Category: Basketball

The Bruins coach let the honorable mention All-American know that if he wanted to play in the NBA, his defense would have to improve and he'd be held accountable.

Tom Izzo wants Michigan State basketball to play grittier than it did in an exhibition loss at Connecticut with the season starting Monday vs Colgate.

Christopher Callahan, the chair of the WCC’s presidents’ council, said that “we look forward to setting our sights on recruiting” a 12th school to the league.

Coach Mark Few wants to return No. 21 Gonzaga to the list of national title contenders, and he's assembled a loaded team to get there. Gonzaga went 26-9 last season, and finished 14-4 in the West Coast Conference, losing the regular-season title to archrival Saint Mary's. The Zags lost to top-seeded Houston in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the first time since 2012 they did not advance to the second weekend.

Expectations are soaring for the Red Storm entering their third season under 73-year-old Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino.

There still is a distinct old guard in college hoops. The question is for how much longer?

The faces of college basketball players change from year to year these days, as name, image and likeness inducements and the explosion of the transfer portal force coaches to rework their rosters almost every season. Pitino, who led St. John's to a 31-5 record last season, turned 73 in September.

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.