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Ojo’s Agent on NIL: ‘The Rules Changed Overnight’

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Greg’s Five Takeaways from the Belichick Takeover at ACC Kickoff

CHARLOTTE — On the final day of ACC Kickoff 2025, the conference’s big preseason event, North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick‘s presence created quite the scene at the Charlotte Uptown Hilton. Inside Carolina’s Greg Barnes and Tommy Ashley got together afterwards to discuss their takeaways on Belichick and the Tar Heels from Thursday afternoon’s event. Watch the full […]

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CHARLOTTE — On the final day of ACC Kickoff 2025, the conference’s big preseason event, North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick‘s presence created quite the scene at the Charlotte Uptown Hilton. Inside Carolina’s Greg Barnes and Tommy Ashley got together afterwards to discuss their takeaways on Belichick and the Tar Heels from Thursday afternoon’s event. Watch the full conversation above and scroll down for Barnes’ five key takeaways.

1. The Belichick Takeover

Barnes: “This is probably ACC Kickoff No. 20 that I’ve been to, and the the sheer number of media members following Bill Belichick was just something to behold. The room that we were in is 1,800 square feet – a partitioned off ballroom –  and right around Bill Belichick, there were more than 100 media members crammed in. It got to the point where there were so many people in there, the ACC made the decision that instead of it just being your typical media scrum where everybody was trying to ask a question at the same time, they had to set up a (moderated) Q & A session, which I’ve never seen before in these breakout sessions. It speaks to the volume of interest around Bill Belichick and around this North Carolina program.”

2. Different Media, Different Belichick

“It is a different type of media than the pro crowd. The Northeast media for NFL can be brutal, and I don’t think he’s seeing that here. … We see examples of how Belichick is embracing the college football landscape as it is right now. Of course, we’re still six weeks away from kickoff, so a lot will change between now and game one for Bill Belichick and how he handles the media. But so far he’s been very receptive. He was willing to meet with the UNC media separately this morning, kind of spur of the moment, which is a very nice thing to do. So it is a little bit different than what we’ve come to expect of Belichick during his New England time.”

3. Players Staying Focused

“Thad Dixon was at the table beside Belichick, and I thought it was very funny that when you had this huge media scrum around Belichick, there’s maybe six or seven guys talking with Dixon, and he was asked about it, he just looks over to his right and kind of laughs and says, ‘Hey, look at this, this guy’s a living legend.’ So the players understand that. You can hear when they talk about their coaching staff, especially Belichick, they understand who he is and what he’s done, and there’s the utmost respect there. I think the ability to function beneath the surface and let Belichick handle all the PR stuff is a very good thing, because there’s going to be a lot of pressure on this program this year. If Belichick can take that attention and own it for himself and let the players do their thing underneath, that’s going to be best for the program in the years to come, because they’re going to receive more spotlight than they ever have.”

4. Showcase Opportunity

“I was in school for for Judgment Day, and I was covering the team during the 2010 offseason hype, but I don’t know that I’ve seen what we’re seeing right now. That 2010 team had the potential to be really good, like top 10 good. I don’t think this team’s anywhere near that, but because you’ve got Bill Belichick and his staff, that just brings in so much more interest. It’s going to be an opportunity to really showcase the program. Belichick made an interesting comment when somebody asked him about what he’s doing to impress recruits that come in for visits. He said, ‘We’re not trying to over hype anything.’ The opportunity is through the roof, and so I think that’s what this year is about. Can this work? That’s the question, and that’s why there’s so much interest.”

5. Pressure to Win Starts Now

“When you look at what North Carolina has done in terms of financial commitment for the program, you don’t pay a guy $10 million just for his name. You pay somebody $10 million as a salary because you expect them to win quickly. Now even Nick Saban at Alabama struggled a little bit in year one, but I think there’s an expectation that the team is going to show that they are much better coached, that they are going to be better. I do think they are going to win games this year — the ACC, the schedule are not strong. When you talk about financial commitment, you’ve got to see some results. We’re already seeing results in terms of the media and the PR, now they have to put some wins behind it.”



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Donald Trump issues college sports executive order for NIL

NIL Explained: How College Sports Changed Forever Super Agent Leigh Steinberg breaks down how NIL has changed college sports forever, in an interview with “The Sports Professor” Rick Horrow. SEICon President Donald Trump issued an executive order on July 24 that attempts to create a national standard for NCAA name, image and likeness programs. The […]

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President Donald Trump issued an executive order on July 24 that attempts to create a national standard for NCAA name, image and likeness programs.

The order is Trump’s latest entry into a debate that has embroiled the NCAA since NIL rules went into effect in 2021, ushering in a wild-west era of college sports that has come under increasing scrutiny by local and national legislators.

Broadly focused on efforts to “save college athletics,” the order also seeks to preserve and support “expansion of opportunities for scholarships and collegiate athletic competition in women’s and non-revenue sports.” Most of the NIL money is given to athletes in football and men’s and women’s basketball.

The settlement in the long-running House v. NCAA case went into effect July 1 and allowed schools to directly pay college athletes through a revenue-sharing model.

In May, Trump appeared poised to create a commission co-chaired by former Alabama coach Nick Saban and influential Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell with a directive to explore and address major issues facing college sports. But there have been no announcements regarding that directive.

This week, a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives aimed at restructuring rules around the administration of college athletics passed two committees and is expected to move to the House floor when the summer recess is over in September.

Speaking at a National Press Club event in Washington earlier in the day, before the order was signed,  NCAA President Charlie Baker was asked about possible executive order on college sports. He said he was open to ideas, but “our focus needs to be on the legislative process.”

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, who along with many in college sports has been advocating for federal intervention, told USA TODAY Sports last week, “The President is going to do what he wants to do.”

“I’ve read things on social media, but I also read that there would be a presidential commission,” Sankey added. “So the question with an executive order is if (Trump) does, and then what it is, and then we’ll go from there.”



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101 Things to Know About the 2025 Men’s College Basketball Offseason

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 […]

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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. 

Clockwise from bottom left, AJ Dybantsa, Rick Pitino, Darryn Peterson, JT Toppin, Sean Miller.

Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated (AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson); Mikala Compton/American-Statesman/USA Today Network/Imagn Images (Sean Miller); Brad Penner/Imagn Images (Rick Pitino); Jamie Squire/Getty Images (JT Toppin)

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. 

New Indiana men's basketball head coach Darian DeVries sits on the sideline during a high school basketball game.

Darian DeVries was hired at Indiana after success at Drake and West Virginia. | Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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. 

Jai Lucas signals to the players during a Duke men's basketball game.

Jai Lucas left the Duke bench to take over as the Miami head coach. | Rob Kinnan-Imagn Images

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. 

JT Toppin controls the basketball during a game against Drake.

JT Toppin received a reported $4 million payday to return to Texas Tech for the 2025–26 season. | Nick Tre. Smith-Imagn Images

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. 

Otega Oweh dunks the ball against Tennessee.

Otega Oweh blossomed into a star last season at Kentucky and is primed for a monster season year. | Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

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. 

Yaxel Lendeborg dribbles the basketball during a game for UAB last season.

Yaxel Lendeborg transferred from UAB to Michigan after a brief stint testing the NBA draft waters this spring. | Chris Jones-Imagn Images

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. 

Ja'Kobi Gillespie shoots the basketball during a practice.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie returned to his home state to play at Tennessee after a standout season with Maryland. | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

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. 

Dame Sarr of FC Barcelona competes for the ball against Giampaolo Ricci of EA7 Emporio Armani Milan in the EuroLeague.

Dame Sarr comes to Duke as the top international pro prospect after playing for Barcelona in EuroLeague. | Fabrizio Carabelli/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

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. 

AJ Dybantsa shoots the ball during a prep game for Utah Prep.

AJ Dybantsa is one of three college freshmen who could be the No. 1 NBA draft pick next year. | Jason Snow / The Enterprise / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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. 

Tennessee's Nate Ament at basketball practice.

Nate Ament has raw potential and a high ceiling entering his freshman season at Tennessee. | Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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. 

Cameron Boozer dunks the ball at the McDonald's All-American Game.

Cameron Boozer will face another top freshman and potential NBA draft No. 1 pick prospect, Darryn Peterson, at Madison Square Garden in November. | Pamela Smith-Imagn Images

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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DBR Bites #113: NIL News You Need To Know About

We’re back with DBR Bites #113, where we had plans to continue our quick discussion of some news items…until breaking news came down. Donald and Jason begin their discussion with the report from a few days ago that power conferences had agreed to a deal that would allow for the clearinghouse created by the House […]

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We’re back with DBR Bites #113, where we had plans to continue our quick discussion of some news items…until breaking news came down.

Donald and Jason begin their discussion with the report from a few days ago that power conferences had agreed to a deal that would allow for the clearinghouse created by the House settlement to proceed with approving more deals by NIL collectives. However, a few minutes into that discussion, news broke of a new order that would turn that agreement on its head. We react to the breaking news and what it could mean for the whirlwind that is the NIL marketplace.

After the break (and a chance to collect our breath), we get into some new rules changes by the ACC that are meant to curtail court/field storming and the influence of gambling in the game. We end with a fun exercise on college football programs and their perceived valuations if they were pro teams. Stick around to see where Duke end up on that list.

Make sure you’re following us! Head to our Linktree to get all our available social media and links to follow and subscribe to the show. That includes our affiliate partnerships, from Homefield Apparel (use the code DBRPODCAST to save 15% off your first order) and Fanatics to the NBA Store, NFL Shop, and even Fubo TV. And…we have some more coming! Save some cash on the latest gear or follow the Blue Devils on the go by hitting those affiliate links and it helps support the show as well. We are now on YouTube! Subscribe there, rate, and review our episodes on there and everywhere you get your podcasts. Also, follow us on Bluesky ⁠@DukeRoundup⁠!





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NIL promises made, now coaches see if they can keep recruits

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day looks on before the College Football Playoff national championship game against Notre Dame, Jan. 20 in Atlanta. AP Photo | Jacob Kupferman LAS VEGAS — Next week, college football coaches can put the recruiting promises they have made to high school seniors on paper. Then the question becomes whether […]

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Ohio State head coach Ryan Day looks on before the College Football Playoff national championship game against Notre Dame, Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

AP Photo | Jacob Kupferman

LAS VEGAS — Next week, college football coaches can put the recruiting promises they have made to high school seniors on paper.

Then the question becomes whether they can keep them.

Uncertainty over a key element of the $2.8 billion NCAA antitrust settlement that is reshaping college sports has placed recruiters on a tightrope.

They need clarity about whether the third-party collectives that were closely affiliated with their schools and that ruled name, image, likeness payments over the first four years of the NIL era can be used to exceed the $20.5 million annual cap on what each school can now pay players directly. Or, whether those collectives will simply become a cog in the new system.

Only until that issue is resolved will many coaches know if the offers they’ve made, and that can become official on Aug. 1, will conform to the new rules governing college sports.

“You don’t want to put agreements on the table about things that we might have to claw back,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day explained at this week’s Big Ten media days. “Because that’s not a great look.”

No coach, of course, is going to fess up to making an offer he can’t back up.

“All we can do is be open and honest about what we do know, and be great communicators from that standpoint,” Oregon’s Dan Lanning said.

Aug. 1 is key because it marks the day football programs can start sending written offers for scholarships to high school prospects starting their senior year.

This process essentially replaces what used to be the signing of a national letter of intent. It symbolizes the changes taking hold in a new era in which players aren’t just signing for a scholarship, but for a paycheck, too.

Paying them is not a straightforward business. Among the gray areas comes from guidance issued earlier this month by the newly formed College Sports Commission, in charge of enforcing rules involved with paying players, both through the $20.5 million revenue share with schools and through third-party collectives.

The CSC is in charge of clearing all third-party deals worth $600 or more.

It created uncertainty earlier this month when it announced, in essence, that the collectives did not have a “valid business purpose.” if their only reason to exist was ultimately to pay players. Lawyers for the players barked back and said that is what a collective was always met to be, and if it sells a product for a profit, it qualifies as legit.

The parties are working on a compromise, but if they don’t reach one they will take this in front of a judge to decide.

With Aug. 1 coming up fast, coaches are eager to lock in commitments they’ve spent months, sometimes years, locking down from high school recruits.

“Recruiting never shuts off, so we do need clarity as soon as we can,” Buckeyes athletic director Ross Bjork said. “The sooner we can have clarity, the better. I think the term ‘collective’ has obviously taken on a life of its own. But it’s really not what it’s called, it’s what they do.”

In anticipating the future, some schools have disbanded their collectives while others, such as Ohio State, have brought them in-house. It is all a bit of a gamble. If the agreement that comes out of these negotiations doesn’t restrict collectives, they could be viewed as an easy way to get around the salary cap. Either way, schools are eyeing ways for players to earn money outside the cap amid reports that big programs have football rosters worth more than $30 million in terms of overall player payments.

“It’s a lot to catch up, and there’s a lot for coaches and administrators to deal with,” Big Ten Commissioner Tony Petitti said, noting the terms only went into play on July 1. “But I don’t think it’s unusual when you have something this different that there’s going to be some bumps in the road to get to the right place. I think everybody is committed to get there.”

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, whose program tapped into the transfer portal and NIL to make the most remarkable turnaround in college football last season, acknowledged “the landscape is still changing, changing as we speak today.”

“You’ve got to be light on your feet and nimble,” he said. “At some point, hopefully down the road, this thing will settle down and we’ll have clear rules and regulations on how we operate.”

At stake at Oregon is what is widely regarded as a top-10 recruiting class for a team that finished first in the Big Ten and made the College Football Playoff last year, along with three other teams from the league.

“It’s an interpretation that has to be figured out, and anytime there’s a new rule, it’s how does that rule adjust, how does it adapt, how does it change what we have to do here,” Lanning said. “But one thing we’ve been able to do here is — what we say we’ll do, we do.”



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WVU’s Hodge Seeking Winners – West Virginia University Athletics

Story Links MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Ross Hodge spent more than 40 minutes Thursday afternoon inside the Basketball Practice Facility answering questions about the Mountaineer men’s basketball program. Last March, Hodge left North Texas to become WVU’s fourth head coach in a span of four years, meaning this will be the fourth complete […]

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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Ross Hodge spent more than 40 minutes Thursday afternoon inside the Basketball Practice Facility answering questions about the Mountaineer men’s basketball program.

Last March, Hodge left North Texas to become WVU’s fourth head coach in a span of four years, meaning this will be the fourth complete roster overhaul since West Virginia lost 67-65 to Maryland in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on March 16, 2023.

In that span of time, a staggering 47 different players have been issued Mountaineer uniform numbers.

The guys returning from one year to the next can be counted on two hands, including redshirt freshman center Abraham Oyeadier this year.

Guard Kedrian Johnson, in 2023, was probably the last established returning player that West Virginia basketball fans could easily recognize.

In many respects, major college basketball today has turned into what junior college basketball has been for years when JC players and coaches were getting a bad rap. For decades, the knock on junior college coaches was they couldn’t develop four-year players, and the guys they were recruiting were in junior college for a reason, and usually not a good one.

Well, things have changed dramatically over the last couple of years and the coaches with junior college experience in their backgrounds like Ross Hodge are actually becoming pretty appealing today.

In junior college, coaches must be resourceful and efficient because their rosters basically turn over each year. Now that we’re in the transfer portal era of college basketball, the same thing is happening at the major college level.

Ross Hodge Practice
First-year Mountaineer coach Ross Hodge makes a point to his team during a recent summer workout (WVU Athletics Communications photo).




“I think there was a time when there was a negative stereotype associated with junior college coaches,” he said. “I’ve mentioned this before, I got my first head coaching job when I was 25 and coached against some legendary, hall of fame coaches that to the common person, those names don’t mean much, but they mean everything to me.

“They easily could be sitting in my chair right now, and it’s like, ‘Well, they only have guys for a year or two and can they take four-year guys and develop them?’ Now, it’s obviously flipped to where you are going to have high roster turnover, and you are going to be merging a group of guys together and how quickly can you get them to come together playing for one purpose and one reason?”

Hodge experienced high roster turnover during his two years as North Texas’ head coach because in the pecking order of things, his better players were going to get cherry-picked by the power conference programs anyway. He took a team last year with three returning players and led them to a 27-9 record and the NIT semifinals.

“It’s kind of a new norm that we’ve all had to deal with,” he explained. “If you can bring back three or four players now, you feel like you’ve brought back dang near your whole roster.”

Consequently, coaches must have a good plan in place when dealing with frequent roster turnover, and the philosophy Hodge uses today was perfected more than a decade ago when he was coaching one of the top junior college programs in the country in Midland, Texas.

During his two seasons there before joining Larry Eustachy’s Southern Mississippi staff, he turned Midland into a JC power with players such as Guy Landry Edi (Gonzaga), Jonathon Simmons (Houston) and Ty Nurse (Texas Tech).

High on the list of qualities Hodge seeks in the players he recruits is having experience playing for winning teams. A quick scan of the 12-player roster Hodge and his Mountaineer staff has assembled so far is pretty revealing.

Guard Honor Huff was on the NIT championship team at Chattanooga last year, while center Harlan Obioha (UNC Wilmington) and forward Jackson Fields (Troy) played in the NCAA Tournament.

Two years ago, guard Morris Ugusuk played in the NCAA Tournament during his freshman season at South Carolina.

Guard Chance Moore has played on teams that have won at least 20 games each year he’s played college basketball, including a 22-win year at St. Bonaventure last season.

Guard Jasper Floyd and forward Brenen Lorient were key members of Hodge’s North Texas team that reached the NIT semifinals.

Freshman forward D.J. Thomas and touted top-100 guard prospect Amir Jenkins are coming to Morgantown from highly successful prep programs.

“These guys have experience winning, and they kind of understand that part of it and what winning takes,” Hodge explained. “Then, you try to get them to understand, ‘Okay, how are we going to win together?’ You don’t have to teach them how to win, necessarily.

“Some of it is you do the best you can assembling it and then when you get them all together you kind of figure out what the team’s strengths and weaknesses are, address it and build it from there,” he added.

The recent signing of Jenkins, a four-star guard prospect from Worcester, Massachusetts, demonstrates Hodge’s recruiting chops. Earlier this month, ESPN college basketball expert Fran Fraschilla posted on X that West Virginia “hit the jackpot” with the signing of Jenkins, calling it “Christmas in July” for Mountaineer fans.

Jenkins, a high school junior, reclassified to this year and will be a member of the Mountaineer program this fall.

“We feel really fortunate for that,” Hodge admitted. “It is a situation where he originally planned on doing another prep year, but a lot of those guys now have so many credits that they can graduate as juniors if they want to. 

“It was more a matter of him becoming comfortable with the opportunity we had for him,” he said. “We just went really hard and really aggressive with him, and we’re excited to add him. He’s a guy who makes others better around him, so we feel real fortunate to be able to add him when we added him.”

In Huff and North Dakota small forward Treysen Eaglestaff, the Mountaineers are adding proven scorers. Last year, the 6-foot-6 Eaglestaff scored a Summit League Tournament record 51 points in North Dakota’s victory over South Dakota State, and he finished the season averaging 18.9 points per game.

Huff, an explosive New York City point guard, paced Chattanooga with an average of 15.2 points per game while leading the country with 131 3-point field goals.

Hodge took a calculated risk signing Moore, who was recently granted a fifth year by the NCAA. He averaged 13 points and 6.5 rebounds per game last year for the Bonnies after also spending time at Missouri State and Arkansas.

Obioha is a legitimate 7-footer with the ability to score near the basket. In UNC Wilmington’s opening round NCAA Tournament loss to Texas Tech, Obioha tallied seven points and grabbed nine rebounds against a Red Raider team that reached the Elite Eight.

The center had 17 double-figure scoring games and five double-digit rebounding efforts last season.

Ugusuk played in 32 games last year for the Gamecocks, starting six, and averaging 5.9 points and 1.4 rebounds per game. He scored a career-high 20 points against Vanderbilt.

Floyd and Lorient combined to average more than 20 points per game at North Texas, and Lorient was recognized as an all-conference and Sixth Man of the Year performer.

Freshman guard Jayden Forsythe, originally from Brooklyn, was considered one of the top five players in the Keystone State this year while playing at Westtown School in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in suburban Philadelphia.

It is an interesting and intriguing roster that Hodge has assembled so far, and he’s got one more spot remaining. He said on Thursday that he plans on filling it.

“We’re working on that daily,” he said. “At this point in time, it’s best available more than anything. Commonly, basketball fans look at rosters and they always want you to add another big guy, which I get, but I usually have to remind people there is really only one big guy out on the floor at a time, and there are usually three little guys around him, but we have pretty good roster balance right now.

“We’re trying to add the right person, as much as anything,” he added.

The right person from a winning program, of course.

 



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