Between the time that the Florida Gators were able to demolish the nets in San Antonio in San Antonio in April and now – in the days prior to the start of autumn practices – College Basketball has undergone a transformation into sport. So with the low season almost effectively over, it is time for an overview of what has fallen and which teams, programs and conferences look better and worse, from the past months.
Let’s dive with a look at the biggest winners and losers out of season.
Winner: Florida re -loads after title
Florida recruited the number 6-transfer class in the country and has two four-star school players who participate in his ranks to reload a schedule that is ready to defend his national championship. The Gators insured Arkansas star Boogie Fland, Princetons Xaivian Lee and AJ Brown from Ohio to replace the outgoing production of their half of the defense – and they also bring Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon back.
Coach Todd Golden has compiled a top 10 team for the season on paper that has both talent and experience and that fits on what the Gators like to do. They will no longer win 36 games as the magical team of last season, but Florida has +1700 opportunities to repeat as NCAA Tournament Champion, according to Fanduel SportsbookAnd a run to the title and a chance to settle as the top dog, er, uhm, reptile, in the sec is very within reach.
Winner: Rick Pitino ready to roll it back
The dream season in St. John’s for Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino ended in the second round of the NCAA tournament and left the Johnnies in their mouth with an acid taste thanks to an audience that exposed his mistakes on the big stage. However, Pitino has the No. 1 ranked incoming transfer class -Voplet with three former Top-25 recruits in Ian Jackson, Joson Sanon and Dillon Mitchell-Om to keep the identity of this team around the defense and at the same time set up a respectable skill set of scoring bravery to start up. Bringing Zuby Ejiofor back and bringing in Bryce Hopkins, but guarantees that this team will again compete 30+ victories in 2025-26.
“Hard working group that excels athletically and shoots the lights,” tweeted Pitino earlier this summer and nodded playfully about the shortcomings of his last team about attack. “Thank God.”
Loser: Memphis -Dosage impossible to ignore
A quiet low season for Memphis and Penny Hardaway might be exactly what the team needed after a NCAA tournament loss in the first round earlier this year. But it is the opposite of what the tigers have received.
Instead, the basketball program was fined and on trial for academic fraud; A The most important transfer was arrested for an attack change; And the offer of the school at BIG 12 to become a member of the competition was rejected.
That all happened in just a few months.
Memphis is of course no stranger to distractions under Hardaway. The program was under his watch under the NCAA check (he was suspended to start the 2023-24 season) and there have been several cases in which players found legal problems. But this season outside the season has been very noisy for the Tigers.
Winner: Basketball in the Bluegrass State
Uncertainty that comes in the last season with Louisville and Kentucky who both switch to new regimes a pall about the state of Kentucky. Not the case this year.
Instead, Kentucky and coach Mark Pope has led by a top 10 incoming class and a group of returners and transfers-a team ready to take another step forward after 24 victories and a appearance in the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.
At Louisville, things are perhaps even more optimistic under coach Pat Kelsey. Kelsey called his mission in Louisville the Reviville, and he certainly fulfilled that obligation. They went from 8-24 two years ago to 27-8 in his first season. Now they will enter the season that is probably near the AP Top 10 thanks to a great group of incoming talents led by Mikel Brown Jr. – who has acquitted itself this summer as one of the best young talents in the entire basketball.
College Basketball Ranks: Projected Starting Line-Up For Each Top 25 and 1 Team on the way to the 2025-26 season
Isaac Trotter
Loser: Proponents of the expansion of NCAA Tournament
The size of the NCAA Tournament Field (68 teams) will remain at least one season after not successful this season to expand March madness Officially ended in August. The decision of the I’s Basketball Committees for men and women came after extensive consideration to move to 72 or 76 teams. That stays on the table for next season, but the holiness of the perfect field size of 68 remains for now.
Loser: Kevin Willard’s moved offseason
Maryland coach Kevin Willard became Villanova coach Kevin Willard in a tumultuous outdoor season of change for the experienced coach. It is difficult to claim that it went well for him when Terps fans could against him for his bitter output.
That does not mean that he will not work at Villanova – I actually suspect on time that he will do well! – But the way he treated his departure generated hostility of Maryland fans and beyond.
He is now leading a NOVA team that is expected to pass growths in 2025-26 and possibly further when he sets up a store in a new city. Only two players in Maryland followed him – both no primary contributors – and the recruitment ranking of the team is no. 48 nationally on 247sports. He has made a career of over performance compared to talent level, but a finish in the upper half of the Big East classification this year can be eligible as one of his better coaching jobs. It will take time before he rebuilt the wildcats for relevance.
Winner: B1G expectations in the Big ten
Barttorvik.comThe early prognoses for the early preseason for next season have four (!!!) Big Ten teams in the top 10 and nine Big Ten teams in the top 30. That speaks about how well the conference is in 2025-26. (For reference: the SEC once comes from its best basketball season, and it ended with four top 10 teams Barttorvik.com and only eight teams in the top 30.)
The power of the Big ten is in its depth, but there are also many mammoths on or near the top. That revolves around a Purdue team that Broads Braaden Smith and Trey Kaufman Renn, who can both be all-Americans in the previous season. But it should absolutely include Michigan in that mix, after the Wolverines Yaxel Lendeborg, Aday Mara, Elliot Gift and Morez Johnson Jr. have added from the portal.
Also worth mentioning: Illinois is number 7 at Barttorvik (!!) on the heels of adding transfers Andrej Stojakovic and Zvonimir Ivisic as well as a few Serbian talents in David Mirkovic and Mihailo Petrovic. This team has a lot of experience and the models are very high on the ceiling for the Brad Underwood team.
The Big ten has not won a national title since Michigan State did this in 2000 – and since then Uconn has won five rings while Duke, UNC and Florida have won three times. The competition is too late.
Loser: Each team that is not called Houston in Big 12
Byu had a large low season and AJ landed Dybantsa to prepare for one of the most expected seasons ever.
Kansas landed No. 1 Recruit Darryn Peterson.
Arizona, Iowa State and Texas Tech must all be top-25 teams in the previous season.
But everyone in Big 12 plays for second place. Houston is just that good. Again.
The Kelvin Sampson team returns Jojo Tugler, Milos Uzan and Emanuel Sharp and writes five-star Chris Cenac Jr., the highest appreciated signer in program history. The Cougars won the Big 12 with several competitions in each of their first two years in the competition and I would bet this year that this year is no different.
Winner: Duke distance Gap in the Triangle
In four of the last six seasons, Duke finished higher in the ACC classification than both North Carolina and NC State-inclusive a stunning 19-1 run in competition game last year-and the strong low season apparently helped to help the gap between the other two schools in the triangle. Duke has the number 1 recruitment class led by CAM and Cayden Boozer and five -star lady SARR, making it a strong competition for preview no. 1 together with Purdue and Houston.
In the meantime, UNC is not even the clear No. 2 in its own conference thanks to the revival of Louisville. And NC State will certainly endure a few growing pins in Will Wade’s first season.
The Tar Heels have cut their work away to return to national fame and will push Duke on top of the acc. That pressure comes in a year in which the Hubert Davis chair is called somewhere in between and burning.
As if it has been in the ACC, there is Duke and there is everyone in the competition that fights for the second. UNC and NC State have a lot of overtaking, and this season it seems an unlikely time to close that gap.
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