Innholdsfortegnelse for 2021 College Basketball i Athlon Sports Football Bundle

It’s long been the case, but it’s truer now than ever before: Head coaches are the true, enduring stars of college basketball. In today’s game, the ease of transferring and the lure of professional dollars render team rosters obsolete almost as soon as they’re printed, making an attachment to individual players a fleeting endeavor at best. The head coach, on the other hand, can be a beacon of stability for a program and is often the source of its identity. Which makes the recent announcements at two of the bluest of the blue-bloods so difficult to process and such a gut-punch to the sport. Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams have combined for a staggering 2,073 coaching victories, 21 Final Four appearances and eight national titles. In the process, they’ve set…

ACC (8) Duke (Elite Eight) North Carolina (Sweet 16) Florida State (Two & Out) Louisville (Two & Out) Virginia (Two & Out) Virginia Tech (Two & Out) Notre Dame (One & Done) Syracuse (One & Done) America East (1) Vermont (One & Done) American (2) Houston (Sweet 16) Memphis (One & Done) Atlantic 10 (2) St. Bonaventure (Two & Out) Richmond (One & Done) ASUN (1) Liberty (One & Done) Big 12 (6) Kansas (Final Four) Texas (Final Four) Baylor (Elite Eight) Texas Tech (Two & Out) West Virginia (Two & Out) Oklahoma State (One & Done) Big East (4) Villanova (Elite Eight) Xavier (Two & Out) Connecticut (Two & Out) St. John’s (First Four) Big Sky (1) Southern Utah (First Four) Big South (1) Winthrop (One & Done) Big…

CHRIS BEARD, TEXAS Beard’s path to becoming a Division I head coach was long and unusual — he was an assistant or non-D-I head coach for 24 consecutive seasons before landing the Little Rock job in 2015. But since breaking through at the age of 42, it’s been nothing but success for Beard, who has quickly established himself as one of the sport’s best coaches. He did unprecedented things in his only season at Little Rock, then did more unprecedented things in five seasons at Texas Tech, where he led the Red Raiders to their first two Elite Eight appearances, first Final Four appearance and first trip to the title game of the NCAA Tournament. As a result, it was no surprise when Texas identified Beard as the leading candidate…

Earl Grant knows what it looks like to build a program from the ground up. An assistant for Gregg Marshall at Wichita State, he was there for the Shockers’ rise to national prominence. Then, as a first-time head coach, he made College of Charleston into one of the best programs in the Colonial Athletic Association. Now, Grant has been handed a job that has proven to be one of the most diffcult in the country over the last decade-plus. After seven mediocre years, Boston College fired Jim Christian following a 4–16 season. The school hired Grant, who becomes the third coach since Al Skinner to try to guide the Eagles to their first NCAA Tournament since 2009. With several key pieces gone and seven newcomers, Grant is basically starting from…

After a third straight Sweet 16 appearance, Leonard Hamilton’s Florida State program has reached a place where that type of success is now expected — including this season, even after the Seminoles lost their top three scorers, and four of their top five, to professional basketball. Add in two players who transferred out of the program, and the Seminoles will be replacing six of their top 10 contributors from last season. Restoring that firepower might not be quite as daunting as it sounds, however. FSU not only is bringing in one of the most talented freshman classes in Hamilton’s tenure, but the Seminoles also landed two high-profile transfers who should contribute immediately. After posting a 27–8 conference record the last two season, winning the ACC regular-season title two years ago…

There were high hopes entering last season for Miami. Chris Lykes was back, potential first-round pick Earl Timberlake was entering the fold and a couple transfers were joining the program and hoping to provide an immediate impact. Unfortunately, things never really got off the ground for Jim Larrañaga and the Hurricanes — and it was due almost entirely to injuries. Lykes played just two games before sitting out the rest of the season due to an ankle injury; Timberlake was limited to just seven games with a shoulder injury; Kameron McGusty missed seven games; Harlond Beverly missed eight games; Rodney Miller Jr. played just five games; and Sam Waardenburg didn’t play at all. It resulted in a disappointing 10–17 campaign — and the premature departures of Lykes, Timberlake, Elijah Olaniyi,…

If the sense of urgency surrounding the Notre Dame men’s basketball team could be measured in decibels, it would be like a jet roaring down the tarmac. After four seasons without an NCAA Tournament bid, the Irish return one of the most experienced teams in the country. Experienced, that is, in all things but postseason play. “We’ve got six guys that have played a lot,” says Mike Brey, who enters his 22nd year as head coach of the Irish. “I don’t know if anybody (in the ACC) has as much as we have coming back. “We have five guys that have grown up together and are really hungry to play in the tournament. We should rotate into a position of strength again if we handle this right.” Brey’s hunger is…

Virginia experienced the highs and lows of the pandemic in 2019-20, pausing three times due to COVID-19 issues, winning the ACC regular-season title and then being forced out of the conference tournament due to a player’s positive test. The Cavaliers’ season ended with a disappointing first-round NCAA Tournament loss to Ohio, and the team that takes the floor to open this year will look dramatically different. Virginia lost seniors Sam Hauser and Jay Huff, the Cavaliers’ top two scorers, as well as classmate Tomas Woldetensae, a 3-point-shooting 2-guard. Forward Justin McKoy and guard Casey Morsell transferred out of the program, and guard Trey Murphy III declared early for the NBA Draft and was picked 17th overall by the Grizzlies. In all, the Cavaliers lost 1,281 of the 1,705 points that…

Hartford was one of the feel-good stories in college basketball last March, winning the America East tournament to make its first NCAA Tournament appearance and cap the best four-year stretch in program history. A month later, reports surfaced that the school was contemplating a move to Division III. By May, Hartford announced that it would be transitioning to a lower level for athletics by 2025, dampening what should have been an opportunity to use last season as a springboard. “There’s no handbook on this,” Hartford coach John Gallagher says. “You can’t go to Barnes and Noble and pick up something from some coach who has handled it in some great way. This is about how we can focus day to day on getting better.” Yet here’s the thing: Hartford brings…

The fact that Penny Hardaway is entering his fourth year as coach at Memphis still in search of his first trip to the NCAA Tournament is not something many would’ve predicted, especially after the former NBA star enrolled the nation’s top-ranked recruiting class in 2019. It’s obviously disappointing. But it should be noted that last season’s team was good enough to win games in the NCAA Tournament — evidence being how the Tigers went 11–2 in their final 13 contests with both losses coming to Houston, a Final Four team, by a total of five points. Memphis won the NIT and finished 31st at KenPom. So now the question is whether Hardaway can carry that momentum into this season and finally make the Big Dance. On paper, he should. The…

Not so long ago, the Big 12 had a reputation for strong regular seasons ahead of underwhelming March Madness results. Consider that narrative offcially busted. Baylor’s national championship last April continued a recent hot stretch for the conference. Texas Tech was in the title game in 2019, coming within a shot of beating Virginia before losing in overtime. Kansas made the Final Four in 2018, while also providing a great “what if” in 2020, projecting as the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament before COVID canceled the season (Baylor was going to be a No. 1 seed as well). So can the Big 12 keep up its late-season heater in 2021-22? No results are guaranteed given the randomness of a one-and-done tournament, but the league still appears top-heavy…

Kansas coach Bill Self did a good bit of foreshadowing following his team’s 85–51 loss to USC in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32. “For us to be a team that really has a chance to be a national contender, I mean, we need to get a little bit more athletic,” Self said then. “We need to get a little longer and bigger, those sorts of things.” Perhaps no one envisioned the roster turnover that would come next. Self, over the next few months, completely reshaped his team while adding a total of eight new scholarship players. The good news for Self, through all that, is that he’s also bringing back four starters — giving him the best of both worlds when it comes to both talent infusion and reliable,…

Cade Cunningham left Oklahoma State as a once-in-a-generation player. But Cunningham didn’t leave the Cowboys void of talent, and head coach Mike Boynton hasn’t stopped adding special players, resulting in a squad that boasts serious national buzz. Oklahoma State broke through in Boynton’s fourth season, earning a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, where the Cowboys posted a win for the first time since 2009, finishing 21–9 overall and No. 11 in the final AP rankings. Cunningham shined as a major factor in the success as a consensus first-team All-American. Still, his supporting cast thrived around him, and most return, bolstered by four transfers, including two former five-star recruits. “We’re going to be really good,” says forward Moussa Cissé, one of those former five-stars and the last addition to…

Perhaps no team in college basketball has a greater range of possible outcomes than Texas Tech — the product of a coaching staff and roster that enter the 2021-22 season mostly unproven in their current roles. Texas Tech promoted assistant Mark Adams after Chris Beard left for the Texas job in the offseason, and while Adams deserves immense credit for developing Texas Tech’s clever “no-middle” defensive scheme — it’s been so effective that other schools like Baylor and Kansas have copied parts of it — he still faces major questions as a 65-year-old with previous head-coaching success at lower levels but not in Division I. The Red Raiders’ rotation also is diffcult to project outside of mainstays Terrence Shannon Jr., Kevin McCullar and Marcus Santos-Silva. More than half of Adams’…

Coming off its worst record (10–15) and road record (1–9) since 1993 and its lowest KenPom rating (120th) since 2005, Butler is poised for a bounce-back. As bad as last season was, it could be argued that the Bulldogs over-achieved because they trailed by 10 or more points in 20 games. (They managed to win five of those.) The Bulldogs return 97 percent of their scoring and 96 percent of their minutes played. Because of the pandemic waiver, six players — Aaron Thompson, Bryce Nze, Bo Hodges, Jair Bolden, Christian David and Ty Groce — are entering their fifth or sixth seasons. “Experience is a strength in today’s game of college basketball,” says LaVall Jordan, starting his fifth year as Butler coach. FRONTCOURT The “Bryce Brothers,” Nze and Golden, became…

Culture is an overused term in college athletics. But if any new coach deserves to focus more on culture building than the bottom line in Season 1, it’s Tony Stubblefield, who was hired by DePaul to get results after more than a decade of misery in the Big East. DePaul returns only one starter (guard Javon Freeman-Liberty) and only three players — Freeman-Liberty, center Nick Ongenda and forward David Jones — who averaged more than 14 minutes per game from a team that went 5–14 last season and 2–13 in Big East play. A rebuilt Blue Demons roster consists mostly of transfers and incoming freshmen. Stubblefield and his staff will be “turning over every rock that we can” to add pieces right up until tip-off in November. “I’m not going…

In a season of great upheaval, few programs met as many roadblocks as the Providence Friars last year. The good news is that no Friar was sidelined with COVID-19 for any extended period, but the bad news drastically impacted a year that once held plenty of promise. The Providence campus was closed in the summer of 2020, so head coach Ed Cooley missed out on the valuable offseason work many of his opponents enjoyed. Rhode Island was locked down throughout the winter, so the Friars never did play in their often-raucous Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Games held on campus at Alumni Hall lacked any fans or atmosphere. The Friars clearly weren’t ready to start the season, they never won more than three games in a row and they battled inconsistency right…

As Jay Wright prepared to leave for Las Vegas to serve as an assistant coach on the U.S. men’s Olympic team, he did so with a sense of stability that many other coaches throughout the nation lacked. His Wildcats had lost just one player — forward Cole Swider (5.7 ppg) — to the transfer portal. All of Villanova’s newcomers were freshmen. And the NCAA’s ruling that allowed players to use an extra year of eligibility resulted in the return of team stalwarts Collin Gillespie and Jermaine Samuels. Sure, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl had left early for the NBA, but Nova would be returning eight rotation players and welcoming a solid crop of recruits to a team that reached the Sweet 16 last season. Talk about a great way to head into a…

Two Big South powers have new coaches, and power programs harvested another crop of the league’s best players, but don’t fret over the 37-year-old conference. In addition to Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey moving to Charleston and Radford’s Mike Jones going to UNC Greensboro, three 2020-21 first-team All-Big South picks transferred — Charleston Southern’s Phlandrous Fleming to Florida, Hampton’s Davion Warren to Texas Tech and Gardner-Webb’s Jaheam Cornwell to Penn State. Now, it seems like more teams than ever have a shot at a league crown. The Big South has a tradition of high-profile coaches, including Jerry Green, Oliver Purnell, Bob McKillop, Gregg Marshall, Ritchie McKay and Chris Holtmann right up through Kelsey and Jones and the current crop, including newcomers Mark Prosser (Winthrop) and Darris Nichols (Radford). The addition of…

Mike Woodson is the fifth coach who will try to return Indiana basketball to the glory days of Bob Knight — and the first former Knight player to do so. With his NBA background, Woodson has promised to modernize the uninspired offense that got Archie Miller fired after four seasons. It’s defense, with an emphasis on man-to-man, where Woodson will most resemble Knight. After questions about his lack of college experience, Woodson won applause by talking five IU players out of the transfer portal, led by sophomore Trayce Jackson-Davis, a Big Ten Player of the Year candidate. Woodson added two transfers as well as guard Tamar Bates, the nation’s No. 28 recruit. If Woodson can fix the Hoosiers’ issues at guard and with 3-point shooting, IU could be a Big…

Between the seismic shift stirred by NCAA NIL rules and a wave of alltime coaches stepping away in college basketball, Michigan is about as well-positioned as any program to emerge as a new powerhouse. That starts with head coach Juwan Howard. From the culture he’s built, to his formidable abilities as a recruiter, to the power of the Michigan brand, all the pieces are there. Originally, Howard’s hiring was called a gamble. Now it’s the envy of college basketball. He’s 42–17 overall in two seasons and 24–13 in the Big Ten. His 2020-21 team navigated the pandemic and emerged with a Big Ten title and a trip to the Elite Eight. An otherwise superb campaign ended with a season-ending injury to star forward Isaiah Livers in March and a stunning…

Fans of Nebraska basketball have grown used to overhauled rosters under thirdyear coach Fred Hoiberg. With 12 players whom Hoiberg signed having already departed with eligibility remaining, such instability has been a crucial factor in the Huskers winning only seven games in each of the last two seasons. To wit: Teddy Allen, who averaged 16.5 points last season to lead the Huskers in scoring, has transferred. So with eight new scholarship players and two new walk-ons, why should anyone expect 2021-22 to be any different? Perhaps because the quality of incoming talent is unlike anything ever seen in Lincoln. Led by Nebraska’s first-ever freshman five-star recruit, combo guard Bryce McGowens, this recruiting class is the highest-ranked and by far most heralded in program history. The Huskers also have a solid…

Penn State got its man when it hired Micah Shrewsberry to take over the program after months of upheaval that began with Patrick Chambers’ abrupt exit in October 2020. A college and NBA coaching veteran who has served as an assistant under Brad Stevens and Matt Painter, the 45-year-old Shrewsberry has been cited as a rising star in coaching circles. Now he’s getting his shot at a school that is eager for some semblance of the success that he helped bring to Butler and Purdue. FRONTCOURT One of Shrewsberry’s first priorities upon taking the Penn State job was to essentially re-recruit the Nittany Lions’ returning roster. That wasn’t an easy task in a world in which transfers no longer have to sit out, and Shrewsberry didn’t go undefeated. But he…

Wisconsin’s roster has featured stability and experience each of the past two seasons, but things will be drastically different in 2021-22. After the departure of seven players — six seniors and a transfer — the Badgers will be relying on new faces to take a significant step up in production this season in a competitive Big Ten. Guard Brad Davison is the only senior to take advantage of the free year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the pandemic, and he’s coming off the worst shooting season of his career. Badgers coach Greg Gard has his work cut out for him on the floor, and he also has some repair work to do off the floor after a report this summer indicated that his program wasn’t living up…

Conference USA isn’t unique when it comes to leagues a tick or two down from college basketball’s elite. The fight is always for respect, and a higher seed for whoever wins the league’s tournament and an NCAA bid. C-USA has something to build on in that regard. North Texas continued the league’s recent surge by knocking off Purdue in a Round of 64 game a year ago. The Mean Green were a No. 13 seed and added to C-USA’s recent run of success that includes NCAA Tournament wins in five of the last six years it has been played. The league will be a threat to build on that run this season behind a host of talented players and coaches. UNT head coach Grant McCasland is back. Joe Golding was…

Rick Pitino mania was the main story last year for most fans who have only a casual relationship with the MAAC, and for good reason. The Gaels won the conference title and put up a substantial fight against Alabama in the NCAA Tournament. Expect more interest in Pitino and his Gaels this year, since the coach has once again stocked his roster with transfers, and his team might not play a road game until the MAAC season begins. But it would be unwise to give the MAAC’s NCAA berth to Iona right now, since plenty of other teams return abundant resources, and some other high-profile transfers will make schools like Monmouth, Quinnipiac, Niagara, Manhattan and Siena pretty intriguing. Don’t expect any team — even Pitino’s — to bolt from the…

While change has come to college basketball at-large in the form of liberalized transfers and name, image and likeness freedom, the Missouri Valley Conference also turns the page on the most influential figure in the league’s modern history. Doug Elgin, who had led the league as commissioner since 1988, retired effective July 1. Under Elgin’s tenure, the league shook off the moribund state he inherited and turned into one of college basketball’s best mid-major conferences. Jeff Jackson, most recently Executive Associate Commissioner of the Big 12, takes over. Jackson’s plate is full as he tries to navigate the new collegiate landscape. On the bright side? All the teams that contended in 2021 return the majority of their core players. The league is in excellent position to repeat or exceed its…

The collective membership of the Ohio Valley Conference will carry a lighter load this year and will likely be worse off in basketball because of it, as two schools whose men’s hoops teams would have otherwise been projected in the top four of the conference for 2021-22 have left. Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State bolted in the spirit of chasing lower-level football glory; the schools are now both members of the ASUN Conference. That’s a blow to the OVC’s basketball prestige. Those departures will likely lead to a drop for the league in the overall conference hierarchy of college basketball, which is a problem, considering that the OVC ranks No. 23 on average (out of 32) in men’s Division I over the past eight seasons, according to KenPom.com. With Eastern…

Just minutes after Arizona State concluded a disappointing losing season in March, head coach Bobby Hurley was already contemplating how to prevent such a thing from happening again. “I just think that I have to identify qualities and people that I want to go to war with,” Hurley said. Embracing the updated ideology, Hurley overhauled his roster more than any previous year in Sun Devil history, adding nine new scholarship players, including three prominent Division I guard transfers, led by former Toledo star and Mid-American Conference Player of the Year Marreon Jackson and the top scorer at Boston College, Jay Heath. “It might be a surprise considering how much different our roster is, but we’re a lot further ahead on the court now compared to where we were last year…

When the era of the transfer portal descended on the college athletics landscape, one program that didn’t need any time to adjust was Oregon men’s basketball. In the decade that Dana Altman has been coaching the Ducks, annual rebuilding projects haven’t stopped his program from winning four regular-season Pac-12 titles and three conference tournaments and making the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament five times. “I think our coaching staff has done a pretty good job of matching what our needs are with the talent that’s available,” Altman says. “Guys have come in here and really shown a willingness to be a part of a team.” That formula will be tested yet again in 2021-22, when Oregon returns just three of the nine players who saw the floor in last…

Mick Cronin’s first two seasons at UCLA ended in similar fashion: a hot streak followed by a heartbreaking conclusion. A successful debut under the head coach two years ago saw a late 11–2 surge halted by a buzzer-beater by USC that denied the program a Pac-12 title. A global pandemic and the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament was piled on top just days later. Last season was much the same — albeit on the grand stage of March Madness — as a magical run to the Final Four ended when a miraculous last-second overtime heave by Gonzaga left the Bruins just short of the national title game. Yet Cronin hasn’t dwelled on the missed opportunities as much as he’s turned attention toward a campaign that he hopes will be defined…

The uniforms still say Huskies across the front with a W down the side. Little else about the University of Washington basketball team is recognizable after a horrendous 5–21 season that brought massive roster turnover and the replacement of two of three assistant coaches. Mike Hopkins is back for his fifth season as the Huskies’ head coach, but just barely. He followed up two Pac-12 Coach of the Year seasons by watching his team nosedive into 11th place in 2020, thinking things couldn’t get any worse for his program. They did. The Huskies, a poor-shooting team with no discernible inside presence, experienced their second-worst season in school history, and six players immediately entered the transfer portal once it ended last March. With his job likely on the line, Hopkins brings…

1. Coach K’s final season will dominate the sport It should never be surprising when a 74-year-old announces his intention to retire given that most people in the United States are retired well before they even reach 70. But, that said, Mike Krzyzewski letting the world know, back in early June, that this season would be his final season as Duke’s coach still qualified as somewhat shocking, if only because it’s hard for most to even remember a time when the man long ago nicknamed Coach K wasn’t standing on the sideline inside Cameron Indoor Stadium. He’s been there since 1980. But this season — Krzyzewski’s 42nd at Duke, and 47th as a Division I head coach — will indeed be his last. And his last season is coming immediately…

1. PAOLO BANCHERO, DUKE Banchero is a 6'10", 250-pound monster of a prospect who should be the best player on what will be Mike Krzyzewski’s last team at Duke. He is, heading into the season, projected by most to be the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. 2. PATRICK BALDWIN JR., MILWAUKEE Prospects like Baldwin don’t usually turn down offers from Duke and Kentucky to enroll at a Horizon League school. Baldwin only did it because his dad is the coach at Milwaukee, where the father-son duo should have a chance to lead the Panthers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014. 3. CHET HOLMGREN, GONZAGA Holmgren is a super-unique talent — a 7-foot center who protects the rim but is equally comfortable floating on the perimeter…

Gonzaga’s Drew Timme burst onto the college basketball scene last season with his polished post moves, ever-changing facial hair and post-bucket ’stache celebrations. The 6'10" forward showed his gregarious personality while emerging as one of the most creative interior scorers in the nation. He averaged 19.0 points — he made a mind-boggling 67.7 percent of his shots inside the 3-point arc — and 7.0 boards while earning second-team All-America honors. The Texas native enters this season as one of the favorites for national Player of the Year honors. Athlon Sports went one-on-one with Timme, a leader on a Gonzaga team chasing the first national championship in program history. YOU COULD HAVE GONE TO A LOT OF SCHOOLS. YOU BECAME A GONZAGA BULLDOG BECAUSE …? Just for the family atmosphere, the…

After being picked 10th in the preseason ACC poll, Clemson started last season with nine wins in its first 10 games — including wins over Purdue, Maryland, Alabama and Florida State. While the Tigers were never quite as good as their ranking following that stretch of games, it was another impressive showing for Brad Brownell and the Tigers. It ended in disappointing fashion, with an upset loss to Miami in the ACC Tournament and then a four-point defeat to Rutgers in the NCAA Tournament, but the Tigers have now made two NCAA Tournaments in the last four seasons, plus posted a 20-win campaign in 2019. Brownell has coached himself off the hot seat and has positioned the Tigers as one of the tougher outs annually in the ACC. FRONTCOURT Aamir…

Josh Pastner’s roster-building mantra at Georgia Tech has been to “get old and stay old,” a formula that finally paid off last season when his veteran-laden group captured the school’s first ACC Tournament title in 28 years and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010. But that process never stops; it just repeats. And after losing program cornerstones like ACC Player of the Year Moses Wright and four-year starting point guard Jose Alvarado, it feels like Georgia Tech has moved closer to the beginning of the roster cycle than the end. “We obviously lost two big pieces, but we have some pieces coming back,” Pastner says. “We could be a solid team.” FRONTCOURT Wright’s logical heir down low is junior Rodney Howard, who possesses more size…

Kevin Keatts is used to remodeling a roster, just not in a pandemic. The fifth-year coach is hoping that a little bit of normalcy will help get NC State back on track this season. After another typically inconsistent season under the atypical circumstances of the pandemic, Keatts believes that this revamped team, with some key new players, can do what his first team did in 2018 and reach the NCAA Tournament. For that to happen, the Wolfpack will not have to start over, but rather go back to how it started. That will take a mix of improvement from his veteran players and some quick learning by the newcomers to help push what was an NIT team last season. FRONTCOURT Big man Manny Bates led the ACC in blocked shots…

It’s been a “now you see them, now you don’t” tenure for Jeff Capel. The Pittsburgh head coach has endured heavy roster turnover in his three seasons, including five transfers and an early NBA Draft entrant (All-ACC pick Justin Champagnie) from last season’s roster. Capel’s first recruiting class of Trey Mc-Gowens (who transferred to Nebraska two years ago), Xavier Johnson (Indiana) and Au’Diese Toney (Arkansas) brought hope that Pittsburgh would return to national relevance. But all are playing elsewhere. And all is not steady in Pittsburgh. Capel has yet to oversee a winning season, including a 10–12 (6–10 ACC) showing in 2020-21. Pittsburgh closed the year 2–10 after an 8–2 start. All of which begs the question: Is there hope in ’21-22? Perhaps. The arrival of several appealing transfers and…

Virginia Tech is a program on the rise under third-year head coach Mike Young, the 2020-21 ACC Coach of the Year. Young led the Hokies to a third-place conference finish last season, and he has them poised for big things once again this year. Virginia Tech returns three starters from last season’s NCAA Tournament team, including ACC Player of the Year candidate Keve Aluma, and the Hokies also added versatile point guard Storm Murphy via transfer from Wofford. Aluma ended his flirtation with the NBA in June, electing to return for his senior season after a breakout 2020-21 that saw him lead the Hokies with 15.2 points and 7.9 rebounds per game while earning second-team All-ACC honors and receiving conference Player of the Year votes. Aluma and returning starting forward…

The American Athletic Conference finally got back to the promised land last season, sending a team to the Final Four for the first time since the league formed in 2014. Houston was one of the best teams in the country, earning a 2-seed and riding a favorable path to the Final Four before falling to eventual champion Baylor. It seems far-fetched to expect another season like that from anyone in the league in 2021-22, but the AAC should have much-improved depth at the top. Three times in its eight years of existence has the league landed four bids to the NCAA Tournament — and there’s a legitimate chance to hear that many teams on Selection Sunday this season. 1. HOUSTON (P. 48) 2. MEMPHIS (P. 49) 3. SMU (11-6, 7-4)…

Oh, what might have been for the Atlantic 10 in the bizarre season of 2020-21. The A-10 felt it was underappreciated all year, but its two NCAA Tournament teams appeared to be peaking at the right time. Yet when St. Bonaventure drew a talented LSU team and VCU became the only club flagged for multiple positive virus tests and wasn’t able to compete, the league’s hopes went up in smoke. The Bonnies lost to under-seeded LSU but return their entire starting five. They own a Top 25 look. Richmond welcomes back four seasoned seniors, VCU returns four of its top five scorers and Rhode Island brings back a host of veterans. Davidson is positioned to be its usual pest, and Saint Louis and Dayton aren’t going anywhere. 1. ST. BONAVENTURE…

Baylor head coach Scott Drew helped deliver the program’s first national championship in 2020-21. And the good news for 2021-22? He and his staff have reloaded to the point where this should be anything but a rebuild, with this team boasting top-10 potential and Final Four aspirations. Drew’s task of replacing four starters would be diffcult in any circumstances. Add in the fact, though, that the Bears lost the heartbeat from their best backcourt in school history — AP Big 12 Player of the Year Jared Butler, NABC Defensive Player of the Year Davion Mitchell and All-Big 12 third-teamer MaCio Teague — and that challenge is even more daunting. Drew appears to have viable solutions for most of his departures because of his team’s depth and newcomers. Not only does…

Kansas State enters this season at a crossroads. After guiding the Wildcats to a pair of Big 12 championships and five NCAA Tournament appearances in his first seven years in Manhattan, basketball coach Bruce Weber has fallen on hard times. K-State is coming off two of its worst seasons in recent memory, winning just 20 of 61 games over that span. It is time for K-State to bounce back — or to find a new coach. Either scenario could realistically happen this year, as Weber did something this past offseason that he has never done before — aggressively recruit transfers. K-State ended last season in encouraging fashion by winning four of its final six games. With a strong nucleus of talent returning and three impact transfers on the roster, there…

If he wanted to, Jamie Dixon could thoroughly explain his first losing season in 18 years as a head coach. Saddled by COVID-19, a glaring lack of experience and the gaping hole left by NBA first-round pick Desmond Bane, the veteran coach and his TCU squad sputtered to 12–14 in 2020-21. But instead of making excuses, he remade the team. Eight incoming transfers were part of the Horned Frogs roster by July, led by Texas Tech rising prospect Micah Peavy and Texas A&M’s Emanuel Miller, the best shooter in the SEC. They will join budding star guard Mike Miles Jr. The Frogs were practically holding the door open in the transfer portal. “It’s what it’s going to be,” Dixon says. “You see it everywhere.” Highlighted by Peavy of Cibolo, the…

Bob Huggins once again found a way to reinvent the wheel last season, bouncing back from the midseason transfer of Oscar Tshiebwe to Kentucky to win 19 games and earn a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament. The 2021-22 campaign may take another strong effort from the 900-win head coach, but there will be a blend of newcomers and familiar faces with sights set on another run at a potential Big 12 title and high seed during March Madness. Miles “Deuce” McBride and Derek Culver decided to forgo their eligibility to pursue pro careers, while Jordan McCabe (UNLV) and Emmitt Matthews Jr. (Washington) transferred out. But the staff took advantage of the transfer portal to piece together a talented roster, so this season will be a testament to whether the new…

UConn’s return to the Big East after seven seasons in the American Athletic Conference brought the Huskies’ first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2016, although that appearance ended in a first-round loss to Maryland. But the program is clearly back on the upswing. UConn has always been a better fit regionally in the Big East than the AAC, and the Huskies’ move back has generated positive momentum after three sub-.500 seasons from 2017-19. They landed three top-100 freshmen for the upcoming season and have already landed multiple commitments for 2022. The next step is to return UConn to the powerhouse status it enjoyed under Jim Calhoun. That could start this season, as the Huskies have enough pieces to win an NCAA Tournament game — if head coach Dan Hurley can find…

It wasn’t quite Hoya Paranoia, but Georgetown captured the nation’s attention for a week last season, winning four games in four days to earn the Big East Conference Tournament title and a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Hoyas were playing the best defense they had played all season and crashing the offensive glass. And for the first time since 2015, Georgetown heard its name on Selection Sunday. So what’s the next step for Patrick Ewing’s program? While the Cinderella run was impressive, it was also a reminder that the Hoyas started the season 3–8 and were just 9–12 before the Big East tournament. That sort of turnaround is unlikely to be replicated this season, but there’s enough talent to ensure a better start. FRONTCOURT Ewing is essentially starting from…

When Mike Anderson was hired to replace Chris Mullin, there were plenty of raised eyebrows, given Anderson’s geographic history and the fact that he had been fired by Arkansas weeks earlier. But after two seasons, it’s clear St. John’s made the right choice. Anderson won last season’s Big East Coach of the Year award after leading the Red Storm to a 16–11 record. They won six in a row to play themselves into NCAA Tournament contention but faded down the stretch and fell short of the tournament. Anderson’s fast-paced, turnover-forcing style has translated well to St. John’s, and this season should bring his first NCAA Tournament appearance since his move to New York. FRONTCOURT Julian Champagnie’s decision to return to college rather than keep his name in the NBA Draft…

The coronavirus pandemic impacted everyone’s season last year, but Xavier was a prime example of how momentum could so easily shift. The Musketeers front-loaded their schedule, playing seven games in the first 14 days — but would play just 14 games over the next three months. Between Jan. 10 and Feb. 13, they played just one game. After starting 11–2, they had a two-week break and would finish 2–6 down the stretch. With more normalcy expected this season, Xavier should benefit. The Musketeers have loads of experience, depth and versatility on their roster. It’s a key season for head coach Travis Steele, too; he hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament in his first three seasons with the Musketeers and could use this campaign as one to jump-start his legacy in a…

Don’t look for the Big Ten to field nine NCAA Tournament teams, including a pair of No. 1 seeds and two No. 2 seeds, again. Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Rutgers suffered major attrition. Three new coaches arrive. Micah Shrewsberry (Penn State) and Ben Johnson (Minnesota) face major rebuilding work, while Mike Woodson drew early praise for reworking the Indiana roster. With Luka Garza, Ayo Dosunmu and Marcus Carr departing, only three of the league’s top 10 scorers return — Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis, E.J. Liddell of Ohio State and Purdue’s Trevion Williams. Familiar faces remain at the top. Matt Painter, starting his 17th season, should have his best Purdue team, returning his top nine players and adding two four-star recruits. Guard Jaden Ivey was dazzling in March and in the…

Few rosters have experienced the amount of change that Iowa has gone through since last season ended with a disappointing loss to Oregon in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Head coach Fran McCaffery doesn’t merely have to replace the 2020-21 National Player of the Year in center Luka Garza. Other personnel losses include All-Big Ten small forward Joe Wieskamp, who declared for the NBA Draft as a junior; shooting guard CJ Fredrick, who transferred to Kentucky; and power forward Jack Nunge, who transferred to Xavier as a graduate student. The good news: Jordan Bohannon returns for a sixth season, this time as a shooting guard after having played point guard throughout his career. The 24-year-old Bohannon is one of the most statistically accomplished players in program history, and…

Like most veteran coaches, Tom Izzo is concerned about the future of the college game with the onset of the new name, image and likeness policies and the continuation of the transfer culture. But that hasn’t stopped the Hall of Fame coach from changing with the times. Izzo adapted to the new landscape this year by acquiring instant help at point guard in Northeastern transfer Tyson Walker, a move that should make the Spartan offense operate more smoothly. The Spartans expect to be better offensively, defensively and on the boards despite needing to replace 56 percent of their scoring from a team that ranked No. 12 in the Big Ten in points per game. FRONTCOURT Michigan State will benefit from a rising tide of maturity in the frontcourt with five…

Chris Collins needed four seasons to elevate Northwestern to the historic heights of the NCAA Tournament. Four years later, the program sits in a familiar place, near the bottom of the Big Ten, after going 45–74 (19–58 Big Ten) since its unforgettable celebration in Salt Lake City. Northwestern made an intentional decision to become younger a few years ago, absorbing short-term struggles to play the long game. The result is a team Collins now describes as “old again.” His roster has turned over significantly, and some players Northwestern invested in departed, most recently three-year starting forward Miller Kopp, who transferred to Indiana. Collins needs an experienced core, namely forward Pete Nance and guards Boo Buie and Chase Audige, to provide consistent leadership and production and prevent the double-digit losing streaks…

Purdue head coach Matt Painter doesn’t take shortcuts when it comes to building a program. An approach centered on player development has resulted in the Boilermakers making 12 NCAA Tournament trips in Painter’s first 16 seasons as coach. The standard remains just as high this season. With the decision of All-Big Ten forward Trevion Williams to come back for his senior season, Purdue returns all five starters and nine scholarship players from a team that finished 18–10 last season and earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Boilermakers will bring back 94.6 percent of their scoring and 88.2 percent of their rebounding from last season, which ended with a loss to North Texas in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Despite the disappointing postseason outcome, Purdue…

Defending champion UC Santa Barbara and perennial Big West contender UC Irvine loom as obvious co-favorites to win the 2022 championship. Or so it would seem. The league’s unpredictable history over the past decade suggests otherwise, though. Consider that in the nine NCAA Tournaments held since 2012 (the event was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic), eight different schools have represented the Big West. The only two-time NCAA entry during that span was Irvine, which made it 2015 and again in ’19. Now, at least one outlier is positioned to continue the league’s unpredictable pattern: First-year coach Mike Magpayo’s UC Riverside squad engineered its first winning Big West record in 20 seasons and returns four starters. UC Davis returns with a deep stable of talented guards and also seems…

The story in the Horizon League begins and ends in Milwaukee, where Patrick Baldwin Jr. took his five-star rating and decided to play for his father rather than Mike Krzyzewski and Duke. The freshman will be the talk of the Horizon and will bring increased attention to a league that hasn’t been in the national headlines since Butler made two straight title games in 2010 and 2011. Four of the five first-team All-Horizon players return, while the fifth, Wright State’s Loudon Love, was still debating whether he would take advantage of a super senior season at press time. Add Baldwin to that mix, and the Horizon should be a fun watch this winter. 1. WRIGHT STATE (18–6, 16–4) Wright State is in position to remain the class of the conference,…

The MAC seems to be perpetually caught in a tough spot. The league historically ranks in the No. 12 or 13 range of overall success on a year-by-year basis among Division I’s 32 conferences. That’s a respectable ranking. But it’s also one-bid territory. The irony is, this conference is one of the most balanced in college basketball more often than not. It seldom produces a top-50-level team, but at the same time, the bottom two or three teams in the MAC are usually much better than the bottom two or three teams in 20 other leagues. This season, the overall product will be quite good. 1. BUFFALO (16–9, 12–5) Buffalo was soundly defeated in the MAC championship game by Ohio, but a powerful three-man nucleus returns. The collective competitiveness, maturity,…

From 2002 until 2015, the Mountain West Conference received multiple NCAA Tournament bids every season — including a five-bid campaign in 2013, four bids in 2010 and 2012 and three bids on five other occasions. Since receiving three bids in 2015, though, the league has slipped. It was a one-bid league in 2016 and 2017 and has earned two bids to each of the last three NCAA Tournaments. This season could be different. While some of the league’s star power is departing, two first-team all-conference players are back, and five of the six players named to the second team are also returning. Colorado State is a Top 25-caliber team, San Diego State has made eight of the last 11 NCAA Tournaments and Nevada has one of the best backcourts in…

After using college basketball’s biggest stage to shout down the widespread whispers of its demise, the Pac-12 is swaggering into the 2021-22 season with its head held high and chest puffed out. Nowhere is this more the case than at UCLA, which led the conference’s remarkable, nation-best 13–5 NCAA Tournament record by becoming the second team ever to advance to the Final Four after squeaking into the First Four. One of three Elite 8 teams from the Pac-12, the Bruins are easily the favorites to repeat as conference champions and are generally considered to be among the best teams in the country as they return three all-conference-caliber players: guards Tyger Campbell and Johnny Juzang and forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. With 17 of its 20 top scorers departing from last season…

In the 17 years from the 2000-01 season through the 2016-17 season, Cal won at least 20 games 11 times and earned nine NCAA Tournament bids. In four seasons since then — the worst four-year stretch in program history — the Bears have lost twice as often as they’ve won and own just 15 victories in Pac-12 play. On the surface, it’s hard to see how this season will be appreciably better. Shooting guard Matt Bradley, whose 18.0 scoring average was third best in the conference, transferred to San Diego State for his senior season, leaving Cal without a proven scorer. But third-year coach Mark Fox sees hope in several areas: improved depth and physicality and an enthusiasm among his players in their return to a more normal offseason. COVID-19…

Coming off the school’s first Elite Eight appearance in 39 years, it’s back to the drawing board for Oregon State in 2021-22. On paper, that may be a good thing. Head coach Wayne Tinkle believes he has his best roster since taking over the Beavers in 2014. The losses of senior guards Ethan Thompson and Zach Reichle appear to be more than offset by the addition of seven newcomers, including five transfers from Division I programs. Oregon State’s roster has depth, particularly in the backcourt, where sharpshooting Jarod Lucas and point guard Gianni Hunt will battle several transfers for playing time. The Beavers also have size, in 7'1" senior Roman Silva and 7'2" junior Chol Marial. “We’re thrilled with the guys we have coming back and their experience, and then…

Following an impressive NCAA Tournament run in 2021 — and the team’s first Elite Eight appearance in two decades — USC coach Andy Enfield has good reason to be encouraged about the trajectory of his program. No, the Trojans won’t be the favorites this season in a competitive Pac-12. And they also are likely to take a significant step back defensively following the departure of do-it-all forward Evan Mobley, who was the first person ever to sweep the Pac-12’s Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year honors in one season. Having said that, USC had plenty go right in the offseason, including the return of many rotation pieces along with key additions that should put the Trojans in the running for preseason…

Expectations are high for head coach Kyle Smith in Year 3 after leading Washington State to the school’s first winning record since 2011-12, and the possibility of an NCAA Tournament berth is unfamiliar territory for a program that hasn’t been dancing since 2008. WSU continues to defend at a high level under Smith, ranking in the top three in the Pac-12 in both steals and blocks, but a young team that usually started four underclassmen couldn’t kick the turnover issues that followed the Cougars all the way to the conference tournament. FRONTCOURT It’s been years since the Cougars have had bigs who could go toe-totoe with every frontcourt in the Pac-12. Efe Abogidi and Dishon Jackson should do more than that in 2021-22. Abogidi, a springy sophomore who earned Pac-12…

5. Michigan 6. Duke 7. Villanova 8. Baylor 9. Kentucky 10. Arkansas 11. Purdue 12. North Carolina 13. Oregon 14. Ohio State 15. Illinois 16. Houston 17. Florida State 18. Tennessee  19. Maryland 20. Alabama 21. Connecticut 22. USC 23. Virginia Tech 24. Michigan State 25. Auburn All-America Team…

MARK GOTTFRIED, CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE Cal State Northridge has placed Gottfried and his staff on administrative leave as the school investigates allegations of rules violations. That’s usually the beginning of the end for a coach — especially one who is just 37–51 through three seasons at his school. So Gottfried will likely be the first man on this list to be removed, and it might even happen before the start of what would be his fourth season. CHRIS COLLINS, NORTHWESTERN Collins was riding high in 2017 after leading Northwestern to its first NCAA Tournament in history, but it’s been all bad for the Wildcats since that magical season. They finished 10th, 14th, 13th and 12th, respectively, in the Big Ten in the subsequent four seasons while never sniffing the NCAA…

1. MARCUS CARR (MINNESOTA TO TEXAS) Carr finished third in the Big Ten in scoring last season, averaging 19.4 points per game for a Minnesota team that started 9–1 with wins over Iowa and Michigan State. He’ll start in Texas’ backcourt and give the Longhorns a reasonable chance to win their first national title in men’s basketball history. 2. REMY MARTIN (ARIZONA STATE TO KANSAS) Martin is a high-scoring lead guard who recorded 1,754 points in four seasons at Arizona State. He is one of the reasons the Jayhawks are capable of winning what would be the 20th conference championship of Bill Self’s Hall of Fame career. 3. QUINCY GUERRIER (SYRACUSE TO OREGON) Guerrier averaged 13.7 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks last season for a Syracuse team that advanced…

There are landscape-shifting changes coming to Tobacco Road, and the ACC as a whole. On April 1, in a move most people assumed was an April Fool’s joke, legendary head coach Roy Williams announced he was retiring from North Carolina. Days later, longtime assistant and former Carolina player Hubert Davis was named Williams’ replacement. Two months later, Duke announced that Mike Krzyzewski would coach one more year with the Blue Devils before stepping down. Replacing Coach K would be Jon Scheyer, who won a national championship as a player with Duke in 2010 and has been a Blue Devils assistant for several seasons. More than 2,000 career wins and eight national championships are leaving the league in a 12-month span, replaced by two men without head-coaching experience. Landscape-shifting might be…

No team in the country faces a challenge as unique as this year’s Duke Blue Devils. A proud program coming off a season in which it missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1995 would present enough pressure. But add the fact that this is Mike Krzyzewski’s final season on the Duke bench, with his successor, Jon Scheyer, already on staff as an associate head coach, and the anticipation is amped up even further. Three starting players return in junior forward Wendell Moore Jr., sophomore point guard Jeremy Roach and sophomore center Mark Williams. But they are among only four scholarship players who are back from last season’s team. Maybe that’s a good thing, since Duke stumbled to a 13–11 record before a COVID-19 cluster in the program…

Chris Mack did not hesitate to acknowledge his Louisville basketball program needed a new vibe in Year 4. He replaced two assistant coaches and recruited three players, including two likely starters, from the transfer portal. He also promised a faster offensive tempo. But the Cards lost their top two players, guards Carlik Jones and David Johnson, to the NBA Draft. Heading into this season, Louisville does not have that Top 25 look. Mack faces considerable work while chasing his first NCAA Tournament victory at a program that won’t settle for missing the tourney the way the Cardinals did last season. FRONTCOURT The most important right foot in town belongs to Malik Williams, Louisville’s senior forward. A broken bone in his foot forced Williams to miss all but three games last…

Before Roy Williams became a head coach, he spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach for a Hall of Famer at his alma mater, North Carolina. Williams eventually led the Tar Heels to three NCAA championships and became a Hall of Famer himself. Before Hubert Davis became a head coach, he spent nine seasons as an assistant coach for a Hall of Famer at his alma mater, North Carolina. UNC fans would love nothing more than to see history repeat itself in terms of his results. Davis, 51, takes over a UNC program in transition. The Tar Heels went a combined 32–30 over the last two seasons, stymied on offense by turnovers and poor shooting. They must replace three of their top four post players from a year ago. On…

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has an experienced team and a new team all in one. Coming off an 18–10 campaign that included a surprising trip to the Sweet 16, the Syracuse Orange’s roster includes two returning starters in the backcourt, a fifth-year senior at center and an emerging junior center. Syracuse also boasts two senior forwards and a junior at the backup guard position. But both of those forwards and the reserve guard are transfers from other schools, brought in to help replace four out-bound transfers plus the losses of senior forward Marek Dolezaj to graduation and junior small forward Alan Griffn. “We’ve got a lot of veteran guys,” Boeheim says of his team, which includes two of his sons. “We’ve got more experience than we’ve had in a long…

Whatever we think we learned about Steve Forbes from his first season at Wake Forest should probably be tossed aside. Forbes faced a pandemic, a roster with only four players who had appeared in a game for Wake Forest, a lack of practice time and players missing from injuries or COVID-19. Fans still hope that Forbes’ 75.1 winning percentage at East Tennessee State is more indicative of what he will bring to the Deacons, who have had only two winning seasons since 2010. Amazingly, Forbes again will return only four players who have played in a game for Wake Forest (and one, Tariq Ingraham, for only 25 total minutes). To (re)fill the void, the staff brought in four freshmen (two from England) and five transfers. Without disparaging those who left,…

After Houston’s first Final Four appearance in 37 years, coach Kelvin Sampson had a simple message: “We’ll be back.” The bar has been raised for Houston, which has made three straight NCAA appearances — it would’ve been four in a row if not for the COVID-19 shutdown — and has the second-most wins (111) among Division I schools the past four years. Only Gonzaga (127) has more during that stretch. This season will be nothing new, as Sampson must replace four key members from Houston’s Final Four run, most notably All-America guard Quentin Grimes. In typical Sampson fashion, the Cougars plugged holes through the transfer portal and will rely on player development and a core of key returners to make another run at the American Athletic Conference title and more.…

The ASUN Conference has a new look, adding three more schools after picking up Bellarmine a season ago. What it doesn’t have is a new favorite. Liberty has won the ASUN tournament in all three seasons since it joined the conference, and the return of three starters — including Darius McGhee, the ASUN’s Player of the Year last winter — makes the Flames a logical preseason favorite. They’ll play in the eastern half of the league’s new divisional format, along with the ASUN’s four Florida schools (Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville, North Florida and Stetson) and Kennesaw State. The West Division includes holdovers Bellarmine, Lipscomb and North Alabama, as well as the conference’s three newcomers. Both Eastern Kentucky and Jacksonville State have made NCAA Tournament appearances out of the Ohio Valley…

Pandemic or not, the 2020-21 Iowa State basketball season was the worst in the school’s history. After the Cyclones went an unthinkable 0–19 in Big 12 play (counting the Big 12 Tournament) and 2–22 overall last year, head coach Steve Prohm was let go after six up-and-down seasons at the helm. A familiar face arrives to take over in Ames. T.J. Otzelberger (formerly the head coach at UNLV and South Dakota State) was brought in to rebuild a program that prior to 2019-20 had gone to seven NCAA Tournaments in eight seasons. Otzelberger, a longtime Iowa State staffer, assisted Greg McDermott, Fred Hoiberg and Prohm while working his way up the coaching ladder. Known as an elite-level recruiter, Otzelberger didn’t need long to score some major and highly welcome victories…

Oklahoma may or may not be fully loaded for this basketball season. Reloaded, yes. Rebuilt, no doubt, from the top down. When Lon Kruger surprisingly announced his retirement in March, the veteran coach’s move sent dominoes toppling, ultimately resulting in a program overhaul to the point that it’s hardly recognizable. Porter Moser jumped in to replace Kruger, following a successful run at Loyola Chicago, then pulled repeatedly from the transfer portal to fill out the roster, making for an intriguing team. Moser, himself, was an intriguing hire. “As we dug deep into the backgrounds of candidates, his attributes, acumen and record of success totally aligned with what we were seeking,” says Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione. Seeking success this season will require a quick coming together, for coaches and players,…

In Chris Beard’s opening press conference after replacing Shaka Smart as Texas head basketball coach, Beard vowed to make the Longhorns a national title contender as quickly as possible. It took Beard about three months on the job to make good on that promise. The former Texas Tech head coach landed five of the nation’s top transfers — Minnesota point guard Marcus Carr, Utah All-Pac-12 forward Timmy Allen, UMass center Tre Mitchell, Vanderbilt power forward Dylan Disu, and Creighton forward Christian Bishop. In addition to Carr, Beard also brought in Kentucky sophomore point guard Devin Askew to join returning veteran Texas guards Andrew Jones, Courtney Ramey and Jase Febres. Beard has won big with infusions of transfer talent previously — even before the advent of the transfer portal — at…

It’s been too long since the Big East had a national championship contender, right? While that’s mostly an exaggeration given that Villanova won two titles in a three-year span only a few seasons ago, the Big East has been down at the top in two of the last three seasons — with the canceled NCAA Tournament in 2020 the exception. The league failed to produce a top-four seed in either 2019 or 2021 and earned only four bids to the NCAA Tournament. In 2019, no team advanced to the second weekend, while all four teams were out by the end of the Sweet 16 last season. The lack of power at the top of the league should change this season, with Villanova looking like one of the clear favorites to…

While Creighton had tremendous success over the last two seasons — winning 46 games and a Big East regular-season title and making a Sweet 16 run — luck hasn’t gone their way. The NCAA Tournament was canceled in 2020, when the Bluejays were poised for a 2-seed, and then they were blown out in the Big East Tournament title game by Georgetown last season, a loss that resulted in Creighton getting a 5-seed and a meeting with eventual national runner-up Gonzaga in the Sweet 16. And now, head coach Greg McDermott has to put all that in the rearview mirror, as he faces his biggest rebuilding effort since his son, Doug, left the program in 2014. With four top-100 recruits entering the program, however, the Bluejays shouldn’t be down for…

A new era dawns for Marquette. Steve Wojciechowski was fired after going 128–95 in seven inconsistent seasons as head coach of the Golden Eagles, including a 13–14 finish in 2020-21. Enter Shaka Smart. The Wisconsin native was hired to inject new life into a program that felt listless the last couple seasons. MU hasn’t won a game in the NCAA Tournament since 2013. Smart moved on from Texas, where fans were growing restless with his 109–86 record and zero NCAA Tournament wins in six seasons. So both Smart and MU get fresh starts. Smart and his coaching staff brought in nine new players in the first few months on the job, with Greg Elliott, Justin Lewis and Oso Ighodaro the only contributors returning. Smart always boasted strong defensive teams at…

Like seemingly every other Division I head coach in the nation, Seton Hall’s Kevin Willard dipped into the transfer portal during the offseason, and those free agency moves should pay big dividends for the Pirates in the post-Sandro Mamukelashvili Era. Seton Hall added guards Kadary Richmond (Syracuse) and Jamir Harris (American) and forward Alexis Yetna (South Florida), while guard Bryce Aiken and wing Myles Cale both return for a fifth year of eligibility under the NCAA exception created by the pandemic. The Pirates also add the No. 29-ranked recruiting class according to 247Sports, highlighted by four-star wing Brandon Weston. The Pirates will be old, deep and talented and should compete for an NCAA Tournament berth after falling short in 2021 due to a late-season stumble. Willard’s biggest problem could be…

In an era when college basketball rosters are more fluid than ever, several Big Sky teams are experiencing an uncommon level of continuity. After finishing first in the league, Southern Utah brings nearly everyone back, while contenders — or potential contenders — such as Weber State, Idaho State, Montana State, Montana and Northern Colorado, all return plenty of key pieces. Elsewhere in the league, however, the story is different. Idaho, Northern Arizona and Sacramento State face plenty of roster questions, while Portland State and Eastern Washington welcome new coaches. And for Eastern Washington, last season’s Big Sky Tournament champions, the coaching change coincides with a near-total roster overhaul. 1. SOUTHERN UTAH (20–4, 12–2) After this season, Southern Utah will leave the Big Sky, the Thunderbirds’ home since 2012, for the…

In the late afternoon on July 26, big man Kofi Cockburn put smiles on the faces of Illinois basketball fans. Not to mention the team’s coaches. After flirting with early entry to the NBA and also entering the transfer portal, the gentle giant took to social media to announce that he was returning to Illinois for another season. You might have heard a loud whoop coming from the state. Suddenly, the Illini moved from outside the Top 25 to a possible top-10 team. Understandably, fifth-year head coach Brad Underwood was thrilled with the news. “Obviously, it was outstanding,” he says. “You’ve got a guy who is an All-American and has aspirations at the next level. I guess the one thing that I’m so proud of is his legacy is so…

Maryland made the most of a transitional season with a far-from-ideal roster, earning an NCAA Tournament berth and reaching the second round. It attacked the transfer market and appeared to have built a tested lineup. But the Terrapins will have to make do without wing Aaron Wiggins, who opted to forgo his remaining eligibility in July after a strong finish to his junior year. “I thought Wiggs had a chance to be one of the top two or three players in the league,” head coach Mark Turgeon says. “But we have a lot of good pieces and a lot of good young players that will get their opportunity to step up and be a part of it. “We’re probably not as experienced as we would have been, but we’ll…

Ben Johnson knew he wanted to coach basketball when he was going into his sophomore year of high school in Minneapolis in the mid-1990s. After his collegiate playing career and 16 years as an assistant, Johnson has earned his first head-coaching job at his alma mater. Minnesota AD Mark Coyle fired Richard Pitino after last season and brought in Johnson, a former Pitino assistant. Coyle cited the need for a consistent product on the court and recruiting, particularly in-state, as his primary reasons for the change. Johnson has high goals for what the program will be under his watch. “I want to be the best coach this program has ever had,” he said in the spring. Success in Year 1 will be hard to come by, however. Minnesota has…

At the end of a 21-win season that included a run to the Big Ten Tournament finale, the only madness the Buckeyes experienced was the ignominy of losing a 2 vs. 15 matchup in the NCAA Tournament, albeit to an undervalued Oral Roberts squad. The offseason that followed that disappointing finish included the exit of OSU’s top backcourt tandem, as steady playmaker CJ Walker and leading scorer Duane Washington Jr. left eligibility on the table. At first glance, it would appear that head coach Chris Holtmann is at a bit of a crossroads. However, a closer look indicates that the fifth-year OSU coach actually could be set up for his best season in Columbus. The Buckeyes are deep, experienced, athletic, strong on the interior and loaded on the wing. They…

Steve Pikiell pulled up to the gas station near his New Jersey home this spring and thought a fellow driver needed directions. A man with a Rutgers hat motioned Pikiell to roll down his window, and then he said something that surprised the Scarlet Knights coach. “He shouted, ‘Thank you, coach,’” Pikiell says. “With no fans in the arenas because of COVID, I didn’t realize it. But I guess Rutgers fans were appreciative that we got back to the tournament.” A year after turning in a résumé that likely would’ve been good enough to reach the 2020 NCAA Tournament that was canceled, Rutgers made it for real last winter. The Scarlet Knights earned their first NCAA berth in 30 years, winning a first-round game over Clemson and nearly upsetting…

There might not be a tougher Division I league to prognosticate this season than the Colonial Athletic Association. Like everyone else, the CAA has its share of fifth-year seniors and transfers who are immediately eligible to play. But it also has little to go on from a year ago since it contested only half of its usual 90 conference games because of virus-related stoppages. Hofstra was the only team to play more than 12 CAA games, and five teams had layoffs of at least two weeks just before the league tournament. So, what’s the best advice for sorting things in a conference where the No. 6 seed (Drexel) beat the No. 8 seed (Elon) to cap an unpredictable tournament in March? “I would say ‘Good luck,’ because I feel about…

No Division I conference has to shake off the rust more than the Ivy League, which was the only conference to cancel its 2020-21 season due to the pandemic. The eight-team league returns to the hardwoods with a high level of uncertainty. Two recruiting classes are set to make their debuts at each school, so while the teams are familiar with each other’s style of play, their respective rosters could prove to be a mystery to their rivals. While the Ivy League teams have lost a slew of grad transfers in recent years, the league reversed its longstanding policy for this season only, allowing seniors who lost last season to play on a fifth-year exemption. A handful of players are taking advantage of the opportunity. Experienced point guards are at…

There were a lot of strange happenings throughout college basketball last year, but the MEAC had more than its share. Of course, it had to deal with COVID restrictions, cancellations and stoppages. But the MEAC had one team — Maryland-Eastern Shore — step away from competition all together; saw the most heralded recruit in conference history (Howard’s Makur Maker) play only two games before an injury and his ultimate departure for the pros; dealt with the defection of one member (Bethune-Cookman); and witnessed the final season by two others (North Carolina A&T and Florida A&M). There was some good news, as always. Norfolk State not only reached the NCAA Tournament, but it also won a game for the second time in program history, defeating Appalachian State. That made all the…

Following an up-and-down regular season, Mount St. Mary’s got hot at the right time last March, taking out top seeds Wagner and Bryant to win its sixth Northeast Conference championship. Now, the Mountaineers will attempt to do something that no team in the league has accomplished since 2013: Win two in a row. It’s a quirk, more than anything, though certainly also the result of senior-laden squads showcasing their veteran presence at tournament time, as well as championship teams losing key players to the transfer portal. Since the inception of the league in 1982, teams have won consecutive titles six times. St. Francis (Pa.) University advanced to the final in both 2019 and 2020, coming up short each time, and Mount St. Mary’s also came close a few years earlier,…

A week before the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament was to be played without Arizona — the Wildcats self-imposed a one-year postseason ban in December 2020 — school president Bobby Robbins said, “Sean Miller is our coach.” A month later, Robbins fired Miller and explained the decision by saying Arizona’s basketball program was essentially “paralyzed.” The FBI began its investigation of Miller’s program in September 2017; the NCAA finally released its notice of allegations in October 2020. A few weeks later, Arizona agreed to let the Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) determine its penalty for allegedly paying recruits and a high school coach. The waiting continues. “I can’t predict what the outcome will be or when it might be announced,” said Miller’s replacement, Tommy Lloyd, who had been Mark Few’s lead…

From the moment he was hired as Colorado’s head coach in 2010, Tad Boyle has stated that his goal is to build a great program, not a great team. Last year, Colorado had a great team, one that was led by one of the Buffaloes’ all-time great players. Yet, even with McKinley Wright IV (15.2 ppg, 5.7 apg last season) and other top players moving on, the Buffs don’t believe they are starting over. “It was a special group of guys that did some good things,” Boyle says. “The one challenge we have is to challenge these new guys to take it a step further, which for us is the second week of the (NCAA) tournament. … We’re looking forward to that challenge. “Sustained success is the hardest thing to…

For the second straight season, Stanford lost a talented freshman to the NBA Draft. And for the second straight year, the Cardinal will replace him with a five-star recruit. Now the question is: Can coach Jerod Haase assemble the pieces to get Stanford into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014? Tyrell Terry and Ziaire Williams were both one-and-done, and stepping in this season is freshman Harrison Ingram, a 6'7" small forward from Dallas who was rated as high as No. 12 nationally by one recruiting service. Unlike last season, when Williams had veteran talent around him, Ingram will be without departed senior forward Oscar da Silva, a twotime first-team All-Pac-12 pick who signed with a German team in the spring while awaiting the NBA Draft. FRONTCOURT Ingram,…

Larry Krystkowiak is out as head coach at Utah after 10 seasons, and Craig Smith is in after serving as head coach up the road at Utah State the past three seasons. Timmy Allen, Alfonso Plummer and Rylan Jones are among the key pieces to hit the transfer portal after the coaching change, while David Jenkins Jr. (UNLV), Dusan Mahorcic (Illinois State), and Marco Anthony (Utah State) are among the new Utes Smith and his staff have pulled out of the portal. Changes abound in Salt Lake City as Utah embarks on Year 1 under Smith, who has seen success at all coaching stops, most recently at Utah State, where he would have taken the Aggies to three NCAA Tournaments in as many seasons if the COVID-19 pandemic hadn’t wiped…

The pandemic’s disruption to daily life left its indelible mark on the Patriot League last season, with conference offcials re-arranging teams’ schedules in a bid to significantly reduce travel and overnight stays. The 10 schools were organized into three divisions, based on geography, and played opponents as many as four times during the regular season. As a result, the league’s top three teams — Colgate, Lafayette and Navy — never met so much as once, each instead feasting on their divisional opponents. They combined to finish 23–2 against teams from their own divisions and 32–7 against the league as a whole. Now, as schedules return to normal, last year’s big three are expected to finally meet on the court, resuming their two-game home-and-away rotations. And, with that, fans likely will…

It’s fair to say the SEC’s gravitational field was a little out of whack last year. At least for a season, the league didn’t orbit around Kentucky. Instead, it was Alabama who claimed its first SEC regular-season title in 19 years and its first tournament crown in 30. Well, expect a return to order as the COVID-19 restrictions taper off and Kentucky reloads. After the Wildcats missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013, John Calipari assembled an impressive roster via transfers, recruiting and a few solid returnees like Keion Brooks Jr. to wash away memories of a 9–16 season. The league as a whole figures to have balance behind the Wildcats with a few others challenging for the top spot. Tennessee and Arkansas have top-10 rosters in…