athlete than a true big. That makes Ejiofor the anchor — the one who allows Hopkins to float between forward spots, who lets Mitchell hunt mismatches, who absorbs the heavy lifting against traditional centers.
Pitino knows it. He talked last year about Ejiofor’s ability to change games without needing plays run for him, and that’s only going to be truer this season. St. John’s has scoring options in the backcourt, wings who want shots, and playmakers who want the ball in their hands. What they don’t have is another player as comfortable being the one who sets the tone defensively, rebounds every miss in his area, and finishes the scraps. Ejiofor does all of that.
The thing that makes him fascinating heading into 2025–26 is whether he can expand the offensive package. He was efficient as a junior, but mostly in predictable ways — dunks, layups, put-backs, and the occasional post touch. If he adds even a reliable 12-foot jumper, suddenly defenses have to respect him in the short roll. If he can knock down the occasional corner three, Hopkins and Mitchell get more space to work. Even if it’s just five or six shots a game outside of the paint, those possessions shift the way teams guard St. John’s.
We saw flashes of that perimeter shooting touch last season and Ejiofor's stroke looked smooth.
Defensively, he already showed last season how valuable he is as a rim protector and rebounder. What will be worth watching is whether he can become more versatile in space. St. John’s will need him to guard ball screens, to switch occasionally, and to keep quicker forwards from exploiting mismatches. If he continues to progress there, he becomes the kind of all-around defender who can anchor one of the league’s best units.
That’s why Ejiofor belongs on any “Leap List.” He already made a massive one a year ago, but the runway is still there for more. He doesn’t need to become a stretch five or lead the Big East in scoring but build off the breakout he had a season ago. If he does, Ejiofor could be the best big man in the country.
Milan Momcilovic, Iowa State
Much of the conversation in Ames centers on Momcilovic, who is entering his junior season and feels poised to become one of the most important players in the Big 12. Iowa State’s roster has plenty of quality pieces, but Momcilovic is the one with the combination of shooting, versatility, and proven efficiency that can take the Cyclones from being solid to something greater.
He is not a mystery at this point. Two full seasons in the Big 12 have shown exactly what he is and, more importantly, what he can be. Last year he averaged 11.5 points and 3.3 rebounds while shooting just under 43 percent from the floor, 39.6 percent from three, and nearly 84 percent from the free throw line. Those are numbers that hold up in any league, and they weren’t padded in garbage minutes or soft nonconference games. They came in a schedule filled with the sport’s most physical defenses. He has already proven himself as one of the best shooters in the Big 12, and at 6-foot-8 with smooth mechanics, he forces defenders to guard him in ways that warp spacing.
The impact of his shooting becomes even clearer when you break down Iowa State’s results. The Cyclones went 22–6 when he played last season, compared to just 3–4 when he was sidelined with a hand injury. That alone tells you how connected their success was to his presence. Drill deeper and the split gets even starker: in wins, Momcilovic shot 45.2 percent from the field and 43.9 percent from three. In losses, he dropped to 37 percent shooting and under 29 percent from deep.
When he is scoring efficiently, Iowa State is a different team. When he is not, their offense bogs down and the balance disappears.
It is not just the box score that backs this up. Advanced stats tell the same story. According to EvanMiya, the three-man lineup of Momcilovic, Joshua Jefferson, and Nate Heise was Iowa State’s most effective unit over 100 possessions, and among the best returning trios in the entire country over larger sample sizes. That combination of shooting, versatility, and toughness works at an elite level, and Momcilovic is the centerpiece because of the gravity he commands. Defenses have to respect him, and that opens cutting lanes for Jefferson and driving space for Tamin Lipsey. Without him, Iowa State’s offense becomes cramped and predictable. With him, they can run the kind of multiple-option sets that define a true contender.
The coaching staff knows it, too, and they have been vocal about pushing him to be more aggressive. Reports out of Ames this offseason noted that T.J. Otzelberger and his staff have asked him not just to continue shooting efficiently, but to increase his volume. The idea is simple: if a 40 percent three-point shooter is only taking four or five attempts a game, that is leaving value on the table. Get that number closer to seven or eight, and suddenly the entire geometry of the offense changes. Iowa State has wings who can slash and guards who can set up actions, but they don’t have anyone else with Momcilovic’s combination of size and perimeter touch. A higher usage rate is not about chasing points, it is about maximizing his existing efficiency.
That fits with how the rest of the roster is shaping up. Curtis Jones and Keshon Gilbert are gone, meaning the backcourt’s scoring punch is thinner than it was a year ago. Lipsey returns healthy, which should restore some of the defensive havoc that was missing late last season, but he is more facilitator than scorer. Jefferson is a glue guy who thrives on secondary offense and playmaking. Heise is a terrific spot-up shooter but not someone who creates his own looks. That leaves Momcilovic as the player most capable of becoming the go-to option. He has already shown flashes of that role, with multiple 20-point outings including one in the NCAA Tournament, and he did it efficiently against good competition. The next step is doing it consistently, night after night, over the grind of Big 12 play.
The defense will be the real test. Iowa State has built its reputation under Otzelberger on pressure, toughness, and physicality. Momcilovic is never going to be a lockdown defender, but he does not have to be. What he has to do is hold up well enough that the Cyclones can continue to extend pressure on the perimeter and gamble for turnovers, knowing that the back line won’t crumble. His defensive rating in wins was nearly eight points better than in losses, which speaks less to individual ability than to how much more locked-in he tends to be when the offense is flowing. That is part of the package — when he is engaged and in rhythm, it fuels both ends.
The comparison point might be someone like Isaiah Joe from his Arkansas days, or even Jordan Hawkins at UConn. Both were shooters with size who eventually learned to lean into volume without sacrificing efficiency, and that turned them into focal points of high-level college offenses. Momcilovic is not quite at their level yet, but the trajectory is there. If he is willing to shoot more, even at the risk of some regression, the reward could be massive.
Iowa State’s goals this season are bigger than just being a solid tournament team. They want to fight for the top of the Big 12 and make a real run in March. For that to happen, they need more than just toughness and balance — they need a star. They need someone who can be the difference in a tight game, who can bail them out when sets break down, and who can force defenses to change their coverage. Momcilovic is the most likely candidate. He has already proven to be a game-changer in wins, and his skill set is the one that translates most directly to being a lead option.
There is risk, of course. If he stays too passive, the Cyclones could find themselves repeating the pattern from last year — good, tough, competitive, but not quite dangerous enough to survive deep into March. If he steps forward, though, the ceiling changes dramatically. The shooting is real, the efficiency is real, and the lineup data shows the team is at its best when he is heavily involved. It is all there for him to make a leap.
John Blackwell, Wisconsin
And then there’s John Blackwell, Wisconsin’s returning torque — steady, polished, quietly ascending. Blackwell is Wisconsin’s backbone, the kind of guard whose next leap might determine just how far the Badgers can go.
His sophomore season was the kind of year you circle when trying to project a star. His freshman campaign in 2023–24 was solid but limited — 8.0 points per game, a rotation role, flashes of slashing and energy. Last season, though, he blossomed into a nightly starter and one of the Big Ten’s most reliable guards. He nearly doubled his scoring to 15.8 points per game, pulled down 5.1 rebounds, and dished 2.2 assists, all while playing 31 minutes a night. His shooting splits weren’t perfect (45% from the field, 32% from three), but they represented a clear step forward, particularly in volume and confidence.
That consistency gave Wisconsin something it badly needed. The Badgers are usually a team defined by balance with five guys sharing the ball, grinding opponents down with execution and efficiency. But last season, they needed someone who could be “the guy,” someone to take the lead when possessions stalled or games tightened. John Tonje was clearly that guy early in the season season, but as the year progressed, it was clear that Blackwell was more Option 1B than Option 2.
The highlight reel moments piled up. His 32-point outburst in a blowout win over Iowa was the kind of eruption that makes you think about stardom, not just reliability.
He posted back-to-back double-doubles against Washington and Minnesota, proving he could impact the game on the glass and as a playmaker. And when Wisconsin made its Big Ten Tournament run, he delivered 18 points in the final, solidifying his spot as the team’s best guard. By year’s end, he was All-Big Ten Honorable Mention and a Big Ten All-Tournament selection – recognition of just how important he had become.
But the story is less about what he did last season and more about what he could become next. Wisconsin needs him to take another step. The roster is reshaped — Nick Boyd comes in from San Diego State to provide point guard stability, Andrew Rohde arrives from Virginia as a wing scorer, and Elijah Gray adds frontcourt versatility. The frontcourt, led by Nolan Winter, has size but not overwhelming athleticism.
While those players are all proven, they’re supplements, not saviors. The Badgers’ ceiling is tied to how much Blackwell can scale his game up without losing efficiency. This roster needs a great player to lead it in the post-Tonje era the same way it needed someone after Johnny Davis’ breakout, and Blackwell is the player who will be expected to shoulder late-clock creation and high-usage stretches.
The big question is whether his shooting can take the leap. At 32% from deep, Blackwell wasn’t a liability, but defenses didn’t guard him like a knockdown shooter. That kept his driving lanes tighter and forced him into more contested midrange looks. If that number climbs closer to 35–36% on higher volume (something entirely within reason given his free-throw accuracy (81.5%) and clean mechanics) then everything else opens up. Confidence was not an issue as he had nearly five three-point attempts per game. If he figures out how to become more efficient at that volume, the sky is the limit.
Defensively, he’s already steady. At 6-4 with good strength, Blackwell holds up well against both guards and wings. He’s not an elite stopper, but he doesn’t make mistakes and rarely gets lost off the ball. That’s the backbone of Wisconsin’s system — everyone doing their job, trusting the rotations, and grinding opponents down. If Blackwell can make incremental gains there, he goes from solid to disruptive.
The advanced numbers back up his impact. Wisconsin was +8 points per 100 possessions with Blackwell on the court last season, per EvanMiya. He graded out as one of the Badgers’ most impactful players in lineup data, a sign that his contributions went beyond raw scoring. He rebounded well for a guard, he moved the ball within the offense, and he gave them versatility. He wasn’t just “scoring points,” he was elevating the group around him.
And then there’s the late-game factor. College basketball seasons are decided in close games, in March, when stars emerge. Blackwell showed glimpses of being that guy and consistently produced in crunch time. But to get Wisconsin from a steady Big Ten contender to a team that can make a Final Four push, he has to own those moments. Not just sometimes, but every time.
This is the season where Blackwell can go from being a reliable, versatile guard to Wisconsin’s star and perhaps one of the best guards in the country. The talent is there, the role is there, and the opportunity is undeniable. Now it’s about the leap — and whether he’s ready to take it.
