Author: Aidan Joly

By Aidan Joly

The 2024-25 version of the SEC was not only the best conference in the country, but one of the best top to bottom performances from an entire conference in recent history.

The league sent a record 14 of its 16 teams to the NCAA tournament, an unheard of number. Florida won the national championship. Auburn went to the Final Four. Two more went to the Elite Eight. Nearly half (seven) of the Sweet 16 was made up of teams from the league.

How can the league follow up this unbelievable performance? Let’s take a look at each of the 16 teams.

Auburn Tigers

2024-25: 32-6 (15-3 SEC), lost in national semifinals

After getting to the Final Four, former coach Bruce Pearl surprisingly handed over the reigns to his son Steven in September.

Thankfully, the younger Pearl has a very good roster to work with. That group will be led up by Tahaad Pettiford, who had 11.6 PPG as a freshman and will be in the conversation for SEC player of the year.

As for additions the big ones are Keyshawn Hall, who had 18.8 PPG at UCF, and KeShawn Murphy, who had 11.7 PPG at Mississippi State. Kevin Overton also arrives after he averaged 7.8 PPG at Texas Tech. Three top-100 freshmen in Kaden Magwood, Sebastian Williams-Adams and Simon Walker should all have roles.

Overall, the Tigers remain a top-five team in college hoops coming into the season.

Florida Gators

2024-25: 36-4 (14-4 SEC), won national championship

Florida won its first national championship since 2007 under coach Todd Golden and now they return as the team to beat.

They did lose key pieces from the national title winning team in Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard, but they have a nice core returning. The leader of that is Alex Condon, who had 10.6 PPG, and Thomas Haugh, who had 9.8 PPG. Role guys Rueben Chinyelu and Urban Klavzar are also back, as is Micah Handlogten, who played limited minutes towards the end after missing nearly the entire year due to a broken leg suffered at the league tournament in 2024.

The key adds here are Xaivian Lee, who had 16.9 PPG at Princeton and was one of the top players in the portal, along with Boogie Fland, who had 13.5 PPG at Arkansas. AJ Brown had over 13 PPG at Ohio and figures to see some minutes.

The Gators add top-40 freshmen Cornelius Ingram Jr. and Alexander Lloyd.

Florida is the team to beat. The defending national champions usually are, and this is no different.

Alabama Crimson Tide

2024-25: 28-9 (13-5 SEC), lost in Elite Eight

Alabama has had a clear identity of playing fast and shooting a lot of threes and that will be no different in 2025-26.

The Tide return three double digit scorers in Latrell Whitesell Jr., Aden Holloway and Labaron Philon, along with Aiden Sherrill and Houston Mallette.

The best transfers here are Jalil Bethea, who had 7.1 PPG at Miami, and Taylor Bol Bowen, who had 8 PPG at Florida State. Noah Williamson had 17.6 PPG at Bucknell and Keitann Bristow had 11.3 PPG at Tarleton State. Two top-50 freshmen, London Jemison and Davion Hannah, come into the fold.

Alabama will have a shot to finish top three in this league, as well as make a deep run in March.

Tennessee Volunteers

2024-25: 30-8 (12-6 SEC), lost in Elite Eight

This roster features a lot of turnover with nine new players, but there is plenty of talent here on paper.

The high profile newcomer is Ja’Kobi Gillespie, who had 14.7 PPG at Maryland. Jaylen Carry had 8.0 PPG at Vanderbilt, and Amaree Abram had 12.3 PPG at Louisiana Tech. All should see playing time.

Felix Okpara is back in Knoxville after he averaged 7.1 PPG, JP Estrella is back after injuries knocked him out for most of the year, and role guy Cade Phillips is also back.

There are six freshmen, the most notable is five-star prospect Nate Ament. DeWayne Brown and Amari Evans are both top-80 type guys.

The roster may take a while to gel, but once it does, being a top 15 team in the country is certainly a possibility.

Texas A&M Aggies

2024-25: 23-11 (11-7 SEC), lost in NCAA second round

It will be a near entirely new roster for new Texas A&M coach Bucky McMillan after Buzz Williams left for Maryland. McMillan had seen much success at Samford.

Pop Isaacs will take shots in bunches, and he did that at Creighton on the way to averaging 16.3 PPG. Mackenzie Mgbako also arrives after he averaged 12.2 PPG at Indiana. Marcus Hill had 11.5 PPG at NC State. Rylan Griffen (Kansas) and Federiko Federiko (Texas Tech) also have plenty of high major experience. As for mid-major players, Jacari Lane had 17.3 PPG at North Alabama.

Josh Holloway follows McMillan after he averaged 7.9 PPG at Samford.

The questions here will be about cohesion and if McMillan’s “Bucky Ball,” one of the quickest styles in the country, will work in the SEC. We will see.

Kentucky Wildcats

2024-25: 24-12 (10-8 SEC), lost in Sweet 16

Things went well in Mark Pope’s first season at Kentucky after replacing John Calipari, and now the Wildcats will look to be national title contenders in year two.

Otega Oweh is the big returner here, the Wildcats’ leading scorer from last season. Brandon Garrison is also back after being an important role player for Pope’s Cats.

Jaland Lowe is the important portal add after he averaged 16.9 PPG for Pitt. Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State), Denzel Aberdeen (Florida), Kam Williams (Tulane) and Mouhamed Diabite (Alabama) each averaged at least 7 PPG last season.

Blue-chip prospects Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno will have big roles for Kentucky as freshmen.

There is a lot to like about this roster. If it works, Kentucky will be a very dangerous team.

Missouri Tigers

2024-25: 22-12 (10-8 SEC), lost in NCAA first round

After a dismal 2023-24 campaign two seasons ago the Tigers made it back to the NCAA tournament in 2024-25, positive signs that coach Dennis Gates is building a winning program.

The Tigers lose a lot in this year’s roster, but do bring back Mark Mitchell, who had 13.9 PPG, as well as Anthony Robinson II, who had 9 PPG. Important role guys Trent Pierce and Jacob Crews also return.

As for portal adds, Sebastian Mack averaged 9.6 PPG at UCLA, and Shawn Phillips Jr. had 5.4 PPG at Arizona State. Jayden Stone (Detroit) and Jevon Porter (Loyola Marymount) both had a lot of success at the mid-major level.

If all of these pieces can fall into place, Missouri can certainly have a good season.

Ole Miss Rebels

2024-25: 24-12 (10-8 SEC), lost in Sweet 16

Chris Beard’s second season at the helm in Oxford was one of the best in program history, winning its most games since the 2009-10 season and getting to the second weekend for just the second time ever and first time since 2001.

It’s an interesting group of players coming to Ole Miss this season. AJ Storr should be the one to lead the way, a former Wisconsin star who had a disappointing year at Kansas and only averaged 6.1 PPG. James Scott had a solid campaign for Louisville, and Corey Chest was a nice role player at LSU. Augusto Cassia (Butler) and Travis Perry (Kentucky) had small roles last season but should be in the rotation.

Malik Dia returns after he averaged in double figures last season and was one of the better players in the league.

Top prospect Niko Bundalo should see a big role from the start, joining another pair of top 100 guys in Tylis Jordan and Patton Pinkins.

There is some depth to this team and guys who have played meaningful minutes at the high major level. We will see how it all comes together.

Arkansas Razorbacks

2024-25: 22-14 (8-10 SEC), lost in Sweet 16

There was a ton of hype coming into the Razorbacks’ season last year with John Calipari coming in to be the new coach. The regular season was something of a disappointment, but the squad turned it on in March and went to the Sweet 16 as a 10-seed.

Now, Calipari is back for more in year two, He returns a solid amount of talent headlined by DJ Wagner, Karter Knox and Trevon Brazile, along with Billy Richmond II.

A pair of solid transfer adds enter in the form of Malique Ewen, who had 14.2 PPG at Florida State, and Nick Pringle, who had 9.5 PPG at South Carolina.

In typical Calipari fashion he brought in two five-star prospects in Darius Acuff and Meleek Thomas, both of whom will have big roles immediately. Paulo Semedo and Isaiah Sealy are both talented first year guys too.

There is talent here. If things go well, don’t be surprised to see Arkansas finish in the top four or five of the league.

Mississippi State Bulldogs

2024-25: 21-13 (8-10 SEC), lost in NCAA first round

After going to the NCAA tournament, coach Chris Jans and co. return with a strong identity of toughness.

Leading that charge is Josh Hubbard, last season’s leading scorer who is back for another year.

Joining him is a group of transfers who were all productive last season. Jayden Epps averaged 12.8 PPG at Georgetown, Achor Achor had a decent season at Kansas State but dominated at some lower levels. Quincy Ballard (Wichita State) and Ja’Borri McGhee were both productive in the American Conference.

Three top-100 prospects, King Grace, Tee Bartlett and Jamarion Davis-Fleming, have a shot at playing time.

This will be a good team, especially on the defensive end of the floor. That should keep it on the right side of the tournament bubble.

Georgia Bulldogs

2024-25: 20-13 (8-10 SEC), lost in NCAA first round

Georgia had its best season in several years, getting back to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2015 and appearing in the AP poll for the first time since 2011.

This year’s edition of the Bulldogs has a chance at being successful. Coach Mike White was active in the portal, getting Jeremiah Wilkinson, who averaged more than 15 PPG at California, Marcus Millender, who did nearly the same at UTSA, Jordan Ross, who had 8.3 PPG at Saint Mary’s, and Kanon Catchings, who had a very good freshman year at BYU.

Blue Cain is the main returner here and will have a larger role. Expect him to average in double figures.

Georgia will likely be in the bottom half of the SEC, but some talent on paper should make them somewhat competitive.

Vanderbilt Commodores

2024-25: 20-13 (8-10 SEC), lost in NCAA second round

The first year under Mark Byington produced Vandy’s first NCAA tournament appearance since 2017. The Commodores will have a chance to take a next step this year.

Byington returns a pair of double digit scorers in Tyler Nickel and Devin McGlockton. Role guy Tyler Tanner is also back.

As for newcomers the most interesting ones are Frankie Collins, who had 11.2 PPG at TCU, and Tyler Harris, who had 11.8 PPG at Washington. Mike James sat out last season but had 12+ PPG for Louisville two seasons ago. Duke Miles nearly averaged double figures for Oklahoma last year, and Jalen Washington carved out a nice role at North Carolina. George Kimble III was a star at Eastern Kentucky, we will see if he can get some consistent playing time in the SEC.

Vandy did suffer some losses. No doubt. But if this group can come together and click early in the season, noise can be made.

Texas Longhorns

2024-25: 19-16 (6-12 SEC), lost in NCAA First Four

After sneaking into the NCAA tournament Texas is making a change, hiring former Arizona and Xavier coach Sean Miller to take over the program from Rodney Terry.

Miller did get a pair of double digit scorers, Jordan Pope and Tramon Mark, to stick around.

As for new names in the portal Dailyn Swain follows Miller from Xavier after averaging 11 PPG for the Musketeers. Simeon Wilcher is a big add after he averaged 8 PPG at St. John’s. Seven-footer Matas Vokietaitis was in double figures in Florida Atlantic. Camden Heide was a great role guy at Purdue and should take on a similar role in Austin.

Miller will be tasked with getting the pieces together. He has a chance to do so.

Oklahoma Sooners

2024-25: 20-14 (6-12 SEC), lost in NCAA first round

It is an interesting mix of players for the Sooners this season.

Nothing of note returns. Saint Joseph’s transfer Xzavier Brown is a true lead guard and should have that role this year. Tae Davis (15.1 PPG at Notre Dame) will play alongside him. Nijel Pack, a college hoops vet who comes in from Miami, and Derrion Reid (Alabama) join them.

International freshman, seven-footer Andreas Holst, should see impact minutes from the start. Top-100 guys Alec Blair and Kai Rogers also come in.

The youth will have to develop quickly. If it doesn’t, there is a chance it will be a long season in Norman.

LSU Tigers

2024-25: 14-18 (3-15 SEC), no postseason

LSU had a bad season last year, but has a shot at having a better one this year.

Much of that is thanks to the arrival of Dedan Thomas, a proven talent who averaged more than 15 PPG at UNLV. He should be the go-to guy. Michael Nwoko has experience in the league, transferring in from Mississippi State. Marquel Sutton (Omaha), Rashad King (Northeastern), Max Mackinnon (Portland) and Pablo Tamba (UC Davis) were all in double figures at the mid-major level.

Jalen Reed, who averaged 11.1 PPG, returns. Freshmen Jalen Reece and Mazi Mosley should both have roles to start.

The youth on this team and the fits need time to develop and play together. Expect steps to be made throughout the year.

South Carolina Gamecocks

2024-25: 12-20 (2-16 SEC), no postseason

After a great 2023-24 season that resulted in a 6-seed in the NCAA tournament and a SEC coach of the year award for Lamont Paris, things came crashing down in 2024-25 with a last place finish.

It’s a true rebuilding year for the Gamecocks. They don’t have a single player who averaged in double figures at the high major level last season. However, they do bring back Meechie Johnson, who was perhaps South Carolina’s best player two seasons ago before playing at Ohio State last year. Chris Essandoko is a nice add after he spent last year at Providence.

As for other guys, Kobe Knox had 10.8 PPG at South Florida, Mike Sharavjamts had 7.2 PPG at Utah and Elijah Strong had 9.6 PPG at Boston College. Nordin Kapic was in double figures on a UC San Diego team that played in the tournament.

The Gamecocks return Myles Stute, who had 5.4 PPG.

South Carolina has a shot to beat some teams at home, but it will be a tough hill to climb for real upward mobility.

By Aidan Joly

For most of recent years, the Big 12 has laid claim to being the best conference top to bottom in college basketball.

In the 2024-25 season it was different, with the SEC overtaking the league in terms of top to bottom talent. A question this year is if the league can take back over that spot.

Now, let’s take a look at each of the 16 teams in the league to see if it has a shot.

Houston Cougars

2024-25: 35-5 (19-1 Big 12), lost in national championship game

The Cougars suffered a heartbreaking loss in the national championship game to Florida, but will have another chance to make it back there this year.

The losses of LJ Cryer and J’Wan Roberts are certainly tough, but a strong returning core led by Emaunuel Sharp and Milos Uzan, who could have been an NBA Draft pick, will give them a very real shot. Joseph Tugler has a shot at having a much bigger role.

A great recruiting class comes in, led by five-star Chris Cenac Jr., Isiah Harwell and Kingston Flemings, all of whom will have a chance to be great.

The reigning Big 12 champions should be the favorites to repeat.

Texas Tech Red Raiders

2024-25: 28-9 (15-5 Big 12), lost in Elite Eight

The Red Raiders had a good season in the second year under Grant McCasland and should be right back at the top of the league again.

And for good reason. The Red Raiders bring back the conference player of the year in J.T. Toppin, who will have a shot to repeat and win it again. Christian Anderson, who was an all-conference pick as a freshman, also returns.

McCasland brought in a nice set of transfers, led by LeJuan Watts, who had 13.7 PPG at Washington State. Donovan Atwell (UNC Greensboro) and Tyeree Byran (Santa Clara) each averaged in double figures last season.

All of this should keep Texas Tech squarely in the hunt for another deep March run.

Arizona Wildcats

2024-25: 24-13 (14-6 Big 12), lost in Sweet 16

Arizona’s first year in the Big 12 went pretty well, finishing in the top three in the league and getting to the second weekend of the tournament.

The Wildcats had some work to do in the portal following the losses of Caleb Love, KJ Lewis, Henri Veesaar and Trey Townsend, but coach Tommy Lloyd filled those holes nicely with a great freshman class led by Koa Peat and Brayden Burries. Dwayne Aristode, a top-40 prospect, is here, as well as four-star Bryce James, younger son of Lebron.

Lloyd will also have returners Jaden Bradley, Tobe Awaka, Motiejus Krivas and Anthony Dell’Orso to help form a deep team. Evan Nelson, who had 9.1 PPG at Harvard, comes in from the portal.

BYU Cougars

2024-25: 26-10 (14-6 Big 12), lost in Sweet 16

BYU had a breakout season in 2024-25 in the first year with Kevin Young at the helm, and will have a chance to possibly be the second-best team in the league this year.

That is because Young was able to bring in the top recruit in the class of 2025, AJ Dybantsa. He is an elite player who will have an immediate and large impact.

BYU returns all-conference pick Richie Saunders as well as Dawson Baker and Keba Keita, who will all have big roles this season.

BYU brings in Kennard Davis Jr., who had 16.3 PPG at Southern Illinois, but the impact add here is Robert Wright III, who had 11.5 PPG at Baylor and was always one of the better players on the floor.

It wouldn’t be surprising if BYU is in the top 10 in the country at the beginning of the year. It should be.

Iowa State Cyclones

2024-25: 25-10 (13-7 Big 12), lost in NCAA second round

Coach TJ Otzelberger has a great ability to retain talent and he did it again this off-season, retaining three double digit scorers from last year’s team in Joshua Jefferson, Milan Momcilovic and Tamin Lipsey. The Cyclones also bring back Nate Heise.

As for adds, Dominick Nelson (Utah Valley) and Mason Williams (Eastern Washington) both averaged at least 13 PPG last season. Blake Buchanan was a role player at Virginia who should have a similar role in Ames this season.

Two top-100 prospects headline the freshman class, Jamarion Batemon and Xzavion Mitchell.

This is a good roster on paper. We will see how it looks on the floor. If all goes well, Iowa State will be in the mix to win the conference regular season title.

Kansas Jayhawks

2024-25: 21-13 (11-9 Big 12), lost in NCAA first round

Last season was certainly a down year by Kansas standards, struggling to get over .500 in league play, only getting to the quarterfinals in the league tournament and then failing to win a game in the NCAA tournament.

Kansas sees a significant talent exodus with the departures of Hunter Dickinson, Zeke Mayo, KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris.

The returning production is limited. Flory Bidunga was the biggest contributor from last year who is back after he averaged 5.9 PPG. Elmarko Jackson missed all of last season hurt, but had 4.3 PPG last season.

The arrival of Darryn Peterson, the No. 2 player in the freshman class, is significant. The Jayhawks will also have two other top-100 guys in Kohl Rosario and Samis Calderon.

Transfers Melvin Council (St. Bonaventure) and Jayden Dawson (Loyola Chicago) were two of the better players in the Atlantic 10, while Tre White had 10.5 PPG at Illinois.

Either way, Kansas will remain in the national conversation. It always does, no matter what happens.

Baylor Bears

2024-25: 20-15 (10-10 Big 12), lost in NCAA second round

There are a ton of questions around this team. Baylor does not return a single player from last year’s team, and there is no clear star among the roster as it stands.

The top candidates among the transfer adds are Obi Agbim, who had 17.6 PPG at Wyoming, Michael Rataj, who had 16.9 PPG at Oregon State, and Dan Skillings Jr., who had 9.2 PPG at Cincinnati.

Other adds include JJ White (Omaha), Isaac Williams (Texas A&M Corpus Christi), Caden Powell (Rice) and Cameron Carr (Tennessee).

Top prospect Tounde Yessoufou should have a role from the jump as a freshman.

Coach Scott Drew has one of the biggest coaching challenges in recent memory this year. There are reasons for concern, and it will be interesting to see what he can do with this team.

West Virginia Mountaineers

2024-25: 19-13 (10-10 Big 12), no postseason

After a stunning omission from the NCAA tournament last March, West Virginia completely turns the page with a new coach and an entirely new roster.

After Darian DeVries left for the Indiana job, former North Texas coach Ross Hodge is West Virginia’s fourth coach in as many years as the program looks for stability more than anything else.

The new team is led by North Dakota transfer Treysen Eaglestaff, who was one of the top scorers in the country last season. Honor Huff (Chattanooga) and Chance Moore (St. Bonaventure) each have a shot to have a big role for WVU. Two players followed Hodge from North Texas, Brenen Lorient (11.7 PPG) and Jasper Floyd (9 PPG). Morris Ugusuk was a solid role player at South Carolina.

There is some intriguing talent here, but the question remains as to how it will end up looking on the court.

TCU Horned Frogs

2024-25: 16-16 (9-11 Big 12), no postseason

Coach Jamie Dixon did a nice job of mixing returning talent and adds from the portal.

The best additions here are Jayden Pierre, who had 12.3 PPG at Providence and Brock Harding, who had 8.8 PPG at Iowa. Tanner Toolson (Utah Valley), Vianney Salatchoum (Florida International) each scored in double figures, and Liutauras Lelevicius had 8.7 PPG at Oregon State.

TCU brings back rotational pieces in David Punch, Micah Robinson, Jace Posey and Malick Diallo, all of whom will have a role in Fort Worth.

This is an under-the-radar group that will have a chance to make some noise in the league and go dancing. We will see what they have.

Kansas State Wildcats

2024-25: 16-17 (9-11 Big 12), no postseason

The third season with Jerome Tang at the helm was a disappointing one, with a great group of players and high expectations coming in, only to be inconsistent all year and never truly be in the tournament conversation.

It’ll be another nearly new team for Tang. PJ Haggerty was one of the best adds of any team this off-season after he averaged 21.7 PPG at Memphis. Abdi Bashir Jr. was a 20 PPG scorer at Monmouth and will be relied on to provide scoring.

In addition, Marcus Johnson had 16.2 PPG at Bowling Green and Nate Johnson had 14 PPG at Akron.

CJ Jones is the best returner after he averaged 5.7 PPG.

A near completely new-look squad is interesting. Tang is certainly hoping for a bounce-back season after a disappointing 2024-25.

Utah Utes

2024-25: 16-17 (8-12 Big 12), lost in Crown first round

Utah is undergoing a major roster overhaul under first year coach Alex Jensen, an alumni of the program and a longtime NBA assistant.

The top names on the roster are undoubtedly Elijah Moore, who had 5.2 PPG at Syracuse, Seydou Traore who had 5.9 PPG at Iowa and Jakhi Howard, who averaged just over 4 PPG at Auburn. As for mid-major players, Terrence Brown (Fairleigh Dickinson), Don McHenry (Western Kentucky) and Babacar Faye (Western Kentucky) each averaged more than 15 PPG at their last stops.

The only important returner is Keanu Dawes, who had 8.3 PPG last season for the Utes under Craig Smith.

It’s a strong league, and it’s tough to see Utah being able to hang towards the top of the league.

Oklahoma State Cowboys

2024-25: 17-18 (7-13 Big 12), lost in NIT quarterfinals

Year one under Steve Lutz was a bit disappointing, but year two comes with a major roster overhaul.

Leading the charge under a new-look roster is Anthony Roy, who averaged 25.7 PPG at Green Bay and was one of the best scorers in the country in 2024-25. Isaiah Coleman is a big add after he averaged more than 15 PPG at Seton Hall. Jaylen Curry had 13.3 PPG at UMass, Parsa Fallah had 12.8 PPG at Oregon State and Christian Coleman had 11.6 PPG at UAB. As for more productive high-major players, Vyctorius Miller (LSU) and Kayne Clary (Mississippi State) are both good adds coming from the SEC.

Robert Jennings II is the only returner after he averaged 5.4 PPG.

Four-stars Ryan Crotty and Ben Ahmed have a chance to see some playing time.

Overall, Oklahoma State should take a bit of a step towards becoming competitive in this league.

Cincinnati Bearcats

2024-25: 19-16 (7-13 Big 12), lost in Crown quarterfinals

It was a tale of the first and second half of the season last year. The Bearcats started 10-1 and were ranked as high as No. 16 in the country, but went 9-15 the rest of the way and played themselves off the bubble as the year went on.

Bad news came for the program recently with the dismissal of Jizzle James, who was set to be an impact player and one of the best point guards in the league. That means Day Day Thomas will have to be relied on more after he averaged 10.2 PPG for the Bearcats last season.

Coach Wes Miller did a nice job in the portal, picking up Jalen Haynes, who had 14.1 PPG at George Mason, Baba Miller, who had 11.3 PPG at Florida Atlantic, and Moustapha Thaim, who had 10.4 PPG at UCF. Jalen Celestine (Baylor), Sencire Harris (West Virginia) and Kerr Kriisa (Kentucky) all played solid roles at their past schools.

As for freshmen, Shon Abaev is a top-30 prospect and Keyshaun Tillery is a borderline top-50 guy. Both should have roles.

This a roster with plenty of potential. We will see how it all looks together.

UCF Knights

2024-25: 20-17 (7-13 Big 12), lost in Crown finals

The Knights head into the season with an entirely new roster under coach Johnny Dawkins.

The charge is led by former Milwaukee teammates Themus Fulks and Jamichael Stillwell, who had 14.6 and 13 PPG respectively. Riley Kugel is the other nice add after he had 9.3 PPG on a Mississippi State team that played in the NCAA tournament.

Arturo Dean (7.6 PPG at Oklahoma State), Jordan Burks (5.7 PPG at Georgetown) and Devan Cambridge (5.5 PPG at Texas Tech) are also now here.

UCF has not had a winning conference campaign since 2018-19, back when it was still in the AAC. There’s some pieces here, but the Knights will have their work cut out for them.

Arizona State Sun Devils

2024-25: 13-20 (4-16 Big 12), lost in Crown first round

Coach Bobby Hurley is somehow keeping his job for another season despite another bad season for ASU.

Only one player on the roster, returner Trevor Best, played at the high-major level last season.

Some productive mid-major players are here now. Adante’ Holiman had 16.9 PPG at Georgia Southern, Marcus Adams Jr. had 16.1 PPG at Cal State Northridge, Allen Mekuba had 14.6 PPG at Oakland and Moe Odum had 13.1 PPG at Pepperdine. There are six freshmen on the roster.

Despite these additions, it’s hard to see the Sun Devils having a lot of success this season. Is it finally time for a coaching change?

Colorado Buffaloes

2024-25: 14-21 (3-17 Big 12), lost in Crown first round

The roster has a nice core of returners headlined by Bangot Dak, Elijah Malone and Sebastian Rancik, but the problem is that this core finished last in the Big 12.

The only notable transfer is Barrington Hargress, who averaged 20.2 PPG at UC Riverside. There are seven freshmen on the team.

Coach Tad Boyle needs to do a lot player development-wise to get Colorado out of the bottom of the league. We’ll see if the Buffs are able to do it.

By Aidan Joly

The Big Ten was very top-heavy during the 2024-25 season.

In its first season with 18 teams it only sent eight to the NCAA tournament, but all of them were a No. 7 seed or better. It was a very successful season for the league, despite the fact that none of the teams made the Final Four.

There are also multiple new coaches in this league too.

As for 2025-26, you can count roughly a dozen teams that have NCAA tournament hopes. Either way, the league is as deep as it has ever been. Let’s get into it.

Michigan State Spartans

2024-25: 30-7 (17-3 Big Ten), lost in Elite Eight

Michigan State lost three of its five best players from last season but does return three of last year’s starters in Coen Carr, Jaxon Kohler and Jeremy Fears Jr., all of which will have a larger role than they did last season.

Coach Tom Izzo brought in Trey Fort, who had 14.6 PPG at Samford last season as well as Kaleb Glenn, who had 12.6 PPG at Florida Atlantic. Both of them are terrific shooters who will have a large role. He also brought in Divine Ugochukwu, who had 5.3 PPG at Miami.

Two top 100 prospects join the group in Cam Ward and Jordan Scott.

They might not be as good as they were last season, but like always, an Izzo team is tough to play against. Expect more of that.

Maryland Terrapins

2024-25: 27-9 (14-6 Big Ten), lost in Sweet 16

After Kevin Willard unceremoniously left College Park for Villanova, the Terps brought in former Texas A&M head coach Buzz Williams to take over.

Williams has a good track record – he brought the Aggies to the last three NCAA tournaments and won a game in the past two. He was also Virginia Tech’s coach the last time the Hokies were consistently relevant. He brought Marquette to the Elite Eight.

He brings in one of his key Texas A&M players in Pharrel Payne, and also brought in proven high-major talent in Myles Rice (10.1 PPG at Indiana), Elijah Saunders (10.4 PPG at Virginia), Isaiah Watts (11.0 PPG at Washington State) as well as Solomon Washington (Texas A&M) and David Coit (Kansas) who were role guys last season.

Darius Adams is a top-30 freshman, while Aleks Alston is a top-100 talent.

How will this roster come together? There is certainly room for optimism.

Michigan Wolverines

2024-25: 27-10 (14-6 Big Ten), lost in Sweet 16

Things went very, very well in Dusty May’s first year at the helm in Ann Arbor and the Wolverines will look to be in the national title conversation this season.

May grabbed Yaxel Lendeborg, the UAB transfer who was maybe the best player on the market this spring. He was first-team all-AAC twice and twice won the league’s defensive player of the year. He also provided 17.7 PPG last season. Elliott Cadeau also arrives after he averaged 9.4 PPG at North Carolina, but must play smarter basketball. Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara, role guys at Illinois and UCLA, also enter the fold.

Roddy Gayle, Nimari Burnett, Will Tschetter and LJ Cason highlight the group that returns.

If things go well, Michigan will be the second-best team in the league at worst. At best, it can certainly win the league and contend for a title.

UCLA Bruins

2024-25: 23-11 (13-7 Big Ten), lost in NCAA second round

Things were… interesting in UCLA’s first season in the Big Ten. Still, it found a way to win 23 games and advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Some of the issues last year pertained to lack of a strong point guard. That changes this year as coach Mick Cronin brought in Donovan Dent from New Mexico, who was one of the best guards in the non-power conferences for multiple years over. He won the Mountain West player of the year last season.

Jamar Brown (17 PPG at Kansas City) and Steven Jemerson II (10 PPG at San Diego) also join the Bruins.

Some key players are back for another year, including Tyler Bilodeau and Eric Dailey Jr., who both averaged in double figures. Skyy Clark, who had 8.5 PPG, is also back as that experiment seemed to go better than expected.

UCLA is going to be good. How good depends.

Wisconsin Badgers

2024-25: 27-10 (13-7 Big Ten), lost in NCAA second round

There will be plenty of talent on the offensive side of the ball in Madison this season.

A lot of that will revolve around John Blackwell, who returns after putting up 15.8 PPG last season and will be a very real conference player of the year contender. Nolan Winter, a returner, as well as transfer portal adds Nick Boyd from San Diego State and Andrew Rohde from Virginia will be key cogs in that system.

Braeden Carrington, who had 7.4 PPG at Tulsa, and Elijah Gray, who had 9 PPG at Temple, will also be role guys.

This is a good job done by coach Greg Gard to put together this roster. It makes a lot of sense. NCAA tournament needs to be the goal here.

Purdue Boilermakers

2024-25: 24-12 (13-7 Big Ten), lost in Sweet 16

This could end up being the best team in the conference this season.

The Boilermakers return four starters and made a massive addition in the transfer portal.

Trey Kaufman-Renn (20.1 PPG), Braden Smith (15.8 PPG) – maybe the best point guard in the country – and Fletcher Loyer (13.8 PPG) represented a very large portion of the offense and all will be back in 2025-26. CJ Cox is also back and should end up in a starting role. Daniel Jacobson, a 7-foot-4 center, is a returner but feels more like an addition since he suffered a season-ending injury in the second game of the season. He will be a very good option off the bench.

Oscar Cluff, who had 17.6 PPG at South Dakota State, is a key addition who will have a big role from the jump. Liam Murphy, who scored in the double figures at North Florida, also joins.

This team has the fewest flaws compared to any in the league, and maybe in the country. We will see how it ends up playing out but it’s hard to not be high on the Boilermakers.

Illinois Fighting Illini

2024-25: 22-13 (12-8 Big Ten), lost in NCAA second round

Coach Brad Underwood is always right up there with the best of them when it comes to both retaining players as well as bringing in international talent. He does more of the same with this year’s roster.

Tomislav Ivisic (13 PPG), Kylan Boswell (12.3 PPG) and Ben Humrichous (7.6 PPG) are the big three that return to Champaign.

There is an international flavor to the new players for Illinois this season. Andrej Stojakovic comes to Illinois after he averaged 17.9 PPG at Cal last season, and Zvonimir Ivisic comes in after a good year at Arkansas.

As for freshmen, Mihailo Petrovic seems to be a starter right from the jump. David Mirkovic also comes in.

It’s hard to see this team not being one of the best offenses in the league. That should take them to a lot of wins and success.

Oregon Ducks

2024-25: 25-10 (12-8 Big Ten), lost in NCAA second round

Oregon had a good season in its first year in the Big Ten that resulted in making the NCAA tournament as well as winning a game.

The Ducks and coach Dana Altman look to do the same this year. The Ducks have a great two-way big man in Nate Bittle as one of the better go-get-one point guards in the country in Jackson Shelstad. Those two will make things go for this group. Kwame Evans Jr. returns as a role player who could have a larger share.

TK Simpkins, who had 16.4 PPG at Elon, should be a starter in Eugene. He is joined by Sean Stewart, who had 5.7 PPG at Ohio State, and Devon Pryor, who had a limited role at Texas.

It will be interesting to see how this team develops. It is one of the teams that will be tough to play each night and has a good shot at dancing.

Indiana Hoosiers

2024-25: 19-13 (10-10 Big Ten), no postseason

The new coach in Bloomington is Darien DeVries, who takes over the storied program after one year at West Virginia. Mike Woodson was fired after four mediocre seasons.

That being said, DeVries has an entirely new roster with no returning players.

Nearly all of them come from the mid-majors. The highlight of the group is DeVries’ son Tucker, a star in his own right who averaged 14.9 PPG before going down with a season-ending injury early in the season. The only other high-major transfer is Sam Alexis, who had a small role on the national championship Florida team.

The best of the mid-major talent is Reed Bailey, who had 18.8 PPG at Davidson, and Lamar Wilkerson, who was an all-Conference USA pick after averaging 20.5 PPG at Sam Houston State. Nick Dorn (15.2 PPG at Elon), North Florida teammates Jasai Miles (15.4 PPG) and Josh Harris (13.4 PPG), Tayton Conerway (14.2 PPG at Troy) and Jason Drake (11.1 PPG at Drexel) all should have roles.

This needs to be a good defensive team and Tucker DeVries needs to stay healthy. If both of those things happen, this sure looks like a tournament team.

Ohio State Buckeyes

2024-25: 17-15 (9-11 Big Ten), no postseason

Things went okay in coach Jake Diebler’s first full season at the helm in Columbus, but it did not result in a tournament appearance.

The Buckeyes will certainly have a better chance than they did last year, though. Three of their top four scorers in Bruce Thornton (who was the team’s leading scorer), Devin Royal and John Mobley Jr. return.

Diebler went and got a nice trio of players from the transfer portal. He got Brandon Noel, who led Wright State with 19.0 PPG, Cristoph Tilly, who had 12.5 PPG at Santa Clara and projects as a starter, and Josh Ojianwuna, who had 7.5 PPG at Baylor but has a knee injury and will miss most of the season, at least.

Forward A’mare Bynum is a top-70 prospect and is a top option off the bench.

It feels like this is a team that is a piece short or may be short on depth, but could very well end up being a tournament team. If it is not at least on the bubble, something has gone terribly wrong.

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

2024-25: 15-17 (8-12 Big Ten), no postseason

Rutgers was the talk of the college basketball landscape entering the 2024-25 season with two five stars in Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper leading the way. However, the Scarlet Knights fell flat on their faces, finishing in the bottom half of the Big Ten and never being considered for the tournament.

This year’s team could be worse. Coach Steve Pikiell is going to have to really work on player development, because there isn’t a ton here on paper.

Dylan Grant, Jamichael Davis and Emmanuel Ogbole return and will have roles, maybe starting, but none of them averaged more than 5.9 PPG last season. Rutgers does bring in Tariq Francis, who averaged 19.2 PPG at NJIT, as well as Darren Buchanan Jr., who averaged in double figures at George Washington. Baye Fall played sparingly at Kansas State but is a good defender. Freshman Harun Zuno, an international signee, got a lot of high-major interest and could start as a freshman.

Rutgers teams are always known for a slow-paced, defense-first, physical mindset. It will have to be that again this year, because the offensive production might not be there.

Minnesota Golden Gophers

2024-25: 15-17 (7-13 Big Ten), no postseason

Niko Medved is the new coach in Minneapolis and it was maybe the best fit of all of the high-major coaching changes this spring. He is an alum of the school and a Minneapolis native, and not to mention a rising star. He got Colorado State to being one of the premier mid-major teams in the country.

There isn’t a proven high-major player on this nearly entirely new roster, but there is a ton of talent that can be developed. The top options here are Langston Reynolds (Northern Colorado), Chansey Willis Jr. (Western Michigan), Bobby Durkin (Davidson) and BJ Omot (California), who were all in the double figures in their last stops.

Jaylen Crocker-Johnson follows Medved after he averaged 9 PPG at Colorado State, and Robert Vaihola is a solid player who had 7.5 PPG at San Jose State. Cade Tyson had a small role at North Carolina.

Isaac Asuma is the only returner, but he averaged 5.6 PPG as a freshman and seems ready to step into a larger role.

Minnesota is a school where winning is possible, but there has not been a lot of it. It has not been to the tournament since 2019. It may not happen this year, but Medved should end that drought soon.

Northwestern Wildcats

2024-25: 17-16 (7-13 Big Ten), no postseason

Nick Martinelli, who led the Big Ten in scoring last season with 20.5 PPG, is back, but there is plenty to replace on this roster with the losses of Brooks Barnhizer, Jalen Leach and Ty Berry.

As for other returners, KJ Windham is a candidate to take a step up after he averaged 5.6 PPG as a freshman.

Coach Chris Collins will look to Jayden Reid as a candidate to provide instant offense after he was in double figures at South Florida and is a solid three-point shooter. Max Green averaged 14.9 PPG at Holy Cross.

Collins teams play tough and are never an easy out. Still, it feels like a lot has to go right in order for Northwestern to see itself playing in March.

USC Trojans

2024-25: 17-18 (7-13 Big Ten), lost in Crown quarterfinals

The first season with coach Eric Musselman at the helm in Los Angeles was a little bit disappointing as the Trojans finished well below .500 in league play.

However, there are some shiny new additions to this year’s roster. That includes Rodney Rice, who had 13.8 PPG at Maryland, Chad Baker-Mazara, who had 12.3 PPG at Auburn and was one of the best glue guys in the country, and Ezra Ausar, who had 12.5 PPG at Utah. Jacob Cofie is a solid add from Virginia.

Jordan Marsh (UNC Ashveille) and Amarion Dickerson (Robert Morris) were both good players at the mid-major level and are the bench options. EJ Neal (Sacramento State) and Jaden Brownell (Samford) will also be depth pieces. Terrance Williams II scored in double figures last year and returns.

Jerry Easter will be the freshman to look out for. Alijah Arenas was slated to have a big role as a top prospect, but a car accident followed by a torn meniscus has made it so he is unlikely to play all season. You feel for the kid.

This is a very big team and will shoot more from behind the arc. Even without Arenas, the Trojans will have a shot at dancing.

Iowa Hawkeyes

2024-25: 17-16 (7-13 Big Ten), no postseason

What a rise it has been for new coach Ben McCollum, who was coaching Division II ball just two seasons ago and is now in the Big Ten following a 31-4 season at Drake that ended in the second round of the tournament. He replaces Fran McCaffery, who was the coach there since 2010.

Coming with McCollum is Bennett Stirtz, who led Drake with 19.2 PPG last season and will be one of the premier point guards in not just the Big Ten, but the entire country. Tavion Banks and Cam Manaywu, who were also key parts of that Drake team, also follow McCollum. Depth pieces Isaia Howard and Kael Combs do too.

Alvaro Folgueiras also comes in after averaging 13.8 PPG on a Robert Morris team that went to the tournament and was the Horizon League player of the year. Brendan Hausen also comes in after he was in double figures at Kansas State.

Wing Cooper Koch is the only returner after he averaged 4.6 PPG as a freshman.

There are some holes on this roster. Not a ton of guard depth is the glaring one. Iowa shouldn’t be expected to contend for a league title, but has a shot to finish in the top half of the league and be in the tournament conversation.

Nebraska Cornhuskers

2024-25: 21-14 (7-13 Big Ten), won Crown

Nebraska won a title last year, how about that? The Cornhuskers won the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament, a nice way to cap off a year where it struggled to get any momentum in the regular season.

This year Nebraska will feature the return of Rienk Mast, its most important player from a team that won 23 games two seasons ago and went to the NCAA tournament. He missed all of last season with a knee injury. Connor Essegian (10.7 PPG) and Berke Buyuktuncel (6.0 PPG) are the only other notable returners from last season.

As for the new guys, Central Michigan transfer Ugnius Jarusevicius will probably be relied on the most after averaging over 16 PPG last season in the MAC. Rhode Island transfer Jamarques Lawrence averaged 9.9 PPG last year, and Pryce Sandford had 8.8 PPG at Iowa. Kendall Blue had 12.3 PPG at St. Thomas and could be the first guy off the bench each night.

The Cornhuskers have a nice group of guys who will be able to play Big Ten-caliber basketball, but whether the depth is there is the real question mark here.

Penn State Nittany Lions

2024-25: 16-15 (6-14 Big Ten), no postseason

Things didn’t go so great in Mike Rhoades’ second season at the helm in Happy Valley, and things shouldn’t be expected to get much better in year three.

It looks like the Nittany Lions will start three freshmen in Kayden Mingo, Melih Tunca and Ivan Juric. Mingo especially will be expected to take on a large role from the get-go.

Otherwise, the only real returner is Freddie Dilione V, who averaged 9.4 PPG last season. Transfers Josh Reed had 4.8 PPG at Cincinnati and Sasa Ciani had 9.9 PPG at UIC.

Rhoades has a good reputation as a player development type of coach. He will certainly have his work cut out for him with this year’s roster if they want to be competitive.

Washington Huskies

2024-25: 13-18 (4-16 Big Ten), no postseason

The Huskies finished in the basement of the league in Danny Sprinkle’s first season at the helm in Seattle. Thankfully for them, the roster is much more talented for his second go-round.

The team is headlined by USC teammates Desmond Claude and Wesley Yates III, who had 15.8 and 14.1 PPG for the Trojans last season, respectively. Quimari Peterson (East Tennessee State) and Jacob Ognacevic (Lipscomb) each averaged up around 20 PPG at their previous stops and will have roles. Lathan Summerville (Rutgers) and Bryson Tucker (Indiana) both have proven high-major experience.

Zoom Diallo had 11.1 PPG last year for the Huskies and returns. So does Franck Kepnang, who had 6.9 PPG. A decent freshman class comes in, highlighted by top-50 prospect JJ Mandaquit.

This roster is so much more talented than last year. Expect one of the biggest improvements in the league for the Huskies this season.

By Aidan Joly

The reign of UConn being the best team in the Big East came to an end during the 2024-25 season, with another program stepping up.

That program was St. John’s, who won the league for the first time in more than two decades to cap off what was a dominant season in the program’s second season under Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino.

Surely, the Johnnies will be back for 2025-26. Who are the other top jobbers? Take a look at each of the 11 teams.

St. John’s Red Storm

2024-25: 31-5 (18-2 Big East), lost in NCAA second round

St. John’s best season in more than two decades came to a close in the second round of the tournament, much earlier than many anticipated. Still, it came with a Big East title and a No. 2 seed in the tournament.

This year, it will be one key returner along with several transfer portal adds trying to bring Rick Pitino’s squad to the second weekend.

Zuby Ejiofor is the guy who is back for St. John’s after he averaged 14.7 PPG last season, good for second on the team. He is joined by six players who averaged in double figures at their last stops. That group is headlined by Bryce Hopkins, who has had injury issues over the past two seasons and has played just 17 games over two seasons, but he has been brilliant when healthy.

He is joined by Oziyah Sellers, who had 13.7 PPG at Stanford, Joson Sanon, who had 11.9 PPG at Arizona State, Ian Jackson who had 11.9 PPG at North Carolina and Dylan Darling, who had 19.9 PPG at Idaho State. Dillon Mitchell had 9.9 PPG at Cincinnati. 

In addition, Handje Tamba had 10.5 PPG at Milligan University, a NAIA school in Tennessee.

This is a star-studded group with the arguably the best coach in the game. They can go deep. 

Creighton Bluejays

2024-25: 25-11 (15-5 Big East), lost in NCAA second round

The Bluejays only return one key player in Jackson McAndrew along with two role guys in Jasen Green and Isaac Traudt, but both of the latter guys are candidates to take a step up in 2025-26.

Coach Greg McDermott brought in two of Iowa’s three leading scorers from last season in Owen Freeman and Josh Dix, who should both have very important roles on this team. He also brings in Blake Harper, who had 19.5 PPG at Howard and was named the MEAC player of the year as a freshman. Nik Graves had 17.5 PPG at Charlotte as well.

As for freshman, the Bluejays bring in Hudson Greer, a top-50 type prospect. 

Overall, the Bluejays once again look like a team that will be playing in March. McDermott always seems to have his teams humming all year and this will be no different.

UConn Huskies

2024-25: 24-11 (14-6 Big East), lost in NCAA second round

After back-to-back national titles in 2023 and 2024, the Huskies looked like mere mortals in 2024-25, but they still went to the second round of the tournament and won 24 games.

For 2025-26, coach Dan Hurley has done a nice job at re-tooling his group. He does return Solo Ball and Alex Karaban, who both had 14+ points per game for last year’s squad and will be relied on again for on offense. Tarris Reed (9.6 PPG) is also back, as is role player Jaylin Stewart (5.4 PPG). 

The biggest portal get for the Huskies is Silas Demary Jr., who had 13.5 PPG on a Georgia team that played in the NCAA tournament. Malachi Smith, who had 10.4 PPG for a solid Dayton team, joins him. Dwayne Koroma had 11.4 PPG for Le Moyne and Alec Millender had 8.2 PPG at IU Indy.

As for freshmen Braylon Mullins and Eric Reibe lead the charge as top-25 ESPN prospects, and they are joined by a pair of four-stars in Jacob Furphy and Jacob Ross.

This is a team that will be back towards the top of the Big East. As long as they have the Hurley sauce, they will be.

Xavier Musketeers

2024-25: 22-12 (13-7 Big East), lost in NCAA first round

It will more or less be an entirely new team for first year coach Richard Pitino, who takes over for Sean Miller after Miller left to take the job at Texas.

It will be a big flux of mid-major talent coming to Xavier, but six of them scored in the double figures. Those include All Wright (15.5 PPG at Valparaiso), Gabriel Pozzato (14.9 PPG at Evansville), Mier Panoam (13 PPG at North Dakota), Malik Moore (12.6 PPG at Montana), Tre Carroll (12.2 PPG at Florida Atlantic) and Isaiah Walker (10.8 PPG at Belmont). 

Pitino also brings in a pair of role guys from his last job at New Mexico, Filip Borovicanin and Jovan Milicevic. 

It will be interesting to see how all of these guys come together for a first year coach. Pitino won big at New Mexico, can he replicate it at Xavier?

Marquette Golden Eagles

2024-25: 23-11 (13-7 Big East), lost in NCAA first round

Coach Shaka Smart has become one of the best coaches in the country when it comes to player retention and this year is no different.

Marquette will return nine players for its 2025-26 roster. It does lose its top three scorers from last year due to eligibility, but does return multiple important players in Chase Ross and Ben Gold, along with role guys in Sean Jones, Royce Parham and Zaide Lowery.

Sheek Pearson is the top recruit coming to Milwaukee, and he is joined by fellow top-100 guys in Nigel James, Michael Phillips II and Adrien Stevens.

Overall, this is a team that has some replacing talent to do, but Marquette tends to find a way with plenty of returning talent.

Villanova Wildcats

2024-25: 21-15 (11-9 Big East), lost in Crown semifinals

It will be almost an entirely new roster for new coach Kevin Willard, who returns to the Big East following a stint at Maryland. He replaces Kyle Neptune, who was fired after three underwhelming seasons.

The main addition here is Devin Askew, who started his career at Kentucky before stops at Texas and Cal, before he finally found his footing at Long Beach State, averaging 18.9 PPG. Zion Stanford comes over from city rival Temple after averaging 13.1 PPG last season, and Bryce Lindsay (James Madison) and Duke Brennan (Grand Canyon) each averaged in double figures last season.

One carry over was a role guy in Tyler Perkins, who had 6.3 PPG last season. Willard also has three role guys following him from Maryland in Tafara Gapare, Malachi Palmer and Braden Pierce. Acaden Lewis, a top-40 prospect, is the lead freshman here.

Villanova has fallen on hard times since Jay Wright retired in 2022. Willard, a proven winner, will try to being the Wildcats back to the top of the league.

Georgetown Hoyas

2024-25: 18-16 (8-12 Big East), lost in Crown quarterfinals

Year two in Ed Cooley’s rebuild of the program showed tangible progress, winning six more conference games and nine more games overall.

He will try to make the next step in 2025-26. The team’s second leading scorer in Malik Mack returns for this season after averaging 12.9 PPG last season. He will be expected to take on the brunt of the scoring. Caleb Williams and Julius Halaifonua both had some minutes last year and are back.

From the portal, the key add here is KJ Lewis, who had 10.8 PPG on a team that went to the Sweet 16. Langston Love had 8.9 PPG at Baylor and Jeremiah Williams, who had 7.0 PPG at Rutgers, both join the fold too.

The Hoyas have talent on paper. Now, Cooley will try to get a program that hasn’t played in the tournament since 2021, and only once since 2015, back in the bracket.

Providence Friars

2024-25: 12-20 (6-14 Big East), no postseason

It was a disappointing season in year two of the Kim English era for the Friars, the program’s worst season in more than a decade.

Something had to give here. English brought in a key contributor to a NCAA tournament teams in Jason Edwards, who was Vanderbilt’s leading scorer as the Commodores reached the tournament for the first time since 2017, as well as Duncan Powell, who had 12.2 PPG at Georgia Tech. Other additions include Cole Hargrove who had 9.9 PPG at Drexel, Daquan Davis who had 8.8 PPG at Florida State and Jaylin Sellers, who had 6.0 PPG at UCF.

The Friars do return four rotation pieces in Corey Floyd Jr., Oswin Erhunmwunse, Ryan Mela and Rich Barron.

As for freshmen Jamier Jones is a top-50 prospect, while Jaylen Harrell is a solid four-star.

The key here for Providence is bouncing back. Do they have the pieces to do it?

Butler Bulldogs

2024-25: 15-20 (6-14 Big East), lost in Crown quarterfinals

Butler has continually struggled to compete as Thad Matta enters the fourth season of his second stint at Butler, and the Bulldogs took a step back in year three.

The Bulldogs had to do a ton of re-tooling. They do return Finley Bizjack, who had 10.3 PPG as a sophomore. Jamie Kaiser did not play last season but had 4.4 PPG at Maryland in 2023-24.

As for new guys, Jalen Jackson leads the way after he had 19.2 PPG at Fort Wayne last season. Yame Butler had 13.6 PPG at Drexel, Dayton Jones had 13.0 PPG at South Carolina State and Yohan Traore was a role guy at SMU.

One guy to be interested in is Michael Ajayi, who was once a star at Pepperdine and then averaged 6.5 PPG at Gonzaga last season. He could be heavily relied on.

Jack McCaffery and Azavier Robinson are both top-100 freshmen coming to Indianapolis.

It feels like Matta is entering the year on the hot seat. If Butler doesn’t show tangible improvement, it might be a new coach this time next year. We will see.

DePaul Blue Demons

2024-25: 14-20 (4-16 Big East), lost in Crown first round

The hiring of Chris Holtmann gave DePaul some credibility on the sidelines, but the first year of the Holtmann era in Chicago did not go overly well. However, it was still an improvement from 0-20 in the league, 3-29 overall mark two seasons ago.

The Blue Demons do bring back three decent pieces from last year’s team in CJ Gunn, Layden Blocker and NJ Benson, all of whom averaged over 9.0 PPG last season. Those three will likely carry the load this year.

Another guy who can carry the load is Kaleb Banks, who had 14.7 PPG at Tulane last season. Another guy, Brandon Maclin, scored in double figures at Radford. Jeremy Lorenz (Wofford), RJ Smith (Colorado) and Amsal Delalic (Pitt) all had varying roles at their last stops.

DePaul is easily the toughest job in power conference college basketball. It has not been to the tournament since 2004. Holtmann will be given a long leash to get this right. Even six or seven league wins would be seen as a big accomplishment.

Seton Hall Pirates

2024-25: 7-25 (2-18 Big East), no postseason

Seton Hall had a disaster of a 2024-25 season and is a prime example of having little NIL dollars as a power conference team can do to you.

It forced coach Shaheen Holloway to go deep into his bag to get players. Thankfully, he did get some.

Adam Clark (Merrimack) is the most productive of the bunch after he averaged 19.5 PPG at Merrimack last season. Elijah Fisher had 15.7 PPG at Pacific. TJ Simpkins (Elon) and Josh Rivera (Fordham) each scored in double figures last season too.

High major talent coming in includes AJ Staton-McCray (Miami), Trey Parker (NC State), Mike Williams III (LSU) and Patrick Suemnick (Oklahoma State), all of whom had varying levels of success.

The only freshman on the roster will be Najai Hines, who is a top-100 guy.

It’s an interesting collection of talent at Seton Hall for this season. It remains to be seen how it will all come together. It would be hard to be worse than last season.

By Aidan Joly

For the second straight off-season, college basketball had a surprising coach retirement late in the game.

On Monday, now-former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl announced that he will step down following 11 seasons at the helm of the Tigers. His son Steven will take over the program. The 65-year-old’s decision came just 42 days before the start of the season.

Since 2020 college basketball has seen six national championship-winning head coaches retire, along with now four more who should be considered for the Hall of Fame. There are only seven active coaches who have won a national title. Pearl never won a national title, but he was certainly one of the biggest faces of the sport the past few seasons.

Pearl’s legacy is certainly a confusing one.

For starters, he was coming off perhaps the best season of his coaching career, leading Auburn to the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament and to the Final Four for the second time in his career (more on that in a second), was named AP’s co-coach of the year alongside Rick Pitino – one of those seven with a title – and was nearing 700 “official” career wins.

Pearl transformed Auburn from a program that, outside of a few years in the 1980s with Charles Barkley, was an also-ran in the SEC to one of the premier programs in the country. Before Pearl, Auburn only had one SEC conference tournament title to its name. Pearl won it twice. It had never been to the Final Four before Pearl. Heck, Auburn had only been to the tournament eight times ever before Pearl arrived. He got them there six times in 11 years.

He finishes his career with an unofficial record of 706-268 (his official record is 694-270 due to NCAA penalties).

Before Auburn, he guided Tennessee to an Elite Eight appearance and two more Sweet 16s, getting the Vols to No. 1 in the country in the AP rankings for the first time ever.

He did so by being boisterous, showing up in student sections at women’s basketball and football games shirtless, with a heart-on-his-sleeve persona and a sense of humor.

Of course though, there is the other side of Bruce Pearl’s legacy.

Rumors have swirled the past few months that he would leave Auburn to run for a soon-to-be-open United States senate seat in Alabama. He has been more and more political on his social media feeds as of late and has been vocal about his support for President Donald Trump. However, he said in his farewell video posted to Auburn basketball’s social media pages that he will not run for office. It created some question marks over the summer about the program’s future.

Pearl was only ever hired at Auburn due to a three year show-cause penalty that stemmed from NCAA violations when he was at Tennessee, which resulted in him being fired in Knoxville in 2011. The matter was trivial – he had a recruit at a cookout at his home when the recruit wasn’t supposed to be there – but got in the most hot water for lying to the NCAA and instructing others to do so.

Back in the late 80s while he was an assistant at Iowa he got into trouble in a recruiting scandal that ruined his chances at becoming a Division I head coach anytime soon. He spent nine years as a Division II head coach before getting his first Division I head coaching job at Milwaukee in 2001.

At Auburn the program got tied up in the FBI’s 2017 investigation into college basketball. Auburn stood by Pearl, which was controversial at the time, but in 2018 Auburn made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2003. Auburn eventually got hit with a postseason ban in 2021.

Finally, it is fair to criticize the timing of his retirement that handed the reigns to his son, despite the fact that Pearl had in the past criticized nepotism in sports.

Former Virginia coach Tony Bennett was criticized for retiring right around a year ago, just weeks before the season. Ron Sanchez was the interim but did not get the full-time job, which eventually went to Ryan Odom.

That’s not to say the 38-year-old Steven Pearl isn’t qualified. He joined the program in 2014 as an assistant strength and conditioning coach, served as the director of basketball operations, worked his way to an on-court assistant job in 2017 and had been the associate head coach and defensive coordinator since 2023, helping build a top-10 defense in the sport last year.

Would Steven Pearl have gotten the job had Bruce retired in April? We’ll never know. Auburn also did not give the younger Pearl an interim tag, which would have clouded this season with whether he’d get the full-time job next spring.

In a career that had so many strange turns and chapters, maybe this was the only way the book could be closed.

By Aidan Joly

The 2024-25 college basketball season in the ACC was one that was dominated by the Duke Blue Devils.

The team from Durham went 19-1 in league play, flew through the conference tournament with ease and made it to the national semifinals. Louisville and Clemson were the other top jobbers, but the Blue Devils remained head and shoulders above everyone else.

That all being said, can anyone challenge Duke for the top spot in the 2025-26 season? Let’s get into each of the 18 teams that will play in the league this season.

Duke Blue Devils

2024-25: 35-4 (19-1 ACC), lost in national semifinals

Gone is the crown price of college basketball last season in Cooper Flagg, along with his sidekick Kon Knueppel that made for the best 1-2 freshman duo in the country last season.

This year it will be a pair of brothers, Cameron and Cayden Boozer, son of longtime NBA player Carlos, leading the way. Cameron Boozer is one of the best prospects in the country and a sure-fire lottery pick a year from now. Nikolas Khamenia and Sebastian Wilkins are also highly touted freshmen who will look to make an impact. International prospect Dame Sarr also has a chance to make an impact.

An interesting group of returners led by Isaiah Evans and Caleb Foster could have a larger role. Evans and Foster themselves got minutes every night and were solid role guys. Both can take a step up this season.

Louisville Cardinals

2024-25: 27-8 (18-2 ACC), lost in NCAA first round

First-year coach Pat Kelsey fast-tracked the rebuild of the Louisville program, being the second or third best team in the league, reaching the conference final and getting to the NCAA tournament after the program was the laughingstock of the league under Kenny Payne.

This year, the Cardinals have a shot to be at least as good. Two double digit scorers in J’Vonne Hadley and Kasean Pryor return, while they also bring in Ryan Conwell (Xavier), Adrian Wooley (Kennesaw State) and Isaac McKneeley (Virginia), who all averaged in the double figures at their last stops.

Mikel Brown, Jr. is a top-10 prospect in the country who will have an immediate role.

Other returners Kobe Rodgers and Aly Khalifa both have a chance to carve out roles too.

Clemson Tigers

2024-25: 27-7 (18-2 ACC), lost in NCAA first round

The Tigers had a terrific season in 2024-25. Twenty-seven wins represented the most in a single season in program history and got its highest NCAA tournament seed since 2018.

Unfortunately for Brad Brownell and company, it all came crashing down as the Tigers fell victim to Will Wade and McNeese State in the first round of the tournament.

Clemson may take a step back this season. It has 10 new players and doesn’t return anyone who averaged more than 5.4 points per game last season. As for transfers the most notable is Nick Davidson, who averaged more than 15 points per game on a solid Nevada team. Jestin Porter had 15 a game at Middle Tennessee. RJ Godfrey (Georgia) and Jake Wahlin (Utah) were both role players on power conference teams.

We will see about this team, but it would not be shocking to see the Tigers slip a few spots in the standings this year.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

2024-25: 21-11 (13-7 ACC), no postseason

The 2024-25 version of the Demon Deacons looked ready to be in the tournament at a few different points during the campaign, but never got the signature wins they needed.

Wake Forest has not been in the tournament since 2017 and is heading into year six under coach Steve Forbes.

Forbes did find some interesting pieces though. Cooper Schwieger is a talented player who averaged more than 15 points per game for Valparaiso this past year, while Nate Calmese had similar stats at Washington State. Mekhi Mason (Washington) and Myles Colvin (Purdue) were both productive players on high-major rosters.

Tre’Von Spillers, who averaged 9.9 PPG for the Deacs, is back. He is joined by Juke Harris, who had 6.1 PPG.

The likes of Hunter Sallis and Cameron Hildreth will be tough to replace. Let’s see if they can do it.

North Carolina Tar Heels

2024-25: 23-14 (13-7 ACC), lost in NCAA first round

What a topsy-turvy season it was in Chapel Hill. Many did not think the Tar Heels were deserving to be in the NCAA tournament, but UNC made it anyway as one of the last four in before bowing out in the round of 64.

This year the Tar Heels have an array of talent. The only key returner is Seth Trimble, who had 11.6 PPG last season.

Transfers include Henri Veesaar (Arizona), Kyan Evans (Colorado State), Jarin Stevenson (Alabama), Jonathan Powell (Virginia) and Jaydon Young (Virginia Tech), who all had at least solid seasons at good levels of competition.

Caleb Wilson is a five-star prospect who is the best freshman coach Hubert Davis brings in. Derek Dixon and Isaiah Denis are both top-60 talent.

Davis’ job security has been in question the past year or two. UNC certainly has the talent to make a run, or will it be another clunker of a season that costs Davis his job?

SMU Mustangs

2024-25: 24-11 (13-7 ACC), lost in NIT second round

The Mustangs had a better first season in the ACC than probably many expected, finishing comfortably above .500 and in the top half of the league.

The Mustangs have a shot to challenge for an NCAA tournament spot. They return their leading scorer in Boopie Miller while also bringing back double digit scorer Samet Yigitoglu and a near-double digit scorer in B.J. Edwards.

Jaron Pierre, Jr. was a huge get in the portal after he averaged more than 20 PPG at Jacksonville State. He should be a big part of the plans in Dallas. Corey Washington also had a great year at Wichita State.

As for freshmen Jaden Toombs should be the best of the bunch and he is joined by Nigel Walls and Jermaine O’Neal, Jr. (yes, that Jermaine O’Neal).

This roster looks even better on paper than last year’s. They have a chance to take another step up.

Stanford Cardinal

2024-25: 21-14 (11-9 ACC), lost in NIT second round

Stanford had an okay-but-not-great year in the first season under coach Kyle Smith, but do lose a lot for this season.

Gone are Maxime Raynaud, Oziyah Sellers and Jaylen Blakes, Stanford’s three best players from last year. Taking their places could be Ryan Agarwal, Chisom Okpara and Benny Gealer, who all return after being role guys in 2024-25.

As for transfers the Cardinal add a pair of interesting ones. AJ Rohosy was a Division III all-American after starting his career for Smith at Washington State, while Jeremy Dent-Smith starred for Division II Cal State Dominguez Hills.

We shall see with the Cardinal. It was a better year than expected for its first time in the ACC. What will they do in year two?

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

2024-25: 17-17 (10-10 ACC), lost in NIT first round

The second year under coach Damon Stoudamire saw a three-win improvement in the league from his first year the helm and it came with a postseason appearance, so tangible progress there.

However, four of the team’s five double digit scorers are gone. The only one who is left is Baye Ndongo, so he should have to take on a fairly large role. Jaeden Mustaf and Kowacie Reeves both had solid campaigns as well.

Kam Craft (Miami Ohio) and Lamar Washington (Pacific) both had 13+ points per game this past season at their old schools. Chas Kelly III (Boston College) has high-major experience.

Mouhamed Sylla and Akai Fleming are both freshmen who have a shot at being in the rotation, moreso in Sylla’s case.

It feels like Stoudamire has the program, slowly but surely, going in the right direction. You’d like to see some more progress be made in year three. The Yellow Jackets have not made the tournament since 2021 when it surprisingly won the ACC tournament. Before that, you have to go back to 2010.

Virginia Cavaliers

2024-25: 15-17 (8-12 ACC), no postseason

It’ll mostly be an entirely new roster at Virginia for first year coach Ryan Odom, who gets the full-time gig after interim coach Ron Sanchez took over weeks before the season following the sudden retirement of Tony Bennett in October.

Odom has made his way around the college hoops landscape with head coaching stops at UMBC, Utah State and VCU and now finally lands a power conference job.

The best transfer he brings in is Malik Thomas, who averaged 19.9 points per game at San Francisco. Other quality adds include Jacari White, who had 17.1 PPG at North Dakota State, Sam Lewis, who had 16.2 PPG at Toledo and Devin Tillis, who had 13.7 PPG at UC Irvine. Dallin Hall (BYU) and Ugonna Onyenso (Kansas State) both contributed for high major teams.

Chance Mallory is the best freshman Cavalier.

It will be interesting to see how these pieces come together. Odom was a natural choice for Virginia and now he has a chance to get the program back to the top of the ACC.

Virginia Tech Hokies

2024-25: 13-19 (8-12 ACC), no postseason

This feels like a big year for coach Mike White, who enters his seventh year in Blacksburg as the team has now missed the NCAA tournament three years in a row.

He will try to end that drought with a quartet of decent returners in Tobi Lawal, Jaden Schutt, Tyler Johnson and Ben Hammond, all of whom had decent-to-good seasons in 2024-25.

Amani Hansberry, who averaged 8.9 PPG at West Virginia, seems like a major impact addition. Izaiah Pasha (Delaware) and Jailen Bedford (UNLV) both averaged in double figures at their previous stops.

This is one where the job security is interesting. Football coach Brent Pry is firmly on the hot seat and could lose his job with a bad season. It might be easier for Young to keep his job for another season if Pry gets the axe.

Florida State Seminoles

2024-25: 17-15 (8-12 ACC), no postseason

It’s a new era in Tallahassee as first year coach Luke Loucks takes over following more than two decades of Leonard Hamilton at the helm.

Similar to Odom in Virginia, it’ll be pretty much a completely new roster. It is highlighted by Robert McCray V, who averaged 16.2 PPG at Jacksonville, along with three more mid-major double figure scorers in Martin Somerville (UMass-Lowell, Lajae Jones (St. Bonaventure) and Kobe MaGee (Drexel).

Chauncey Wiggins is the guy with ACC experience after he averaged 8.9 points per game at Clemson. An interesting add is Alex Skeen, who averaged 17.9 PPG at Division II Florida Southern, a team that won 26 games and won a game in the Division II tournament.

Cameron Miles is a four-star prospect who joins the Seminoles.

Overall, the roster doesn’t do a ton on paper. But for a first-year coach, all you need to see is some sort of progression as the season goes on.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish

2024-25: 15-18 (8-12 ACC), no postseason

Breakout candidate in the ACC? Year two under coach Micah Shrewsberry saw a small improvement and the Irish bring back a ton of talent.

Leading that charge is Markus Burton, who led the team with 21.3 PPG in 2024-25. Braeden Shrewsberry had 14.0 PPG, good for third on the team, and is back as well. A solid role guy in Kebba Njie is also back.

The Irish also bring in a solid freshman class, highlighted by Jalen Haralson, who ranks in ESPN’s top 20 prospects. Top-100 guys Ryder Frost and Brady Koehler also come into the fold.

As for transfers the only one coming from a Division I school is Carson Towt, who had 13.3 PPG at Northern Arizona.

This is a team that feels due to win a bunch more games in the ACC than it did last year and has the pieces on paper to do it. Shrewsberry is a good coach too. We will see if they can do it.

Pittsburgh Panthers

2024-25: 17-15 (8-12 ACC), no postseason

This was a Pitt team that had opportunities to put itself on the right side of the tournament bubble, but lost eight of its last 11 regular season games and did not come close.

In 2025-26 it will be an interesting enough roster. Double digit scorer Cameron Corhen returns, as does Brandin Cummings who was more of a role guy.

Perhaps the best add here is Dishon Jackson, who was true glue guy on an Iowa State team that was one of the best in the country all season. Barry Dunning, Jr., who had 15.1 PPG at South Alabama and Damarco Minor, who had 9.8 PPG at Oregon State, also come into the fold.

This certainly feels like a middle-of-the-pack roster in the ACC. Seeing if coach Jeff Capel can do more with it will be something to follow.

Syracuse Orange

2024-25: 14-19 (7-13 ACC), no postseason

It feels like a crucial year awaits in Central New York.

Adrian Autry enters year three as the head coach at Syracuse after taking over for the venerable Jim Boeheim and the results have been underwhelming, while the Orange took a considerable step back in 2024-25.

However, the Orange return their top two scorers in JJ Starling and Donnie Freeman, while also bringing in Naithan George (12.3 PPG at Georgia Tech) and Nate Kingz (11.8 PPG at Oregon State) as the main guys to surround him with. A few other transfers have high major role experience.

Sadiq White is a solid prospect the Orange bring in but the hype is around Kiyan Anthony, son of Syracuse legend Carmelo Anthony.

Is this a tournament team? Perhaps. It might need to be for Autry to get a fourth season. Syracuse hasn’t been in the tournament since 2021.

California Golden Bears

2024-25: 14-19 (6-14 ACC), no postseason

Things did not go great in Cal’s first season in the ACC. Things were looking up after Mark Madsen’s first year at the helm, but it felt like the Golden Bears struggled to keep up with the competition jump.

Maybe, Cal will have a better idea in its second year in the league. The Bears return a couple guys in Rytis Petraitis and DJ Campbell, but that’s about it for notable returners.

Two guys who did very well at the mid-majors come to Berkeley in John Camden, who had 16.8 PPG at Delaware and Milos Ilic, who had 14.4 PPG at Loyola Maryland. Some bigger helps can be found in Chris Bell, who comes in from Syracuse, as well as Dai Dai Ames, who carved out a nice role at Virginia.

A couple of four-star prospects come in, Semetri Carr and Jovanni Ruff.

This is a program that felt in over its head in its first year in the ACC. We shall see if they can get any better in year two.

NC State Wolfpack

2024-25: 12-19 (5-15 ACC), no postseason

It was Final Four to fired in a span of 12 months for former coach Kevin Keatts after NC State failed to even make the ACC tournament.

Taking his spot is Will Wade, the former disgraced LSU coach who built his reputation back up at McNeese, taking the Cowboys to the second round of the NCAA tournament. He’s now back in the power conference ranks.

It’ll be nearly an entirely new team in Raleigh, and a good one at that. The biggest add is Darrion Williams, who was a star at Texas Tech. He also brings in a group of good high major players in Tre Holloman from Michigan State, Ven-Allen Lubin from in-state rival UNC, Terrence Arceneaux from Houston and Jerry Deng from Florida State. Alyn Breed and Quadir Copeland both follow him from McNeese.

Freshmen include Matt Able, a very good prospect, and Zymicah Wilkins, a top-60 guy who has a chance to carving out a role.

This is a very good team. Wade should be able to have them competing from the beginning of the season. Being back in the tournament should be the expectation.

Boston College Eagles

2024-25: 12-19 (4-16 ACC), no postseason

It was another season to forget for Boston College as it finished second-to-last in the ACC.

For this season, the Eagles do return the team’s leading scorer in Donald Hand, Jr., but does lose the second through fourth leading scorer. Fred Payne, who carved out a role to the tune of 6.9 PPG, is back as well.

The only truly notable transfer add is Chase Forte, who averaged 17.9 PPG at South Dakota. A quick note on Boden Kapke, who averaged just over 4 PPG at Butler, is now here. He may have a role.

Four-star prospect Akbar Waheed is the only notable freshman of the group.

Boston College has not made the tournament since 2009, which is also the most recent time it had a winning season in league play. It’s tough to see either of those streaks ending.

Miami Hurricanes

2024-25: 7-24 (3-17 ACC), no postseason

It was an absolutely dreadful season for the Hurricanes, one that saw Jim Larrañaga retire midseason with a 4-8 record through the first 12 games. Interim coach Bill Courtney was not able to right the ship, going 3-16 the rest of the way.

The new coach is Jai Lucas, the 36-year-old former Duke assistant who is the youngest head coach in the power conferences.

He brings in an entirely new roster. The player to be most excited about is Malik Reneau, who had 13.3 PPG at Indiana, while Tre Donaldson (Michigan) and Tru Washington (New Mexico) were both key cogs for teams that reached the NCAA tournament.

Lucas does bring in a decent freshman class in Shelton Henderson, a borderline top 30 prospect as well as Dante Allen, a top-50 guy. Timotej Malovec and Salih Altuntas are both interesting international prospects.

Miami should not be expected to be at the top of the ACC in Lucas’ first year. But it’s hard to be worse than the Hurricanes were last year.

By Aidan Joly

This is the fourth part of my transfer portal adds series, highlighted by Kansas getting a pair of role players and several players making the jump from mid-major to high major.

Twenty more players to take a look at, below:

Matas Vokietaitis: Old school: Florida Atlantic | New school: Texas

Vokietaitis was the freshman of the year in the American Athletic Conference after averaging 10.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest for FAU. He’s a big seven-footer who plays extremely physical in the paint on both sides of the ball and is increasingly tough to move. He is especially good on the offensive glass. Having played just 17 minutes per game at FAU, he can be a very good interior presence for the Longhorns.

Elliot Cadeau: Old school: North Carolina | New school: Michigan

Cadeau is a former five-star prospect who never truly blossomed into the player the Tar Heels thought he could become, but he was a serviceable player for two seasons in Chapel Hill. He averaged 9.4 PPG in 2024-25 and demonstrated good ability as a passer, but is prone to turnovers. He also sometimes struggles to find consistency in scoring. It feels like a change of scenery could be beneficial here.

Kyan Evans: Old school: Colorado State | New school: North Carolina

Evans doesn’t take a ton of shots for a point guard, but when he does take them he makes them at a consistent rate. He can especially burn you from deep as he hit 44.6% of his attempts for Colorado State on his way to averaging 10.6 points per game for a team that won an NCAA tournament game, and nearly won a second. He is a very smart player, which will fit in well in Chapel Hill.

Malik Thomas: Old school: San Francisco | New school: Virginia

Thomas was a first-team all-WCC pick and led the league in scoring with 19.9 points per game. He also did so while shooting almost 40% from behind the three point line and made 85% of his free throws while getting to the line at a high rate. He is also a good off-the-ball player. He will provide scoring for a Virginia team that could use it under first year coach Ryan Odom.

Christoph Tilly: Old school: Santa Clara | New school: Ohio State

The Buckeyes get a seven-foot big man that a lot of players had their eye on. Another good player coming out of the WCC, Tilly averaged 12.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in just under 23 minutes per game for Santa Clara in 2024-25. He is known to step out and hit a three every once in a while too. He shot 7-9 from the field in an upset win against Gonzaga on Jan. 18.

Nick Boyd: Old school: San Diego State | New school: Wisconsin

Boyd was a serviceable player for San Diego State and finished off his time there by averaging 13.4 points per game for the Aztecs this past season. He is a good but not great shooter, and is very smart and reliable. A part of the 2023 FAU team that made the Final Four, he should be able to carve out a nice role at Wisconsin.

Tre Donaldson: Old school: Michigan | New school: Miami

Donaldson is an interesting player. He was clearly a key cog on a Michigan team that reached the Sweet 16. He is a very good defender, was one of the best in the Big Ten in 2024-25. However, he makes many questionable decisions on offense and as a result is fairly unreliable when you need points. Still, he can be a lead guard and will be for a Miami team that is undergoing a major rebuild under first year coach Jai Lucas.

Denzel Aberdeen: Old school: Florida | New school: Kentucky

Aberdeen had a very solid role on the national championship winning team, averaging 7.7 points per game across 19.7 minutes per game. He mostly played point guard but is capable of playing just about every position, standing at 6-foot-5. He has a good jumper and can score pretty consistently from all areas of the floor. If he can clean up a little bit of a turnover issue, he can be a starter-type player for Kentucky.

Jalil Bethea: Old school: Miami | New school: Alabama

A top prospect coming into Miami one year ago Bethea’s freshman season did not go as planned as he averaged just 7.1 points and shot under 40% from the field for a Hurricanes team that was dreadful. He is a small 6-foot-5, so it would benefit him to gain a little bit of muscle. Still a bit of a project, he’s worth the flyer that Alabama is taking on him.

Vyctorius Miller: Old school: LSU | New school: Oklahoma State

Miller had a very good freshman season in the SEC, averaging 8.9 points per game and hitting 44% from the field for an LSU team that saw improvement after a bad 2023-24 season. His numbers did drop off a bit in the second half of the season as he tried to play through an ankle injury. However, when healthy, he can be a solid presence for Oklahoma State and help them.

Elyjah Freeman: Old school: Lincoln Memorial (Division II) | New school: Auburn

It will be interesting to see where Freeman slots in for Auburn. He was one of the best Division II players in the country for Lincoln Memorial in Tennessee, averaging 19.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game for a squad that won 25 games and reached the Division II tournament. He could be worth investing in for Auburn and Bruce Pearl.

Dillon Mitchell: Old school: Cincinnati | New school: St. John’s

Once upon a time Mitchell was a five-star prospect, but he’s another one who has never really blossomed into what we thought he would be. Still, he has become a nice role player and has had a solid career. At Cincinnati this past season he had 9.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game while being more efficient than he ever was at Texas. He has an ability to make a three, but it’s not the main part of his game. He’s a good defender, which will probably be his main role at St. John’s.

Cooper Schwieger: Old school: Valparaiso | New school: Wake Forest

The Missouri Valley Conference has sent many successful players to the high majors over the years and Schwieger is next on that list. He was very good at Valpo this past season to the tune of 15.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. At 6-foot-10 he largely played center, and that is likely what he will end up playing at Wake Forest. He is also decent from three for a big man. He is also good on defense as he led the MVC with 2 blocks per game.

Gabriel Pozzato: Old school: Evansville | New school: Xavier

Pozzato, an athletic wing out of Australia, had a very good freshman season at Evansville, averaging 14.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game on his way to being named to the Missouri Valley all-freshman team. He didn’t hit his threes at an overly consistent rate but he has a smooth shooting motion that should translate to making them at a better rate as he matures. Overall, he figures to be a key wing player and a second or maybe third scoring option for first year coach Richard Pitino.

Jayden Dawson: Old school: Loyola Chicago | New school: Kansas

Dawson had a nice breakout season as a junior for Loyola Chicago this past season, averaging 13.9 points per game that made a deep run in the NIT and ended up with 25 wins. He’s a very streaky shooter who runs around making 36% of his threes. Standing at 6-foot-4 he has good size and athleticism for a combo guard which should make him a dynamic option for the Jayhawks.

Tre White: Old school: Illinois | New school: Kansas

White is on his fourth school after previous stops at USC, Louisville and the Illini. He is a proven starter and scorer at this level and really improved with his spacing and shot selection as compared to years past. He also got better defensively. If he keeps improving, he can certainly be an important player for Kansas.

Sebastian Mack: Old school: UCLA | New school: Missouri

After really coming on strong as a freshman for the Bruins in 2023-24 Mack saw a bit of a dip in production this season, going from 12.1 PPG as a freshman to 9.6 PPG as a sophomore, saw his minutes go down, and saw his way out of the starting lineup. However, his shooting percentages went up from 38.7% as a freshman to 42.6% as a sophomore. He projects as a starter at Missouri as he looks to reach his ceiling.

Kanon Catchings: Old school: BYU | New school: Georgia

One year ago Catchings was seen as a player who could have gone one-and-done to the NBA, but he didn’t have the season at BYU that many thought he would, especially after he de-committed from Purdue to go to Provo. He averaged just over seven points a game and really wasn’t even playing much by the end of the season. The upside and potential is still there and we will see if he can find it at Georgia.

Tyon Grant-Foster: Old school: Grand Canyon | New school: Gonzaga

Grant-Foster was the player of the year in the WAC and helped Grand Canyon to the NCAA tournament by averaging 14.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game for the Lopes. He averaged over 20 points per game two seasons ago. He is a high volume shooter but has the ability to get them off from anywhere on the floor. There is a ton of potential here and Mark Few will have a great chance at reeling him in a bit, while keeping his ability to go off on any night.

Dishon Jackson: Old school: Iowa State | New school: Pitt

Another player on his fourth school. Jackson was the man in the middle for what was a top-1o defense in the country last year for Iowa State and that is where he shines the most. He is a tad bit inconsistent on defense and with rebounding and under the basket he leaves a little bit to be desired offensively. Still, standing at 6-foot-11 and weighing in at 270 pounds, he is one of the largest players in college basketball, something that will be huge, literally and figuratively, for the Panthers.

By Aidan Joly

We have reached part three of my transfer portal notebook for the 2025 off-season, evaluating 20 more players and how they fit at their new schools.

Kansas State and NC State have made the biggest impact adds for this part, as well as Oklahoma. Let’s get into it.

PJ Haggerty: Old school: Memphis | New school: Kansas State

Haggerty was a late add to the Kansas State roster, but he is a major impact add for a program that needs some juice after a down season in 2024-25. Haggerty earned the AAC player of the year honors with Memphis after averaging 21.6 points and 5.8 rebounds for the Tigers. He also was a second team All-American. It will be interesting to see how his mid-range game fits into the Kansas State offense, since coach Jerome Tang usually shoots just threes and shots under the basket. We shall see.

Darrion Williams: Old school: Texas Tech | New school: NC State

Williams was one of the best playmaking guards in all of college basketball this past season and perhaps the best in the portal. He averaged 15.5 points per game and shot 34% from three, although that was a dip from the 2023-24 season. Still, he is a very solid three-point shooter. He averaged 23.7 points per game during Texas Tech’s last three games in the round of 32, Sweet 16 and Elite 8. He will be a major cog to the offense for first year coach Will Wade in Raleigh.

LeJuan Watts: Old school: Washington State | New school: Texas Tech

Watts saw himself thrust into big-time minutes with Washington State after Cedric Coward got hurt and finished the season averaging 13.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game after following coach David Riley from Eastern Washington. He successfully made the transition from the Big Sky to the WCC and will be challenged to make another transition from the WCC to the Big 12.

KeShawn Murphy: Old school: Mississippi State | New school: Auburn

Murphy is a 6-foot-10 big man who has good footwork and is good off the ball from all areas of the floor. He used that to the tune of 11.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game for a Bulldogs team that reached the NCAA tournament. He shot over 56% from the field for the season and even better from inside 10 feet while being known to step out for a three from time to time. He is also a solid defender.

Desmond Claude: Old school: USC | New school: Washington

Claude is an experienced wing type player who has spent a lot of time at point guard. At USC this past season he averaged 15.8 points per game. He did get a little better from behind the three-point line, but his shooting from beyond the arc still leaves much to be desired. If he could get a little more consistent from deep, he would quickly become one of the better guards in the country. Let’s see if he can do that at Washington.

Andrej Stojakovic: Old school: Cal | New school: Illinois

Stojakovic was a big breakout candidate for me a year ago after a solid freshman season and he did just that. He averaged 17.9 points per game for Cal and shot 37% from behind the three-point line. The consistent shot isn’t there quite yet since he doesn’t shoot them a ton but he is certainly getting there. He also proved himself as a good off the ball player. Now, he will head to Illinois, a program that has significantly more recent success than Cal.

Pharrel Payne: Old school: Texas A&M | New school: Maryland

Payne is following coach Buzz Williams from College Station to College Park. He saw inconsistent minutes toward the end of the season but was Texas A&M’s most productive big, averaging 10.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game over 20 minutes per game for the Aggies. His best game is on the boards, which we should be able to see more if he can get some more consistent minutes with the Terps.

Derrion Reid: Old school: Alabama | New school: Oklahoma

Reid was a five-star recruit one year ago and got lost in the shuffle of an extremely deep Alabama team while he battled injuries. When he was on the court he played well for a freshman and finished the campaign with 6.0 points per game across 14 minutes per contest in 24 appearances. He was good defensively but struggled shooting the ball consistently. He will continue his development on a team that has less depth. Upside, he could be a pro.

Michael Rataj: Old school: Oregon State | New school: Baylor

Rataj is one of the more dynamic players you’ll see. He created tons of mismatches during his time in the WCC and Oregon State to the tune of 16.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, becoming one of the most improved players in the country. He has a 6-foot-9 frame and can step out and hit his threes, can also score from inside and makes his free throws at a good clip. If he has the space on the floor to do what he needs to do, he can end up being one of Baylor’s best players.

Oscar Cluff: Old school: South Dakota State | New school: Purdue

South Dakota State is a mid-major program that spits out successful high-major players and Cluff certainly has a chance to be next in that line. He started at a JUCO school, was a starter on a Washington State team that went to the NCAA tournament two season ago, then starred at South Dakota State and now he heads to Purdue. He averaged 17.6 points and 12.3 rebounds per game for the Jackrabbits this past season. He shouldn’t be expected to have those numbers again, but he can has a great shot at being a very productive big man.

Nijel Pack: Old school: Miami | New school: Oklahoma

The NCAA has granted a medical waiver for Pack to have one more year of eligibility. He was limited to just nine games for a dreadful Miami team due to an ankle injury, but was one of the most experienced players in the portal. He has 122 games of college basketball experience under his belt and started on the 2023 Miami team that made the Final Four. He can surely be the lead guard at Oklahoma.

Obi Agbim: Old school: Wyoming | New school: Baylor

Another player who began his college career in JUCO, spending three seasons at that level before heading up to Division I. He was great at Wyoming, averaging 17.6 points per game, albeit for a team that lost 20 games and went just 5-15 in Mountain West play. He made more than 43% of his attempts from behind the three-point line and is a good mid-range shooter. We will see how he does with this step up.

Zvonimir Ivisic: Old school: Arkansas | New school: Illinois

“Big Z” burst onto the college basketball scene midseason for Kentucky two years ago with an electric debut and it seemed like the sky was the limit. Now, he’s come a bit back down to earth. He followed John Calipari to Arkansas and averaged 8.5 points per game for the Razorbacks. He did have 27 points in a game against Alabama and 25 against LSU, but he’s still finding his way in becoming a consistent player. Illinois will try to get that in him.

Pop Isaacs: Old school: Creighton | New school: Texas A&M

Isaacs had a great start to the season for Creighton, but that ended when he suffered a season-ending hip injury eight games into the season. During that time though, he averaged 16.3 points per game, including two 25+ point performances. He began his career at Texas Tech and figures to be the featured guard for new Aggies coach Bucky McMillan.

Lamar Wilkerson: Old school: Sam Houston State | New school: Indiana

A first-team all-conference pick in Conference USA, Wilkerson was one of the best pure shooters available in this cycle. He averaged 20.5 points per game for Sam Houston State and shot over 44% from behind the three-point line, over 47% from the field overall. He has a chance to be a star for the Hoosiers, at least a lights-out situational shooter.

Nick Davidson: Old school: Nevada | New school: Clemson

Davidson is a big man who plays more like a guard. He stands at 6-foot-10 but is a good shooter, having made more than 37% of his 124 attempts from behind the three point line for a Nevada team that was not great, but solid. Overall, he averaged 15.8 points per game. He has skills as a passer too. He is a solid flyer for coach Brad Brownell to take for Davidson’s final season of college basketball.

Malik Reneau: Old school: Indiana | New school: Miami

Reneau is a former top recruit and prized freshman for Indiana and he carved out a nice three seasons at Indiana. He saw his minutes decrease a little bit this year after a very good sophomore season in 2023-24, but he is still a good player. His physicality is the predominant part of his game. He should be a key piece of the rotation for first year Miami coach Jai Lucas.

Alvaro Folgueiras: Old school: Robert Morris | New school: Iowa

Folgueiras was the Horizon League player of the year while leading Robert Morris to the NCAA tournament and putting a scare into Alabama. He is a do-it-all type of player, averaging 14.1 points and 9.1 rebounds per game, being a good shooter, a good passer, and plays well off the ball. He has the ability to play multiple positions, which will certainly help him with Iowa. He has a chance to be a high-level player and thrive in Ben McCollum’s system.

Naithan George: Old school: Georgia Tech | New school: Syracuse

George is a terrific passer, leading the ACC with 6.5 assists per game, which is the best part of his game as a facilitator. He can shoot the ball well too, having averaged 12.3 points per game on just under 40% from the field but made just under 34% of 177 attempts. He is a bit of a high-volume shooter and needs to limit the turnovers, but he will have a chance to make some improvements for Adrian Autry.

Nate Johnson: Old school: Akron | New school: Kansas State

Johnson had the rare double-whammy of winning both the league player of the year and the defensive player of the year in the MAC. On offense he averaged 14 points per game for an Akron team that went to the NCAA tournament and averaged nearly two steals per game. It will be interesting to see how he adjusts to the high-major competition. It’s worth noting that he struggled in the NCAA tournament game against Arizona, going 1-9 from the field.

By Aidan Joly

The 2025 NBA draft is in the books.

It went mostly as expected at the top, but we had some twists and turns along the way. Let’s get into what the biggest takeaways from this year’s draft class are.

Cooper Flagg has Dallas ready to compete

The first overall pick was a no-brainer, with Duke phenom going first overall to the Dallas Mavericks.

Flagg was the best player in this year’s class and will make an immediate impact in Dallas. The Mavs don’t have a ton of shot creation on their roster with a lack of guards before Kyrie Irving returns from a knee injury, so Flagg will have to be part of the solution in keeping them afloat during the first part of the season.

Anthony Davis is a great player for Flagg to develop alongside of, and be a homegrown star for a franchise that is still dealing with the aftermath of the Luka Doncic trade. Landing the first overall pick changed the trajectory of the franchise quite a bit.

If he plays well, Dallas can certainly have a chance at competing for a playoff spot in year one. And certainly, Flagg is the top contender for rookie of the year.

San Antonio leaning into competitive window

San Antonio certainly could have traded the second overall pick in Dylan Harper, but chose not to in order to hurry up their competitive window.

It makes sense that there are some fit concerns, but San Antonio is going talent over fit with this selection. Things would likely be a little easier if De’Aaron Fox were not in the mix, but allowing Harper some time to figure out how to play alongside Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle is the right idea.

San Antonio must remember that their superstar in Wembanyama is still just 21 years old. He has plenty of time. And when you factor in the talent all around him, including Harper and No. 14 overall pick Carter Bryant, the Spurs look to have their next great group of players.

Good situation for Edgecombe

The Philadelphia 76ers took Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe with the No. 3 overall pick.

They likely could have gone after a better talent in Ace Bailey, who ended up going to Utah, but they take fit over talent here. Keep in mind, Philadelphia already has three ball-dominant players in Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid and Paul George, coupled with Jared McCain having a good rookie year in a small sample size. Edgecombe will be relied on more for defense and rebounding in his early years in the NBA, which works for him.

Philly also took Johni Broome with the 35th overall pick, which is a solid add to their frontcourt depth.

Charlotte’s awesome class

The Charlotte Hornets may have gotten the best first round class overall.

With the No. 4 overall pick Charlotte picked up Duke’s Kon Knueppel, who was perhaps the best pure shooter in the draft, and then got could end up being the best value pick in the draft with UConn’s Liam McNeeley at No. 29.

Charlotte also added Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner in the second round.

Knueppel’s strength, style of play and toughness makes him very valuable to play alongside LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller, two budding stars of their own. As for McNeeley, he is a great shooter who did struggle at times at UConn, but a lot of that felt like it was because he was relied upon too heavily.

Kalkbrenner is an NBA-ready player who will see minutes as a second round pick. It needed it after trading away Mark Williams (which we’ll get into soon).

Ace Bailey’s potential

Despite all of the drama the past few weeks with Bailey and his preferred destination, and him not showing up in Utah until Saturday, it still feels like playing for the Jazz gives him the best chance to maximize his potential early on.

The Jazz have no real superstar power, but do have a very good young head coach and a passionate fanbase. He does need some time to shore up some things, mainly on defense and ball-handling, but Utah’s rebuild will give him time to develop. He should quickly realize that he has all-star potential and Utah is a good place to do it.

Utah also picked up Florida’s Walter Clayton late in the first round. Clayton is an NBA-ready player who will have an immediate role.

The best fit?

The best fit in the draft may have been in… you guessed it, Miami.

The Heat drafted Illinois’ Kasparas Jakucionis with the No. 20 overall pick.

It feels like clockwork every year with Miami. The Heat drafted a player who works so well in their style of play while also filling a roster need, and fits the culture.

Some had Jakucionis as a top-10 prospect, and Miami gets him at 20. He has a very good shot at operating well alongside Tyler Herro, and with the emergence of Davion Mitchell, he can develop well in Miami as a versatile player who can both be a shot-maker and play off the ball.

Phoenix’s strange strategy

Phoenix came into the draft with a need for a big man. It felt like they had gotten what they needed in drafting Duke’s Khaman Maluach with the No. 1o overall pick, but turned heads moments later by trading the No. 29 pick and a 2029 first for Mark Williams, another big man.

It came days after the Suns agreed to trade Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets in exchange for that No. 10 overall pick, Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and five second round picks.

Malauch is a very raw player, but he’s a great fit in Phoenix.

The Suns are going through a big roster makeover under new general manager Brian Gregory and first-year coach Jordan Ott, but this was certainly an interesting thing to do. We’ll see how the rest of the off-season looks for Phoenix, but the trade was a little bit of a head-scratcher.

Nets hold onto all of their picks

The Nets went into the first round with five picks and everyone assumed that they would do some dealing on draft night.

Nope. Brooklyn used all five of the picks, selecting Egor Demin (No. 8), Nolan Traore (No. 19), Drake Powell (No. 22), Ben Saraf (No. 26) and Danny Wolf (No. 27).

Demin is my favorite pick of the bunch. He played limited minutes at BYU this past season, but had a good impact. Traore has done well in international play. Wolf was great at Michigan.

If even two of these five picks work out, Brooklyn had a good first round. After failing to make it work with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden, the Nets were in position to capitalize on all of the assets they got back in trades.

Was it a missed opportunity to not make any trades during the draft? One can surely make that argument. But with a need to simply have talent and develop it, at least a few of these guys are bound to work out.

By Aidan Joly

It’s rare that I feel compelled to blog about the NBA – maybe a few times a year – but this is one of those times.

The coaching search for the New York Knicks has become a disorganized mess.

So far, New York has requested to speak with five different sitting NBA head coaches: Dallas’ Jason Kidd, Atlanta’s Quin Snyder, Houston’s Ime Udoka, Minnesota’s Chris Finch and Chicago’s Billy Donovan. The Knicks have been denied permission for all five in recent days, according to multiple reports.

The Knicks fired now-former head coach Tom Thibodeau after winning 51 games and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in a quarter-century to cap off five seasons of success that re-established a winning identity to a franchise that floundered for much of not only the mid-to late 2010s, but the 21st century.

There is plenty to criticize Thibodeau for. He could have tried to develop the guys on the bench more and played the starters for less time. It was obvious that guys like Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Miles Bridges and Josh Hart were exhausted by the end of the playoff run. But all coaches have their flaws. It’s part of the gig.

Still, when you fire a coach in this situation, you better have your ducks in a row. That means having a list of names ready and available to interview. So far, it does not appear that the Knicks did that. It smells of owner James Dolan making the call to fire Thibodeau and that the front office, headed up by Leon Rose, did not anticipate a head coaching search this summer. Thibodeau still had three years and $30 million left on his contract too.

The Knicks will be forced to spin this as to doing their due diligence, but it’s hard to believe when they are being turned down for the chance to interview many of the NBA’s top head coaches.

How will the Knicks be able to salvage this search? Former Denver Nuggets head coach and New York City native Michael Malone should certainly be at the top of the list. Former Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins should be discussed as well. Former Lakers, Cavaliers and Kings coach Mike Brown should be on the list too. Johnnie Bryant, considered one of the NBA’s brightest assistant coaches and is current the associate head coach in Cleveland, should get a look.

Still, now, the Knicks look reminiscent of the inept franchise that couldn’t get much right prior to Rose and Thibodeau taking over. All of the good work over the past five years is at risk of being reversed.