It’s offseason hype time in college basketball, that period well before the season when buzz begins to grow in the shadows ahead of a new campaign. Rosters are set, schedules are mostly final and most players have already been on campus for summer practices.
There’s nothing left for fans to do but dream about how their newcomers — be they freshmen or transfers — are going to spark championship runs in the 2025-26 season. Retention is pivotal, too, but there’s something inherently more captivating about contemplating, projecting and debating what a new star might bring to a certain team.
In this era, it’s rare to find a team that won’t rely on a fresh face (or 10 fresh faces) to reach its championship aspirations. Programs like Marquette, Iowa State, Michigan State and Purdue are once again rare examples of teams returning strong core nuclei that will merely be complemented by newcomers.
Most will have a far larger share of their success defined newcomers. For this week’s edition of the Dribble Handoff, our writers are surveying the national landscape and picking the team newcomers they’re most intrigued to watch in the 2025-26 season.
Predicting next coach to win first NCAA Tournament title: Duke’s Jon Scheyer, Kentucky’s Mark Pope among picks
David Cobb
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