Inside College Hoops

Bright Vegas Lights for Gators, Cats, BYU, and Nova Nation

By Robbie LaStella

The 2025-2026 college basketball season is almost upon us. The Hall of Fame Series in Las Vegas is sure to create some early-season fireworks right away. 

In game one from MGM Grand Arena, Florida takes on Arizona at 4 PM PST, as Todd Golden and the Gators look to defend their national championship, while Arizona seeks an early-season statement win entering year 5 under Tommy Lloyd. 

Directly following game one, Villanova will take on BYU in a game that will feature numerous storylines on both sides. Villanova will be playing their first game under new Head Coach Kevin Willard, and a win in game one, against a team like BYU, would give early hope to those around the program that Willard was the right choice. 

As for BYU, the Cougars head into this game with a talented and experienced roster, led by freshman phenom forward AJ Dybantsa and senior guard Richie Saunders. The mix of overall talent and veteran leadership will make BYU a tough matchup for a lot of teams this season. But, it will be something to monitor how the offense flows in game one with a superstar that will command the ball like Dybantsa and a veteran like Saunders. 

Neither of these matchups has a clear-cut winner on paper, which could mean we are in store for some high-level hoops right out the gate from lovely Las Vegas. Below are four things to keep an eye on in Las Vegas on Monday night.

Who takes over as Florida’s go-to guy?

Although Florida ended last season as national champions, the offseason saw the roster undergo a major overhaul following the departure of some key players. 

Guards Walter Clayton Jr, Alijah Martin, and Will Richard all graduated, while guard Denzel Aberdeen transferred to Kentucky and forward Sam Alexis departed to Indiana. That group of players accounted for a combined 58.4 points per game last season, which means there are a lot of points that need to be accounted for this upcoming season. 

The departures hurt, however, UF was just as active in replacing lost talent this offseason. The Gators brought in guards Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee through the transfer portal, as well as adding a freshman guard in CJ Ingram. 

Fland and Lee both have a chance to be major contributors for UF this season. The duo averaged a combined 30.4 PPG last season, and if they are able to put up similar production this season, that would go a long way in helping UF replace lost scoring. 

Lee is the key to the UF offense continuing to perform at a high level. His 36.8 assist rate (per KenPom) was 19th in the country last season and would have been good for second overall in the SEC, trailing only Zakai Ziegler of Tennessee.

His balance of setting up his teammates, while also having the ability to score it himself, makes Lee a tough guard for opponents, and if he excels this season, the UF offense should excel right along with him. 

Fland struggled with consistency from the field last season; however, he was able to battle through adversity and contribute to Arkansas’s tournament run. In his first year at UF, it will be something to monitor if he is less ball-dominant than in 2024, as his 30.6 assist rate was good for 59th in the nation, and alongside Lee could give UF a really diverse guard duo. 

Outside of UF’s guard play, forwards Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon are back this season, and both are looking to build off their strong seasons from a year ago. Both Haugh and Condon can battle opponents down low and hurt them from deep, and if Lee and Fland can facilitate, Haugh or Condon will be on the receiving end more times than not. 

Between Lee, Fland, Haugh, and Condon, UF has a plethora of talent at multiple positions, which gives them multiple options for a “go-to-guy.” In game one, expect everyone to get involved, as the Gators look to figure out what works best against a potential tournament team in Arizona right off the bat.

Will Freshman make an immediate impact for Arizona?

In a similar fashion to Florida, Arizona underwent a massive overhaul of its roster this offseason following numerous graduates and transfers. 

Caleb Love and Carter Bryant graduated, while Henri Veesaar and KJ Lewis each entered the transfer portal. 3 out of the top 4 scorers from a year ago for the Wildcats have departed, leaving Jaden Bradley as the only player remaining who averaged double figures. 

Tommy Lloyd brought in seven freshmen this offseason to help replace that lost scoring, including guards Bryce James and Brayden Burries, as well as forwards Koa Peat, Ivan Kharchenkov, Sidi Gueye, and Dwayne Aristode. 

Burries and Peat were both 5-star recruits, and the #1 player in California and Arizona, respectively, while Kharchenkov comes over from Germany, where he brings 7 years of Euro league experience to Arizona. 

Gueye was one of the top international big men available this past offseason, coming over from Real Madrid. He’s a versatile player able to play both inside and out and he also has a strong defensive presence. 

According to 247 Sports, Arizona's recruiting class received the second highest composite ranking, trailing only Duke.

It may take some time for Burries, Peat, Gueye and James to develop; however, for Arizona to be successful they are going to need Kharchenkov to perform at a Euro League level at a minimum. 

His three level scoring ability gives him a chance to make an impact right away for Arizona. On the defensive side of things, he is not the fastest, but his physicality and large frame should help him find success defensively in certain matchups. 

Some of Arizona’s young stars may take some time to get into a groove, but if Kharchenkov is able to perform right away, the Wildcats may be a pesky team to face early in the season. 

 

BYU vS. Villanova - What to Expect from BYU

Kevin Young took over at BYU in 2024, and with Young came his pro-style offense that was a big part of BYU’s trip to the Sweet 16. Although it was a successful campaign, a Sweet 16 loss wasn’t the end goal. With an influx of NIL, Young was able to retain his top three scorers with remaining eligibility, as well as being in a haul of new talent, including projected lottery pick AJ Dybantsa and Baylor transfer Robert Wright III. 

Dybantsa is expected to be one of the best freshmen, if not the overall best player, in college basketball this season; however, if BYU is going to build on their sweet 16 run from a year ago, senior guard Richie Saunders will be a big part of that. 

Saunders is coming off a junior season in which he averaged 16.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 1.6 APG and had the 3rd highest offensive rating percentage in the Big 12 (127.8), per Ken Pom. He proved himself as one of the most efficient scoring guards in the Big 12, and there is a chance he builds on that this season with a deeper supporting cast alongside him. 

As for Dybantsa, he is a prolific scorer who can create shots from a variety of spots on the court. His 6’9 frame, combined with his scoring ability, makes him a tough match for opponents as he is able to consistently convert contested looks. 

With two prolific scorers in Saunders and Dybantsa, the key to the offense excelling will be Baylor transfer Robert Wright III running the offense efficiently. Wright played in 35 games last season for Baylor, averaging 11.5 PPG, 2.1 RPG, and 4.2 APG. His 25.4 assist rate was good for 10th in the Big 12, and if he is able to improve on that this season, that would bode well for the BYU offense.

What can Devin Askew and Acaden Lewis do for Villanova?

Kevin Willard set the college basketball world into a frenzy when he made the move from Maryland to Villanova this past offseason. Since then, he has quietly been rebuilding Villanova’s roster, with guards Devin Askew and Acaden Lewis set to play big roles for the Wildcats.

Askew transferred to Villanova this past offseason from Long Beach State, where last season he averaged 18.9 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 4.5 APG. Askew improved as an overall playmaker last year, charting a career high in both points and assists per game, and if he is able to build on that this season, that would go a long way in helping the Villanova offense gel in year one under Willard. 

Jeff Neilburg of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Sunday that Askew would be available for Monday’s season opener after originally being expected to miss the game as he recovered from a knee injury. Although he is expected to play, Neilburg mentioned that he may be on a minutes restriction. 

With Askew still recovering from his knee injury, this opens an opportunity for freshman Acaden Lewis to show what he is capable of right away. Lewis was the 31st-ranked recruit in the class of 2025, and he has the talent to make an impact right away on the Villanova offense. 

His ability as both a passer and scorer will help make up for the loss of Askew and give Willard an early idea of how big a role Lewis will be able to handle as a Freshman. 

It will also be important to monitor how Lewis and Askew play together, as if they work well as a duo, that could create a tough matchup for an opposing backcourt.

Robbie will have live coverage from Vegas all day today, check him out @RLastellaReport

A Day with the Golden Bears

By Rocco Miller

Where has the time gone? That is the question I kept asking myself during the short 15-minute drive from Oakland to Berkeley.

The feeling of yesterday is on replay in my mind, while reminiscing on Mark Madsen’s opening day press conference in Berkeley. A time of excitement and relief for the Cal community.

You have to remember, Cal Basketball had six rugged seasons under Wyking Jones (2) and Mark Fox (4), who ultimately went a combined 22-92 in Pac-12 regular season games.

When Madsen came in, he was fresh off a 28-win Utah Valley season and a top 65 final ranking, which is easily the highest-performing campaign in UVU’s D1 history.

The excitement surrounding the press conference was distinctly memorable for locals. The Stanford legend, Madsen, is being hired by rivals, Cal. Madsen had fun with the press conference, starting it off with references to his last appearance in Haas Pavilion as a player, which ended in a rivalry-scuffle and Stanford’s 57-55 rockfight road win.

This certainly felt like a heist as Madsen’s alma mater struggled through eight seasons under Jerod Haase without breaking through to the postseason.

Year 1 was a huge step forward. Attracting talented players in the portal was a new concept in Berkeley, and Madsen got two big ones in Jaylon Tyson and Fardaws Aimaq. The squad won nine Pac-12 games, which was a tremendous step forward from the bogged-down Jones/Fox eras.

He hired great recruiters, which remains a staple as we approach year three. He talked about making this a player’s program. Hard work is a staple of Madsen’s mantra, outworking other teams.

Quickly after being hired, Madsen and the Cal athletic department were faced with the very real challenge of finding a new league. The collapse of the Pac-12 was essentially happening concurrently behind the scenes as Madsen was being hired.

By September 1st of that first summer, Cal was officially contracted to join the ACC. The dynamics of the job, travel, and direct competition changed in an instant.

Last season in the ACC was a trying one, finishing at 14-19 overall with a 6-12 conference season. A deeper look under the hood tells us a brighter, Madsen-tough story. Down the stretch, Cal fought Notre Dame in a crushing 4OT loss in South Bend. Then, they headed directly to the conference tournament in Charlotte. No excuses, they showed up and went to 2OTs again, this time beating Virginia Tech. The Bears lost a tight battle with rival Stanford the next day.

One thing was clear entering the offseason: Madsen’s program has no interest in laying down or making excuses. The practice that I recently attended painted a similar story.

Practice Summary

The new-look Bears had one of the most physical practices I have seen in quite some time. Madsen told me that they are trying to throw every scenario at the guys as possible and “Track everything.”

The majority of the practice was a live scrimmage session with varying levels of ball pressure. Full court traps, 3/4 court traps, half-court, etc. It was clearly instructed on both sides to be disruptive. After all, Cal finished 175th in the nation in defensive efficiency and 14th in the ACC for league-only defense. It’s a clear area of emphasis.

In my eyes, it worked. The long live session was mostly disruptive. The media would call it a “rockfight.” On the flip side, neither offense had any flow; there was some organic chippiness on the floor, and overall, I think it was a healthy step in the Madsen-toughness progression of the program.

The teams were broken up with the White team consisting primarily of John Camden, Semetri Carr, Dhiaukuei Manyiel Dut/Mantas Kocanas swapping at the five, Justin Pippen, and Jovani Ruff. The Blue team was led by Dai Dai Ames and DJ Campbell, along with Chris Bell, Lee Dort, Nolan Dorsey, and Sammie Yeanay.

Mark “Mad Dog” Madsen overlooks his Bears at Haas Pavilion.

Player Observations

Dai Dai Ames - Likely the most important player on the roster. Mr. Ames comes into the year with a remarkable reputation as a shooter, going near-40% from deep last year and over 58% from inside the arc on double the attempts in conference play. He impressed me more with court awareness, always in the right position defensively and within offensive sets.

Nolan Dorsey - Madsen specifically took some time to tell me that Dorsey is the ultimate workhorse, and although he may not have as much skill as Madsen himself, he embodies the work ethic. Cal teammates were noticeably disturbed by Dorsey’s relentless defensive energy during the long live period. Dorsey was the fastest Bear in a timed Mile, running it in under 4:30. Dorsey was playing with a missing tooth, which I believe was lost in a previous practice. The Campbell transfer could be a big emotional and defensive boost to this team’s ability to win on the margins.

Semetri Carr - Tons of poise for a freshman. Demonstrated floor-general comfort at this level. Played some big-time games in high school. Interesting piece for backcourt depth. Really great personality as well.

Chris Bell - Played a lot like what I remembered from Syracuse games. Mr. Bell gives Cal a different look and dynamic to score off the wing. I was quickly reminded that he was the 3rd-best three-point shooter in ACC league games last year at 44.3% on 79 attempts.

John Camden - Fluid playmaker, projected starter. Kept his teammates involved even when shots didn’t fall. Another dynamic sniper, making 43% of his threes at Delaware last season, and at 6-8, 220 has clear looks typically from downtown. As noted earlier, this practice contained a ton of trapping and on-ball defense, which led to more paint-touching shot attempts. Would’ve loved to see more perimeter action involving Camden, Bell, and others. However, that is certainly in the cards for regular game flow.

Lee Dort - Physical, didn’t back down from any situation or any teammate. Emotionally set the tone at times. Needs to keep working on finishing his paint touches. Rebounding was excellent, mostly one-and-done type boards defensively.

Dhiaukuei Manyiel Dut - Clearly still developing, but I came away impressed with his work ethic and commitment to improvement. Has elite rim protection potential. He worked hard and rarely sat out during the live period. One of the first players in the gym as well.

Justin Pippen - Another projected starter. Pippen struggled to get minutes at Michigan. He has a great opportunity ahead of him in Berkeley to play a considerable amount. He is lengthy and causes problems for the opposing offense, and moves with great fluidity.

D.J. Campbell - Makes getting downhill look simple, very impressive off the dribble. Sometimes gets into “ISO mode” too often, especially late in the shot clock. Played really hard overall, and demonstrated that he’s been with Madsen for over a year. Getting D.J. to play more off the ball could help the team and his own game as time goes on.

Montas Kocanas - Much like last year at FAU, Montas is still learning the American College Hoops game. He could be highly valuable once it all clicks for him. His size is outstanding. Still seemed a little slow with concepts and play calls. Would love to see him develop. Still very young.

Jovanni Ruff - Another good-looking Freshman who has a chance to play. Has a college-ready body to play the two or the three. I can envision him being a versatile defender as well. Really like what the future holds here.

Injured

Rytis Petraitis - Rytis was still a couple of weeks away from returning (Shoulder). As you may know, he has a tremendous personality and took some time to chat with me. He likes this Cal roster a lot and believes a lot of the new pieces are upgrades. He spent a good 45 minutes after practice doing shooting drills and appears to be right on track for a return.

Milos Ilic - Figures to be the first big man off the bench once healthy. Ilic was rehabbing from a Quad injury, I believe. He also should be back within weeks or even days. He spent a long time on the exercise bike courtside during the live period.

Summary

It does not take a genius to evaluate this 2026 version of Cal’s basketball roster and see the improved outside shooting. However, if you went to this practice, you would’ve came away with a much different feeling. Intensity, physicality, ball-pressure, and togetherness were the main themes on this fine day.

The Bears finished dead-last in three-point shooting and 17th of 18 in three-point% defense in ACC play a year ago. Glaring holes from yesteryear have been filled. Madsen preaches accountability and toughness. In the much-improved ACC, Cal has pieces to build a case to be one of the major darkhorses of the conference. They will need to come together as a group and win on the margins, which is precisely the plan.

SOURCES: 12 Teams and Two additional events are set for Orlando

ESPN Orlando Adds 4-Team Event

Multiple sources confirmed with The Bracketeer that Charlotte, Furman, Illinois State, and Richmond will headline an additional Orlando ESPN Event field next season. These teams will play a two-game, four-team bracket while at Disney World.

There is no timetable for an official announcement. Official matchups are also TBD. Dates are expected to be the week of Thanksgiving in Lake Buena Vista, FL.

ESPN Orlando Adds 8-Team Event

Multiple sources confirmed with The Bracketeer that Bradley, Liberty, Princeton, Rhode Island, Temple, Towson, UC San Diego, and Vermont will headline an additional Orlando ESPN Event field next season. These teams will play a three-game, eight-team bracket while at Disney World.

There is no timetable for an official announcement. Official matchups are also TBD. Dates are expected to be the week of Thanksgiving in Lake Buena Vista, FL.

It has already been reported that BYU, Dayton, Georgetown, and Miami will headline the primary field of the 2025 ESPN Events Invitational, which is played later in the week on November 27th and 28th.

UC Riverside: A Uniquely Complex Head Coaching Search

By Rocco Miller

The best five-year period of UC Riverside Basketball in its 25-year history as a D1 member is now in the rearview mirror. The Highlanders have achieved unprecedented success since 2020 under the guidance of Mike Magpayo, who went 89-63 overall and had a 53-32 Big West record. Magpayo, of course, accepted the well-deserved move up the coaching ranks to Fordham University back on March 30th.

The man who hired Magpayo, Wesley Mallette (UCR’s Athletics Director), was left with the brutal responsibility to decide who would succeed UCR’s most successful coach in its D1 history.

The program is now in the crosshairs of building on a lot of success and potentially losing all campus funding (again) as it seeks its next head coach. Sources have indicated that the school has heavy concerns about changing funds for the UC system within the current fiscal year. More on that later.

Trusted industry sources have informed The Bracketeer that this coaching search has been trimmed down to four candidates out of a pool of over 200 people who reached out to UCR with interest. After all, the Big West Conference is coming off of its best season in 20 years as a league, and the league is expanding next year by adding UCR’s crosstown rivals, California Baptist.

The state of affairs at UC Riverside is anything but normal. Despite all of the Men’s Basketball success, and other athletic turnarounds at the school with Women’s Basketball and recently Softball as easy examples, the department and upper campus are facing financial pitfalls once again.

To refresh your memory, UC Riverside’s 2020-21 season was played with a surplus of uncertainty. UCR navigated the COVID pandemic to somehow pull off a 22-game basketball schedule (rarely high in the UC system that year with the restrictions), going on to a 14-8 record, which included landmark wins over Washington and Top-60 ranked UC Santa Barbara (eventual 12-seed in the NCAAT). The school’s athletic department was going through its depths of stress as well.

In August 2020, the athletic programs at UCR came into question when university officials listed the elimination of all sports as a possibility.

HC Mike Magpayo said at the time, “I just can’t imagine a relevant university without athletics, so I’ve got to put a lot of faith that it’s going to get done and be fine. I don’t know, though.”

AD Wesley Mallette’s thoughts during that early time of pressure to cut athletics were, “Your true value in any organization is how quickly you can get to a solution and a solution that works for people in a positive way. Learning those lessons in corporate America is so valuable because when you move into the world of college sports, you have to apply those principles to create more efficient operations within your organization.”

Overcoming incredible obstacles, Mike Magpayo and UC Riverside Men’s Basketball worked its way out of a near-impossible scenario beginning with the 2020-21 season.

Five years later, AD Wesley Mallette is forced to make another difficult decision. The question that many industry sources have repeated back to me is, how much say will Mallette have in the final decision?

It is a valid question when you review the finalists.

THE FINALISTS

Gus Argenal, Current Head Coach at Cal State San Bernardino - Gus is right there in Riverside’s sister city of San Bernardino. Argenal’s name likely sounds familiar because he had great success as one of Eric Musselman’s trusted assistants at both Arkansas and Nevada. During that period, Argenal was a key part of seven NCAA Tournament teams, reaching the 2022 Elite Eight with the Razorbacks and two Sweet 16s. He has spent the past two years at CSUSB, guiding the D2 Coyotes to an impressive run back to the D2 Final Four in 2023-24 in his first season. An amazing achievement on the heels of Andy Newman leaving for Cal State Northridge the year prior, which left Argenal the tall task of reloading the roster.. Argenal continued his success at CSUSB by getting back to the 2025 D2 NCAAT, before exiting in the Round of 32.

Justin Downer, Current Head Coach at Point Loma Nazarene - Justin is the next in a great run of head coaches coming from the uber-successful PLNU program. He guided the Sea Lions to a PacWest Title (15-5) in his first season as Head Coach in 2023-24. This season, he led them to even higher heights, with an 18-2 PacWest record, and a trip to the Regional Final in the D2 NCAA Tournament.

Skye Ettin, UC Santa Barbara Assistant Coach - Ettin has been a promising young phenom in the industry for a while now. He has spent the past two seasons at UC Santa Barbara and understands the landscape of the much-improved Big West. Before that, Ettin was a key member of Princeton’s coaching staff, and the Tigers had a superb 82-29 Ivy League record during his six years there. Ettin was named one of the Silver Waves Media Rising Stars in the coaching industry during Final Four Week.

Byron Scott, NBA Legend and former L.A. Lakers Head Coach - The wildcard selection belongs with Mr. Scott. Byron is a finalist for the primary reason of fundraising, according to sources. He last coached a team in 2016, a historically rough time for the Lakers, and has not coached since. Which certainly makes the concept of hiring Byron at UCR a bit berserk. Byron’s reputation as an LA community member and well-liked figure in Los Angeles is very strong. And the opportunity to bring money to UCR’s futile athletics problems has him still firmly in the mix to get hired here. One additional problem may be that Los Angeles proper and the Inland Empire, where UC Riverside is located, are very different places and demographics. Yes, everyone loves the Lakers, but Riverside has a separate culture, and it’s not exactly close to downtown LA. Uncertainty persists if Scott’s presence at UCR would move any needles for the program.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Perhaps the most vital element of this hire is what is happening as it pertains to funding for athletics stemming from the powers that be within UC Riverside campus leadership. At the end of this process, funding for athletics might be the most important factor. Potential near-term changes within Athletics funding once again could be an issue in UC Riverside’s future.

The hard work that has gone into this program and the consistent level of recent program success would prefer no part of that previous paragraph. The D1 College basketball business and recent instant Big West winning stories at Cal State Northridge under Andy Newman and Cal Poly’s Mike DeGeorge further suggest that a coach from the D2 ranks makes a lot of sense for UC Riverside to continue winning at a successful rate by delpoying a similar decisioning model during this hiring cycle that its peers CSUN and Cal Poly did.

Mallette’s track record, especially when looking at all sports in addition to hiring and extending Magpayo, suggests that he will lean toward a program builder and a hard worker. I believe both of the D2 candidates (Argenal and Downer) and Ettin fit the model and are in an ideal spot career-wise to take this natural next step to lead the Highlanders. All three are equally as hungry to accept the position, from what I can tell.

On March 14, the Department of Education announced investigations into more than 50 universities over race-based admissions and scholarship programs. Days before, it sent letters to more than 60 institutions warning them about enforcement actions. The UC schools are expected to be a part of this issue, even if they are not the main focus. The frustrating element is that it is out of Athletics’ control.

A new Head Coach announcement could come as early as Tuesday, per sources. In one of the more interesting searches of the 2025 carousel, it will be important to remember the circumstances at UC Riverside before hiring judgments are made, especially if Byron Scott is the eventual choice. One could surmise, Scott gives UCR the best chance to raise money for athletics and generate fundraising avenues to support and ideally stabilize UCR athletics. One could also surmise, this idea of hiring a former NBA man from the distant past is only a band-aid solution - What about wins and losses?

We will have answers soon, I believe.

Familiar Friend in Final Four

By Robert Lastella
Robert Lastella will be providing ongoing coverage from San Antonio this week. Be sure to stay connected with Robert at @RLastellaReport on X/Twitter.

The Final Four can be overwhelming for some players, between playing in a massive football stadium, the crowd that comes with that, and the looming notion that if you lose, your season is over. There is a lot of pressure that comes with playing on the biggest of stages. But for FAU G Alijah Martin, this stage isn’t new to him, as he was a major contributor for FAU in their magical run to the final four just two seasons ago, and his experience could be pivotal for this Gators squad. 

Martin is the first guard to start on two different Final Four teams in the tournament's current format, and between his on-the-court contributions and leadership off the court, there is an argument to be had that he is one of the most valuable portal additions in its short history. There isn’t much you can do to teach experience and not only has Martin played in the Final Four before, he lost in heartbreaking fashion one game before the National Championship with a squad who defied expectations to get there, so it is safe to say that he was hungry to get back and change the narrative. 

Narrative aside, Martin’s impact on this squad has proven fruitful throughout this season, and according to Florida Coach Todd Golden, he’s elevated everyone around him in the process. 

“Yeah, he's done it for us all year, to be honest (Lead). From the moment he got to campus in the summer, we knew that his experience and his mentality and the way he approached workouts and practice would really help this group. 

I think he's raised the bar for Walt and Will also, coming in, having that Final Four experience. Walt and Will have great experience, but they haven't made it to this grand stage yet. Alijah had a lot of respect from our locker room because of that. Adding him, Rueben and Sam in that class, that's really completed that group, and his leadership is a big part of that,” Golden said. 

Walter Clayton Jr. and Martin have been the leading scorers all season long for UF, with Clayton averaging 18.1 PPG and 4.2 APG, while Martin is right behind him with 14.5 PPG and 4.6 RPG., and the two former mid-major stars have had no issue adjusting to the SEC. Although Golden and UF can’t be credited with the development of their two starting guards, getting them together in the same backcourt has allowed them to excel both on a personal level and as a team. 

Experienced guards can take you far in March, and UF is an example of that, as they have executed the transfer portal flawlessly in finding two talented guards and combining them with an equally talented supporting cast, something that even teams with a greater NIL pool than Florida were unable to do. Martin is the most experienced of UF’s transfer pieces; however, according to Clayton, he came to UF with the idea that he had to prove himself to his teammates. Although that is not true (of course), it made those around him respect him even more. 

“He has been here before, so he is very calm, cool, and collected at all times; he just knows how to say the right things at the right moments. It has been an all year thing for Alijah, ever since he has got here he has been in the gym working, he felt like he had to earn our respect, but from day one we have respected him, he is a great voice and leader, our coaches and us players couldn’t ask for a better leader,” Clayton said. 

Walter Clayton, Jr. continues to be counted on in the most critical moments Florida has faced. Not only has he passed the test, but he has established himself as the catalyst in the clutch.

Martin has stepped into a leadership role with this Gators squad, but he was the same type of leader when he led FAU to their first Final Four in school history, with that “calm and cool” mantra Clayton described of him emulating the approach of his former coach, Dusty May. While some players thrive on being boisterous, Martin succeeds staying mainly in the shadows and it has helped him lead by example. 

The leadership approach is a bit different this time around for Martin, who notes being a number one seed this year vs being an underdog while at FAU has changed things a little bit, but it has led to the same result in terms of success for his team. 

“At FAU, we were not respected as much, which led to us sneaking up on teams, but here at Florida we are the top dog. It shows you how strong mentally we are to get over that hump because teams are coming out and giving us their best and we’re still coming out victorious,” Martin said. 

Martin and the Gators will look to come out victorious two more times in the next three days, and if they are able to do that, Martin’s revenge arc from his devastating loss in the Final Four will be completed just two years later.

It Takes a Village at Auburn

By Robert Lastella
Robert Lastella provided ongoing coverage from Atlanta and will be with Auburn this week in San Antonio. Be sure to stay connected with Robert at @RLastellaReport on X/Twitter.

If you ask Dylan Cardwell about Johni Broome’s three-pointer that he hit coming out of the locker room post-injury to stick the dagger in Tom Izzo and Michigan State, he’ll tell you that he deserves an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary. But that triple that Broome hit is a microcosm of this Auburn season, as with a double figure lead in the second half Broome went to the locker room with an injury to his right arm and at that point it could have been very easy for the Tigers to collapse, but as they’ve done all year they weathered the storm until he returned, never surrendering their lead and punching their ticket to the Final Four. 

The expectations this season for Auburn have been increasing as the year went along, and by the time the Tigers were named a one seed for the NCAA tournament, the expectation was that Auburn would compete for a national championship, and with that hanging in the balance on Sunday night, they never faltered. The age-old question about when a team has a mix of portal pieces, returners, and freshman is whether they will gel or not, and on Sunday night, Auburn showed their connectivity. 

When Johni Broome went down last night, the remaining 6 rotation players for Auburn stepped up and the combination of retained talent, portal pieces and freshman came together and willed Auburn to victory, something Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl believes is just a culmination of putting the right pieces together that are able to step up when needed. 

“I think that both are important. There's such a foundation in this team, with Dylan Cardwell and Chris Moore, who have been there for four to five years. 

Johni has been there three years. I think that one of the things that they talked about yesterday was, I told these guys, look, I'm going to bring in good guys. So you bring in Chaney Johnson, you bring in Denver Jones, you bring in Chad Baker-Mazara, and it tells the guys that are left, he did bring in good guys and guys that were willing to make sacrifices and want to try to become a great team. 

Johni Broome’s impact on the 2024-25 College Hoops season, could not have been incapsulated better than it was in the Elite Eight vs. Michigan State.

We'll continue to recruit really good high school players that want to be coached and developed, and we'll continue to jump in the portal and get guys that want to be an Auburn man and play the way we play,” Pearl said. 

Two players with different paths stepped up to defend the paint when Broome went down, as Cardwell has spent five seasons at Auburn, while Johnson transferred in two years ago from Alabama Huntsville. It didn’t matter where they came from or that they weren’t scoring in double figures; their job was to match Michigan State’s physicality and maintain the lead that they had built prior to Broome’s injury, and they did. 

If Auburn let Michigan State get on a run and flip the script on who was dominating the paint, that very well could have allowed them to come back yesterday, but they didn’t, and it’s a testament to their culture that they stepped into their roles and excelled while their star was sidelined. If you ask Dylan Cardwell, the reason they held onto that lead, however was just simply their dog mentality.

“We them boys, we them dogs, for me, it was just cool to just see how we all bought in. We all stepped up, Chaney made some big layups, we needed it,” Cardwell said. 

Auburn is now just 2 wins away from winning its first National Championship game in school history, and they are the only remaining team in the field to have never played in the championship game before. Even in his post-game presser yesterday, Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl called AU a football school while also noting that they can be an everything school, and a national championship win could change the narrative on the Plains. 

The school has played in the National championship game once before, losing in 2019 to Virginia, who ended up defeating Texas Tech in the National Championship game that year, so this year is an opportunity to make history for Pearl and co, but they will have a tall task in the red-hot Florida Gators standing between them and destiny. This team has a special factor to it, according to veteran guard Denver Jones, and that is their camaraderie, which has allowed everyone to accept their role and head into the Final Four could be one of their biggest strengths. 

Denver Jones’ transition to Auburn over the past two seasons has been remarkable. Coming in after two seasons at FIU, Jones has been a highly productive player and adds a relentless attack of the basket with the threat of a highly efficient true shooting percentage from anywhere on the court.

“Honestly, we got a lot of great guys. Man, that's just a testament to our coaches, just recruiting. Man, started recruiting some great guys, like Miles, I was a transfer of me, shady, Chad, turtle. We recruited some great guys, man, we molded together a championship team. Like I feel like our camaraderie just came just from us hanging out a lot of Bible studies, just us hanging around, doing team stuff and playing the game, talking smack to each other and doing everything that you would do with your brothers,” Jones said. 

Auburn will look to put that camaraderie to the test against Florida in the Final Four on Saturday night, a battle between two of the best teams in the SEC and country as a whole, with the winner getting a spot in the National Championship and the loser falling just short of their dreams.

SOUTH Region: Izzo vs. Pearl, Can a Player Like Frankie Fidler be the X Factor?

By Robert Lastella
Robert Lastella will be providing ongoing coverage from Atlanta this week. Be sure to stay connected with Robert at @RLastellaReport on X/Twitter.

The Elite Eight is upon us, and the South regional features a matchup between two storied coaches in Bruce Pearl, his Auburn Tigers, Tom Izzo and his Michigan State Spartans. These two coaches have matched up in the Elite Eight once before, facing off in 2010 when Pearl was the headman of Tennessee and Izzo’s Spartans came out on top in a squeaker, using late free throws to defeat the Volunteers 70-69. 

It is tough to draw parallels between a matchup from 15 years ago and the two current squads these veteran coaches have. However, Izzo remembers the game quite well, and there are a few things he thinks are similar between his current squad and the one that knocked off Pearl’s Volunteers in 2010. The biggest being free throws, which, according to Izzo, won his team the game in 2010 and could play a role on Sunday evening once again. 

“I think he's got different players. I've got different players. I think he probably coaches a little differently. I probably coach a little differently. 

I don't know if there's a lot you can get out of it except what you just said. Free throws are going to be important. It's one of our Special Teams’ things. We kind of dipped for a little while. In the last couple of games, we're shooting better from the line again. Last night there's no question it helped win us the game. 

All of those special teams things, out of bounds plays, free throws, free throw blockouts, they matter. I think they mattered back then. We had a couple of big plays that I remember, and they matter now. So those things are the same,” Izzo said. 

As Izzo mentioned, the free throws have improved vastly for MSU in the last few games, but so has their ability to get there, as in each of the Spartans past 3 games they have nearly doubled up their opponent in total attempts, something that Ole Miss Coach Chris Beard credited as a reason MSU was able to pull ahead in the sweet 16. 

Michigan State has seen an increase in aggressiveness to get to the charity stripe more often as of late and according to Izzo, Omaha transfer Frankie Fidler has been the driving force behind that up-tick in free throws, doing a solid job at getting to the line since early in the season and lately, his teammates have followed his lead. 

“I think it's something we talked about this summer and fall. I think in my program we've done a good job of that over the years. We haven't got to the line. 

I think Frankie Fidler helped us a little bit early. He was a guy that got to the line a lot. These guys picked up on some of that. There were a lot of times when people made more free throws than we have shot, and now there are times that we have made more free throws than other people have even shot.

So it's helped us. We said we had to be a good free-throw shooting team for most of the year. We were in the 80s. These guys have done a great, great job of getting fouled and then converting those free throws,” Izzo said. 

Fidler has served a valuable bench role for MSU this season, averaging 7 PPG and 3.3 RPG and finding a way to make an impact on this Spartans squad despite only playing 16 minutes a game. This offseason, Izzo made it clear to Fidler that he wanted somebody that can make an impact by getting to the free throw line and that is exactly what Fidler did. 

Frankie Fidler was the ultimate dynamo in the Summit League, but it took him a while to get comfortable at the Big Ten level.

“In the recruiting process before coming here Coach stressed how he wanted a guy that can get to the line and he stressed how well he thought I would do at that. When I came to the team I wanted to be aggressive, I wanted to try to get to the line as much as I can and help my teammates figure out ways to get fouled as well,” Fidler said. 

Although Fidler has jumped into his new role without issue, that role he took on this season was one that was much smaller than he had when he was the star at Omaha the 3 previous years. While at Omaha Fidler played at least 25 minutes per game, averaged double figures, and started 91/94 games across 3 seasons, compared to only starting 7 out of 36 games this season and averaging less than double figures for the first time in his career. 

It was difficult to adjust at first, Fidler mentioned; however, as the season went on, he adjusted, and now in what he describes as “win or go home time,” he is willing to do whatever is needed if it means success for the Spartans. 

“I think early on, I was struggling more with adapting to it. But, you know, now, after past month or so, I'm fully committed to the role I have right now. And, you know, it's win-or-go-home time. So anything that this team needs from me, I'm willing to give,” Fidler said. 

Fidler has served his role quite well for the Spartans, but overall, they’re led by their starting guards, including 4-year MSU veteran Jaden Akins, who’s scored double figures in each of the first 3 rounds of the NCAA tournament. Although Akins is one of the scoring leaders on this team, even he’s noticed the impact that Fidler has made, he mentions that Fidler will be ready for his shining moment Tonight. 

“He’s done a great job, you know, just accepting his role and is working hard. And, you know, sometimes he wasn't playing as much as he wanted to, but he stayed in the gym, stayed ready. And I feel like, in a tournament, at a crucial time, he will show that he's ready to play,” Akins said. 

Fidler, Akins, and the rest of the Spartans will look to show the world they are ready to play, as they will face off against Auburn at 5:05 PM EST with a spot in the Final Four on the line.

Organizational Success - The Dusty May Way at Michigan

By Robert Lastella
Robert Lastella will be providing ongoing coverage from Atlanta this week. Be sure to stay connected with Robert at @RLastellaReport on X/Twitter.

A new head coach, completely flipped roster and fresh off a disastrous season usually aren’t a recipe for success in college basketball, in fact it’s a stigma that it’s normal for coaches in their first year with a program to struggle, however for Dusty May and Michigan, struggling wasn’t in the cards in year one.

After Michigan limped to an 8-24 season last year, things were looking gloomy in Ann Arbor, but on March 23rd May was announced as the new head coach of the Wolverines, less than a month later he recruited a brand new roster and now in March he has his squad in the Sweet 16. 

Dusty May built an all-star organization in 2024-25. From Staff to Players, it has all been remarkably impressive.

It wasn’t just May who helped this Michigan squad come together, his lead assistant Kyle Church, director of player development Drew Williamson, DOBO KT Harrell and special assistant Brandon Gilbert all came over with him from FAU, while Akeem Miskdeen who was previously an assistant at FAU rejoined May after a few seasons at Georgia. In terms of newcomers to the staff, there were only two, former Oklahoma State head Coach Mike Boynton and former Saint Mary’s assistant Justin Joyner, there was a reason why May picked carefully with his staff. 

The staff was something May had a bit more control over, having brought 4 assistants with him and only needing two major additions in Boynton and Joyner; however, although May only added 2 new assistants, he made sure they both possessed a certain quality. That quality is simply being a good person, and it’s the same quality May looked for when recruiting 11 new players, and it’s what he believes helped him find success right away. 

“We try to intentionally choose like-minded people, and like-minded people typically gravitate towards those who are like them. I’ve said this in recruiting, actually in the last couple days in Zooms, that A-holes don’t like us, and we don’t like them. So we just naturally go after guys who have a lot of character and are great people and are guys that we want around our families and have lifetime relationships with. It’s just kind of happened, I don’t want to say unintentionally, because it’s just the fabric of who we are. For whatever reason, we find guys that are like-minded, and we’re all on the same page, knowing what we all need for each other,” May said. 

As for those 11 players, heading into the season it’s never a guarantee that the roster you put together, especially with an entire new coaching staff and 10 new players gels on the court, however after battling through some brief bumps in the road, this Michigan squad is operating at an extremely high level. After getting walloped by Michigan State to close out the season, winning the big 10 tournament seemed like a reach for the Wolverines, however, they breezed through it, defeating Purdue by nearly 20 in the quarterfinals before pulling out a close victory against Maryland in the semi-finals and Wisconsin in the championship. 

The new pieces on this roster have came together, with FAU Transfer Vlad Goldin leading the way with a career year, putting up 18.6 PPG and 7 RPG, also shooting a 34% clip from beyond the arc and combined with Yale transfer Danny Wolf who’s averaging 13 PPG and 9.8 RPG, the Wolverines have one of the most dominating front courts in the nation. The guard play has been inconsistent at times for Michigan; however, at this point in the season, Tre Donaldson, Roddy Gayle and Nimari Burnett all have come into their own, with Donaldson and Gayle both averaging double figures during the tournament. 

This entirely new roster has put it all together down the stretch to not only just win the Big 10 tournament but advance to the Sweet 16 a year after one of the worst seasons in decades in Ann Arbor, which begs the question, how did they do it? Well, according to Goldin, it’s been a process since day one, and this squad never gave up. 

“It’s been happening all season, it doesn’t just happen in one day. It’s like a routine, day by day, and getting better and better. Then one day you look back and you see that it’s clicking, but it’s been a long process,” Goldin said. 

Michigan will face off against Auburn in the 9:39 nightcap from State Farm Arena in Atlanta, and if they and Michigan State both advance to the Elite 8, they will face off on Sunday with a spot in the final four on the line. It’s crazy to think that Dusty May has been in a final four more recently than Tom Izzo, but the former FAU coach was there just 2 years ago and in his first season in Ann Arbor, if he were to knock off their arch rivals to earn a trip to San Antonio, he would be a legend in the city forever. 

But May and his squad aren’t looking ahead at Michigan State and the chance to make history; rather, their focus is on knocking off Auburn, a team that many looked at as the favorite to win it all heading into the tournament. It’s because of narratives like that and where everyone on this squad came from that May believes his Wolverines head into this game with a chip on their shoulder, and after surrendering the regular season title and losing that edge, it’s back in full force here in March. 

“When you look at where we all came from, none of us were in the McDonald’s All-American Game, none of us were in the up and coming coaches lost. It’s probably just who we are that we have a chip on our shoulder. Maybe because of our positioning, we lost that chip, but anytime we don’t win a Championship, I’m going to look back and think I should have done this differently,” May said. 

The Wolverines will look to use that chip to knock off Auburn, but even if they fail, the job that May has done in just year one in Ann Arbor is one that will be looked back on with great admiration, and advancing to the Elite 8 would make it even more special.

SOUTH Region: The Young Stars

By Robert Lastella
Robert Lastella will be providing ongoing coverage from Atlanta this week, be sure to stay connected with Robert at @RLastellaReport on X/Twitter.

Freshmen who contribute at the high major level are starting to become a thing of the past in College Basketball. Whether it’s extra years of eligibility, NIL payments to more experienced players, there are many things keeping freshmen from contributing right away in today's changing landscape.

But for veteran coaches Tom Izzo and Bruce Pearl, although they’ve each attacked the transfer portal, both have freshmen playing big roles in Jase Richardson and Tahaad Pettiford. Both Richardson and Pettiford came into the season expecting to get some kind of playing time, however, both excelled in early on and have seen their roles expand as the season went on. 

If contributing freshmen continue to be phased out like we’ve been seeing over the past few years, situations like Richardson and Pettiford excelling and earning more playing time will stop as well because they won’t have the chance that Izzo and Pearl gave their freshman guards. If you ask Izzo, even he thought Richardson may struggle against older veteran guards, however he got a shot early in the season against Kansas, showed Izzo what he’s made of and the rest was history. 

“I'd say early on I thought that, and then we played Kansas in this building. I realized that the moments aren't too big for them. 

Now, I think he's got good pedigree, you know. Not only his dad and his mom played and she coached. It's kind of -- but I had to learn that too. You don't just see that in recruiting, you learn that. 

But if there's one thing I will say, somebody asked me last week he didn't shoot it as well. Was he nervous? No, the kid is confident, not cocky. He's got an unbelievable demeanor to him, and he has gotten better in a lot of different areas. But he's also been damn good when he came. 

I think the way he was raised, the moments aren't too big. I never -- after the Kansas game here -- that was only the second game of the season. It wasn't like -- we lost. But I started realizing then this kid -- like some kids are so cocky that they don't get moved by the moment. He's not cocky. He's just confident in what he can do. 

I was amazed. I haven't had many kids like him in that respect, to be honest with you,” Izzo said, 

Richardson, son of MSU legend and former NBA player Jason Richardson, has come into his own in his freshman season under Izzo, averaging 11.9 PPG, 3.2 RPG and 2 APG and earning a starting role in February. The high flying guard has a solid mix of athleticism, playmaking and shooting ability and if his success continues, he’s on a fast track to continuing the Richardson family legacy in the NBA. 

Izzo has seen it all in his 3 decades as the head man of the Spartans and a talented freshman who needs an opportunity to shine was a normal thing to capitalize on just a few years ago and although Izzo has adapted to the new ways of college basketball, a talent like Richardson was

too good to pass up on. Izzo has given it his all coaching Richardson and this years Spartans and although Richardson says there was a little bit of difficulty early on, hard work and good coaching have allowed him to excel. 

“I think when I first came in, there was a little bit of difficulty. But I was going against these guys every day, so it was kind of getting me better every single day. As the season progressed, I felt like defensively I kept getting better and just kept working,” Richardson said. 

As for Auburn’s freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford, it’s a similar path to success this season, as despite the Tigers having a litany of veteran guards on this squad, the highly touted freshman recruit has fit comfortably into his 6th man role and without his contributions the Tigers wouldn’t be where they are today. The Jersey City native has started just one game this season and his unselfish approach has not only allowed him to earn a role on this squad, but also excel in it and turn into one of the best freshman guards in the country. 

On the season, Pettiford is Auburn’s 4th leading scorer, averaging 11.5 PPG, 2.3 RPG and 2.9 assists per game and he has starred during the tournament, putting up 16 points against Alabama State and 23 in round 2 against Creighton to help the Tigers punch their ticket to the sweet 16. According to Pearl, Pettiford came to college with a chip on his shoulder and because of his willingness to do whatever’s needed, he’s experienced no issue playing as a freshman. 

“Tahaad, he comes from a great family, and he's got great high school coaching and great AAU coaching. His dad has handled him as good as any father could. He always played him up. He always played him against older kids. And Tahaad was always the smallest guy on the playground. He was always the littlest guy out there. 

So therefore, he had so much to overcome, yet he might have been the best player out there. Tahaad was somewhat overlooked. He was ranked 25th, 26th coming out of high school. There aren't 25 high school freshmen in college this year that are better than Tahaad Pettiford. But he's got a chip on his shoulder. He's a little guy, and every time he goes out there to prove it. 

I was wrong about Tahaad. I thought Tahaad would come in and be a scoring guard. Don't worry about running the team. Don't worry about being a point guard. Just come out and bang shots, guard a little bit, make stuff happen, just do what you do. 

Instead, I recognized that, wow, he actually can handle the team. He can break pressure. He can close games. He can be a scoring point guard. So he's exceeded my expectations as far as being able to play point guard rather than just being a scoring guard. 

He had very little drop up-and-down as a freshman. He was very, very consistent. Maybe at the end of the regular season, very beginning of the SEC Tournament, he may not have shot it as well for a couple games, and then he lived in the gym since then. Obviously he had a phenomenal weekend in Lexington to help us advance,” Pearl said.

Pearl has spoken out against the transfer portal multiple times, mentioning that it teaches kids to “flee, not fight” and Pettiford is an example of someone fighting, as someone with his talent and a chip on his shoulder could have easily chosen to redshirt after not earning a starting role, but he chose to fight and it worked out. Both Pettiford and Richardson’s stories could cease to exist in a few years if the transfer portal continues to run rampant as it is now, but with coaches like Izzo and Pearl, they’re not going to change that part of their recruiting. 

Pearl’s coaching is exactly why Pettiford has been able to excel and having a coach that still believes in what freshm

an can do has instilled confidence into the young guard. 

“Confidence (has allowed me to succeed), knowing that my guys have my back and the trust that coach has in me, just knowing that on the floor has added more confidence (to my game),” Pettiford said. 

Should these two talented freshmen and their respective squads win on Friday, they will matchup against each other on Sunday with a spot in the final four on the line and according to Richardson, this isn’t the first time that him and Pettiford would have faced off. 

“I've been playing against Tahaad since middle school. We've been around, playing the circuits, and I know him pretty well,” Richardson said. 

We shall see what the two talented Freshman have in store under the lights from Atlanta on Friday evening, but one thing is for certain and that is confidence won’t be an issue for either once the ball is tipped.

PREVIEW: McNeese's Next Test, Purdue

The Bayou Bandits of McNeese are a win away from becoming this year's Cinderella squad in the NCAA tournament, but winning is just the way of life since Will Wade came to town. The Cowboys have lost just one time since December 14th, as they ran through an extremely physical Southland Conference with just one loss, and on Saturday against Purdue, they will look to continue their winning ways. 

It was all Cowboys in Thursday’s Round of 64 victory over Clemson, as McNeese never trailed after the 15-minute mark in the first half, exuding confidence in a statement win over a power conference opponent. Purdue faced another dominant Mid-Major in High Point who was on a 14-game win streak heading into their Round of 64 win on Thursday, and they found a way to extinguish the Panthers’ winning ways, so McNeese will have their work cut out for them on Saturday afternoon. 

Although McNeese dominated for the entire first half against Clemson and led nearly the entire way, the reason the Cowboys were able to perform at such a high level according to Head Coach Will Wade was because he and his staff worked to keep the team level-headed. 

“I try to turn some of our wins into losses just to keep our guys on edge. So we try to turn some of those into losses and make our guys feel like we lost even though we won, because you can't accept in winning what you wouldn't accept in losing. So the same mistakes you get furious at and when you lose you have to get furious at when you win too, or you're not going to have the team that you need. And so I think winning is a byproduct of what you do and your preparation. I think that's the sort of stuff we lean on, is the structure of how to win, not really the winning part of it. Because reality is, you know, some of the games we've won are not going to have any bearing on the Purdue game. Purdue's a different breed of cattle from what we've been, you know, from what we've been winning for the most part. So, you know, it's not going to have the same bearing, but you do get some confidence from it,” Wade said. 

Admittedly, the wins have resulted in a boatload of confidence for this McNeese squad and although they are underdogs heading into this matchup with Purdue, they aren’t going to view it that way. The Cowboys head into this matchup even-keeled, as if they view it differently than any other matchup, it would take them out of their normal routine. 

The routine that McNeese has developed so far this season has led to a lot of wins, however, it has also led to the success of players like Christian Shumate, Brandon Murray, and Sincere Parker, as Murray and Parker transferred in without issue and Shumate remained after Wade came on board and has improved in both years being coached by him. 

Murray has been a part of NCAA tournament teams before, having made the big dance as a freshman with LSU in ‘21-‘22, however, he’s also been a part of teams who didn’t make the big dance, and the difference in this McNeese squad according to him is the Cowboys grit.

“I can just say about this team and this program, honestly, it's just grit, playing in the Southland, doing this every week for the past couple months, it's been gritty if you know how that league is,

it’s physical. So playing games like that has got us prepared, honestly that’s what's been going on for the past 2 years,” Murray said. 

Despite handling Clemson without issue for the most part, there is no sense of ease around this McNeese program, as Purdue is looking to dominate them the same way they did High Point. Purdue has experienced the epitome of brutality quite recently, having been a one seed in 2023 and getting knocked out in the first round by FDU, so losing to another mid-major in the early rounds is not something Painter and co want to have happen again. 

Will Wade is aware of what Purdue has gone through, however, he’s also aware of the strides they have made since that loss, including a run to the NCAA tournament just a season ago. That run from Purdue showed resilience, as after a loss like they suffered a season earlier, it would be easy to continue a downward trend a year later, but they didn’t and that is why according to Will Wade, his team will have to throw some curveballs at the Boilermakers in hopes to knock them off their game. 

“If you throw Matt Painter and Purdue fastballs the entire game, they're gonna hit some grand slams. They're too good, too good of a staff, too good of players, too good of a team. So you've got to throw some change-ups, some curves. So we have got a few things, but we watched a bunch of film. It's a lot of stuff they've seen this year, we just got to kind of have the greatest hits of some of the stuff that maybe worked against them this year, but they'll be prepared, they're very, very well coached,” Wade said. 

McNeese will look to keep the ball rolling and fire some curveballs at Purdue. Tip-off is coming soon!

Two Coaching Icons Meet in Providence

By Robert Lastella

The matchup many have been waiting for since the NCAA tournament bracket was released will happen today in Providence. Rick Pitino and Saint John's will face off against John Calipari and Arkansas at 2:40 PM. On Saturday, 1740 career wins will stand on the sidelines of Amica Mutual Pavilion, with the side that gets that to 1741 punching their ticket to the Sweet 16. 

Calipari and Pitino have accomplished a lot in their own right, however, a Round of 32 loss for either would be failing to meet expectations so it is safe to say there is a lot at stake in this matchup. Arkansas has battled back from an 0-5 start in SEC play and Saint John’s win over Omaha in the round of 64 was their first tournament win since 2000 and neither side wants to see their efforts to get here go by the wayside. 

As for the two coaches, they have crossed paths many times, with their most heated crossover being when Calipari was the head coach of Kentucky and Pitino was at Louisville, two schools where it is practically required for the two coaches not to like each other. According to Pitino, despite the two coaching against each other at the two biggest basketball schools in Kentucky, there really isn’t much of a rivalry and he notes the game on Saturday is between players, not coaches. 

“I don’t go against coaches, we go against teams, he doesn’t have to worry about me, my jump shot’s long gone. He's got to prepare for our team. We've got to prepare for his players. He's preparing for our players. John and I don't play one-on-one,” Pitino said. 

As for the matchup itself, Arkansas will have to find a way to exploit Saint John’s staunch defense, with veteran guard Johnell Davis figuring to play a big role coming off an 18-point performance against Kansas in round one. As for SJU, coming off a barrage of 14 threes against Omaha they will look to find their shot early in this one, while also establishing their tough defense to slow down Davis and the Razorbacks. 

Arkansas has battled back from being out of the NCAA tournament conversation at points this season, enacting multiple player-only meetings which helped break them out of their slump and now with veteran players and a hall-of-fame coach, they have a serious chance to make a run in the tournament, but they will have a tall task in Saint John’s. The good news for the Razorbacks is between Jonas Aidoo and Johnell Davis, they have 2 leaders who have been in battles like this before and they will need to rely on their leadership to get past Saint John’s in this one. 

These two coaches have battled many times before and although the teams may be different, there are traits that a coach can carry from team to team and Calipari sees that with Pitino and his Saint John’s team. When speaking with the media prior to the Round of 32 matchups, Calipari described many things about Pitino-led teams, but the one thing that stands out is that all his squads play hard and SJU is no different. 

“They’re a team that’s going to be prepared. They're going to play hard, they're going to play rough, it's going to be bump and grind. You're not getting a free layup without getting bumped. I mean, that's his team. He's not pressing as much where he'd go, 2-2-1,1-2-2-1-2-1-1, he's doing mostly, man, sometimes he'll trap. But what you find out the second-half numbers are ridiculous. So they're wearing you down like you're in combat, and eventually, if you're not used to it, hopefully we understand that. We talk to the kids about it, but they're good. He's done a great job with his team. That's why they're a two-seed. That's why we were a 10 seed. Their guard plays and people say, they don't shoot it. Are you ready? In the last five games, their percentage is better than ours from the three. So then you gotta say, you really don't shoot it. Those are numbers that are real. So they offensive rebound like crazy. If they get 18 offensive rebounds and make 10 threes, they beat anybody in the country,” Calipari said. 

The Razorbacks have dealt with injuries all season long, with Boogie Fland and Johnell Davis battling back from hand & wrist injuries and currently Adou Thiero is dealing with a knee injury that could potentially keep him out of the round of 32 games. Although Saint John’s hasn’t dealt with injuries to many of their top scorers, they have lost Brady Dunlap and Jaiden Glover, 2 key role players to injury. 

Fatigue and injury happen to everyone at this time of the year and according to Pitino, the injuries haven’t slowed down Arkansas, in fact, they’re playing some of the best basketball of the season right now. 

“We don't have Brady Dunlap, we don't have Jaden Glover, three players out for the season. So we're pretty banged up as well, but they're playing great basketball out of the last seven games right now, and they played a great game last night, a great game in a lot of different areas,” Pitino said. 

The battle of two of the most storied coaches in the sport will take place Saturday at 2:40 PM from Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, Rhode Island and the winner will punch their ticket to the Sweet 16 next weekend and join Rocco in San Francisco.

The Purdue Bench Embodies "Boiler Up"

By Robert Lastella

After rolling through High Point in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday afternoon, Purdue is looking to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16 on Saturday with a win over another pesky Mid Major, McNeese. The Boilermakers asserted their physicality in their win over the Panthers, however, McNeese did the same to Clemson and this game has the potential to be a dogfight in the trenches. 

On the season, Purdue has been led by their big three of Trey Kaufman-Renn, Braden Smith, and Fletcher Loyer, as they’re the only 3 averaging double figures and when the Boilermakers need a bucket, odds are it’s going to come from one of those three. In the round of 64 however, although Kaufman-Renn and Braden Smith both had big games and Loyer finished with 8, it was Camden Heide and Gicarri Harris who Purdue Coach Matt Painter credits with providing a boost that got Purdue the win. 

Bench players serve a critical role for each team, however, the best squads are the ones who get production outside of scoring from their role players, and according to Painter, his squad was able to do that against High Point. 

“Having depth is going to help you and it's what I really talk about with guys that come off the bench. Like, you know, there's times where you're not going to be able to get the same volume of shots every game, like those guys will be able to Braden and Trey Kaufman, especially, to where they're going to get a lot of usage sometimes the game, what it brings, you know, Cam is going to get more opportunities, or miles is going to get more opportunities. But you know, you always can defend, you always can rebound, you always can change the game, Gicarri Harris didn't play a whole lot in last night's game until the end, but he had eight rebounds. He was just around the basketball. It just made sense for him to stay in there, and it gave us an extra ball handler in the game. Miles Colvin was very active, I thought he did some good things, Cam might have been the difference from an individual standpoint, getting a double-double,” Painter said. 

In terms of bench production for Purdue against High Point Camden Heide finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds, Gicarri Harris grabbed 8 rebounds and Myles Colvin threw down a ferocious dunk as Painter said, without their efforts, they may have come up short against the Panthers. In the same way that Purdue was able to replace the lost production of Lance Jones and Zach Edey with the emergence of Kaufman-Renn and the development of Loyer and Smith; Harris, Colvin, and Heide are the future of Purdue and have the opportunity to show that in their roles off of the bench. 

The physicality that Harris and Heide will provide down low is exactly what they will need against a McNeese squad that is physically tested after running through a grueling conference schedule in the Southland Conference. Where some players get lost in scoring and wanting to be in the spotlight, Purdue has found guys who excel in their roles and if they do that once again in their round of 32 matchup, they will be in a good position.

Both Heide and Colvin are sophomores, while Harris is a freshman, and while developing in their own games, all three have found a way to play an important role on this squad. According to Colvin, accepting their roles is what has allowed them to excel and this season has provided an opportunity for him and Heide to make a significant jump in their game. 

“Just preparation, that's a really big part of all of it, not just, the physical, you know, getting extra shots up and running through plays and sets and stuff like that. I think it's also more than mental, you know. Like you said, you know, we're not gonna know how many minutes we're going to play that night. So just go out there and just try to produce as much as we can with the minutes that we have. And I think this year we've done really well with that. It's just becoming more comfortable within the offense and the defense of the schemes that we have. So I think that's huge, that we've started to learn and grow and made a big leap from last year to this year,” Colvin said. 

Purdue will prepare for McNeese over the coming 24 hours, with Coach Painter having to find a way to rally his guys to perform at the level they did against High Point, as McNeese will come into this game as a mid-major with nothing to lose, something that is always dangerous in March. 

Although there is pressure coming into this game, as is any game in March, Painter says that he will prepare his team to treat McNeese like any other opponent in hopes they don’t overlook or overcompensate against the Cowboys. 

“It really doesn't matter, like you know what your seed is, they're a great team. Look at them like you're playing Auburn. Look at them like you're playing Michigan State. They have great players. They have a great coach. Like, they've gained some steam here, that's the narrative. But when the game starts, the game is still the game, and they play hard. So look at them for what they do, and make sure you're selling that to your players, about how quick they are, athletic they are, how tough they are, how they get into gaps. And it's just like making a cliptape. Okay, here's what works against them. Here's what does not work against them. Do as much of this as you can, and stay the hell away from this, because they've proven that they prey on that,” Painter said. 

Purdue will be the first game up in Providence on Saturday afternoon, taking on McNeese at 12:10 pm EST with the game streaming on CBS.

The Magic of McNeese

By Robert Lastella

The madness of march never fails to captivate audiences across the nation and that was the case once again on Thursday afternoon in Providence, as 12 seed McNeese State upset 5 seed Clemson in a thrilling matchup 69-67. Although the Cowboys were major underdogs in this one, they never showed it, controlling the tempo from the opening tip and even when Clemson closed in down the stretch, their confidence never wavered and it helped them close out the narrow victory.

McNeese was the lower seed in this matchup, however they dominated the headlines heading into this one as multiple sources reported that Head Coach Will Wade would be accepting the NC State job at the conclusion of the season. After those rumours came out, Wade mentioned 

how there was an open dialogue between him and his team and there was no concern that it would be an issue heading into this matchup and it wasn’t a problem in the slightest. 

After the Cowboys fell behind 6-4 with 15:59 to play, they took the lead a few possessions later and never gave it back, dominating Clemson in nearly every facet from points and rebounds, to assists and turnovers and McNeese played like a team who expected to win. According to Wade, he and his team have been focused on this game despite what the rumors say and the win today will not only empower his team, but the McNeese community as a whole.

“I've been focused on the game, I’ve been on one about the game. So whatever else is happening that's of no distraction to us. I know everybody else thinks that there's distractions as we operate the same way all the time, and so we hadn't operated any differently, nothing's been any different. There hadn't been a lot of motion. It's been narrow focus, bigger the game the narrow your focus. And it's been an absolute, narrow focus on winning our first NCAA Tournament game at McNeese State and continuing to change. This is just huge for our school, our enrollments up 3%, our applications are up 10% and we've gotten freaking $25 million worth of free advertising the last couple weeks. I mean, I mean, our stuff's going to go through the roof. It's going to change our area. This changes our five parish areas, changes everything. So, you know, that's what our focus has been. And we've broken every record in the book. This was the last one to get. We want to keep this going,” Wade said. 

McNeese was led tonight by Brandon Murray, who finished with 21 points 4 rebounds and 3 assists and he was joined in double figures by Quadir Copeland who finished with 16, Christian Shumate who added 13 and Sincere Parker who finished with 12. The Cowboys got it done in a variety of ways, outsourcing Clemson 44-24 and in 35-30 hustle points, overcoming a 4 of 19 shooting day from 3 to knock off the Tigers. 

It could have been easy for the Cowboy players to check out in this one, as the rumor mill was swirling with news about Wade that would change the McNeese program immensely. In the biggest game of their lives, McNeese put the drama aside and left it all on the court, picking up the University’s first NCAA win ever in the process.

The Cowboys’ celebration in Providence created memories that will last a lifetime.

As for how the players kept a level head and performed at their best despite Wade to NC State rumors, you’ll have to ask Copeland, who says since both sides have been transparent this whole season, off-the-court issues aren’t going to affect what they do on the court. 

“I think when you are in the loop and both sides are transparent about things, there's not really too much room for conflict. Everybody's aware of everything that's going on, and when there's a clear understanding, everybody keeps the same main goals in the front of their mind. You know, we worry about all of that stuff later, and everybody's transparent on both ends, and that's something we worry about later. And, you know, we are just focusing on winning these games,” Copeland said. 

Next up for McNeese will be 4 seed Purdue who knocked off High Point earlier today and asserted their physicality against the undersized mid-major and the Cowboys will look to put a stop to that this weekend. McNeese has the size to compete downlow against Purdue and if they find a way to contain Kaufman-Renn and Smith, another upset could be brewing in Providence this weekend. 

The fans who made the trip and those back at home have to be ecstatic for the Cowboys win over Clemson, however according to Wade, it’s a good feeling, but the goal isn’t to win one game, it’s to win multiple and that is what they will look to do. 

“We have to get back to see but we are locked in right now. I think it'd be better if we go to the Sweet 16, and I think it'll be better on the campus then, our goal is not to win one game. That's not the goal. That's just one game. You know, we will worry about these games when we get back,” Wade said.

The Razorbacks' Edge

By Robert Lastella

If you thought that John Calipari’s team wouldn’t come to play in March, you thought wrong, as the 10-seeded Razorbacks marched into Providence and handed 7-seed Kansas their earliest NCAA tournament loss since 2006. As has been the story all year for Arkansas, it wasn’t perfect, but in the same way, they battled through their struggles earlier in the year, the Razorbacks fought in this game and came out on top with a 79-72 victory. 

Arkansas found themselves trailing 67-64 with 3:55 to play and Kansas looked to be rolling with momentum, holding the Razorbacks without a bucket for over four minutes, however with 2:56 to play, Boogie Fland stole it away from Hunter Dickinson and went coast to coast, to bring UA within 1, 67-66. That bucket ignited a 7-0 run for Arkansas that flipped the game completely in their favor, as by the end of it a Johnell Davis triple had them leading 71-67 with 1:43 to play and forcing Bill Self into a timeout which was to no avail as Kansas was never able to tie or bring it within one over the final minute and change. 

After their up-and-down season, doubts began to creep into Arkansas’ head, according to Calipari. For them to win this game, it required belief, something Cal had to instill in his players through his own actions.

“Every one of us, including me, had doubts and we all had to convince ourselves we’re going to do this. I had a card I read every morning and every night before I went to bed, and it said I've been blessed throughout my life. Forget basketball. I have been blessed. I'm gonna have a great attitude. I'm going to enjoy this journey and grow as a coach from it, I am going to make sure I keep an eye on my players, and let's write our own story. And then the end it said, Have faith. And I read it in the morning, and I read it when I walk my dog, which I do twice a day. I think he walks me, but I think I walk him, but I think it's the other way. And before I go to bed, I have it with me here, and to keep me in that frame of mind, if I want them in that frame of mind, I gotta be in that frame of mind,” Calipari said. 

Arkansas got a diverse scoring effort against Kansas, getting 4 players in double figures and they were led by their big man Jonas Aidoo, who finished with 22 points and 5 rebounds, giving Hunter Dickinson everything he could handle in the paint. Outside of Aidoo, Johnell Davis finished with 18, including a big triple to give the Razorbacks a 4 point led with less than 2 minutes to play, as well as 4 free throws to put the game on ice, and DJ Wagner (14) and Trevon Brazile (11) both finished in double figures as well. 

As mentioned, it wasn’t a perfect effort for the Razorbacks tonight, as they finished just 25% from beyond the arc, assisted on less than 50% of their field goals, and lost the rebound battle, but in March you need to find a way to win no matter the circumstances are and that is exactly what they did. 

Aidoo played with a chip on his shoulder tonight for Arkansas and if you ask Aidoo, he’ll tell you the whole team has something to prove and they’re ready to do exactly that in the tournament.

“We all know we have something to prove. We went through a lot of adversity with injuries and missing players, we let a couple of games go. Starting 0-5 in the conference, so, you know, just all those things that helped us, you know, build our confidence, build our strength, and get us ready mentally for the rest of the season,” Aidoo said. 

Next up for Arkansas will be a battle with Rick Pitino and Saint John’s, a game between two storied schools and coaches alike. The road to advancing as a 10 seed is never easy and Calipari’s Razorbacks will have to take down back-to-back hall-of-fame coaches and their teams if they want to keep their bounce-back season alive. 

If you’re Arkansas you have to keep finding ways to improve even if that’s little by little, as the injuries have left the Razorbacks undermanned which makes practice reps less physical. That is why situations like Boogie Fland succeeding in a late-game scenario, going coast to coast with a steal and score is crucial, as if he can ramp up with in-game reps, it will only help the Razorbacks continue their run. 

Calipari’s takeaway following this one and heading into the Round of 32 is that his squad learned something and although he didn’t elaborate on what that was, he noted that it will be good for his squad moving forward. 

“We learned some stuff today, didn't we, boys? We learned some stuff today, and I told them after there's stuff going forward that’s good for us. This was a good win. That was an NCAA Tournament game, two teams battling out, making shots, making plays, and we kind of got away from them in the very end,” Calipari said.

Memorable High Point Season Comes to an End

By Robert Lastella

The unfortunate side of March Madness is that in each game there is a loser whose season comes to an end and in the first game of round one in Providence, it was 13 seed High Point who succumbed to defeat, falling to 4th seed Purdue 75-63. The Panthers gave it their best effort, briefly leading in the first half and after they fell behind by double figures in the second half, they cut their deficit to 3, 59-56 with 7:47 to go, however, they were unable to complete the comeback as Purdue closed the game on a 16-7 run.

For High Point, their magical season came to a close with a final record of 29-6 and in only his second season, Coach Alan Huss led the school to their first March Madness birth and although it ended in defeat, the process to get there was truly something special. The Panthers finished their season ranked 85th in Ken Pom and top 100 in every major offensive statistic and sometimes it’s just not your night and in the first round of the NCAAT, that was the case.

Hindsight is 20-20, however, Coach Huss mentioned after the game his team would have flowed more if they had played a P5 team during the regular season, and heading into next year, scheduling a power opponent will be a goal of his.

“I’ll be on the record to every high major coach out there, we would love to play you next season. I’m guessing that won’t help, but we’d like to play a couple of Power Five for conference teams. You know, we’re open to any and all. I think the ironic thing is, you know, they were one of the only ones that had a little bit of interest, but by the time we talked to them, they already had their schedule full, except for one day. It didn’t work for us. You know, everyone else, except a couple of schools, said, No, you know, it’s probably a combination of a number of things. We had the last five before the regular season or before the conference tournament. So we were off for the better part of a week. Played three games, not to the best of our ability. We lost our rhythm a little bit. Then we got another whatever it was, eight or nine days off, you know, and not to make excuses, I just don’t think we’ve ever really found the rhythm we had late in the season, whether kind of, even when you look past the step up in class, I’m not certain, you know, especially our just, we just didn’t have great offensive flow today. And I’m not certain it was really anything they did so much as it was just us just kind of being out of sync a bit.

It is a big stage. With all due respect to the Big South, because we’ve got a great conference. It was unbelievably competitive. It had us prepared, I think, to play at a high level.

You know, this is a big stage for a lot of our guys, and we’ve got some high major transfer downs that, for whatever reason, didn’t necessarily have the best experience at the highest level. And for those guys that have a little bit of a chip on their shoulder and want to prove that they can play at this level. You know, they came out here, and maybe they pressed a little bit too. But like I said, I think our plan was good enough defensively, and we just, we just kind of
lacked flow. And if we can’t run, the best thing we do is play in transition. We couldn’t offensive rebound today, or defensive rebound today, and that really kept us out of transition. And when we get the ball off the backboard and play fast break basketball and play unselfishly, we’re difficult to defend,” Huss said.

High Point was led tonight by D’Maurion Williams, who finished with 12 points in the final game of his collegiate career and he was joined in double figures by Trae Brenham who scored 11, another senior who opted to return to HPU for his final season. Things got away from the Panthers early in the second half, but not once did High Point quit and the grit they displayed with it all on the line is an example of the culture that has been built over the past two seasons under Coach Huss.

Outcome aside, the work that Huss and his staff put into building this team led to the best team in school history and it started with his ability to retain multiple players from the previous season, something that is difficult to do at the mid-major level. Out of players who played at least 10 games, 7 out of 11 were on the team last season and this team’s connectivity led them to be able to keep up with Purdue’s elite offense in this one.

According to Trae Benham, the decision to come back this year was based on a conversation he had with Coach Huss where they discussed the chance to do something special this season and it came to fruition through belief in the Lord.

“We met in the summer, he told me that we had an opportunity to make history. And, you know, we had a lot of guys that came out of the transfer portal and were super deep. You know, it was hard at first just to see, you know, my moment, my own minutes, my own ego, my own desires, get in the way. But you know, as time went on, I realized, and coach has helped me realize, that there’s something so much deeper than your own selfish desires, and that’s to get a part of something bigger than yourself. You know, we talk about it all the time, but that’s called sacrifice, and sacrificial love runs deep, and that’s why this brotherhood is unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of. But I want to give glory to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because he’s the one that sacrificed for us, and he’s a leader, and it’s him that’s the reason why we were able to do that, and it’s him that’s the reason why we’re able to sacrifice and get a part of something bigger than ourselves and to crucify our own egos and our own desires every single day,” Benham said.

The 2025 season has come to a close for High Point and the next step will be to build on the success they had this season and find a way to win their first tournament game in school history in 2026. The good news for Panther fans is that Coach Huss has found the formula to success at High Point and if he is able to replicate that and build on it, the best is yet to come for this program.

Huss hopes to be able to replicate the success he had this season, but that will start with retaining talent like he did last season and if you ask Huss, one of his biggest assets in doing that is the school itself.

“We certainly hope so (to retain talent). We’ve got a number of guys that have got additional eligibility. We hope they use it with us. I would tell you that for the rest of the country, this is probably a little bit unique to hear, but unless you can come to experience High Point, you probably don’t understand how good these kids have it. And there’s been some things on social media that show the things at High Point, but the things are just that. They’re just things. We actually every time we have a student-athlete make an official visit or unofficial visit, we show them our campus. We’re careful. We take them directly to our account, to our conference room and our basketball office, and say, All right, you know, I know you have sensory overload right now. You’ve seen the nicest campus you’ll ever be on. What we need you to know right now is that if you choose High Point for those reasons, prepare to be disappointed. Right? Those aren’t good reasons to choose a college. You need to choose them based on the people in this building right here, the people you’ll meet in the athletic department, the people you’ll meet in just the university as a whole. You need to be prepared to be something or be a part of something that’s bigger than just High Point basketball if you come to High Point, you know?

And so we were, we’re really careful to make sure we get guys that appreciate how good they have it there. And, you know, it’s, I think that’s one of the reasons why we’ve been successful with high major transfers. You come to High Point. A lot of people think if you go to the mid-major level, it’s maybe not quite as nice, and it’s quite the opposite. Doesn’t matter where you come from. If you come to High Point, you’re going to have an experience that’s better than where you came from,” Huss said.

NCAA Preview - The Providence Pods

By Robert Lastella

The NCAA tournament is officially here and we are headed to Providence!

Complete coverage of the opening rounds will be provided by Bracketeer journalist, Robert Lastella.

SCHEDULE

AFTERNOON SESSION

  • 4-seed Purdue and 13-seed High Point will open things up at 12:40 PM,

  • 5-seed Clemson vs 12-seed McNeese close out the afternoon round at Approx. 3:15 PM

EVENING SESSION

  • 7-seed Kansas will take on 10-seed Arkansas at 7:10 PM

  • 2-seed Saint John’s will take on 15-seed Omaha at Approx. 9:45 PM.

These pods feature eight coaches with different stories, as two legends John Calipari and Bill Self battle it out against one another, while two high major coaches Matt Painter and Brad Brownell look to assert themselves among the best coaches in the sport against tough mid-major opponents. Rick Pitino looks to keep the redemption tour rolling into the first round against Omaha. As for mid-major coaches, High Point Coach Alan Huss looks to make himself and his Panthers squad known on the national landscape with a win over Purdue, Will Wade looks to get McNeese past the first round and keep his name trending up in coaching searches across the power ranks with an upset over Clemson. Lastly, Chris Crutchfield, a career assistant who has built up Omaha over the past few years will look to pull off the upset of the year against Saint John’s.

The coaching is elite in these pods, but the talent on the court is even better, High Point and McNeese being two of the most dangerous mid-majors for a high major to face in the entire tournament and both will have a chance to knock off successful power opponents on Thursday.

Kansas and Arkansas are both looking to put their rocky regular seasons behind them and the winner of that matchup could very well make a run in this tournament, as all it takes is one win to get rolling and it could happen in Providence on Thursday night.

Notes on each team playing in the Providence this weekend:

(4) PURDUE VS. (13) HIGH POINT CAPSULES

PURDUE

This is Braden Smith’s team now in 2025. How far can the Boilermakers go?

Leading Scorer: 6’9 F Trey Kaufman-Renn, 20.2 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2.2 APG

Notable stats:

Ken Pom Rank- 18th

Positive offensive stats- effective field goal percentage (56.3%, 16th), turnover percentage

(15.6%, 68th), 3-point percentage (38.5%, 10th), 2-point percentage (55.5%, 37th), Assist rate

(57.7%, 53rd)

Negative offensive stats- No Major offensive stat outside of the top 150

NCAA tournament round one: Providence quadrant preview

Positive defensive stats- 3-point percentage allowed (30.7%, 27th),

Negative defensive stats- effective field goal percentage allowed (52%, 242nd), 2-point

percentage allowed (56.4%, 350th), offensive rebounds allowed (29.9%, 186th)


HIGH POINT

High Point is not your typical non-power program. Financial commitments secured a Power-5 worthy starting lineup with depth, and make this team incredibly dangerous in Providence

Leading Scorer: 6’2 G Kezza Giffa, 14.8 PPG, 2.5 RPG, 2.5 APG

Notable stats:

Ken Pom Rank- 85th

Positive offensive stats- effective FG percentage (56.4%, 12th), turnover percentage (15.3%,

51st), offensive rebound percentage (34%, 60th), FT Rate (37.6%, 53rd), 3-point percentage

(36.6%, 51st), 2-point percentage (57.4%, 15th)

Negative offensive stats- No Major offensive stat outside the top 100

Positive defensive stats- effective FG percentage allowed (49.1%, 93rd), 2-point percentage

allowed (48.9%, 98th), 3-point percentage allowed (32.9%, 121st)

Negative defensive stats- turnover percentage forced (16.5%, 225th), FT Rate allowed

(36.3%, 270th)

Matchup thoughts

Purdue may come into this matchup as the 4 seed and dominate, however, there is a path to success for High Point, as the Panthers are a high-performing team on both ends of the court and if the Boilers don’t assert themselves early and this game becomes a battle, watch out. There isn’t much of a size advantage in this matchup for Purdue and with the Boilermakers struggling with 2-point defense, if High Point can capitalize on their paint touches while finding a way to slow the game down, this is a game that an upset could occur, but expect a close battle with either side being capable of advancing.

CLEMSON VS. McNEESE CAPSULES

CLEMSON

Ian Schieffelin is a throw back post weapon with several post moves to create angles and a variety of hook shots to keep defenses guessing. His frame is larger than what TV visuals lens too, we’ve seen him up close.

5 seed- Clemson:

Leading Scorer: 6’4 G Chase Hunter, 16.4 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.5 APG

Notable stats:

Ken Pom Rank- 19th

Positive offensive stats- effective FG percentage (53.6, 64th), turnover percentage (17.8%,

78th), offensive rebound percentage (33.7%, 67th), 3-point percentage (37.2%, 31st)

Negative offensive stats- FT Rate (28.2%, 316th)

Positive defensive stats- effective FG percentage allowed (48.9%, 88th), turnover percentage

allowed (20.1%, 42nd), 3-point percentage allowed (32.1%, 80th)

Negative defensive stats- offensive rebound percentage allowed (29.9%, 191st), no other

stats outside the top 150.


McNEESE

12 seed- McNeese:

Leading Scorer: 6’3 G Javohn Garcia, 12.9 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.9 APG

Notable stats:

Ken Pom Rank- 60th

Positive offensive stats- effective FG percentage (53.3, 75th), turnover percentage (16.2%,

115th), offensive rebound percentage (34.7%, 42nd), 3-point percentage (35.6%, 77th), 2-point

percentage (53.2%, 99th)

Negative offensive stats- FT Percentage (70.7%, 235th)

Positive defensive stats- effective FG percentage allowed (47.5%, 39th), turnover percentage

allowed (21.6%, 18th), 3-point percentage allowed (32.2%, 84th), 2-point percentage allowed

(46.9%, 35th)

Negative Defensive stats- Offensive rebound percentage allowed (31.3%, 259th)

Matchup thoughts:
For the second year in a row, McNeese is a mid-major to watch, as Will Wade has this squad humming and they have the talent and cohesion to potentially knock off Clemson in this matchup. Clemson however isn’t a slouch of a power opponent, as the Tigers have been a scrappy team offensively, also with a solid 3-point shot collectively, while on the defensive side of things, they are a top 150 team across the board and will frustrate McNeese both down low and on the perimeter defensively.

This game is going to be a true March battle, however, if McNeese can run their normal offense and break Clemson’s staunch defense, they can pull off the upset, but it’s going to require one of their better offensive performances of the season.

KANSAS VS. ARKANSAS CAPSULES

KANSAS

Hunter Dickinson’s last ride begins in Providence.

7 seed- Kansas:

Leading Scorer: Hunter Dickinson, 17.6 PPG, 10.0 RPG, 2.0 APG

Notable Stats:

Ken Pom Rank- 21

Positive offensive stats: effective FG percentage (53.1, 78th), 3-point percentage (35.2%,

102nd), 2-point percentage (53.4%, 91st)

Negative offensive stats: Offensive rebound percentage (30.4%, 165th), FT Rate (71.1%,

223rd), FT % (71.1%, 223rd)

Positive defensive stats: effective FG percentage allowed (46.2%, 15th), offensive rebound

percentage allowed (27.5%, 68th), 3-point percentage allowed (30.9%, 36th), 2-point

percentage allowed (46.1%, 18th)

Negative defensive stats: turnover percentage forced (15.6%, 285th)


ARKANSAS

John Calipari survuved a rollercoaster beginning to SEC Play at 1-6. Running the offense through Johnell Davis has earned Arkansas some key wins over the past two months

10 seed- Arkansas:

Leading Scorer: 6’8 F Adou Thiero, 15.6 PPG, 6.0 RPG, 2.0 APG

Notable Stats:

Ken Pom Rank- 40

Positive offensive stats: effective FG percentage (52.7, 88th), 2-point percentage (54.4%,

62nd)

Negative offensive stats: offensive rebound percentage (27.6%, 249th), 3-point percentage

(33.3%, 201st)

Positive defensive stats: effective FG percentage allowed (48.3%, 61st), offensive rebound

percentage allowed (28.3% 100th), 3-point percentage allowed (31.9%, 72nd), 2-point

percentage allowed (48.5%, 86th)

Negative defensive stats: No Major defensive stat outside the top 150.

Matchup thoughts:

It is a battle of two teams who vastly underperformed this season and one side will get to build momentum with a win, while the other will see their efforts to save a downseason go by the wayside. Kansas has been down pretty much all of the conference play, going 5-5 over their last 10 games, while Arkansas saved their season down the stretch, winning 4 out of their last 5 to close the season.

This game leans toward Kansas as they have the size and a bit more experience in this matchup, however, if Arkansas can find a way to slow down Hunter Dickinson while getting solid games out of Adou Thiero, Johnell Davis, and Boogie Fland, this is a game they can win as well, but they will need to come out with energy from the jump and control the pace throughout.

ST. JOHN’S VS. OMAHA CAPSULES

ST. JOHN’S

Historic season in Jamaica Queens, NY. Rick Pitino and the SJU community have had their sights and goals on opening the NCAA’s in Providence for weeks. The time has finally come.

2 seed- Saint Johns:

Leading Scorer: RJ Luis Jr, 18.4 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 2.1 APG

Notable stats:

Ken Pom Rank- 11th

Positive offense stats- Turnover percentage (15.6%, 67th), offensive rebound percentage

(37.3%, 9th)

Negative offense stats- Effective FG percentage (49.7%, 244th), FT Rate (30.2%, 269th), 3-

point percentage (30.4%, 338th), FT percentage (68.9%, 295th)

Positive defensive stats- Effective FG percentage allowed (46.6%, 19th), turnover percentage

forced (21.9%, 13th), 3-point percentage allowed (31.8%, 67th), 2-point percentage allowed

(45.8%, 11th).


OMAHA

The Mavs have been the most electrifying team in postgame celebrations, destroying trash cans, and hiring Pro Wrestlers to help them. It has been a spectacle. Can they keep the magic alive vs. St. John’s?

15 seed- Omaha:

Leading Scorer: 6’8 Senior F Marquel Sutton, 19.1 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 1.2 APG

Notable stats:

Ken Pom Rank- 156th

Positive offensive stats- Effective FG percentage (53.5%, 69th), turnover percentage (15.7%,

82nd), FT Rate (36.4%, 78th), 3-point percentage (36.7%, 44th)

Negative offensive stats- offensive rebound percentage (29.2%, 205th), assist rate (49.5%,

243rd)

Positive defensive stats- offensive rebound percentage allowed (25.4%, 19th)

Negative defensive stats- effective FG % allowed (53.1%, 284th), turnover percentage allowed

(14.9%, 321st), 3-point percentage allowed (35.1%, 259th), 2-point percentage allowed (53.5%,

283rd)

Matchup Thoughts:

This is a tough draw for Omaha, as for a mid-major they have a high-level offense, checking in at the top 100 in multiple areas and they also have a 6’8 F in Sutton who can cause problems against the right matchup, however, Saint John’s is not that squad. The Johnnies’ defense is spectacular and although Omaha’s offense is good, it’s not at a level to perform highly against Saint John’s, and if the Johnnies can get scoring from Luis, Kadary Richmond, and Zuby Ejiofor, Omaha will not be able to keep up.

Look for Saint John’s to win handily, although if their offense struggles, this one may be closer than expected.

Super Saturday, National November 14th Preview

BRACKET WATCH - DECEMBER 14TH

As we approach the final stretch of non-conference play, the picture of at-large bid allocation is starting to take shape. Teams are settling into their identities, and the holiday tournament results have given me plenty to analyze. With conference play looming for many programs, these next few games will be crucial in building non-conference resumes. and momentum into league play. The pressure is mounting and we have several rivalry matchups. Let's dive into the most compelling matchups of the day. These heavyweight games take on added significance for teams hoping to secure protected seeds come March

In each Bracket Watch column, the games previewed are divided into two important categories:

  • Heavyweight games: Games that will potentially impact the top 16 teams on the seed list. Better known as protected seeds.

  • Bubble games: Games that will most influence teams inside or outside of the bubble.

HEAVYWEIGHT GAMES

Tennessee at Illinois, Saturday, 5:30 PM ET, FOX Rick Barnes has the Vols clicking on all cylinders and it isn’t just defense this year. As a team the Vols are leading the country in 2-point FG%, third in overall FG%, and 10th overall offensive efficiency, per POM. The Volunteers are getting splendid production behind Igor Milicic's emergence as an all-around contributor and the steadiness of role guys like Cade Phillips and Felix Okpara. The real story is the dynamic backcourt. Chaz Lanier has been a godsend, transferring in from North Florida. Lanier is scorching at a 49% clip from deep and his backcourt mate is Zakai Ziegler, who does an incredible job facilitating this balanced attack. The best news of all? The defense remains elite. Vols are making opponents’ lives miserable. The second-best overall defense covers the perimeter with precision and great organization. Jahmai Mashack is seemingly everywhere defensively, swarming to deny cutters and shooters. That overall Vols package is going to test Illinois' dynamic influx of talent. The Fighting Illini will be backed by what figures to be a raucous crowd in Champaign. Phenom Will Riley is looking to build on some good early outings and feed off this home energy, but the real story is Kasparas Jakucionis. Jakucionis has come over from Lithuania and to this point has not hit the typical wall a first-year star from the European ranks would hit in College Basketball here. He’s got a four-game streak of 20+ points and is prolific. Coach Brad Underwood would prefer a few fewer turnovers, otherwise, this has been impressive to see from Jakucionis early on. Tomi Ivisic at 7-1 can pose some problems potentially for the Vols. He’s been on a nice rebounding streak and getting 30+ minutes in these past few important games. The Illini took a frustrating OT loss to Northwestern on the road, then bounced back to beat Wisconsin at home earlier this week. Illinois has stepped up on defense in their last five performances, ranking as the fourth-best defense in the country since November 21st. That gives us an incredible chess match with Tennessee’s toughest road test and its unbeaten record on the line against the Illini’s perfect home record so far. The Vols project as a possible 1-seed early, so a major chance for Illinois to score a top-of-the-resume win. For the Vols, a road win at Illinois will provide a potentially elite road win and help further distance the SEC from the B1G. 

Gonzaga vs. UConn at Madison Square Garden, Saturday, 8 PM ET, FOX
The defending two-time national champions face Mark Few's experienced Bulldogs in a marquee MSG matchup. More importantly, these two teams aren’t exactly sitting in the penthouse. Gonzaga had a disappointing loss in the Bahamas to West Virginia, and just recently was on the cusp of a key win over Kentucky in Seattle before falling late to a surge from the Wildcats. UConn's story is well documented nationally. Taking the three losses in Maui, yet bounced back on the mainland to beat Baylor and a road win at Texas. Gonzaga's Ryan Nembhard has justified his decision to return, making everyone around him better, particularly Graham Ike who's having a stellar senior campaign, and Ben Gregg has been really efficient off the bench. UConn will have the home crowd in MSG, which has been notorious for having strong Connecticut contingents. A marquee game against a West Coast power will be incredibly intriguing. On the floor, Dan Hurley’s Huskies need to continue to grow and improve. A healthy Alex Karaban is the appropriate place to build. Harris Reed, Hassan Diarra, and Freshman Liam McNeeley have all been really key for this group as well. The stakes are critical for the Big East to pick up a much-needed non-conference win and continue to aid UConn back toward the protected seed area. They’ll need to figure out a systematic Gonzaga offense to hang with the Bulldogs. GU has the second-best adjusted offense nationally. For Gonzaga themselves, this is a team with 1-seed in the West aspirations and two key non-conference chances left with this and UCLA. GU certainly wants to seize this opportunity, especially off the loss to Kentucky. Bulldogs will need to be organized defensively. The Huskies bring effective paint play and are prolific inside the arc. GU’s ability to whether the MSG crowd will be a mental test to overcome.

Arizona State vs. Florida in Atlanta, Saturday, 3:30 PM ET, SECN Bobby Hurley's Sun Devils have been the surprise of the Big 12 you can argue. The Sun Devils are 8-1 with wins over St. Mary’s, New Mexico, Grand Canyon, and Santa Clara all away from home. ASU also put up a strong showing against the aforementioned Gonzaga squad in the Kennel, losing by just eight in a very tight game. Sun Devils have blended highly talented freshmen with experienced mid-major transfers in BJ Freeman and Basheer Jihad. Jihad gets to the foul line early and often for this team. The Freshman star has been Jason Sanon who has not only shot the ball well but also demonstrated grand shot selection and decision-making. Fellow Freshman Jayden Quaintance has been one of the better shot blockers nationally already and the Sun Devils have been difficult to navigate the paint against. That leads us to the Florida Gators. UF has really been steamrolling anyone and everyone in its path. They arrive in Atlanta with lofty metrics. Currently eighth overall in POM, and performing like a top-five team in the country for most of the year per Torvik. The Gators did a nice job scheduling manageable yet not bottomfeeding opponents. They’ve blown out Wichita State, Virginia, Wake Forest, and others. The closest game they’ve been a part of is a 13-point true road win at rival Florida State. They enter this two-game stretch with North Carolina next on Tuesday in Charlotte. So it does feel like the Gators’ toughest test yet, and this will be the last of the non-conference hurdles. Florida’s defense is causing opponents to go deep into shot clocks and take less-than-ideal shots. ASU will have to be careful not to fall into that trap often in the half-court game. With this game happening in Atlanta perhaps, we will see the two sides feel each other out for a bit before a run occurs. ASU continues swinging for the non-conference fences before they go to Springfield next week to face UMass. Another chance here to really feel great about its chances to be an NCAA team if they can get a major win over Florida. For the Gators, they are simply looking to win this game and stay healthy and balanced ahead of the UNC game on Tuesday.

Ohio State vs. Auburn in Atlanta, Saturday, 1 PM ET, ESPN2 Bruce Pearl's Tigers look every bit of a top-5 team behind Johni Broome's dominant interior presence. The Buckeyes' Bruce Thornton has made the leap to stardom, leading Ohio State's unexpected rise back into the national conversation. Auburn's suffocating perimeter defense meets Auburn's unstoppable and efficient all-around offense in this Holiday Hoopsgiving showcase. Ohio State’s Devin Royal has really increased his leadership and production lately. Royal owns a streak of six consecutive games in double-figures with averages of 17.5 points and 8.2 rebounds. He has hit 68 percent of his shots (41 of 60) during that span and was the recent MVP in the 80-66 win over Rutgers. This Ohio State team has mostly impressed and I liked them a lot in preseason. The faith/knowledge/trust that the administration had in Jake Diebler sent a message to this team entering the portal season where he then brought back the key winner, Meechie Johnson. Aaron Bradshaw was part of that transfer haul and he has been cleared to return. Micah Parrish from San Diego State has provided key glue early. A puncher’s chance against very elite Auburn is all you can ask for if you are the Buckeyes and they have one. Auburn has been a freight train in this event though. They love playing in nearby Atlanta and have pounded multiple Big Ten teams here in the past. A drubbing by 28 over Indiana last year, and a 31-point demolition of Nebraska three years ago. So, Ohio State has their work cut out for them. But what an opportunity!

Memphis at Clemson, Saturday, 11 AM ET, ESPN2 Penny Hardaway's Tigers are proving they belong in the national discussion, with the dynamic duo of PJ Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter. Clemson's recent run of six straight wins includes a win over Kentucky and much-improved Penn State. Littlejohn Coliseum has become one of the nation's toughest venues as the Wildcats learned, it is Kentucky’s only loss to date. Ian Schieffelin is a joy to watch operate in the paint. He is a near-contortionist with a variety of angles to create different shots. He has also used that body to be one of the top offensive and defensive rebounders in the ACC. Clemson brought in Viktor Lakhin from Cincinnati to help pose the two-big threat and it has worked. The Chase Hunter and Chauncey Wiggins backcourt has been delivered with flying colors. The intrigue now comes as Memphis took a somewhat surprising home loss to Arkansas State last Sunday. How will these Tigers respond? For the home Clemson Tigers, another key non-league win helps a lot with the ACC down as a collective whole and Clemson has to be ready for a trip to rival South Carolina on Tuesday night as well. Unfortunately for Memphis, the AAC is down - so these next few non-league games (at Clemson, at Virginia, Mississippi State, and Ole Miss) are paramount for the bigger picture.

Texas A&M vs. Purdue in Indianapolis, Saturday, 12 PM ET, CBS The Boilermakers' Braden Smith continues his quest as a made star in the Big Ten. The big story is the planted flag on the ground by big man Trey Kaufman-Renn, who is not only the vocal point offensively but an all-around beast. His passing skills must be addressed too. Kaufman-Redd woke up this morning as the 7th best player in the KenPom POTY measure. Buzz Williams's team is notoriously tough as nails. The Aggies still have Wade Taylor IV navigating the offense, who presents the experience to go into Indy and lead the Aggies to a win here. The addition of Zhuric Phelps not only adds scoring threats but substantially increases ball pressure. Matt Painter's squad owns two losses thus far but does own wins over Ole Miss and Alabama. Now he has Texas A&M and Auburn on consecutive weekends. A chance here for the B1G as a whole to close the gap. For the Aggies, the squad with the nation’s top offensive rebounding rates, this serves as a chance for its best win away from home and follows last week’s impressive neutral-court win over Texas Tech. Henry Coleman and Pharrel Payne each weigh 250 pounds and its no secret why they are two of the top offensive rebounders in the SEC. This is the last substantial non-conference test for Texas A&M.

This is Non-Conference? Welcome to 2024-25.

UCLA vs. Arizona in Phoenix, Saturday, 3 PM ET, ESPN2 It is challenging for anyone to digest this as a non-conference game, but it is for now. Tommy Lloyd's Wildcats have stumbled out of the gate more often than what we are used to. Four Wildcat losses have sent the coach soul-searching a bit. Perhaps the Cats needed another shooter? Hard to say, but Arizona continues to demolish anyone inferior to their level as proven by its 36-point drubbing over Southern Utah a week ago. UCLA's not a great candidate to fall into any kind of track meet and poses a threat to the way Arizona prefers to go rim-to-rim. The Bruins go at a slower pace and defend at pretty much an elite level. Kobe Johnson had a reputation in the Pac-12 as the best overall defender, and he remains the standard. To date, Eric Dailey has matched his energy defensively and created a bundle of defensive love per Evan Miya’s player ratings. The Bruins are big at most positions and can go bigger if needed with four different rotation players weighing 230+ pounds and reserve Aday Mara standing at 7-3. They’ve been a freight train since losing to New Mexico early in the year, winning seven straight. Arizona has the upper hand with this game being played in Phoenix. How Caleb Love responds to different UCLA looks, of course, will be under the microscope. Arizona does not want to take a fifth non-league loss prior to entering an unfamiliar league for conference play. Bruins are looking to add another piece of silver to its solid resume and keep the wins stacking. 

Marquette at Dayton, Saturday, 7 PM ET, CBS Sports Network A storied rivalry will be renewed Today with substantial stakes. Let’s start with the low-hanging fruit, the Dayton Flyers. Dayton is 11-6 all-time vs. Marquette in UD Arena. With Marquette being a clear contender and the top current contender to win the Big East, this opportunity offers a significant reward with a Dayton win. The Flyers played very competitively in Maui and had many chances to beat both UNC and vaunted Iowa State. They did leave the islands with an 18-point win over UConn and now a chance to inflict even more pain against the Big East. Any other A-10 program likely would not have this opportunity to host a premier Big East team, but Dayton’s budget and reputation for incredible fan support provide them a privilege today. You look at the lineup and you see a power conference roster as well with Zed Key, Malachi Smith, Nate Santos, Enoch Cheeks, Posh Alexander, etc. The only similar home game was against Northwestern early, a five-point Flyers win. Marquette enters this road game on a high after burying their arch-rival last weekend, Wisconsin. Kam Jones is not only playing like an All-American, but a possible Naismith Award winner. He had 32 points and six assists in that win over the Badgers and will be the calming presence in a hostile environment today. Marquette also has wins over Purdue, Georgia, and road Maryland at the top of its early resume. A win at Dayton would continue to keep them near the top of the forecasted seed list. Golden Eagles have not been getting to the foul line much in recent games, that could be a separator if it continues in this one today. Dayton has struggled to stop dribble penetration, so we could see a lot of back-and-forth high-octane action in this one.

Xavier at Cincinnati, Saturday, 2 PM ET, ESPN+ The Crosstown Shootout reaches a new height of urgency for Cincinnati. It has been a while since they were in a position like this, with the seemingly stronger roster and home court. But Xavier has continued to excel in this heated rivalry over recent years. Cincinnati's competition level was unmatched for most of the early season. That changed when the Bearcats visited Villanova and didn’t play well. So despite being 7-1, there is arguably no real meat on the bone for Cincy’s resume yet. That is reflected in a 49 Strength Of Resume (SOR) ranking to date. Making this game a little extra important. The Bearcats will have Dayton next, so one of two remaining chances to beef up their non-conference profile. The frontcourt of Aziz Bandaogo, Simas Lukosius, and Dillon Mitchell have posed countless problems for opponents. That’s where Xavier will need to come prepared with answers to have a puncher's chance to keep its Crosstown Shootout winning streak going. The Musketeers rely heavily on the backcourt duo of Dayvion McKnight and Ryan Conwell. The frontcourt production from Zach Freemantle also makes opposing defenses worried. Xavier has simply made too many mistakes lately, with a recent turnover rate of 18.6% on its possessions. Cincinnati hasn’t been a pest either at turning its opponents over, so it could be a chance to clean this up for Xavier.  But Cincy has been stellar at guarding shooters and getting rebounds. Xavier’s shot selection will be paramount to keep this game close, and then be in a position to steal the road win late. Xavier’s wins over Wake Forest and South Carolina have not aged as well as they’d prefer, so the resume need is here for them, and it’s the last hurrah in non-conference for the Muskies.

Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State in Oklahoma City, Saturday, 8 PM ET, ESPNU Bedlam was saved! This game had many twists and turns in the offseason, but alas we’ve made it to an Oklahoma City truce between the schools. The surprise winners of the Battle 4 Atlantis has generated extra intrigue. That’s right the Sooners, who are new to the SEC and did not have the biggest expectations, are thriving early on at 9-0 this season. Jeremiah Fears has been one of several freshmen nationally playing well. Fears had 26 and went perfect from the line in the big win over Arizona. He’s been a double-figure scorer in each OU game and the Sooners are running a ton of offense through him as their most talented playmaker. The Cowboys are intriguing under first-year head coach Steve Lutz. Not a lot of expectations nationally, but Lutz has brought his non-power programs to the last three March Madness tournaments. OSU plays fast and lately, it has clicked well on offense, as they’ve been the 15th most efficient offense over the past handful of weeks. I believe under Lutz they will continue to improve all season. They demonstrated amazing shot selection in the last game, scoring 85 against a typically brutal Seton Hall defense. Time is not on their side however, this will be the last major non-conference test for the Cowboys who do have wins over Miami and Seton Hall, but nothing against an NCAA-level team. That can change with a win today.

ENJOY IT ALL!
~Rocco Miller

Multi-Bid League Preview for 2024-25

In Alphabetical order.

AMERICAN CONFERENCE

A little less than three weeks ago, the 14 members of the American Conference all converged on Irving, Texas for the AAC’s Annual Media Day. Among them were a cluster of legitimately hopeful players and coaches seeking a massive leap in this conference. Florida Atlantic has lost a lot, yet the Owls are once again ready to compete in entirely new way. Memphis is filled to the brim with dazzling talent, yet has been tasked with addressing major personnel changes to its coaching staff and potentially the overarching philosophy under Penny Hardaway. That leaves defending AAC Tournament Champions, UAB, left to carry the proven weight of the league entering the burgeoning 2024-25 season.

HC Andy Kennedy, Tony Toney, and Yaxel Lendenborg are ready to tackle high expectations in 2024-25.

Defending regular-season champion South Florida will have more to play for than ever imaginable following the tragic loss to rising Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim. I feel beyond fortunate to be around AAR and his programs at Kennesaw and South Florida the past couple of years. A unique closeness with his players and coaching staff made him a special leader. Everyone I witnessed in his programs and around them, adored him and players loved playing for him. Ben Fletcher was by his side since the Kennesaw State early days with big ideas to build one of D1’s worst programs into a winner and champion. Well, it worked. That led the two to head to Tampa a season ago. The bond for this team will remain strong and honorable under Ben Fletcher.

Ross Hodge, Paul Mills, and Adam Fisher all enter year two as head coaches in the AAC with upgraded talent. An open opportunity to ascend is here for North Texas, Wichita State, and Temple respectively. Can one or more of them capitalize?

Regular Season Champion:
UAB

Conference Tournament Location:
Frisco, TX

Auto-Bid Winner:
UAB

Player of the Year:
PJ Haggerty - Memphis

Newcomer of the Year:
Jamal Mashburn, Jr., Temple

Forecasted At-Large Contenders:
Memphis, Wichita State, North Texas, Florida Atlantic, South Florida

Forecasted Bids to Begin the season:
1

ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE

Combining academics and coastal empires has led to the 18-team monster, better known as the Atlantic Coast (-to-coast) Conference. Yes, the influx of SMU, Stanford, and California will hit the basketball court on Monday night giving that final feeling of - we are here now.

The ACC has had an illustrious history on the hardwood. Even recently, with disappointing quantities for teams selected in mind, the ability for programs like Miami (2023), Duke/UNC (2022), and Clemson/Duke (2024) to advance deep into the NCAAs, has to restore confidence. A program like Wake Forest continues to pound on the door for inclusion, yet needs to conquer road winning.to be included in the elusive field of 68.

A new window has opened with the sudden retirement of Tony Bennett at Virginia just weeks before the season was to commence. Ron Sanchez is tasked with carrying the Cavaliers forward, but will the loss of a Hall-of-Famer prove to be too much?

The anticipation at Louisville can be felt from Coast-to-Coast.. Pat Kelsey has delivered a roster and nonstop energy to a proud place that was lifeless for a couple of brutal years. Is it too much to ask for the Cardinals to vault all the way back into the top five in this league?

SMU and Stanford are not only new to the league but they bring in former proven Pac-12 (R.I.P.) coaching stalwarts. The Cardinal welcome Kyle Smith back to the Bay Area after a successful run at both San Francisco and Washington State. The Mustangs landed Andy Enfield. A man who constantly had dominant big men at USC, most notably Evan Mobley who led the Trojans to the Elite Eight in 2021.

Leading the charge as the most dangerous team to go deep, perhaps all the way in the NCAA Tournament is of course, Duke. With Cooper Flagg, the nations top recruit, and rare older transfers (Mason Gillis, Sion James, and Maliq Brown) in the fold - this Blue Devil roster has a balanced feel to it. Flagg is part of a heralded six-player freshman class that is just purely loaded with talent. Plus Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster are there to steady the ship from last year’s Elite Eight run.

North Carolina and Clemson are back to contend. RJ Davis is poised to go on another tear for the Heels, and I expect Chase Hunter to make a significant step forward in leadership at Clemson. RJ and Chase will have terrific teammates around them, which make these two the clear two and three for the ACC entering the season from my vantage point.

From there, the door opens for new faces. We may see Wake Forest finally realize the potential, and goodness they are strong on paper this season - returning Hunter Sallis, Efton Reid III, and Cam Hildreth for potent offense and glass cleaning. Four top Sophomores enter the program from the portal, where development leaps may be waiting in the wings. The Deacs have to be elated to have Omaha Billew (via Iowa State) and Davin Cosby (via Alabama). Ultra talented guys coming from highly successful teams.

Sophomore leap themes are fun and provide substantial upside, so let’s address the Irish of Notre Dame. The sensational sophomore duo of Braeden Shrewsbwerry and Markus Burton will take this team places in 2025. That is because of the staff, namely Braeden’s father - Micah. The second-year head coach quickly turned around Penn State in a two-year stint. He know has the ability to repeat history with this year’s Irish. Everything I have heard is positive. For an entire offseason. Buy stock immediately.

Veteran athletes Julian Roper II and J.R. Konieczny are another reason to appreciate the depth and passion this program will bring in 2024-25 under Micah Shrewsberry. J.R. is a South Bend native as well.

Pittsburgh and Syracuse appear to be bubble-bound. The Panthers and Orange have great pieces and fairly high upside potential, just difficult to know until we see these two get tested a few times. Pitt is a bit more proven between the two tournament hopefuls. Returning Ishmael Leggett, Zack Austin, and Jaland Lowe, along with the portal addition of Damian Dunn (via Houston) and you have a very reliable backcourt. The frontcourt has a bunch to prove, likely to be led by Florida State transfer, Cameron Corhen. Red Autry’s Orange will feature JJ Starling and Chris Bell’s on-court leadership. Transfers will be key to the success, with two former CAA stallions coming in - Jyare Davis (Delaware) and Jaquan Carlos (Hofstra).

Pay close attention to the Ramblin’ Wreck of Georgia Tech. These Yellow Jackets are coming off a wild first year under Damon Stoudamire that showcased four wins against high level NCAA Tournament teams. The consistent winning needs to come next. Baye Ndongo and
Naithan George had moments of brilliance as freshmen, now become more mature this season. The Javian McCollum addition via Oklahoma appears to be a perfect backcourt puzzle piece with Mr. George.

Miami will once again own one of the most talented rosters in the country, but how will they handle the first sign of trouble? Remains to be seen. At Boston College, Florida State, and Virginia Tech, the rosters are lacking a bit (largely due to NIL deficiencies', reportedly), and despite well-respected head coaches in Earl Grant, Leonard Hamilton, and Mike Young, this looks like a down year for all three. Over at N.C. State, the magic carpet ride to the Final Four eventually ended. A team back with good pieces, but no D.J. Burns, and I think the Wolfpack slip back to the middle of the pack. In Berkeley, the Bears should continue to improve. Excited to see the sharpshooting of
Andrej Stojakovic on display, but it will take time. Mark Madsen’s group not only has a new league to deal with, but also a brand new roster. Eleven guys are gone from last season.

Regular Season Champion:
Duke

Conference Tournament Location:
Charlotte, NC

Auto-Bid Winner:
Duke

Player of the Year:
RJ Davis - North Carolina

Newcomer of the Year:
Terrence Edwards, Jr. - Louisville

Forecasted At-Large Teams:
North Carolina, Clemson, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Pittsburgh (First Four)

Forecasted Bids to Begin the season:
6

ATLANTIC-10 CONFERENCE

The splendor that comes with two different A-10 teams earning wins in the coveted opening round of March Madness reassured the world, that what this league is doing has merit. The Duquesne Dukes stymied a lethal BYU team and Dayton took down a hot Nevada squad. The bar for 2024-25 has gone up, and now may introduce some new faces.

In the basketball-rich city of Richmond, Virginia, two prominent members reside. The defending regular-season champs, Richmond, and the cross-town rivals, VCU. The Spiders are looking to replace some immediate departures, but recent returns suggest that Chris Mooney’s squad (which still has DeLonnie Hunt and added a potpourri of vet transfers) is once agains crawling back for more. At VCU, Ryan Odom has perhaps the strongest returning roster he has had during his career. The Rams were the overwhelming pick at Media Day, and I tend to agree. Shooters, spacing, a renewed defensive energy all appear to be a great balance for sustained winning.

Ultra-dramatic A-10 Tournament bracket navigation usually mandates a commitment to getting stops. Look no further than Loyola-Chicago here. The Ramblers were an amazing 28th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency. They became one of the hotter teams in the country to pull into a second-place finish in the A-10. Des Watson, Miles Rubin, and Jayden Dawson committed to staying and finishing these larger goals for coach Drew Valentine. The portal was pleasant with Justin Moore’s great floor general abilities coming over from Drexel and another frontcourt weapon with Francis Nwaokorie via UC San Diego. This team has a little bit of everything to work with, and should be a top contender for best defense in the league.

Head Coach Josh Schertz and Indiana State made waves last year behind overnight celebrity Robbie Avila and Isaiah Swope, among others. Now, the Schertz-Avila-Swope trio are all the faces of the St. Louis Billekins program. Quite a shift, but a scary one for the rest of the A-10. Schertz convinced fan-favorite and sniper, Gibson Jimerson to stay this season. Should be a fun year, and I expect them to peak later in the campaign.

Dayton continues to operate at a high-major level. With scheduling, budget, massive fan support, etc. The Flyers have carved out a unique place in the A-10 and the nation. Due to these factors, they should always be in the mix for championships, at least during this era. Posh Alexander and Zed Key are in the fold to see how high these Flyers can fly.

The other crop of squads worth keeping tabs on are George Mason and Saint Joseph's. Both teams have playmakers that dazzle. Questions remain on the defensive side of the ball and with shot selection.

Regular Season Champion:
VCU

Conference Tournament Location:
Washington, DC

Auto-Bid Winner:
Saint Louis

Player of the Year:
Erik Reynolds II - St. Joseph’s

Newcomer of the Year:
Robbie Avila - Saint Louis

Forecasted At-Large Teams:
VCU

Forecasted At-Large Contenders:
VCU, Dayton, Loyola-Chicago, Richmond, George Mason

Forecasted Bids to Begin the season:
2

BIG EAST CONFERENCE

Who can stop Connecticut? This has become an unstoppable force at the program-level nationally. The two-time defending Champion Huskies are right back here at the top of the list with a three-peat in realistic sight. Fortunately for the Big East, some teams in this league have had head-to-head success against UConn. Creighton and Seton Hall have been able to beat the Huskies in each of the two seasons and Sean Miller’s Xavier program swept the Huskies in 2023, so there is a sliver of hope for the other 10 schools.

Despite the avenues for derailment, UConn will start this season at the top of the Big Board and Seed List. Until its proven, I certainly do not want to forecast against this freight train. Alex Karaban takes over the primary big role, which should be no issue. Hassan Diarra, Solo Ball, and Aidan Mahaney make up a really skilled backcourt. Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed, Jr. solidify the frontcourt. Ultra-talented freshman Liam McNeeley gives the Huskies that extra layer to bury teams on a regular basis once again.

The Blue Jays of Creighton are the team that can take this trophy from UConn’s grip. Ryan Kalkbrenner is a dominant college basketball player, who will combine with Mason Miller, Pop Isaacs, and Steven Ashworth to lead this team to another quality season and high-octane offense. January 18th and February 11th are the dates to keep circled, as they will face UConn on each.

Kam Jones is setup to have an even more electric role and impact on the emerging Marquette program under Shaka Smart. The Golden Eagles have advanced a round farther in each of the three years under Smart thus far. First Round in 2022, Second Round in 2023, and the Sweet 16 a season ago. If the pattern continues, you may see this program in the final eight this year. Marquette brought in a few freshman led by Damarius Owens to help uphold the standard, but did not take a transfer in this cycle.

Rough luck, snake-bitten, can’t catch a break. Just a few examples have how one might summarize the Xavier rosters recently. The Musketeers have leveraged some of the misfortune to help accumulate depth. Stars like Zach Freemantle and Jerome Hunter would be likely gone by now, but the recovery process was long for each and they now have eligibility remaining. The influx of transfer portal prowess this time around includes the secured commitments from Dante Maddox, Jr., Ryan Conwell, Marcus Foster, and John Hugley IV bring in a loaded veteran presence. This squad is old and full of quality guys who can fill the stat sheet.

Rick Pitino has an equally loaded team roster primed to get this SJU program into the dance for the first time since 2019. The foundation was built a season ago. The additions of Kadary Richmond, Aaron Scott, Deivon Smith, and Vince Iwuchukwu provides enough veteran assurance to get St. John’s on the good side of the bubble this coming year.

Regular Season Champion:
UConn

Conference Tournament Location:
New York City, NY

Auto-Bid Winner:
UConn

Player of the Year:
Kam Jones - Marquette

Newcomer of the Year:
Deivon Smith - St. John’s

Forecasted At-Large Teams:
Creighton, Marquette, Xavier ,St. John’s

Forecasted At-Large Contenders:
Creighton, Marquette, Xavier ,St. John’s, Villanova, Seton Hall, Providence

Forecasted Bids to Begin the season:
5

BIG TEN CONFERENCE

The days of Zach Edey eating everyone in this conference alive are mercilessly over. The league is opening up again to all comers, including four new members from the West Coast - UCLA, USC, Washington, and Oregon. The 18-team structure requires a chunky element of unbalance to the scheduling models. Many conference mates will only see each other once prior ot the B1G Tournament and the top 15 of 18 will qualify for the postseason event.

Purdue got the benefit of the doubt at Media Day, to repeat as the 2025 champion. But I’ve had an strong suspicion that this league could in fact have a surprise winner. Perhaps a Michigan, or an Ohio State. A couple of major schools with fresh mindsets at the helm to run their programs.

Out West, Eric Musselman (USC) and Danny Sprinkle (UW) have been brought in to elavate programs that have been terrific before in the past, yet needed a fresh approach for this daunting travel schedule. UCLA scrapped a strategy that was heavy on international and went into the modern D1 transfer portal for some major upgrades. And at Oregon, Dana Altman a deep team is building around Jackson Shelstead.

Brad Underwood and Tom Izzo continue to coach and recruit at the highest levels of the league. Illinois will welcome in Kylan Boswell, a leader at Arizona and a pair of international phenoms in Kasparas Jakucionis and Tomislav Ivisic. The Illini think their vets can bring them along. Ben Humrichous may have been the biggest prize however after he scorched the Valley last season with 41.4% three-point shooting. In East Lansing, a cast of characters are prepped to take on larger roles. Jaden Akins is still around to lead the group.

Pressure is mounting at places like Indiana and Maryland where fans take expectations to the next level. Mike Woodson has done a nice job getting Indiana back to the tournament, but after a subpar year last year, folks in Bloomington are now on the edge of their seats. In College Park, Kevin Willard enters the season looking to improve on a 7-13 disappointment during league-play last year. Willard grabbed Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Selton Miguel in the portal to help build some more winning habits.

Penn State is a team still led by Ace Baldwin, and I suspect Mike Rhoades will overperform expectations as he usually does. The true mysteries are Iowa and Wisconsin in my book. The Hawkeyes arguably have more to work with behind Payton Sandfort and Owen Freeman. This same core of guys produced a 10-10 rollercoaster run last year, that ultimately ended in the NIT. Hawkeyes need to tweak a few things to win on the margins in this improved and deeper B1G. The Badgers are taking a slight step back in talent. Steven Crowl and Max Klesmit are still around and are great leaders. Let’s see what Cam Hunter’s comeback from Central Arkansas looks like and what Xavier Amos or John Tonje can deliver before declaring them an NCAA-level team.

The hype is coming in hot from Piscataway. Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper have made waves with their commitment to play this year at Rutgers. It has already been an action-packed build up to the season. Seems like it may be a struggle with maturity for Steve Pikiell at some point, so I remain in wait and see mode, with tempered team expectations.

Regular Season Champion:
Purdue

Conference Tournament Location:
Indianapolis, IN

Auto-Bid Winner:
Michigan

Player of the Year:
Bruce Thornton - Ohio State

Newcomer of the Year:
Oumar Ballo - Indiana

Forecasted At-Large Teams:
Purdue, Ohio State, UCLA ,USC, Illinois, Michigan State, Indiana, Oregon (First Four)

Forecasted At-Large Contenders:
Purdue, Ohio State, UCLA, USC, Illinois, Michigan State, Indiana, Oregon, Iowa, Wisconsin, Penn State, Maryland

Forecasted Bids to Begin the season:
8

BIG 12 CONFERENCE

A cornucopia of basketball powers have now combined to form the top tier of the Big 12. The blue blood of Kansas was always there. Today, the additions of Houston recently and Arizona this coming season along with the past two decades of sustained Baylor success, makes the top of this league unparalleled. Especially when you throw in a recently loaded Iowa State team. That gives the league as many as five anchors for the other 11 schools to go after and build resumes against. Fascinated to see how this computes when the Bracketology forecasting season of mid-January really begins to intensify.

Houston will open the season at the number two overall spot, with Iowa State coming close at fifth overall on the Big Board. Tremendous respect for the way Houston plays with physicality, and let’s not forget they won the regular-season crown a season ago. It is clear the defense, the relentless rebounds, and the toughness are converted into road wins, which is the hardest thing to do in college basketball. Cyclone Nation is buzzing after last season’s Big 12 Tournament Title and run to the Sweet 16. The returning roster features Tamin Lipsey, Milan Momcilovic, and Keshon Gilbert. Four portal additions, including two quality bigs, make this roster old and ready to go deep in March.

Kansas, Arizona, and Baylor will be poised to make sure they are each in the hunt for a conference championship. The three powerhouses rarely lose at home, if ever, so it will come down to who can stockpile road wins. In Arizona’s case, it will be interesting to see how Tommy Lloyd’s offensive rim-to-rim system translates with Big 12 travel. They will be playing in mostly tougher environments and seeing some of the nations best defenses in this gauntlet of a conference.

Texas Tech is poised to join the top five projected teams, and Cincinniati is setup nicely to challenge. Grant McCasland enters his second season in Lubbock ready to improve upon last year’s run to the Second Round. JT Toppin comes into this program oozing with confidence and is just a Sophomore. The big man played a key role in New Mexico’s rise to the MWC Tournament title a season ago. Red Raiders are building perfect pieces around the trio of key returnees: Darrion Williams, Chance McMillan, and Devan Cambridge. In Cincy, Wes Miller and the Bearcat community are starving for a tournament bid. The depth and the maturity of the roster is deep this coming season and I believe they make it happen. Four seniors starting with Dan Skillings, Jr., Day Day Thomas, Simas Lukosius, and interior enforcer Aziz Bandaogo.

One of the most unique hires of the offseason came as a result of Mark Pope’s departure to Kentucky, That would BYU’s hiring of Kevin Young from the NBA’s Phoenix Suns. Young should help further modernize the game and take advantage of BYU’s deep resources to acquire talent. This first roster is an intriguing one. We know Mawot Mag can play well and contribute from his time at Rutgers and really impressed that Young was able to secure the important veteran guard trio of Dallin Hall, Trevin Knell, and Richie Saunders.

Steve Lutz has been to the past three NCAA Tournaments and Darian DeVries has been to two of the past three. Do not sleep on these guys! Oklahoma State and West Virginia were picked near the bottom of the league, but I think these two coaches are primed for overachievement. Especially DeVries, who gets one last ride with his son, Tucker.

Kansas State and TCU were both difficult to forecast. They begin the season on the outside looking in, but I’m teetering on both. TCU’s schedule is not the strongest, but Jamie Dixon will do another great job at his alma mater, curious to see if its enough for another bid. Jerome Tang had a huge first year in the Little Apple, and a step back last year. Now Tang brings in Coleman Hawkins and more to fix it. Will be a fascinating team.

Regular Season Champion:
Houston

Conference Tournament Location:
Kansas City, MO

Auto-Bid Winner:
Houston

Player of the Year:
Hunter Dickinson - Kansas

Newcomer of the Year:
Tucker DeVries - West Virginia

Forecasted At-Large Teams:
Iowa State, Kansas, Arizona, Baylor, Texas Tech, Cincinnati, BYU (First Four)

Forecasted At-Large Contenders:
Iowa State, Kansas, Arizona, Baylor, Texas Tech, Cincinnati, BYU, Kansas State, West Virginia, TCU, Utah

Forecasted Bids to Begin the season:
8

MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE

For complete thoughts on the Mountain West, please refer to the MWC Media Day Preview here:

https://bracketeer.org/inside-college-hoops/2024/10/17/mountain-west-hoops-preview-2024-25

Regular Season Champion:
Boise State

Conference Tournament Location:
Las Vegas, NV

Auto-Bid Winner:
San Diego State

Player of the Year:
Tyson Degenhart - Boise State

Newcomer of the Year:
Jared Coleman-Jones - San Diego State

Forecasted At-Large Teams:
Boise State, Nevada (First Four)

Forecasted At-Large Contenders:
Boise State, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah State, Colorado State

Forecasted Bids to Begin the season:
3

SEC

A consolidation of the best basketball minds have accumulated throughout the SEC footprint. The league is full of brilliant coaches and recent history has impacted meaningful basketball changes. Alabama and Auburn were annual afterthoughts prior to Bruce Pearl turning around the Tiger program. The Crimson Tide hiring of Nate Oats has not only led to a Final Four, but also a top-overall seed a couple of seasons ago. Home games in either venue are nightmares for opponents. The two programs typically build very challenging schedules as well. Sure enough, they are the top two to watch this coming season. Can you believe Johni Broome is back? And what about Mark Sears and Grant Nelson? - both decided to comeback at Bama.

In Knoxville, a mostly silent legend continues to grow. Rick Barnes’ leadership and staff got them to the Elite Eight last year and helped find a player in Dalton Knecht, who became the nation’s most lethal weapon on the court. This season, the Vols become more offensive and will need to establish a defensive identity again. The foundation is so secure however, I believe the Vols will be in the protected seed mix throughout the year.

The Arkansas/Kentucky drama had and continue to have no dull moments. You’ve heard by now that John Calipari parachuted to Arkansas, which free’d up the big job in Lexington for 1996 National Champion and rising head coach Mark Pope. These two programs both went big in the portal. Calipari’s Hogs will still have a hint of Lexington with it. DJ Wagner, “Big Z” Zvonimir Ivisic, and Adou Thiero all followed Cal to Fayetteville. Stars from Tennessee and FAU in Jonas Aidoo and Johnell Davis have helped form a loaded roster. At Kentucky, Mark Pope built a team his way. Elite shooters are littered throughout the roster. BYU managed to have a really high NET ranking last season due to a lot of high margins of victory in this system. Expect more of that to follow with even better players.

Chris Jans, Todd Golden, and Lamont Paris all entered the league with Matt McMahon at LSU and Dennis Gates at Missouri. They all head into year three in the league with mixed feelings. McMahon and Gates are looking to generate momentum and rebuilt/improved their rosters. Jans and Golden are looking to continue on the same track with incremental gains in the league standings and seed list for the NCAAs. Then we have South Carolina’s Lamont Paris, who won the Coach of the Year and came close to leading a stunning run to a league championship last year. With everyone overlooking them again, this Gamecock team will be dangerous. Fascinating group of coaches here with varying expectations.

In Athens, Mike White might have a sneaky great roster. If a recent exhibition game demolition over UCF is any clue, they look primed to put up a lot of points. Asa Newell will be featured prominently. The 5-star freshman stands at 6-11 and if he can quickly mature around an older set of teammates, this team can go deep and potentially earn their first bid since 2015.

Speaking of offense, Ole Miss is loaded with a roster full of scoring. They put on a clinic recently against Illinois during a Charity Exhibition matchup. Odd to say about a Chris Beard coached squad, but finding the defensive identity may be the biggest challenge left to solve. The good news here is this team will expose inferior opponents and have enough ability to make good teams look bad (like Illinois).

Texas and Oklahoma enter the league for football reasons, but it is throwing Rodney Terry and Porter Moser into the fire. This league has a ton of depth, the Horns and Sooners just add to that. Texas is positioned with a terrific roster and now need to learn best practices on navigating the SEC footprint. Moser’s Sooners got left behind as one of the last teams out last season, and now have a few challenges roster-wise. Will be a hard year for both, but difficulty also presents opportunities.

Regular Season Champion:
Auburn

Conference Tournament Location:
Nashville, TN

Auto-Bid Winner:
Tennessee

Player of the Year:
Johni Broome - Auburn

Newcomer of the Year:
Jaxson Robinson - Kentucky

Forecasted At-Large Teams:
Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Florida, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Texas

Forecasted At-Large Contenders:
Alabama, Auburn, Texas A&M, Mississippi State, Florida, Kentucky, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, Missouri

Forecasted Bids to Begin the season:
10

WEST COAST CONFERENCE

Stu Jackson has had a full plate since becoming the league commissioner in mid 2023. The league is dedicated to putting Basketball first, but continues to be impacted by football funding. The prize of the league’s economic fortunes, Gonzaga, will be gone by 2026. Now, Grand Canyon will also not join after turning its back on the WCC for more money in the Mountain West. Based on the fate of Saint Mary’s eventually, the conference may be down to eight squads. And that includes Seattle U., who isn’t part of the league quite yet.

Here is the good news. A two-year deal with Oregon State and Washington State keeps the league healthy for these next two seasons and adds extra excitement to a league that can sometimes follow the same patterns each year. On the Palouse, more change is coming with the WSU program turning to David Riley to run the program. Riley remains one of the youngest head coaches in D1 hoops and had a ton of regular-season success at Eastern Washington. Oregon State still is under the watchful eye of Wayne Tinkle and he is excited about this opportunity to get his program on track. The Beavers were struggling in the PAC-12, but this WCC move should allow the program to regenerate some buzz that can impact NIL and recruiting in the near future.

The league of course belongs to Gonzaga until they exit. The Bulldogs have nearly everyone back from a team that went on a torrid run late in the year to get off the bubble, up to a five-seed, and blitzed both McNeese and Kansas in the NCAAs. With Graham Ike, Nolan Hickman, and Ryan Nembhard, this team will be unflappable. Plus the extra depth added with Khalif Battle and Michael Ajayi will help a lot with situational scenarios.

Saint Mary’s looks to maintain a string of three consecutive five-seeds in the NCAA’s bracket. The Gaels have completely dominated the NET ranking scheduling and using advanced scouting to bring in quality opponents, who they can run away from in most cases. It is not uncommon to find the Gaels sniffing the top ten of the NET by February. I believe more of the same is coming behind reigning WCC POTY Augustas Marciulionis and Mitchell Saxen. Jordan Ross is poised to bring dynamic scoring and athleticism that this program can use to offset the losses of Joshua Jefferson and Aidan Mahaney. The Gaels also added Paulius Murauskas from Arizona and Ashton Hardaway from Memphis to help with quality depth.

In Santa Clara, the frustration continues with metrics like the NET. Despite owning a brutal annual schedule, the Broncos seem to get overlooked by the model or suffer an untimely personnel problem. This year, Santa Clara has the most opportunity in the conference to build an at-large profile. The Broncos have nine strategic non-conference games including two true road contests at Nevada and McNeese (both are in the preseason bracket).

On the Hilltop, the Dons program continues to progress. Had the opportunity to see the team practice lately and Marcus Williams is ready to guide this team. He has other terrific guards in Malik Thomas and Ryan Beasley. Chips Newbury will be such a key frontcourt leader and shooter, and the additions of Carlton Linguard, Jr. and Jason Rivera-Torres have the program on great footing. The key is finding a way to beat Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s or both at least once.

Regular Season Champion:
Gonzaga

Conference Tournament Location:
Las Vegas, NV

Auto-Bid Winner:
Gonzaga

Player of the Year:
Ryan Nembhard - Gonzaga

Newcomer of the Year:
Elijah Fisher - Pacific

Forecasted At-Large Teams:
Saint Mary’s

Forecasted At-Large Contenders:
Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara, Washington State

Forecasted Bids to Begin the season:
2

COMPLETE PROJECTIONS

Bracketeer's All-American Watch List: Non-Power Conferences

Bracketeer.Org is committed to delivering wide-ranging recognition and coverage to all 31 conferences across College Basketball. The Non-Power Conference Watch List has identified 68 players who were considered for the three All-American Teams and includes players poised to be all-conference level players across each of the 22 eligible conferences. Regardless of position, any player on an active roster can be considered a preseason All-American.

The 2025 Bracketeer.Org Non-Power Conference Player of the Year will be announced in the final week of March 2025.

Bracketeer’s All-American Watch List for the Non-Power Conferences recognizes the college basketball season’s most outstanding players regardless of position. We are excited to find more ways to honor the 22 conferences that do not get nearly enough attention in D1 Basketball. The list contains players from all 22 eligible conferences.

Regardless of position, any player on the active roster is eligible to be considered a preseason All-American. As such, the Bracketeer All-American Teams recognize the outstanding team player and leadership, not merely exceptional individual success. The watch list was comprised after seven consecutive months of schedule consulting and mass-scale roster tracking by Rocco Miller and input from various coaches, industry journalists, and industry peers throughout the offseason.

A midseason watch list will be released in early January or before. The Final All-American Awards will be given in late March.

Eligible Conferences

America East, ASUN, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, CAA, Conference USA, Horizon League, Ivy League, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, MVC, NEC, OVC, Patriot League, SoCon, Southland, SWAC, Summit League, Sun Belt, WAC

Ineligible for Consideration: ACC, American, Atlantic-10, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Mountain West, SEC, WCC

Preseason 1st Team All-Americans

Tyon Grant Foster, Grand Canyon
Daniel Batcho, Louisiana Tech
Caden Pierce, Princeton
Kimani Hamilton, High Point
Xaivian Lee, Princeton

2nd Team

Christian Shumate, McNeese
Duke Deen, Bradley
Kobe Julien, Arkansas State
Kezza Giffa, High Point
Robert McCray V, Jacksonville

3rd Team

Don McHenry, Western Kentucky
Honor Huff, Chattanooga
Dominique Daniels, Jr., California Baptist
Matt Rogers, American
Barrington Hargress, UC Riverside

 

All-American Watch List

**Players can play their way onto and off the list at any point in the 2023-24 season.

 

**Players can play their way onto and off the list at any point in the 2023-24 season.

Mountain West Hoops Preview 2024-25

By Rocco Miller

The master plan for college athletics may be drifting away from a rock-solid basketball league like the Mountain West, but the bedrock of this league will not go away. Recent realignment announcements will forever leave its mark on what has been a consistently high-producing conference that sent an astronomical six teams dancing a year ago. With two short seasons left to appreciate this group of 11 programs, let’s enjoy what we have before it ends.

The belle of the ball - San Diego State - has been to two straight Sweet Sixteens now and rarely if ever loses a home game. The Aztecs are creating a lifetime’s worth of what-ifs over the past couple of years, in which both runs ended at the hands of a historically superior UConn team. The Aztecs will have a ton of retooling to do (more on that in a bit) in 2025. But the standard is the standard at SDSU - which exudes defensive suffocation to opposing offenses and raucous home crowds.

The MWC in 2024-25 appears to be wide open. My spring started with quality time spent with the staff at Boise State. They were ectactic at first about the way things were shaping up, and some talk of Darkhorse Final Four contenders. They were looking at bringing the big three back of Tyson Degenhart, O’Mar Stanley, and Chibuzo Agbo. The roster looked good to me as well, and the idea began to grow in my mind. Weeks later, Agbo, surprisingly to Boise, hit the portal and quickly landed at USC. Leaving Boise State with a hit on strength and continuity. Out in Albuquerque, a young phenom big in JT Toppin hit the portal, and landed in the Big 12. The league as a whole has a lot to replace and needs to establish continuity quickly to optimize bids. The six-bid perfect storm of 2023-24 is almost assuredly not going to be possible.

Opportunity lies right in front of the six or seven breadwinners in this league to get an MWC trophy. Non-conference opportunities are there for all, and once again these top-tier programs have stacked themselves with enough opportunities to gain some wins. If you are curious, see our Mountain West schedule page. Nevada will have a great opportunity to continue building on success under Steve Alford, who outcoached a lot of terrific coaches last season. Utah State and Wyoming introduced exciting new head coaches in Jerrod Calhoun and Sundance Wicks, respectively. Calhoun was able to keep three core Aggies and went portal hunting to help build a high-octane offense. With Calhoun’s scheme, the rest of the MW will need to prep a bit differently for the high-upside Aggies. With Wicks, Laramie promises to be energetic. Wicks brings serious energetic juice! He also can coach effectively. Earning the Wyoming job after a tremendous turnaround in short order at Green Bay.

Colorado State and UNLV will be looking a little different this year, yet still have an opportunity to compete. The Rams are a squad who figures to play more through Nique Clifford and Bowen Born. Born has had a prolific career at Northern Iowa when healthy. The Rebels got a major win when retaining Dedan Thomas, Jr. following his MWC Freshman of the Year campaign a season ago. The portal vultures were out in full force for his services. Down in New Mexico, a burgeoning superstar in Donovan Dent is back to try and take New Mexico to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time in over a decade. Out West, it’s a potentially recharged San Jose State squad looking to leap back into the top five of the conference. The key for Tim Miles’ group is a healthy Robert Vaihola. Vaihola at full strength two years ago, was an absolute joy to watch. He does a ton of little things to help the Spartans win around the rim and plays intelligently. Vaihola was set to set sail before a brutal leg injury occurred just before the season opener a year ago. Coach Miles brought in some very capable transfers and Adrame Diongue is going to continue maturing as a major rim protector.

Fresno State welcomes in local legend Vance Walburg to lead the Bulldogs into the future. Walburg has had a long career in coaching and was hired to bring a strong connection to the Valley. He was ultra-successful locally at Clovis West High School and earlier in life at Fresno City College. His ridiculous 133-11 dominant record coaching Fresno City College led him to the Pepperdine job in 2006-07. It did not last long as Walburg was dealing with personal issues and the death of his mother. This is a redemption project for him. Walburg brings in some JUCO superstars to shake up the MWC this season. The roster appears to be highly offensive-based. When in the NBA, Walburg coached under George Karl for two NBA teams, so you may see some similarities in those great Coach Karl schemes.

Air Force will have a top team in the country in terms of returning minutes and players. Ethan Taylor is sticking with the program and has all-league-level talent. Joe Scott’s Falcons will look to shake up the league standings, per usual, with a terrific home-court advantage at altitude in Colorado Springs. The portal took away key players Rytis Petraitis and Kellan Boylan, which will likely limit the Falcons, however.

ORDER OF FINISH - PREDICTIONS

  1. Boise State (MWC Reg Season Champs) - Degenhart and Stanley have unfinished business. The Broncos swept San Diego State and won tough road games at Nevada and New Mexico. BSU was the only visiting team from the MWC to win at SDSU last season. This group brings in really important pieces with Alvaro Cardenas to run the point guard spot and a talented 7-footer in Arizona transfer, Dylan Anderson. I think the pieces fit very well for BSU to navigate this changing league with confidence, despite the loss of Agbo.

  2. San Diego State (MWC Tournament Champs) - Aztecs have to retool its offensive priorities, but the defense isn’t going anywhere and neither is Viejas Arena. The defense allows SDSU to pull off crucial road wins in tough environments annually, this year won’t be different. You may see some struggles in non-conference play, especially considering the stiff tests the Aztecs will face, but this is a conference standings-only prediction.

  3. Nevada (At-Large Bid) - The Wolfpack are going to have to tweak its offensive strategy without the shifty-smooth Jared Lucas around Reno any longer, but I believe running more offense through the interior and an improving defensive model, will be enough to help the league earn a third bid to the tournament. Nick Davidson had a cluster of breakout games last season and will be a great leader this year, also some strong shooting should still be in store with the returns of Tre Coleman, Daniel Foster, Tyler Robison, and the key sniper addition of MWC-lifer Xavier Dussell.

  4. New Mexico - Easy to make a case for the Lobos to win either trophy this season, as many of my peers have done. I believe this team will be quality. Early chances with UCLA and St. John’s would do wonders for its at-large resume and the MWC getting more than three bids. The shooting of Dent and impact newcomer C.J. Noland is solid, but no major threats after that from deep. The interior is full of length and experience, led by Nelly Junior Joseph. But I do believe the loss of House, Toppin, and Mashburn leaves the Lobos with a bit less weaponry. And that is a team that the NCAA (unfairly) was prepared to not select last year if the Lobos did not win all of the MWC marbles in Vegas.

  5. Utah State - If I had a way to make an arrow going straight up next to the name, I would. USU landed Jerrod Calhoun, who took Youngstown State from the basement to the top of the Horizon League with his wonderfully orchestrated offensive system. The offense delivers consistent open looks and YSU was able to leverage personnel in a way that got them a high-rate of interior easy buckets. Perhaps most impressively, YSU had the top defense in Horizon League play last year, after being 9th in the league defensively two years prior. This staff is blossoming in many ways and it brings a heavy analytical approach to the MWC. Outside of those fun facts, Mason Falslev, Isaac Johnson, and the ageless Ian Martinez all decided to stay! This team will be a lot of fun.

  6. Colorado State - Ram nation has had seven months to contemplate what life without Isaiah Stevens will be like. Perhaps it won’t sink in until the Rams opener for many. The reality is, the show must go on. The wonderful news is Niko Medved is tremendous and is still in Fort Collins. Riding in on last year’s tournament win, another program milestone. Bowen Born and Keshawn Williams are in to fill most of the Stevens void. Born, when healthy, is as steady of a hand as you’ll find, rarely turning the ball over. If it all comes together, CSU will be back near the top competing for the trophy.

  7. UNLV - The Dedan Thomas return is major. Now Kevin Kruger will have to architect the rest of the pieces to maximize Rebel potential. The Rebs also have to work on consistency, the losses to Air Force and Southern at home last season were backbreaking. Jalen Hill’s recovery from an ACL tear should be complete, his progress is key.

  8. San Jose State - Two years ago, SJSU shocked everyone with a fifth-place finish, trip to the MWCT Semifinals, and #97 finish in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings. That was the last time we saw Robert Vaihola. Vaihola was the league’s best 2-point finisher (74%), second-best offensive rebounder, and third-highest offensive-rated player (129.3 ORTG). All of these factors are premium for winning games, his health will determine what SJSU can really do this year. The additions of Donovan Yap, Will McClendon, Sadaidriene Hall, and Josh Uduje all appear to bring upgrades as well.

  9. Wyoming - Sundance Wicks and home games in Laramie is enough to put a few wins on the board immediately. More upside is generated from the effective FG% progress Wicks made at Green Bay. A collection of guards will learn quickly how to effectively play teams off the perimeter and take wise shots on offense. The bigs will learn to keep opponents off the offensive glass. His Green Bay teams thrived in these areas, and it will be interesting to see how much of that foundation carries over.

  10. Fresno State - We spent time covering Walburg above, and its really hard to know what we are getting right away on the court. The league didn't do the Bulldogs a lot of favors by throwing SDSU at them in early December either. Perhaps Amar Augillard is our guy to watch, the JUCO Player of the Year last season averaged nearly 23 points per night at that lever and had decent rebounding and assist numbers.

  11. Air Force - Despite all of the continuity advantages, it is difficult to project this team to be any better than last year. However, the Falcons have been known to sprinkle in some Freshman late to their roster. And they recently added nine new players! Still have no information on who if any will be on the floor. So keep your eye on that.

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