Author: Aidan Joly

By Aidan Joly

When Team USA takes the court for the next Olympics as the 2028 hosts in Los Angeles, the squad could have a very different look.

This comes after Team USA’s 98-87 win over France in the gold medal game on Saturday, clinching a gold for the star-studded group and the program’s fifth straight gold.

As accomplished as the group was, it was also an old group – the oldest Team USA has ever fielded. It featured 39-year-old LeBron James, 36-year-old Stephen Curry and 35-year-old (soon to be 36) Kevin Durant. You can’t rule any of them out for 2028, but it’s unlikely that all three will still be playing in the NBA in 2028, much less the Olympics.

Some borderline cases are here with Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis, the former has expressed interest in playing for Cameroon in 2028 rather than the US. Davis will be 35 in 2028. Jrue Holiday and Derrick White seem unlikely to be back too.

That being said, here are my predictions for what Team USA will look like in 2-2028.

Anthony Edwards, guard

Age in 2028: 26

My 2028 roster does not contain a single MVP as of yet, but Edwards is most likely to change that sometime in the next four years. He just turned 23, is one of the league’s budding superstars and still has plenty of time to develop. It’s easy to see him being the face of Team USA in Los Angeles after getting a taste this time around.

Jayson Tatum, forward

Age in 2028: 30

After winning a title with the Celtics in June, Tatum was out of the rotation for much of these games, but that was in part due to being behind James and Durant. The path to playing time should be much clearer in 2028 and he should emerge as one of the veteran leaders in what would be his third Olympics.

Tyrese Haliburton, guard

Age in 2028: 28

Haliburton played a bit role off the bench during Team USA’s exhibition games before the Olympics, but we barely saw him during the Olympic games themselves. His game fits well in the FIBA system in terms of shooting and playmaking. He should have an argument to be the starting point guard in four years.

Devin Booker, guard

Age in 2028: 31

Los Angeles would be Booker’s third games and he should still be in the back half of his prime by the time it rolls around. He was a strong complementary piece to the stars of this year’s team and should have a larger role in 2028, especially defensively.

Bam Adebayo, center

Age in 2028: 30

A Team USA mainstay throughout the last few years, Adebayo has carved out a role as a bit player as a good defender who can play both power forward and center. The FIBA three-point line also makes things a little more comfortable for him playing inside.

That’s it for the returners, now onto the new players.

Jalen Brunson, guard

Age in 2028: 31

Some said Brunson’s exclusion in these Olympics with Haliburton getting the spot was a snub. He was arguably the best American player not in Paris. He’ll be over 30 in 2028, but he plays a skill-based game that should result in productivity well into his 30s. Brunson’s addition hinges on the assumption that Curry does not return.

Chet Holmgren, center

Age in 2028: 26

Holmgren should be a shoe-in for 2028. He’s one of the best young defenders in the league, and Team USA will need someone to defend Victor Wembanyama if they so happen to see France again in four years. They finished 1-2 in Rookie of the Year voting this season. His game translates very well to FIBA rules. He has experience with USA Basketball as part of the U19 team in 2021.

Paolo Banchero, forward

Age in 2028: 25

Banchero has played on the senior national team before, coming off the bench in the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 2023 after he originally committed to playing for Italy. He is one of the young offensive forces in the league right now and should be even better by 2028. He’ll give Team USA some much-needed size.

Jalen Williams, wing

Age in 2028: 27

I struggled with where to go for this wing spot, but I gave the nod to Williams based on his three-point shooting ability and his defense. He is one of the better young players in the league playing beside Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Oklahoma City. He should be able to carve out a depth role off the bench in 2028. He’ll be in his prime around then.

Cooper Flagg, wing

Age in 2028: 21

There was scuttlebutt about Flagg, just 17 right now, making the roster as the lone amateur player after he worked out with and held his own against the Olympic team earlier in the summer. He’s set to head to Duke in the fall and is already the consensus No. 1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. He’s surely a future Olympian. A few knocks though: seniority matters, and only two players since 2004 have made Team USA before their 22nd birthday: Anthony Davis in 2012 and Keldon Johnson as a last-second add in 2021.

Zion Williamson, forward

Age in 2028: 28

Williamson and Tyrese Maxey were the lone players who received All-NBA votes this year but were not in the initial player pool. Williamson is finally coming into his own in the NBA after a few injury-plagued seasons to start his career. It’s impossible to say where he will be physically in four years, but if he’s healthy he should get a nod.

Ja Morant, guard

Age in 2028: 28

I was down to Morant and Donovan Mitchell for the last spot, but I went with Morant. He is one of the most electrifying players in the NBA right now and may have gotten more consideration if not for injury issues and a behavior-related suspension limiting him to just nine games in 2023-24. As long as he gets his career back on track, he would be a great candidate.

Other players considered: Kevin Durant (on 2024 roster), Joel Embiid (on 2024 roster), Anthony Davis (on 2024 roster), Jaylen Brown, Desmond Bane, Donovan Mitchell, Tyrese Maxey, Evan Mobley, Brandon Miller

By Aidan Joly

The 2024 NBA Draft is complete. It was a historic draft in some ways, some of those ways better than others.

Most notably, it sets up the first father-son combination on a team for the first time in league history, which felt inevitable. More on that in a second.

Here are nine takeaways from the NBA Draft.

The Bronny-Lakers sideshow

This draft became quite a Bronny James-Lakers sideshow.

It always felt inevitable that the Lakers were going to select the son of LeBron James with the 55th pick of the draft. But that doesn’t mean the ordeal was exhausting. We have never talked about a 55th overall pick as much as we have with this one.

A question I’ve been asked for months: is Bronny actually any good? The answer I’ve given is not really. This is a player who struggled to see consistent minutes on a bad USC team once he recovered from a cardiac arrest at a workout last summer. Bronny James was always going to be there when it came time for the 55th pick.

It did always behoove the Lakers to take Bronny as an inexpensive insurance policy to sway potential free agent LeBron to stay. It would have been very funny to see another team take him a few picks before, which would have likely forced the Lakers’ hand to overpay to trade for him, or see him play overseas, or even just sit him out.

Now, LeBron has his podcast co-host as his coach and his son as a teammate. Yeah.

Very few 55th overall picks have been stars. Some past 55th overall picks have carved out decent careers such as Patty Mills (2009), Jeremy Evans (2010) and E’Twaun Moore (2011), but the cards are against Bronny being anything in the NBA.

Soon, we’ll have endless updates from the Lakers’ Summer League games, which start on July 6. I’m exhausted already, but he moves the needle.

French connection

After Victor Wembanyama went first overall last year, we had three French players selected in the first six picks and four in the first round overall.

Zaccharie Risacher went first overall to the Atlanta Hawks, Alex Sarr went second to the Washington Wizards after he was seen after the first pick for a long time, and then Tidjane Salaun went sixth to the Charlotte Hornets. For good measure, Pacome Dadiet went 25th to the New York Knicks.

With how good Wembanyama was in his rookie year for San Antonio, the French influence will be there when it comes to prospects for the next few years. In this group, it seems like Sarr would be the one most likely to end up being a good NBA player.

Timberwolves get a steal

The Minnesota Timberwolves, who did not have much to speak of in terms of draft assets, somehow were able to trade into the lottery and snatch up Rob Dillingham with the eighth pick.

Minnesota is a team on the rise and Anthony Edwards is a budding superstar. It needed three things: a shot creator in the second unit, a succession plan for 36-year-old point guard Mike Conley and young talent to surround Edwards with. Dillingham should solve all three of those problems if he hits.

It didn’t have to give up much for it, either: a pick swap in 2030 and a first-round pick in 2031. Minnesota will definitely have some salary cap issues this summer, certainly a concern for a team that has ownership issues. But when it comes to being a contender right now, the Timberwolves have what it needs.

The Timberwolves also picked up Terrence Shannon with the 27th pick. He’s another guy with high upside.

Wizards loading up

Washington was able to pick up their center of the future with the aforementioned Alex Sarr, but also picked up guard Bub Carrington with 14th overall pick and high-upside guard Kyshawn George with the 24th pick.

They picked up Carrington after trading Deni Avdija to the Portland Trail Blazers. For their troubles, Washington also picked up sure-handed guard Malcolm Brogdon, a nice veteran presence. Washington also picked up a 2029 first round pick during the night’s events.

It’s hard to say how any of these guys will turn out in Washington, but Sarr and Carrington should get immediate playing time for a team that needs help on just about every position on the court. They did well to get a nice variety grab bag of prospects.

Best fit in the draft

It’s kind of funny to say that the guy the Spurs picked is the best fit in the draft because of course it’s a good fit, it’s the Spurs.

San Antonio picked up Stephon Castle with the third overall pick. He is the latest key piece to San Antonio’s rebuild and will be a good guard to have play along Wembanyama. He is a physical defensive force, and paired along a generational paint protector. It’s a recipe that the Celtics just used to win a title, and one Minnesota used to get to the Western Conference Finals.

San Antonio also got some picks, which will be important to keep having good picks as the rebuild continues and their own picks get lower and lower.

Lakers do get a steal in the first

As much as I criticized the Lakers’ for that second round pick becoming such a sideshow, they did do well in the first round.

Los Angeles got Dalton Knecht after he slid down from a potential top 10 pick, getting him at 17th overall. There were some concerns with his age (23) that led to him sliding down the draft.

However, this may have been the steal of the entire draft. Knecht should immediately become a player in the Lakers’ rotation, a good shooter who will be taking passes from LeBron will taking instruction from one of the best shooters and 0ff-ball players of all time in new coach JJ Redick. That is a dream for Knecht.

For the Lakers, they get a top-10 talent and will be able to save some salary cap on him since that slot commands a much smaller rookie deal. It’s a fantastic deal for Los Angeles.

Nuggets get aggressive

The Denver Nuggets’ title defense ended in a heartbreaking second-round loss to the Timberwolves.

Denver has a high-salary core, which will not be easy to replace. It is already likely to lose Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency. It also shedded $5.2 in cap space by trading Reggie Jackson to Charlotte. So, Denver had to be aggressive on draft night to get young, serviceable reserves on the cheap.

It did that, surrendering the Phoenix Suns three second-round picks to move up from No. 28 overall to No. 22 overall to pick up DaRon Holmes II.

Holmes is older and experienced (he will be 22 by the start of the season) and will give Denver a frontcourt option behind Nikola Jokic. He’s a good shooter and is a high-energy player, so he should be a welcome addition in Denver.

All of this being said, it will be interesting to see how the Nuggets get to right around the luxury tax in the coming weeks and months.

The most divisive pick

Zach Edey, the 7-foot-4 behemoth who led Purdue to the national title game, ended up questionably going in the lottery with the Memphis Grizzlies taking him at No. 9 overall.

It’s unclear how he will work out in the NBA. He was extremely effective in the Big Ten in terms of how he played in the middle, but the focus on speed and the perimeter in the NBA will challenge him in ways that college basketball didn’t.

The fit is an issue here, too. Memphis is a team that wants to run with Ja Morant and co., including former Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson in the middle right now. Adding Edey and pushing Jackson to the four would absolutely make Memphis slower.

Edey is also unlikely to be with Memphis much of the summer as he trains for the Olympics with Team Canada.

Everyone has their opinion on him, and we might not see much of him in the NBA until October.

What are the Pistons doing? Also, we’re seeing the death of G-League Ignite

The Detroit Pistons took Ron Holland with the fifth overall pick from G-League Ignite.

You have to somewhat feel for the Pistons. Two years in a row, they have been in position for the first overall pick and fell all the way to fifth in the lottery.

Still, that doesn’t make what they did not baffling. Holland is a major swing for the fences pick and is a guy who did not show any signs of being NBA-ready in the G-League.

The fit doesn’t make sense either. The Pistons need to surround poor shooters in Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey with shooters, and Holland is simply not a shooter. If you really wanted Holland, he likely would have still been available if you traded back. Or, Donovan Clingan was still there.

The Pistons are 31-133 over the past two seasons. Oh yeah, and they still don’t have a coach. Even worse, it came out on Friday that James Borrego reportedly took his name out of the running for the job. Not many options out there for Detroit now. It’s probably going to be another long year.

As a side note here: we’re seeing why the G-League Ignite is shutting down. Membership is seeming to hurt players more than help. Matas Buzelis fell to 11th before he was picked by his hometown Chicago Bulls, while Tyler Smith ended up slipping to the second round.

Once a premier destination for top prospects and then produced players not ready for the league, the NBA began to no longer fund the program, and it died an ugly death.

Some other quick hits:

• Jared McCain in Philadelphia feels like a very, very good fit. He feels like a player who is ready to compete in the NBA, and should quickly.
• I don’t love the fit for Donovan Clingan in Portland. With DeAndre Ayton and Robert Williams already there, Clingan will likely get pushed down the depth chart. Unless they trade one of the two, or both.
• Devin Carter, one of my favorite players in the draft, goes to Sacramento. Solid fit there.
• Utah gets decent value after Kyle Filipowski fell to the second round. It seemed to be for some, uh, reasons other than basketball. It’s some wild rumors that you can Google.
• The Knicks got great value in the second round with Tyler Kolek. He is likely to be a solid bit player in New York.
• Let’s go back to a one day format next year. Doing this over two days stunk.

By Aidan Joly

It’s now been a few weeks since UConn coach Dan Hurley turned down a lucrative offer to leave Storrs for the glitz and glamor of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Plenty of top college basketball coaches have been lured to the NBA over the years. The most recent was John Beilein, who left Michigan for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2019. Beilein didn’t even last a full season before he stepped down, proving how tough it is.

Billy Donovan took Florida to back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007 and then left for the NBA in 2015, but has only advanced past the first round of the playoffs once in nine seasons. Fred Hoiberg had a failed stint with the Chicago Bulls after leaving Iowa State.

Some have had success though, most notably Brad Stevens, who left Butler to coach the Boston Celtics in 2013, and finally got his elusive title earlier this week after a successful stint as coach got him promoted to president of basketball operations.

Despite the mixed track record, NBA executives will surely look at successful college coaches in years to come. Who is most likely to make that jump?

Dan Hurley, UConn

Hurley is the reason this list even exists and despite him turning down the Lakers, he remains at the top of the list.

It’s tough to see him remaining in college basketball for the rest of his career. He has stated his desire to coach in the NBA several times in recent years. In this situation, it felt like he was picking his current situation at UConn over the situation the Lakers were in, not necessarily college basketball over the NBA.

Hypothetically, the next NBA franchise to pursue him, maybe in as little as year from now, could make more sense geographically, be in a better situation, and provide more money.

The pull to the NBA could be stronger next time around.

Micah Shrewsberry, Notre Dame

Shrewsberry has one of the best reputations as an Xs and Os coach in the country. It’s clear he has NBA coach potential.

Sure, he sports a 50-51 record in three years as a college basketball coach, but that should be looked past. To start, he has NBA pedigree, working as an assistant under Brad Stevens in Boston from 2013 to 2019 and was part of five playoff appearances in that time.

He devised an NBA-level system for Penn State in 2022-23, a system that got the Nittany Lions to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011. In his first year at Notre Dame, he took a team that won 11 games in 2022-23, the 2023-24 team started out slow, but was playing its basketball at the end of the season. Notre Dame is well-positioned to fight for a tournament bid in 2025.

Once he gets Notre Dame to the dance, the calls are sure to start coming.

Kevin Young, BYU

Young has yet to coach a single game in college basketball, but he is already on this list for obvious reasons.

He came to BYU from being an assistant for the Phoenix Suns and was regarded as one of the top assistants in the league and a future head coach. Young almost got the Brooklyn Nets job before the job ended up going to Jordi Fernandez in this current cycle. He has nearly a decade of NBA experience on his resume as an assistant coach and has also served as the head coach of three different G-League franchises.

Young has impressed on the recruiting trail since getting the BYU gig, and it is surely possible the NBA teams will start calling again in short order, given that Young wins games with the Cougars.

Nate Oats, Alabama

Oats has never coached at the NBA level, but he could certainly be a candidate to move up to the pros.

He has built Alabama into one of the most elite offenses in college basketball year in and year out with his system that is similar to a pro-style, emphasizing points in and paint and three pointers, with not much middle ground.

It has worked wonders, climaxing with Alabama getting to the Final Four for the first time in program history this past season.

Oats also has a good track record of player development, with two first-round picks in the 2023 draft in Brandon Miller (No. 2 overall) and Noah Clowney (No. 23 overall). His hefty buyout does make things preventative – $18 million if he leaves in the next two teams according to CBS Sports – but it wouldn’t be surprising if NBA teams begin noticing Oats.

Eric Musselman, USC

The only coach on this list with actual NBA head coaching experience. Prior to moving down to college basketball in 2012, Musselman had a two-year stint as head coach of the Golden State Warriors from 2002 to 2004 and then one year with the Sacramento Kings in 2006-07.

Musselman has had successful head coaching stops at Nevada and Arkansas, USC is now his third head coaching gig since 2019 and his fifth school since 2014, making him something of a nomad in the coaching ranks. He is brash and outspoken, which has worn on some that he’s worked with.

Some of Musselman’s best teams over the years have run NBA-like offenses that are up-tempo and have NBA-level space and he does a good job at utilizing his talent to fit a system.

The jury is still probably still out on him being an NBA coach (he’s 108-138 in the NBA). But if he can flip USC from a middling Pac-12 team to a contender in the Big Ten, it’s certainly possible that he could make the move back to the NBA.

By Aidan Joly

Sometimes, the best additions are the ones you already have.

That sentiment can certainly be said for what happened Monday as the state of Connecticut breaths a sign of relief. Just before 1:45 p.m., the news broke that Dan Hurley had turned down a reported six-year, $70 million offer from the Los Angeles Lakers in order to return to UConn and go for a third straight national title.

It ends a story that dominated the sports discourse since Thursday morning and through the rest of the weekend. A classic will-he-stay-or-will-he-go decision as the two-time reigning national champion mulled over what would have been a seismic shift in the college basketball landscape.

It speaks to how loyal Hurley is. He’s from Jersey City, is a northeast guy, and like I said in a previous column on Thursday, he is a guy who understands the UConn program and what it takes to win there, and winning he has done. A 141-58 record in six years in Storrs, of course, the two national titles, a Big East championship, and a Naismith coach of the year award earlier this year. It’s a heck of a win for UConn as he also turned down Kentucky earlier in the off-season.

It’s a win for college basketball as it keeps one of the faces of the sport, after losing so many the past few years from the retirements of Mike Krzyzewski, Roy Williams, Jay Wright and Jim Boeheim. Hurley is already a hall of famer, but will have an opportunity to become one of the sport’s immortals, if he wants that.

The Hurley family is known to be very close. The family surely played a role in the decision, including his wife Andrea and his father Bob. He’s also very loyal to what he has built at UConn the past few years.

That doesn’t mean he will never leave UConn. Heck, we might be doing this whole show again a year from now if another big NBA job opens up. Hurley has been open about his desire to coach in the NBA one day. Maybe that job will be the New York Knicks when that job eventually opens. I tend to think that if this whole situation was the same, but if it was the Knicks, there is a very good chance Hurley would have taken the gig. At 51 years old, he still has plenty of coaching left in him.

He didn’t even stay in Southern California for long. He met with the Lakers brass on Friday and was back in the area by Saturday night, evidenced by a cryptic Instagram story post from UConn assistant Luke Murray of himself and the Hurleys at a Billy Joel concert at Madison Square Garden. Hurley was wearing a “New York New York” shirt and throwing up a peace sign, looking relaxed and maybe even signifying that he was leaning staying by that point. That’s super reading into it, but it’s certainly possible. At the time we thought it was an eight-year, $100 million deal that was offered. We later learned it wasn’t that.

Speaking of the Lakers, where do they go from here? Getting turned down by Hurley at a significantly lower number than what was initially reported is a bad look. Even if he took the $70 million, it would not have made him even a top five highest paid coach in the league and not even the highest paid coach in Los Angeles (Clippers coach Ty Lue makes around $14 million per year). If you are a premier franchise and you have your guy, who didn’t want to leave in the first place, you have to blow him away to convince him. The Lakers didn’t do that and now they will pay for it.

It makes Los Angeles one of two teams in the NBA (Cleveland) without a head coach with less than three weeks until the NBA draft. Former veteran shooting guard and current ESPN analyst JJ Redick was long rumored to be the top candidate, but now one can wonder if Jeanie Buss and Rob Pelinka will circle back to him, and even if Redick would want the job after all of this. New Orleans Pelicans assistant and former Charlotte Hornets head coach James Borrego is still out there, as is longtime NBA assistant Sam Cassell, currently with the Boston Celtics. If it’s not one of those three, it’s a total disaster of a head coach search.

Now, he will have a chance to do something that hasn’t been done since John Wooden, and that is win three straight NCAA championships. He’s the only one who can truly say whether or not he made the right decision.

Winning three straight championships is an extremely hard task, but UConn will head into the season with the best coach in the country and a top-five roster in the country. It will be fascinating to see what UConn will do this year, and on a broader brush stroke, what the rest of Hurley’s coaching years will look like.

By Aidan Joly

Two months ago Saturday, UConn and Dan Hurley were at the top of the college basketball world again, winning a second straight national title, the sixth for the program since 1999 and becoming the first college basketball program in nearly two decades to go back-to-back.

UConn had the most national titles of any program in the past 25 years. With Hurley – a throwback college basketball coach, brash, bold and a showman – at the helm, it seemed like the program based in Storrs, Connecticut was in heaven.

That curtain was pulled back as we all woke up on Thursday morning, with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reporting that Hurley was in talks with the Los Angeles Lakers about becoming the franchise’s next head coach.

It is very, very important that note that nothing is done. According to Fox Sports’ John Fanta, Hurley did meet with the team Thursday morning to inform them that he was in fact in talks with the Lakers, but that nothing was done and it was business as usual.

It doesn’t always come to fruition with these things. In 2010, Tom Izzo was offered the chance to coach LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, but turned it down. The Lakers talked to both then-UConn coach Kevin Ollie and then-Kentucky coach John Calipari about the job in 2014 after they faced each other in the national title game, but neither got the gig. Billy Donovan even agreed to become the coach of the Orlando Magic in 2007 after winning back-to-back national titles at Florida, but changed his mind in the 11th hour and returned to Gainesville (of course, Donovan did end up leaving Florida to coach the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2015 and is now closing in on 400 NBA wins).

College basketball is about the coaches. It always has been. Hurley is without question the best coach in the sport right now, and might be the best basketball coach at any level right now. He can stay and keep winning national titles. Jim Calhoun, the brash, defiant, intimidating man from South Boston, won three national titles there. Dan Hurley, the brash, defiant, intimidating man from Jersey City, has won two. Kevin Ollie had one, too, but didn’t do much outside of that. UConn is a “fit” job that needs someone who understands New England and what the program is about. Calhoun understood that, and Hurley understands that.

On the flip side of this: the Los Angeles Lakers is the number one brand in all of basketball and a top five brand in all of sports. When you talk about the biggest sports brands in North American sports the Lakers are right in that conversation, with the likes of the Dallas Cowboys, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Celtics. Brad Stevens left Butler for the Celtics in 2013 after taking the Bulldogs to back-to-back national title games in 2010 and 2011. He’s now the president of basketball operations for the Celtics after a promotion in 2021. If the Lakers are courting you and are willing to give you a dump truck full of money, you at least listen.

UConn does have real challenges. State funding is a mess. Both of their venues – Gampel Pavilion in Storrs and XL Center in Hartford – are in desperate need of upgrades. The school is currently attempting to secure $100 million in state funding to upgrade the Storrs venue. The Big East has already been somewhat boxed out by football leagues in terms of revenue. UConn does have a football program, but it barely produces any revenue as an independent that hasn’t done much winning in the past two-plus decades. What it does mean, though, is that a larger percentage of revenue for Big East schools goes to basketball. There’s a silver lining there.

Plenty of great college basketball coaches have flamed out in the NBA. After winning more than 750 games in college, John Beilein didn’t even make it a full season with the Cavaliers in 2019-20. John Calipari went 72-112 in two-plus seasons with the New Jersey Nets. Rick Pitino had a successful season with the New York Knicks in the late 80s, but that was the only year he went above .500 in five full NBA seasons, resigning in Boston midway through a sixth year. People forget that Leonard Hamilton went a forgettable 19-63 in one year with the Washington Wizards in 2000-01. Lon Kruger only lasted two-plus seasons with the Atlanta Hawks in the early 2000s. Fred Hoiberg went 115-155 in three-plus seasons with the Chicago Bulls between college jobs.

Hurley’s personality might make it tough too, as venerable NBA players might not want to put up with it. He’d be coaching the most venerable NBA player of all in LeBron James, potentially his son Bronny, as well as Anthony Davis. Worst case, yes, he gets fired in a few years and takes the best college job available to come back to the ranks, but maybe he has success.

What it means for UConn: the school did give Hurley a major contract extension after the first title in 2022. If it does in fact end up needing a new head coach, the best way for continuity it to give it to either Luke Murray or Kimani Young, both very capable assistant coaches.

Dan Hurley is not someone who you just replace. But it would be foolish to ignore the history of the program and think a collapse is coming. It’s not going anywhere.

By Aidan Joly

The 2024 NBA Draft deadline has come and gone, and many players took it right down the wire.

With several huge NIL packages handed out, many of the big names that were on the fence elected to return to college basketball, giving teams clarity on what their rosters will look like for the 2024-25 season.

That being said, here are some of the biggest winners and losers from Wednesday’s deadline.

Winners

Alabama

The Crimson Tide were perhaps the biggest winner from this week. Alabama will bring back Mark Sears, who was perhaps the biggest 5o-50 name. He averaged 21.5 points per game on an Alabama team that went to the Final Four in 2023-24.

This propels Alabama into being a prime contender for the preseason No. 1 slot with an absolutely loaded 1-13 roster. That roster includes rising sophomore Jarin Stevenson, who is also back for another year after a solid freshman season after testing the NBA waters. He will be one of the most notable breakout candidates for 2024-25.

Arizona

Tommy Lloyd and the Wildcats have had some good pickups in the portal this off-season, but the biggest name dropped as Caleb Love elected to come back to Tucson for his final season of college basketball.

It’s a massive addition to a roster that’s already pretty good. He averaged 18 points per game and was an AP All-American. His shot selection is indeed flawed at times, but there’s no doubting that he is one of the best guards in the country. He’s done just about everything there is to do in college basketball – except win a national title, which Arizona has not done since 1997.

UConn

The two-time defending national champions got an essential piece back in the program’s quest for a threepeat, with Alex Karaban announcing he will return to Storrs.

He will be the only Husky starter from 2023-24 to return, making his return pivotal. It gives UConn a proven star heading int0 2024-25, a guy who would have likely heard his name called if he stayed in the draft. Instead, he’ll come back to keep winning and try to improve his draft stock.

Wake Forest

Wake Forest got its biggest name back, with Hunter Sallis announcing he will return to Winston-Salem after averaging 18 points per game for a team that was a late-season collapse away from making the NCAA tournament. He did this after playing two seasons at Gonzaga.

Wake did pretty well in the portal too and looks solid for 2024-25, but having Sallis back is the key as the Demon Deacons try to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2017. Much less, it would be the first tournament appearance under Steve Forbes.

Iowa

Payton Sandfort will return to Iowa City after taking his decision down to the last few hours before the deadline.

Sandfort was second in the Big Ten in scoring with 16.4 points per game and shot 37.9% from three, one of the better sharpshooters in the country. His return will give Iowa a boost it really needs to try to do well in the Big Ten. He will have plenty of talent around him, too.

Texas Tech

The Red Raiders didn’t have any players that were 50-50 to stay, but they were able to grab JT Toppin out of the portal right after he withdrew from the draft.

Toppin had a fantastic freshman season at New Mexico, averaging 12.4 points and 9.1 rebounds per game on his way to winning Mountain West Rookie of the Year. It’s a big win for Grant McCasland after he won 23 games and reached the NCAA tournament in his first year at the helm. Toppin should have a significant role at Texas Tech, while likely also helping his future draft position.

Kentucky

Kentucky was in a similar spot of Texas Tech, with no big names really on the fence, but the Wildcats were able to grab Jaxson Robinson after he withdrew from the draft after a very good season at BYU.

Robinson, who averaged 14.2 points per game in 2023-24, was seen as one of the biggest 50-50 names still on the board in the final days and hours before the deadline. It gives Kentucky a roster that will get top 25 consideration in Mark Pope’s first season at the helm. Robinson was one of those high-level players Pope needed.

Losers

Memphis

Memphis’ chances of getting back to the NCAA tournament took a hit as star wing David Jones elected to stay in the draft after averaging 21.8 points per game for the Tigers in 2023-24.

It will be interesting to see where Jones lands in the draft as not a lot of mocks are high on him, and by all accounts he did not do as well at the combine. Memphis and Penny Hardaway have had a decent off-season in the portal but seemed to be hopeful that Jones would come back. Replacing his production this late in the portal cycle will be difficult.

Kansas

Kansas still has a very good roster, that should not be doubted, and it always seemed like it was unlikely that he would stay, but the Jayhawks were one of the few teams to not retain their 50-50 guy as Johnny Furphy elected to stay in the draft.

Furphy had quite the rise, from a little-known prospect a year ago to a solid season at Kansas, averaging 9.0 points per game and getting better as the season went on. His stock is anywhere from mid-late first round to early second round, so it will be interesting to see where he ends up going.

Kansas is still in a solid position, using the transfer portal to bring in Zeke Mayo, Rylem Griffin and AJ Storr, on top of DaJuan Harris and Hunter Dickinson sticking around. It’s a loss, but far from the end of the world.

Illinois

Coleman Hawkins did withdraw from the draft and will be back in college basketball in 2024-25, but it will not be with the Illini as he decided to stay in the transfer portal, too.

Hawkins has not committed anywhere yet, but he is one of the top targets still available. He is a veteran who can play multiple positions, and played a key role on an Illinois team that reached the Elite Eight.

As for Illinois, it will be nearly an entirely new roster, highlighted by portal adds Tre White (Louisville), Kylan Boswell (Arizona) and Ben Humrichous (Evansville). Four-star prospect Morez Johnson and Lithuanian Kasparas Jakucionis will likely play sizable roles as freshmen.

Dayton

DaRon Holmes, the 2024 Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and a three-time all-league selection, made the right decision to stay in the draft. He will join Obi Toppin as the second Dayton Flyer to be a first round pick in recent years.

Dayton did land two solid portal adds in Posh Alexander (Butler) and Zed Key (Ohio State) so the Flyers will remain competitive in 2024-25. However, neither of those guys will replaces Holmes’ production.

By Aidan Joly

As of Monday night, just over 48 hours remain until Wednesday night’s 11:59 p.m. deadline for potential NBA prospects to decide if they will stay in college or return to the pros.

Two key names dropped on Monday, with the news that Arkansas transfer Trevon Brazile and Florida’s Walter Clayton both will forego turning pro and will return to the college ranks for another season.

That being said, many big names still loom. Here are 14 of the most critical, listed in no particular order.

Johnny Furphy

Furphy has risen from low- to mid-major prospect to a potential one-and-done in the span of a year, a very impressive feat. He averaged 9.0 points per game for Kansas as a freshman while earning 19 starts and turned into one of the better wings in the country in the latter parts of the season. He is projected to go in the late first round, so it would be hard for him to turn down that money. Kansas still does have a scholarship open for him, but it is tough to see him returning to Lawrence.

Caleb Love

Love is the reigning (and final for now) Pac-12 player of the year after averaging 18.0 points per game for Arizona in 2023-24. He would likely be a preseason All-American if he does decide to come back to Arizona and would get a great NIL deal. On the flip side of that, he has done just about everything there is to do in college basketball and would likely end up getting picked should be opt to go pro. It’s an interesting call.

Mark Sears

If Sears does come back to Alabama for another season, it is fair to make an argument that the Crimson Tide could be the preseason No. 1 in the AP poll. He averaged 21.5 points per game and shot 43.6% from behind the three-point line. He missed most of the combine with an injury and is not on a ton of draft boards but could end up going in the second round. This is one that could really go either way in the next 48 hours.

Jaylen Wells

Wells was very solid in his first season of Division I basketball at Washington State, averaging 12.6 points per game and making 41.7% of his three-pointers. He also played well as an on-ball defender and has improved every season, something that he would be sure to do as a pro. He is currently projected as a second round pick. It would not be shocking to see him come back to school for another year to try to improve his draft stock.

JT Toppin

Toppin’s candidacy to be a draft pick is certainly interesting. He was the Mountain West freshman of the year out of New Mexico after averaging 12.4 points and 9.1 rebounds per game but did so inefficiently at times, including only shooting 34.4% from three and only going 56.5% from the free throw line. He did do well in the combine, but it is clear that his game needs some fine-tuning to it. Perhaps a return to college ball would be wise.

Hunter Sallis

After two average seasons at Gonzaga, Sallis burst onto the scene with Wake Forest in 2023-24, averaging 18.0 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He also shot 40.5% from three. In doing all of this, he nearly willed Wake Forest to the NCAA tournament on his own, and a return to Winston-Salem feels like Wake’s best chance of making the tournament in 2025. He is currently projected as a late first or early second round pick. It feels very 50-50 whether he will stay in the draft or come back to Wake.

Alex Karaban

Karaban is now a tw0-time national champion at UConn in two seasons of college basketball. He took on a larger role in 2023-24, averaging 13.3 points and grabbing 5.1 rebounds per contest. He’s also one of the smarter players you’ll see in the college ranks, too. He is currently projected as a second round pick, and it does feel like it might be in his best interest to come back and try to improve on his draft stock to move up to the first round in a year.

Coleman Hawkins

This feels like one of the better bets as a guy who will stay in the draft, but you never know. Hawkins averaged 12.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game at Illinois in 2023-24. The 6-foot-10 forward is a very physical player, but one of those types who also has a good offensive game. He is someone who could command major NIL dollars if he comes back to college, and compared to what a second round pick would make, that could very well be the difference.

Jaxson Robinson

Robinson is a solid 6-foot-7 winger who averaged 14.2 points per game at BYU this past season. A few mocks here and there have him pegged as a second round pick. It would likely make much more sense for him to stay in college, though, as he could get a very good NIL package if he ends up following Mark Pope to Kentucky and plays there in 2024-25. He has been linked to the Wildcats, for obvious reasons.

Jamir Watkins

Watkins had a fantastic season at Florida State after transferring in from VCU, averaging 15.6 points and 6.0 rebounds per game for the Seminoles in 2023-24. He initially declared for the draft early but later entered the transfer portal, making it seem more likely that he will return to college basketball for another season, especially so that he has fallen down some boards in recent weeks. He is someone who will be in high demand should he return.

Jarin Stevenson

Stevenson had a solid freshman year at Alabama to get his collegiate career started, averaging 5.3 points per game while earning five starts along the way. However, this seems as much more of a “test the waters and get evaluated” type of deal for him, as he has an outside chance of being a second round pick and getting a call does not seem overly likely. Assuming he does return to college, he will be a major breakout candidate.

Payton Sandfort

By many accounts Sandfort struggled at the combine, but has a very good sample size to show for at Iowa. He averaged 16.4 points per game for the Hawkeyes and shot 37.9% from three in over seven attempts per game. Right now, signs seem to point to a return to Iowa, where he will likely end up being a big part of the Hawkeyes’ plans in 2024-25.

Arthur Kaluma

Kaluma had a solid season at Kansas State after transferring in from Creighton, averaging 14.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. He is definitely a player who it makes sense for him to return to college basketball and try to move up draft boards, since many of them are not super high on him. He should be able to make some decent NIL money.

Cam Christie

Christie had a great freshman season at Minnesota, averaging 11.3 points per game while shooting 39.1% from three. Right now, he probably ranks as something of an underrated prospect who right now is projected in the second round. He stands at 6-foot-6 and has made a quick ascent in the past year, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him officially turn pro. It does feel like one that could go either way.

By Aidan Joly

More of the latest transfer portal adds are in the books, highlighted by Great Osobor heading to Washington, Mississippi State adding someone who originally committed to Kansas, and Kansas State adding a mid-major star. Let’s get into it.

Great Osobor: Old school: Utah State | New school: Washington

Osobor was in the portal for a while, but ends up following coach Danny Sprinkle from Utah State to Washington. Osobor averaged 17.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game for the Aggies last season on his way to being an honorable mention All-American. He also gets a landmark $2 million NIL deal, believed to be the highest in college basketball. Osobor, who began his career at Montana State, will be a big part of Washington’s plans.

Riley Kugel: Old school: Florida | New school: Mississippi State

Kugel, who originally committed to Kansas earlier in the off-season before heading back into the portal, averaged 9.2 points per game across 33 games (11 starts) for Florida last season. He had 20+ points five times too. He shows legitimate potential as a pro, but has yet to put it together consistently. Mississippi State coach Chris Jans has quietly put together a good roster ahead of year three in Starkville.

Achor Achor: Old school: Samford | New school: Kansas State

Achor had a very successful junior season at Samford, averaging 16.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game on his way to first team all-Southern Conference honors. He also had 23 points and eight rebounds in the NCAA tournament when Samford came a blown call away from pulling off an upset of Kansas. It’ll be interesting to see how he does outside of Samford’s very unique offensive system, but either way he should be a big part of Jerome Tang’s frontcourt.

Igor Milicic, Jr.: Old school: Charlotte | New school: Tennessee

Milicic earned all-AAC honors after a very good season at Charlotte, where he averaged 12.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. A 6-foot-10 forward who can play multiple positions, he should be in play to have a solid role for Tennessee. He began his career at Virginia.

Tyler Bilodeau: Old school: Oregon State | New school: UCLA

Bilodeau had a surprise breaking sophomore campaign for Oregon State, averaging 14.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game for the Beavers and started all 32 games. He hit 34.5% from behind the three-point arc and made over 60% from inside the arc. He is a natural scorer who should succeed at UCLA with Mick Cronin.

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

Stojakovic, the son of former NBA veteran Peja Stojakovic, heads from one side of the rivalry to the other after a very good freshman season at Stanford where he averaged 7.8 points per game across 32 games and earned 10 starting nods. He was a McDonald’s All-American one year ago. He should be a big part of Mark Madsen’s second season at Cal.

Zhuric Phelps: Old school: SMU | New school: Texas A&M

Phelps was SMU’s leading scorer in 2023-24 with 14.8 points per game and was second team all-AAC. The 6-foot-2 guard did leave some things to be desired though, most notably three-point shooting after he made just 21.6% from behind the arc. He topped out at 3o.9% as a sophomore in 2022-23, when he averaged 17.5 points per game. It will be interesting to see if he can up those numbers in the SEC.

Brandon Johnson: Old school: East Carolina | New school: Miami

Johnson committed to Miami about a month and a half ago. He had a very good season for East Carolina in 2023-24, averaging 14.0 points and 8.6 rebounds per game and made 36.5% of his threes. With Miami needing to replace much of its roster for 2024-25, Johnson is a big step in the right direction.

RJ Godfrey: Old school: Clemson | New school: Georgia

Godfrey has been a role player at Clemson in each of the past two seasons, and averaged 6.1 points per game in just over 15 minutes per night for the Tigers. He did made 59.4% of his field goal attempts, though. He also had 12 points in 15 minutes in Clemson’s Elite Eight game against Alabama. With two seasons of eligibility, he should be a solid depth piece for Georgia.

Sam Walters: Old school: Alabama | New school: Michigan

Walters, a former top-100 prospect, had a decent freshman season at Alabama. He averaged 5.4 points per game in just over 12 minutes per game and appeared in all 37 of the Crimson Tide’s games. Most notably, he made 39.4% of his threes. He scored in double digits seven times. Dusty May will hope to continue his development as a good college basketball player in Ann Arbor.

TJ Power: Old school: Duke | New school: Virginia

Power was a five-star prospect one year ago but saw limited action at Duke as he fell down the depth chart due to a logjam in the frontcourt. He still saw action in 26 games to the tune of 2.1 points per game, but showed flashes of potential as a shooter, making 35.7% from three. He will have a chance to have a solid role for Virginia.

Lynn Kidd: Old school: Virginia Tech | New school: Miami

Kidd had his long-anticipated breakout season after never getting big minutes in his previous three seasons of college basketball, averaging 13.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 66.8% from the field. He did this in only 23.3 minutes per game, too. A 6-foot-10 center, he has proven himself against ACC competition and maybe gets penciled in as Miami’s starting center. He began his college career at Clemson.

Rytis Petraitis: Old school: Air Force | New school: Cal

Not even the service academies are safe from the transfer portal. Petraitis is an up-and-coming player on the west coast who averaged 15.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game as a sophomore for Air Force in 2023-24, while hitting 34.9% of his threes, although it wasn’t at a high volume. He is another player who should be able to carve himself out a role for Madsen’s team. He scored 27 points in the regular season finale against Colorado State and 26 against New Mexico in Air Force’s lone conference tournament game.

Kevin Miller: Old school: Wake Forest | New school: SMU

Miller had a terrific lone season at Wake Forest after transferring in from Central Michigan one year ago, becoming the Demon Deacons’ second-leading scorer at 15.8 points per game and was 36.9% from behind the three-point line. As SMU heads to the ACC for this year, Miller is sure to have a big role in what is also Andy Enfield’s first season at the helm.

Layden Blocker: Old school: Arkansas | New school: DePaul

Blocker is a former top-60 prospect who appeared in 27 games (five starts) for the Razorbacks as a freshman to the tune of 3.7 points per game. He only had 13.3 minutes per game in those appearances, and topped out with a 14-point performance against Florida on Jan. 13. He is part of a major roster overhaul at DePaul with new coach Chris Holtmann.

Jevon Porter: Old school: Pepperdine | New school: Loyola Marymount

Porter, a former top-100 prospect, became one of the better players in the WCC in 2023-24, averaging 16.2 points and 5.9 per game across 21 games (18 starts). He is the brother of Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. Porter was arrested for suspicion of DWI earlier this month.

Keyshawn Hall: Old school: George Mason | New school: UCF

Hall had a breakout season for George Mason as a sophomore under new coach Tony Skinn, averaging 16.6 points and 8.1 rebounds per game on his way to all-Atlantic 10 honors. He made 35.7% of his threes and shot 47.4% from the field overall. He also had five 20-10 games. He began his career at UNLV. He should have a sizable role as he moves up from the Atlantic 10 to the Big 12.

Eric Dailey Jr.: Old school: Oklahoma State | New school: UCLA

A top prospect one year ago, Dailey had a solid freshman season, averaging 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in 22.3 minutes per game across 32 appearances (16 starts) for Oklahoma State in 2023-24. He is a versatile 6-foot-8 listed forward but has the ability to play just about any position on the floor, which will allow him to see good minutes for UCLA.

Jason Edwards: Old school: North Texas | New school: Vanderbilt

Edwards was a star in his lone season at North Texas after being a JUCO all-American, averaging 19.1 points per game for the Mean Green while shooting 35% from three on his way to first team all-AAC honors. He was the leading scorer at North Texas. He should have a large role at Vanderbilt with first-year head coach Mark Byington.

Duke Miles: Old school: High Point | New school: Oklahoma

Miles was a huge part of a High Point team that won the Big South regular season championship and went 27-9 overall, averaging 17.5 points and 3.6 assists per game and shot 36.1% from three. For this, he was named first team all-Big South. A 6-foot-2 combo guard, he should be able to have a solid role for the Sooners in 2024-25.

By Aidan Joly

What *should* end up being the second to last hire of the college basketball coaching carousel (UMES is still open for some reason) is easily the most puzzling, and also the most polarizing.

On Tuesday, Green Bay, in the Horizon League, turned heads across the sports world by hiring Fox Sports Radio personality Doug Gottlieb as the program’s next head coach.

Even more bizarre, it was quickly clarified that Gottlieb will continue his daily two-hour radio show, where he mostly discusses the NBA, along with some college basketball. He’s been a polarizing figure in the sports media world and has had some outrageous takes that have gotten him both good and bad attention on social media.

Simply put, this is something we have truly never seen before. Gottlieb played college basketball at Notre Dame (where he was dismissed for stealing a teammate’s credit card) and Oklahoma State from 1995-2000. However, he has been in the media for two decades and his only coaching experience is in the Maccabiah Games twice in 2009 and 2017. He has never been on a Division I bench as a coach.

Gottlieb has interviewed for coaching jobs here and there over the years. That includes at Green Bay one year ago when the school hired Sundance Wicks, who went 18-14 in his lone season with the Phoenix before leaving last week to take the job at Wyoming, after now-former Wyoming coach Jeff Linder left to take an assistant coach job at Texas Tech with Grant McCasland.

Sports media is not what it used to be. Coaching is not what it used to be. The lines between the two used to be very strict, but the lines have been blurred a little bit between media and coaching, we have seen several times in recent years coaches being more involved with media, including sitting coaches routinely being analysts during the NCAA tournament.

But, the bigger issue here is this: running a Division I basketball program is a major, major undertaking. It’s a 24-hour a day, 7-day a week job. Burnout has become more and more of a discussion among coaches in the past few years, especially so when it comes to an expanded recruiting calendar, the transfer portal, and managing NIL. It’s a much more time-consuming job that it was even three or four years ago.

It is tough to see him managing the two things simultaneously. The radio show is also a full-time job that requires him to pay attention to other sports that are going on, at the same time he is in-season. It’s surprising that even one of Fox or Green Bay gave this the green light, much less both of them. If he dropped the show for the coaching job, it would be a little easier to understand. But doing both is another story.

Still though, this is the most attention that Green Bay has gotten in as long as one can remember. The program has only been to the tournament one time in this century, and will certainly have many more eyes on it once the season gets going.

There’s absolutely no doubt that this is a fascinating move. It’ll be a storyline to watch, whether he is able to balance both and succeed, or if it ends up not going so well. For right now though, it’s very easy to be skeptical.

By Aidan Joly

The list of players to talk about coming onto new teams for the 2024-25 season seems endless.

Here’s another 20 players, highlighted by St. John’s making another major addition and Miami grabbing one of the best mid-major players on the market.

Kadary Richmond: Old school: Seton Hall | New school: St. John’s

The second big guard pickup for Rick Pitino and St. John’s, Richmond was probably the best player available up until a few days ago. He will stay in the same league and the same metro area, heading to New York City from Seton Hall. He fueled Seton Hall’s run to the NIT title, and he was the team’s leading scorer at 15.7 points per game this year. He teams up with Deivon Smith in what could end up being the best backcourt in the Big East.

BJ Freeman: Old school: Milwaukee | New school: Arizona State

Freeman led Milwaukee in scoring each of the past two years, averaging 18.2 points per contest in 2022-23 and then upping it to 21.2 PPG in 2023-24. In this past season, he also led Milwaukee in rebounds with 6.6 per game, assists at 4.1 per game, and steals at 1.1 per game. Those numbers will likely dip, but he will be an important player as ASU makes the move to the Big 12.

Jalen Blackmon: Old school: Stetson | New school: Miami

Blackmon put the college basketball world on notice with a 43-point performance in the ASUN title game, lifting Stetson to the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history. He averaged 21.3 points per game for the Hatters this season and made 38.3% of his threes. He is also a career 90.6% free throw shooter. He should be a big difference maker for Miami, which has to replace both Wooga Poplar and Norchad Omier.

Otega Oweh: Old school: Oklahoma | New school: Kentucky

It was a tale of two parts of the season for Oweh. After scoring in the double digits of 16 of Oklahoma’s first 20 games of the season, he only scored in the double digits twice the rest of the way. Still, he was able to finish with an average of 11.4 per game and a 49.3% shooting percentage. His offensive game is a work in progress, but he is sure to be a good defensive stalwart. He will have two years of eligibility for Mark Pope.

TJ Bamba: Old school: Villanova | New school: Oregon

Bamba started all 33 of Villanova’s games to the tune of 10.1 points per game and shooting 36.9% from three. However, that was after he led Washington State in scoring in 2022-23 at 15.8 points per game. With four seasons and 119 collegiate games to his name, he will be a veteran presence for the Ducks.

Malik Dia: Old school: Belmont | New school: Ole Miss

Dia, who was a little-used freshman on Vanderbilt in 2022-23, came into his own at Belmont, averaging 16.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game for the Bruins in 2023-24. Standing at 6-foot-9, he will likely be something of a project for Chris Beard with two seasons of eligibility. The upside is still very much there for Dia.

Amari Williams: Old school: Drexel | New school: Kentucky

Williams is a three-time CAA Defensive Player of the Year, defending the title again in 2023-24. The 6-foot-10 forward is one of the best rim protectors in college basketball, averaging 2.0, 2.2, and 1.8 blocks per game over the past three seasons. He grabbed 7.8 rebounds per game in 2023-24 for the Dragons, who won 20 games. He also averaged 12.2 points per game along the way. He should be a big presence in the middle for the Wildcats.

Felix Okpara: Old school: Ohio State | New school: Tennessee

Another very good defensive player. Okpara, who stands at 6-foot-11, averaged 2.4 blocks per game for the Buckeyes in 2023-24, doing it in just 23.5 minutes per game, too. He started 34 of 35 games for Ohio State as a sophomore. He did only average 6.6 points per game, but did it while making over 60% of his attempts from two-point range. He should see big minutes as the Vols replace Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka.

Lamont Butler: Old school: San Diego State | New school: Kentucky

Butler, who etched his name into college basketball lore with a buzzer beater that sent San Diego State to the national championship game in 2023, is all about defense. He won the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year in 2024. His offense is what it is, having averaged 9.3 points per game and only made 30.2% from three in 2023-24. He should be good on both sides of the ball for Kentucky.

Frankie Fidler: Old school: Omaha | New school: Michigan State

Fidler finished second in the Summit League in scoring in 2023-24 at 20.1 points per game as a junior. He made 35.6% of his three-point attempts, and also grabbed 6.3 rebounds per contest. He did well in a game against TCU last November, scoring 20 points in 33 minutes, which could be something of an indicator of what may be to come. The Summit League has produced many good high-major players, and maybe Fidler will add himself to that list.

J’Vonne Hadley: Old school: Colorado | New school: Louisville

Hadley was a do-it-all guard for Colorado in 2023-24, averaging 11.6 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists for a Buffaloes team that won 26 games and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament. In a small sample size (1.3 attempts per game), he went 41.7% from three, but made 56.5% of his shots from two-point range. He should have a significant role in Pat Kelsey’s first Louisville team.

Mason Gillis: Old school: Purdue | New school: Duke

Gillis appeared in 132 games across four seasons for Purdue as a reliable forward who both started (63 starts) and came off the bench. He averaged 6.3 points per game across those four years, and shot 40.7% from three. He won’t be a key contributor each night, but he will be a necessary veteran voice on a Duke team that will rely heavily on freshmen in 2024-25.

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

Donaldson showed flashes as a sophomore at Auburn in 2023-24, averaging 6.7 points and 3.2 assists per game while shooting 41.2% from three in just 19.3 minutes per game. The 6-foot-2 guard has two years of eligibility next, and has the stuff to potentially be an impact player in Dusty May’s first year in Ann Arbor.

Sean Stewart: Old school: Ohio State | New school: Duke

A borderline top-20 prospect one year ago, Stewart didn’t see a ton of action as a freshman, but appeared in 33 of Duke’s 36 games and averaged 8.3 minutes per game in those appearances. A lot of that was due to being behind a logjam in the frontcourt of Kyle Filipowski, Mark Mitchell and Ryan Young. In that time, he did average 2.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per contest. With three seasons of eligibility, he could still turn into a good NBA prospect.

Adou Thiero: Old school: Kentucky | New school: Arkansas

Another player who is following John Calipari from Kentucky to Arkansas, Thiero is still figuring out his offensive game. He averaged 7.2 points per game for the Wildcats in 2023-24, but shot just 31.8% from three. He made 80% of his free throws, so that is promising. It feels like he needs a more consistent role to do well, and may have that opportunity as he sticks with Calipari.

Andrew Carr: Old school: Wake Forest | New school: Kentucky

A veteran who has played in 117 collegiate games across four seasons – two at Delaware and two at Wake. He was good for the Demon Deacons in 2023-24, averaging 13.5 points per game and made 37.1% of his threes. He also is skilled on defense and averaged 1.5 blocks per game. He should have a decently sized role for Kentucky.

Pop Isaacs: Old school: Texas Tech | New school: Creighton

Isaacs is not an efficient shooter at all – he made just 29.3% of his threes and shot just 34.9% overall as a sophomore. However, despite being one of the more maddening players to watch, he did manage to average 15.8 points per game for the Red Raiders. Creighton needs someone to make threes after the departures of Baylor Scheierman and Trey Alexander, and Isaacs may be able to fill that role.

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

Payne started 19 of 32 appearances for Minnesota in 2023-24 to the tune of 10.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. He was able to put up those stats in just 23.3 minutes per game and was efficient, making 60.5% of his shots from two-point range. He does have upside on defense too. He should have a good-sized role for the Aggies.

Sean Pedulla: Old school: Virginia Tech | New school: Ole Miss

Pedulla has been one of the better guards in the ACC the past few years. He spent three seasons at Virginia Tech and had significant roles in each of the past two, and averaged 16.4 points per game this past season and garnered all-ACC honors. His efficiency is not the best, having made just 49% of his shots overall and 32.5% from three. Still though, he should be a solid veteran presence on Ole Miss.

JP Pegues: Old school: Furman | New school: Auburn

Pegues was first team all-SoCon last season after averaging 18.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in 2023-24, one year after helping Furman to an upset over Virginia in the first round of the 2023 NCAA tournament. He scored 29 points in a game against Tulane last season, and 21 in a game against Arkansas. The ability to do well against high-level competition is very much there. That being said, the 6-foot-1 guard should play a key role for the Tigers.