2025-26 College Hoops Thread

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

Kansas is really gonna struggle this year.  They have no depth and their 7/8/9th players are mid major level at best. Not impressed with them at all

Impossible.  They have burger boys and use the portal.  I've been told this is the pathway to success.

[JWags85]

Kentucky looking a lot like a Cal UK team.  Dangerous if they are on offensively, but get them out of their game a bit and you blow them the F out.  Pretty pathetic performance after the 2nd media TO.

[Pakuni]

Impossible.  They have burger boys and use the portal.  I've been told this is the pathway to success.

Dan Hurley and Todd Golden would say it is.

Of course, not one person here has suggested that any strategy guarantees success. But you knew that.

[BM1090]

Dan Hurley and Todd Golden would say it is.

Of course, not one person here has suggested that any strategy guarantees success. But you knew that.

That's absolutely not true. I can think of a few offhand for sure. Of course, those people are unreasonable and not worth listening to. But it's out there.

[Pakuni]

That's absolutely not true. I can think of a few offhand for sure. Of course, those people are unreasonable and not worth listening to. But it's out there.

Really? So someone here has written "If Shaka does X, then Marquette is guaranteed a Final Four or championship."
I'm skeptical.

[BM1090]

Really? So someone here has written "If Shaka does X, then Marquette is guaranteed a Final Four or championship."
I'm skeptical.

That's not what you originally said. But we can stop here since I'm not going to search for the posts to win an online argument

[MuggsyB]

I hate to root for Duke, but I'd like to see them take Kansas to the woodshed. 

[cheebs09]

Purdue is an massive problem.  Literally.  Where do they find these 7'4 blokes?

Neil Armstrong brought the DNA back from the moon.

[MU82]

Kansas is really gonna struggle this year.  They have no depth and their 7/8/9th players are mid major level at best. Not impressed with them at all

Maybe. But playing without Peterson, KU just gave Duke all they could handle.

[brewcity77]

Maybe. But playing without Peterson, KU just gave Duke all they could handle.

That was my thought, I was more impressed with Kansas than Duke considering Peterson didn't play. Fully expected the short-handed Jayhawks to get blasted.

A couple near-upsets last night. Winthrop led #21 Arkansas 83-78 with about a minute to play before Arkansas went on a 6-0 run and Winthrop missed a hideous looking three at the buzzer.

Southern led Washington by as much as 12 in the second half, fell behind, then hit a three to force overtime. In OT, the Jaguars led by 5 (the same 83-78 score) with under 20 seconds to play, but a foul on a three and a layup with 0:01 left forced a second OT. Washington got out quick in the second OT and Southern couldn't keep up, losing 99-93.

[GoldenEagles03]

San Diego State loses at home to KenPom 120 Troy.

Troy was coming off back to back losses to LMU and CSNorthridge.

The bubble is going to be horrific this season.

[Billy Hoyle]

Kentucky looking a lot like a Cal UK team.  Dangerous if they are on offensively, but get them out of their game a bit and you blow them the F out.  Pretty pathetic performance after the 2nd media TO.

I don't understand how they lost to Michigan State. Izzo used the Portal and brought in a three point shooting grad transfer in the Portal to shore up a weakness among his roster of guys he brought in as freshmen. That's not RGV. Everyone knows it's either all or nothing with the Portal.

[wadesworld]

I don't understand how they lost to Michigan State. Izzo used the Portal and brought in a three point shooting grad transfer in the Portal to shore up a weakness among his roster of guys he brought in as freshmen. That's not RGV. Everyone knows it's either all or nothing with the Portal.

Kentucky portalled way harder than MSU, so not sure this is your best data point to show portalling leads to success.

[GoldenEagles03]

Kentucky portalled way harder than MSU, so not sure this is your best data point to show portalling leads to success.

In fact...

https://x.com/msucontent/status/1991175499104587926?t=1iSDMLOTRrDqNwlscjgfVg&s=19

[Newsdreams]

I don't understand how they lost to Michigan State. Izzo used the Portal and brought in a three point shooting grad transfer in the Portal to shore up a weakness among his roster of guys he brought in as freshmen. That's not RGV. Everyone knows it's either all or nothing with the Portal.

I wonder if FIOA can be used to see how much it $$$$

[Billy Hoyle]

Kentucky portalled way harder than MSU, so not sure this is your best data point to show portalling leads to success.

It's about Izzo recognizing a weakness and using the Portal to find one guy (from low-major Samford and not a high-priced guy) to plug the hole while staying committed to a roster full of guys he recruited out of HS. You can still play the RVG game while also acknowledging that bringing one guy at a position of obvious need won't destroy the model.

[lake]

Kentucky portalled way harder than MSU, so not sure this is your best data point to show portalling leads to success.

It would be a real shame if people practiced nuanced thinking on here.

It does not have to be all portal or no portal.

[wadesworld]

It's about Izzo recognizing a weakness and using the Portal to find one guy (from low-major Samford and not a high-priced guy) to plug the hole while staying committed to a roster full of guys he recruited out of HS. You can still play the RVG game while also acknowledging that bringing one guy at a position of obvious need won't destroy the model.

Michigan State is playing 8 guys over 10 minutes per game.  One of those players was brought in from the portal, Trey Fort (your "three point shooting grad from low-major Samford and not a high-priced guy).  Said "three point shooting grad" was probably not so high priced because he is shooting 33% from the field and 27% from 3 (on 5.5 attempts).  He's averaging 7.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.5 assists, and 1.3 turnovers per game.

We can get that kind of production from guys like Sean Jones without going into the portal.

Again, not sure MSU is exactly the example you want to be using to point at a guy who nailed it in the portal.  If you think Trey Fort is why MSU is having success, I'm not sure what to tell you.