Category: Basketball

Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright's unexpected retirement opened the door for longtime assistant Kyle Neptune to take over. The Wildcats missed the NCAA Tournament in all three of Neptune's seasons before he was fired and the school hired Maryland coach Kevin Willard.

To celebrate the start of the new season, here are 68 bold predictions that are sure to come true (unless they don’t).

Coach Shaka Smart has led the Golden Eagles to the NCAA Tournament each of his four seasons by relying on an old-school strategy for this era. Smart used the transfer portal to rebuild Marquette's roster immediately after his arrival, but he hasn't added a Division I transfer since and instead has relied on developing players already on his roster. Marquette must replace its top three scorers — including Associated Press All-America second-team selection Kam Jones — from the team that lost to New Mexico in the first round of last season's NCAA Tournament.

Sprinkle, who was hired in 2024 after guiding Utah State to a Mountain West regular-season title, has a completely overhauled roster and is optimistic the Huskies will get back on track in 2025-26.

The Musketeers had a late-season surge to get into the NCAA Tournament, then immediately went into rebuilding mode when coach Sean Miller ended his second stint on Victory Parkway by heading to Texas. Xavier didn't wait long and landed Richard Pitino after he led New Mexico into the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Pitino's roster doesn't include one returning player on scholarship last season.

Here's a closer look at the early college basketball games you need to pay attention to this fall.

The tip off of the college basketball season is less than a week away. The top players in the country comprise our USA TODAY Sports All-America team.

Jamar Brown proves he's worthy of a potential starting role on the UCLA men's basketball team this season in the Bruins' exhibition victory over UC Irvine.

Big Ten basketball teams were certainly busy in the transfer portal. We asked beat reporters which transfers will have biggest impact in 2025-26.

The NCAA had denied an appeal from Grant-Foster, 25, earlier in the month on the grounds that his two years in junior college and two at Grand Canyon University accounted for four years of eligibility.

The SEC wrote a letter to the NCAA voicing its opposition to the new rule that was set to go into effect Saturday.

Gonzaga guard Tyon Grant-Foster's eligibility for this season has been reinstated by a Spokane County judge. The NCAA had denied an appeal from Grant-Foster, 25, earlier in the month on the grounds that his two years in junior college and two at Grand Canyon University accounted for four years of eligibility. Grant-Foster’s lawyers argued it would be illegal to deny him the blanket waiver given to former junior college transfers in December 2024.

Byington has gone back to the portal for more help after point guard and leading scorer Jason Edwards left for Providence. Guard Duke Miles started 34 games last season for Oklahoma where he scored 9.4 points a game and shot 43% from 3-point range. Tyler Harris led Washington shooting 49.5% from 3-point range, and Jalen Washington spent the last three seasons at North Carolina.

UCF is one of five teams in the Big 12, ACC, SEC and Big Ten to return none of their scoring from last season. The Knights had to dig into the transfer portal to remake their roster, finding veteran players looking for bigger opportunities on the Big 12 stage. There is a lot of uncertainty with the Knights this season.

Cameron Boozer’s extraordinary potential is evident from the way Tennessee coach Rick Barnes described him before the Duke freshman forward even played a college game that counts. “One of the best players in the country,” Barnes said after Boozer collected 24 points and 23 rebounds in No. 6 Duke’s 83-76 exhibition victory over No. 18 Tennessee on Sunday. Boozer ranks alongside Kansas’ Darryn Peterson and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa as the best players in a freshman class that’s loaded with star power at the top.