For some odd reason, the site won't let me add to the 'BT comment' thread above, so I'm adding this here.
Some early talk about other BT teams for 2026-27, now that rosters are solidified.....
I see two recent projections of interest, one from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, the 2nd by Alex Bozich of Inside the Hall.
Rothstein has it: Illinois; MSU; Michigan; USC; UCLA; Purdue; OSU; Indiana; Nebraska; Wisconsin; Iowa; Oregon; Maryland; Washington; Minnesota; Rutgers; Northwestern; PSU.
Bozich: Illinois; MSU; Michigan; Nebraska; USC; OSU; Indiana; UCLA; Purdue; Iowa; Wisconsin; Maryland; Minnesota; Oregon; Washington; Northwestern; Rutgers. PSU.
Almost everyone has Illinois, MSU, and Michigan in the top 8 teams nationally; I don't disagree but I do see flaws with each team that make it unlikely that they will win the NC......
Illinois appears to have skills, savvy, and size, but mediocre quickness all around, and especially no one speedster like Cadeau at Michigan. Highly rated freshman Quentin Coleman might help, but he's more of an off guard.
MSU really needs 7-2 Anton Bonke from Charlotte to be a portal steal. He's a guy I really liked in the portal but he was ranked well behind the Big Turk by the 'experts'. They also recruited 7-0 Ethan Taylor, rated 40ish in last year's HS class, and a 6-10 redshirt Sophomore. If MSU had someone in the middle like one of the two Illinois brothers, I'd really like their chances for a NC.
Michigan lost Lendenborg, Mara, Johnson, and the coach. Portal guys Thiam & Estrella are fine, but not enough. They also have 6-10 Jalen Reed from LSU, and two 6-10 40ish freshman in Quinn Costello & Lincon Crosby, as well as 5* Brandon McCoy, who is 6-5. If McCoy is the real McCoy, he, Cadeau, McKenney, Thiam & Estrella are a nice starting 5, but they'll lack depth at the guard position if McCoy starts.
My prediction would be that one of Illinois, MSU and Michigan will reach the FF, but not the final game.
I disagree with Rothstein & Bozich as to who will be the worst BT team......I'm going with Northwestern. They were 5-15 in the BT last year and lost 4/5 of their top 5 players to graduation (Martinelli) or the portal (A. Page; J. Reid; T. Singleton). A possible starting line-up for them looks like Angelo Ciaravino (6.3 ppg); Jake West (5.3 ppg); 6-7 Jack Karasinski from Bellarmine (21.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg); 6-8 Colin Smith (11.9/4.2 at UCSB); and 6-10 Luke McElson (11.7/6.2) at Mount St. Mary's. Those 3 portal guys don't look bad, but there's also very little depth.
Rothstein & Bozich both go with PSU for the basement, but they have some international players coming in that puts them above NW, imo.
I'll post more about predictions & line-ups down the road, but wanted to get it going.
One other thing I'll add now......the two most improved teams, by a significant margin, appear to me to be USC & Maryland. USC was 7-13 last year and a disappointing group. They have starters Arenas and Cofie back, as well as Rodney Rice, who was hurt after a fast start, 3 top 30 HS prospects, and a very nice-looking portal class. They are easily my #1 BT wildcard team, but with so much change they could also disappoint.
Maryland was 4-16 last year, but get Pharrel Payne back from injury, as well as starter Andre Mills, who stood out as a freshman last year. They also have a nice portal class to add quality depth, including 6-9 Tomislav Buljan, 13.1/10.3 at New Mexico. They also add HS recruits 6-10 5*Babatunde Olaotun as well as 4* guard Kaden House. Rothstein & Bozich have them 13 &12, but I think they could challenge Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa & possibly even UCLA (overrated by Rothstein, imo).
IU appears to me to be the 3rd most improved BT team.
If IU doesn’t finish what 6th? 7th? We will fire DD. If NWU is the worst team we might be able to squeak one out with them this year?!??
I can’t believe how little interest I have for IU bball. Please be rock bottom. I can’t keep drinking this shit.
If IU doesn’t finish what 6th? 7th? We will fire DD. If NWU is the worst team we might be able to squeak one out with them this year?!??
I can’t believe how little interest I have for IU bball. Please be rock bottom. I can’t keep drinking this shit.
What gets me a little this year is USC's recruiting..........trash team last year, 3 top 30 recruits this year plus a nice portal class. overall the newcomers are pretty even, but they have 3 starters back so that puts them about 4th in preseason guessing and us 6th-8th.
One good thing about this year is the roster is good enough to finish 5th-8th with solid coaching and a favorable schedule. It's a good yardstick team with which to judge CDD's performance, so we'll know his worth for sure after this year.
@mushroomgod USC should be top 20 good this year. Super early but I like our freshman. We might just have a squad. Probably not tho they make me feel like this every year. I even thought last year we had a shot to be good. Changed that tune about 3 games in.
@mushroomgod USC should be top 20 good this year. Super early but I like our freshman. We might just have a squad. Probably not tho they make me feel like this every year. I even thought last year we had a shot to be good. Changed that tune about 3 games in.
I'm excited about the freshmen as well; frankly, they could pass for Kansas or U Conn freshmen. Duke? Not sure about that, but we'll see.
I thought I'd like Mustaf, and he's come out pretty strong so far. I always thought Lindsay looked underrated....really like him so far. Can do a little bit of everything. He looks like a steal.
I was a Harris skeptic. My guess is that he'll be up and down. He does look quicker than I expected.
Sherrill is as advertised. Right now, I'm a little Yigi & Burton skeptical. Probably not as good as they were ranked in the portal, but they'll do.
I don't see any bad eggs out there. We should know what CDD can do by the end of the year.
...Come on, I know you've seen USC's coeds before.What gets me a little this year is USC's recruiting..........trash team last year, 3 top 30 recruits this year plus a nice portal class. ...
If IU doesn’t finish what 6th? 7th? We will fire DD. If NWU is the worst team we might be able to squeak one out with them this year?!??
I can’t believe how little interest I have for IU bball. Please be rock bottom. I can’t keep drinking this shit.
We have a top 5 football team again so kind of hard to get excited about IU bbal right now. Will not really know if we are any good til we play a team like kentucky or arkansas. I am thinking the competition in this south america thing is not very good so not sure it is really something you can use to guage players. I remember last year people raved about the team in the summer trip. Even of of the guys from Europe who if I recall never even got off the bench during the season.
@cavanagh Unfortunately, I think IU hired a purgatory coach: He's good enough to have some modicum of success, but not a guy who can elevate the program. He'll do just enough to keep the gig for several years, I fear.