We are 101 days away from the glorious return of college basketball. There is no offseason in college basketball, especially in this money-crazed transfer portal cycle that finished with over a dozen high-major schools building rosters that cost north of $10 million. The ripple effects are obvious. Multiple players who would’ve left for the NBA Draft without a second thought returned to college basketball to cash in. There’s a massive influx of international talent on its way to the United States this year, too.
The lookaheads to 2025-26 are here. It’ll be time for tip-off before we know it.
Let’s dive in.
Prominent storylines
1. Florida’s encore
It is not quite the same as 2006-07 when Corey Brewer, Lee Humphrey, Taurean Green, Al Horford and Joakim Noah all opted to run it back to chase another title, but Florida’s got a ton of familiar faces just itching to repeat.
Florida’s entire frontcourt is back. Two-way forward Alex Condon passed on the NBA to return for his junior season. Tommy Haugh broke out down the stretch of his sophomore season and has become a legit NBA Draft prospect. He’s back for Year 3, and the Gators landed his old high school point guard (Xaivian Lee) from the portal. Both of Florida’s enormous centers, Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten, opted to stay in Gainesville, too. Florida’s star coach, Todd Golden, will enter 2025-26 with a frontcourt that is the envy of almost every coaching staff in college basketball.
Florida has six (!) players with legitimate NBA interest on this roster, but the whole band is not back. Florida will dearly miss Walter Clayton Jr.’s utterly absurd shot-making, Alijah Martin’s rugged defense and turbo-smash dunks and Will Richard’s steady two-way presence. It will have a void to fill without dialed-in assistants like John Andrzejek and Kevin Hovde, who took head coaching gigs at Campbell and Columbia, respectively.
Can the Gator Boys stay…
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