Perhaps no sport’s offseason is harder to follow than college basketball. Nonstop player movement, coaching changes and recruiting wins bombard you all spring, not even slowing down for the previous season’s Final Four to conclude. But after all the chaos of April and May and some quiet time to digest it all in June and July, the march to Nov. 3 is very much underway. We’re officially 101 days from the college hoops season tipping off, and Sports Illustrated will help you catch up on everything you might have missed this spring. Consider this the SparkNotes to the college hoops offseason, the 101 names and storylines that will shape the 2025–26 season when it tips off in three months.
Coaching changes
The usual makings of a wild coaching carousel are the domino effects, a few big jobs at the top of the sport opening whose hires create serious trickle-down. And while there was no domino quite like last year’s wild SMU premature firing that eventually led to John Calipari leaving Kentucky, the three top jobs that opened created significant movement.
Domino No. 1: Texas fires Rodney Terry
Even after strong work as interim head coach in 2023, Terry (1) was never on solid ground at Texas. It seemed a foregone conclusion as the end of the season approached that athletic director Chris Del Conte would make a change, even as the Longhorns snuck into the Big Dance in the First Four. Del Conte parted with Terry during the first weekend of the NCAA tournament and almost immediately struck a deal with Xavier’s Sean Miller (2), who seemed set on a return to a big job after things ended poorly at Arizona. That opened the Xavier job, and while many expected a reunion between Xavier and Chris Mack (3), a second straight coaching reconciliation was never on the mind of Xavier AD Greg Christopher. Instead, Xavier joined the pursuit of New Mexico’s Richard Pitino (4), producing a wild day in which several open jobs (Xavier, West Virginia and VCU) all sent delegations to Albuquerque with hopes of landing Pitino. The Musketeers won, bringing Pitino-vs.-Pitino battles to the Big East in 2026 and beyond. New Mexico then landed one of the top mid-major names of the cycle in Eric Olen (5), fresh off a 30-win season at UC San Diego, while UCSD eventually promoted from within with Clint Allard (6).
Domino No. 2: Indiana and Mike Woodson part ways
Woodson (7) was under big pressure to win this year after a disappointing 2024 and massive NIL investments in the ’25 roster. The Hoosiers flopped, and by early February the separation process had begun. Coincidentally or not, the first game after Woodson’s end-of-season departure was announced was against Michigan and Dusty May (8), the Hoosiers’ pie-in-the-sky candidate as a former Bob Knight manager. After big swings like that one, IU eventually settled on a more realistic set of candidates and picked Darian DeVries (9), who had great success at Drake and a solid first season at West Virginia despite being plagued by injuries.
DeVries’s departure added insult to injury in Morgantown, W.Va., after a shocking NCAA tournament snub and sent AD Wren Baker on a third men’s basketball head coaching search in two years. The pool was a bit different this time, but Baker opted for familiarity and hired Ross Hodge (10) from North Texas, who Baker had worked with before in Denton, Texas. North Texas stayed in the family to hire Hodge when Grant McCasland left for Texas Tech but went outside this time, bringing in Daniyal Robinson (11) from Cleveland State. The Vikings, meanwhile, replaced him with Rob Summers (12), most recently an assistant at Missouri.
Domino No. 3: Villanova’s inevitable Kyle Neptune dismissal
It was never going to be easy for anyone to replace Jay Wright at Villanova, but Neptune (13) always appeared in over his head. Three years without an NCAA tournament berth made this move a necessity. The Villanova search provided the most drama of any this cycle as Kevin Willard (14) worked through the decision to leave Maryland as the Terrapins played deep into the NCAA tournament. By the Terps’ Sweet 16 game against Florida, it seemed obvious that Willard was departing, creating an awkward environment that included fans booing Willard as he headed to the team bus prior to the game. Despite his inability to make a smooth exit (dating back to his Seton Hall departure), Willard’s experience in the Big East makes this hire make sense.
The Maryland opening came at a less-than-ideal time after Willard chased AD Damon Evans out of town. With limited top options available a bit later, not many candidates with northeast ties and no AD to shepherd the search, it became the perfect opportunity for frequent job-hopper Buzz Williams (15) to swoop in. Williams has made a career of departing on his own before wearing out his welcome, and has won at a fairly consistent level across three different jobs. The Aggies made a run at Chris Beard (16) but instead went less flashy with Samford’s Bucky McMillan (17), who will bring his patented “BuckyBall” run-and-gun approach to College Station, Texas. Samford replaced him with Lipscomb HC Lennie Acuff (18), and the trickle-down finally stopped when Acuff was replaced by Trevecca Nazarene HC Kevin Carroll (19).
Four key changes in the ACC
The ACC was at the heart of the carousel with four changes, all at programs that have had recent success. The first change came before the season, when Tony Bennett shockingly announced his retirement at Virginia in the preseason. His replacement, Ryan Odom (20), delivered the Cavaliers their biggest tournament heartbreak as the head coach at UMBC in 2018 and has since become among the top up-and-comers in the business. Plus, he has deep ACC bloodlines with his father, Dave, a former Virginia assistant and longtime head coach at Wake Forest.
NC State making a change was not on preseason Bingo cards considering the Pack were coming off a Final Four appearance. But the discontent with the Kevin Keatts era that had been festering for years before that shock Cinderella run reappeared quickly in a miserable 12–19 campaign. After ditching your Final Four head coach, a splash was needed and gotten: Will Wade (21) returns to the big time in Raleigh after dominating at McNeese for the last two years.
The ACC’s other two moves came with well-timed retirements: Miami and Florida State each saw septuagenarian leaders depart and replaced them with mid-30s assistants. In Coral Gables, Fla., the choice was Jai Lucas (22), a recruiting ace from Texas who has spent time on staff at Duke and Kentucky. At Florida State, AD Michael Alford brought home Luke Loucks (23), a former Seminoles player who grinded his way up in the NBA as an assistant with Golden State and Sacramento.
A pair of Big Ten homecomings
Some hires just feel destined, and that was very much the case for two Big Ten changes. Niko Medved (24) was a potential choice last time the Minnesota job opened but became the surefire choice after a great run at Colorado State. Perhaps not wanting him to land elsewhere might have contributed to the Gophers finally deciding to pull the trigger on firing Ben Johnson. The Minnesota alum from a family of Gopher fans will now try to reignite a program that has sputtered in recent years. Meanwhile, Iowa targeted and landed an Iowa City native in Ben McCollum (25), who was the hottest name this cycle after leading Drake to an NCAA tournament win. It was a huge win to bring him home after interest from some of the top jobs in the sport.
Roster retention
Perhaps the biggest story of the offseason was the NIL boom, which saw the number of million-dollar-paid players explode and roster budgets jump, in many cases, into eight figures. Sustainable or not, those massive budgets completely changed the calculus for players who traditionally would’ve turned pro, in some cases even coaxing potential first-round NBA draft picks to return to college for another year.
JT Toppin (26) will challenge AJ Dybantsa for the crown of highest-paid player in college basketball this season. The defending Big 12 Player of the Year got a reported $4 million payday to head back to Lubbock after emerging as one of the sport’s most dominant bigs last season. He’d likely have been a second-rounder had he entered the draft. He and Christian Anderson (27) provide quite the returning nucleus for McCasland.
Purdue’s nucleus had less NBA buzz, but as stars go, you won’t find many bigger-name returners than Braden Smith (28) and Trey Kaufman-Renn (29), a pair of preseason All-Americans who give the Boilers a clear national title case.
And after a trip to the title game a year ago, Houston got back all three starters with eligibility remaining, with JoJo Tugler (30) and Emanuel Sharp (31) announcing early before Milos Uzan (32) surprisingly headed back to school after a poor showing at the NBA draft combine.
Among the other college stars who chose a big payday and another year of development over the pro ranks:
Alex Condon (33) and Thomas Haugh (34): The Gators’ star sophomores are back for more. Expect Haugh to slide down to the wing at times to accommodate jumbo lineups, but he and Condon often closed games together at the four and five, respectively, with great success.
Tahaad Pettiford (35): Auburn’s stud freshman on a team of veterans is now back as the leader as a sophomore. He took his NBA decision to the 11th hour after a strong combine showing and will look to be more consistent in his second college season.
Labaron Philon (36): Philon had already informed the Alabama staff he was closing the book on college but got cold feet in the hours leading up to the decision deadline. He likely would’ve been an early second-rounder but can boost his stock as the unquestioned star in Tuscaloosa, Ala., this season.
Isaiah Evans (37): Evans had some elite flashes as a bench sparkplug at Duke as a freshman and now will be a featured option offensively as a sophomore. Few are more dynamic as shooters in the college game.
Otega Oweh (38): Oweh exploded from role player to star by transferring from Oklahoma into Mark Pope’s system at Kentucky. He could be one of the SEC’s top scorers as a senior.
Kylan Boswell (39) and Tomislav Ivisic (40): Two pillars of last year’s Illinois team return and give coach Brad Underwood some rare continuity. Expect a big year from Ivisic in particular in his second year of college hoops.
Richie Saunders (41): Much of the BYU attention will go to Dybantsa, but Big 12 coaches consistently rave about Saunders’s impact. He’s the perfect Robin to Dybantsa’s Batman in Provo, Utah.
Bruce Thornton (42): The Ohio State point guard has been the subject of relentless portal rumors for two years running but is sticking around for his senior year. He’s a ludicrously efficient offensive weapon hoping to punch his first ticket to the NCAA tournament this season.
Josh Hubbard (43): Hubbard has already tallied north of 1,200 career points but has stayed loyal to Chris Jans and Mississippi State. There’s a good chance he’ll lead the SEC in scoring.
D.J. Wagner (44) and Karter Knox (45): Both these guys likely expected to be one-and-dones out of high school but now enter their third and second college seasons, respectively, as proven SEC commodities. Knox could explode after showing serious flashes down the stretch.
Transfer portal
In the first spring since 2020 without the added boost of COVID-year players, some expected the transfer portal to slow down. But the combination of the huge influx of money into the market and the Diego Pavia ruling that gave almost all former JUCO athletes an additional year of eligibility (46) meant things stayed chaotic.
Few staffs were prepared for the market boom. But in talking to coaches around the country, two schools are consistently mentioned as being ahead of the curve: Michigan and Louisville. The Wolverines needed some good fortune, with top transfer Yaxel Lendeborg (47) spurning strong NBA interest in May to matriculate in Ann Arbor, Mich., but struck quickly to land a rebuilt frontcourt with Lendeborg, rebounding machine Morez Johnson Jr. (48) and top shot blocker Aday Mara (49). Plus, May added what the Wolverines believe will be their point guard of the future in North Carolina transfer Elliot Cadeau (50). Louisville had already shown it would be ready to spend with its work in the high school and international markets, but hit the ground running in the portal with three electric backcourt additions: Xavier’s Ryan Conwell (51), Virginia’s Isaac McKneely (52) and Kennesaw State’s Adrian Wooley (53). The three made 273 threes at a mark north of 40%. If you’ve enjoyed watching Nate Oats’s Alabama teams in recent years, you’ll love this iteration of the Cards.
Two other market-setters were teams with two of the highest budgets this cycle: St. John’s and Kentucky. St. John’s boosters, led by billionaire Mike Repole, armed the Red Storm with resources few could match, allowing Rick Pitino to add some of the most proven talent in the portal. Among them, former star forward Bryce Hopkins (54), athletic freak Dillon Mitchell (55) and dynamic scorer Ian Jackson (56), a former top recruit. They also added shooting after their woes from distance a year ago, with Arizona State’s Joson Sanon (57) and Stanford’s Oziyah Sellers (58) joining the fray. Kentucky’s biggest-name portal get was projected top-10 pick Jayden Quaintance (59), one of the elite rim protectors in college hoops. Jaland Lowe (60) joins from Pitt to solidify the point guard spot, and swiping Denzel Aberdeen (61) from Florida with a package believed to be north of $2 million was also a win.
10 more portal stars worth highlighting
62. Bennett Stirtz, Iowa: Arguably the best player to move this cycle, Stirtz followed McCollum to Iowa. He’s squarely on NBA radars and almost singlehandedly gives the Hawkeyes a chance to climb the Big Ten pecking order.
63. Donovan Dent, UCLA: Dent was one of the best guards in the country at New Mexico a year ago and now returns home to Southern California to star for the Bruins. Going from Richard Pitino’s up-tempo offense to Mick Cronin’s more grind-it-out approach will be an adjustment.
64. Boogie Fland, Florida: Long expected to be a one-and-done, Fland’s stock slipped after missing most of SEC play with a hand injury. Still, he’s among the most dynamic guards in the sport when at his best and should be a great fit in Florida’s offense.
65. Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee: Gillespie’s a Tennessee native who decided to return to the state after a big junior year at Maryland. Expect the Vols offense to not miss a beat in the post–Zakai Zeigler era with Gillespie in tow.
66. Oscar Cluff, Purdue: Cluff’s one of the top post-up players in the sport and no coach does more to get his big guys involved than Matt Painter. The South Dakota State transfer gives this Purdue frontcourt much-needed physicality.
67. Darrion Williams, NC State: The crown jewel of Wade’s first roster in Raleigh is Williams, who was among the Big 12’s best players a year ago. He’s a matchup problem because of his physicality and skill level and should cause ACC coaches plenty of headaches.
68. PJ Haggerty, Kansas State: Haggerty’s recruitment wasn’t exactly smooth, with astronomical financial demands as well as the desire to be a full-time point guard slightly diminishing his market. In the end, it’s a coup for Jerome Tang and Kansas State to add one of the sport’s most productive guards after a disappointing 2024–25 season.
69. Silas Demary Jr., UConn: UConn needed to address its point guard position this offseason and got its top target in Demary, who’ll draw comparisons to Tristen Newton as a bigger playmaker who can knock shots down from three.
70. Xzayvier Brown, Oklahoma: Porter Moser’s shark-like maneuver to hire away St. Joe’s assistant Justin Scott and bring with him Scott’s stepson Brown, one of the most electrifying guards in the country. He’ll make losing Jeremiah Fears to the NBA a lot more manageable.
71. Lamar Wilkerson, Indiana: Wilkerson’s recruitment was a high-stakes battle for DeVries to prove he could recruit against other elite programs. DeVries won the battle and now can look to incorporate one of the sport’s best shooters into his first Hoosiers squad.
International imports
College basketball’s international explosion continued this offseason, with almost every top program at least dabbling in the overseas markets to hunt for top talent as NIL paydays make college a more attractive option for top international players. Ten names to know:
72 + 73. Thijs De Ridder and Johann Grunloh, Virginia: Odom built a highly impressive frontcourt with two high-profile overseas pros. De Ridder’s resume is perhaps the best of any import this cycle, having averaged nine points and five rebounds per game in the Spanish ACB last season, one of the top leagues in the world. Plus, he’s already 22 years old. Grunloh is the higher-upside prospect, an elite rim protector who has drawn NBA attention out of his native Germany.
74. Dame Sarr, Duke: Perhaps the top pro prospect from overseas, Sarr’s a projected first-round pick who’ll get a big payday and more consistent playing time at Duke than he’d have gotten with Barcelona. He’s an impressive defensive prospect with versatility and feel for the game.
75. Mihailo Petrovic, Illinois: Petrovic was one of the top players in the Adriatic League in 2024–25, the star of Mega Superbet’s squad that is sending several players to top college programs. He’ll plug in as the starting point guard in Champaign, Ill., on a team with tons of international (and Balkan) flavor.
76. Omer Mayer, Purdue: When he signed with Purdue, many expected Mayer to be Smith’s understudy at point guard for a year before taking the reins in 2026–27. But after a massive spring and summer that has featured impressive performances at Hoop Summit, the U19 World Cup and U20 Eurobasket, Painter will have to find ways to get him on the floor early.
77. Hannes Steinbach, Washington: A big reason to buy a second-year bounceback for Danny Sprinkle is Steinbach, a double-double machine from Germany who put up big numbers late in the year in the BBL. Expect him to earn early time at the four and five for the Huskies.
78. Ivan Kharchenkov, Arizona: An 18-year-old like Kharchenkov getting consistent run in the EuroLeague is a strong sign of things to come. He’s a potential one-and-done college guy if things break right.
79. Luka Bogavac, North Carolina: The Montenegrin sharpshooter will be 22 when the college season starts and has a proven track record as a scorer, averaging just shy of 15 points per game in the Adriatic League this season.
80. Neoklis Avdalas, Virginia Tech: Avdalas had plenty of suitors from the highest levels of college hoops after a solid showing at the NBA combine in May, but Virginia Tech wooed him thanks to a strong relationship with his camp and the opportunity to play a big role. The playmaking wing should be an impactful addition for a team that was in desperate need of a talent injection.
81. Sananda Fru, Louisville: Fru and Vangelis Zougris add some physicality to the Louisville frontcourt. At 6′ 10″ and nearly 250 pounds and coming off a strong year with Braunschweig in the German BBL, expect a smooth transition to college hoops.
Top freshmen to follow
The 2025 high school class, particularly at the top, is among the best in recent memory, with three No. 1 pick–level talents and several others that could make a massive impact on college hoops. Here are 10 you’ll want to track.
82. AJ Dybantsa, BYU: The most high-profile of BYU’s massive investments in the NIL space was Dybantsa, who’s believed to be one of, if not the highest-paid college basketball player ever. With that comes major expectations, but the dynamic wing scorer who has drawn comparisons to Jayson Tatum has the game to back it up. And even ignoring the money, BYU is a strong fit, with a head coach in Kevin Young who has NBA experience and a strong roster around him.
83. Darryn Peterson, Kansas: Kansas has had just one top-10 pick in the last decade. Peterson should be the second and will likely challenge to be the Jayhawks’ third No. 1 pick of all time. He’s nearly the perfect modern guard prospect, with high-level positional size at 6′ 6″ with a 6′ 11″ wingspan and elite ball screen capabilities. Among the highlights from his senior year was dropping 61 points in a game against Dybantsa’s Utah Prep team.
84. Cameron Boozer, Duke: Boozer is the most productive and winningest high school prospect in quite some time. He won four Florida state championships, three Peach Jam titles, two gold medals and has been a walking double-double in every setting. Can he deliver Jon Scheyer a national championship after last season’s heartbreak?
85. Mikel Brown Jr., Louisville: A late growth spurt has lifted Brown from an electrifying but undersized potential college star to a clear one-and-done. He arguably outplayed Dybantsa on Team USA at the U19 World Cup this summer and seems poised for a monster freshman season for Pat Kelsey and the Cards.
86. Nate Ament, Tennessee: While a bit more raw than some of the other elite prospects in the class, Ament’s ceiling is as high as anyone in this high school class. His length, fluidity and shotmaking ability are rare, and he’ll be led by the same man who coached Kevin Durant in college: Rick Barnes.
87. Darius Acuff, Arkansas: Calipari spent years pursuing Acuff, first to Kentucky and then to Arkansas. He’s a big-time bucket-getter capable of taking over a game with his scoring ability, and he should have a big role from Day 1.
88. Caleb Wilson, North Carolina: The Tar Heels went all-in to get Wilson, a versatile forward who fits the modern game extremely well. He guards multiple positions, has good feel for the game and has more offensive abilities than he showed last summer in AAU as a role player on Boozer’s dominant Nightrydas squad.
89 + 90. Brayden Burries and Koa Peat, Arizona: The Wildcats have two potential one-and-dones in Burries and Peat, two of the more polished talents in the class. Peat’s a bowling ball of a forward who constantly creates mismatches in the paint, while Burries is an elite scorer who should be a bit more college-ready given he turns 20 in September.
91. Braylon Mullins, UConn: The UConn program has been quite the destination for sharpshooters in recent years. Mullins is next in line after torching nets throughout a decorated high school career in Indiana. Don’t be surprised if his draft stock rises the way Kon Knueppel’s did at Duke a year ago.
Early season games to watch
College basketball has often been maligned in recent years for its slow start to the season from a scheduling standpoint, with a quiet opening night and limited high-level games to watch in November and December. There have been strides made on that front this year. Here are 10 nonconference games you’ll want to keep an eye on.
92. Arizona vs. Florida, Nov. 3: The defending champions playing a serious foe on opening night is a great thing for the sport and will be a strong early litmus test for the Gators’ new-look backcourt.
93. Kentucky vs. Louisville, Nov. 11: One of the sport’s premier rivalries has more juice this season than it has had in quite some time, as two squads with second-year coaches and big talent injections look to take the next step as national title contenders.
94. Purdue at Alabama, Nov. 13: The first big early test for a Boilermakers squad that enters the year with title expectations, and an incredibly juicy point guard battle between Smith and Philon.
95. BYU vs. UConn, Nov. 15: Dybantsa’s homecoming game of sorts comes in the form of a trip to TD Garden in Boston to take on the Huskies.
96. Houston vs. Auburn, Nov. 16: Two Final Four squads meet at the end of the season’s second week in a good early test of Houston’s No. 1 candidacy.
97. Duke vs. Kansas, Nov. 18: Peterson vs. Boozer at Madison Square Garden? Sign us up.
98. Duke vs. Arkansas, Nov. 27: This Thanksgiving night showdown in Chicago is a huge early opportunity for Calipari’s squad in what figures to be one of the most-watched games of the season.
99. Florida vs. UConn, Dec. 9: This year’s Jimmy V Classic is loaded, with the headliner being this showdown between the last two programs to win a national championship.
100. Louisville at Tennessee, Dec. 16: A pair of potential top-15 teams and top-five picks battle in this one with Brown leading the Cards to Knoxville, Tenn., to face Ament and the Vols.
101. St. John’s vs Kentucky, Dec. 20: Pitino and Pope making a game happen has been discussed since both got their respective jobs, and now it will happen in high-profile fashion in Atlanta.
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