As I wrote in the aftermath of Baylor\u2019s James Nnaji<\/a> first being deemed eligible, the situation you\u2019re describing \u2014 where a player declares early, either goes undrafted or later than he hoped, then attempts to return to school instead \u2014 is exactly what multiple college basketball stakeholders have predicted as the next frontier of eligibility. Now, that\u2019s going to be a relatively small group of players, but if you\u2019re good enough to potentially go pro, you\u2019re good enough to move the needle for a competitive college team.<\/p>\nWhere the NBA factors in is a key component to your hypothetical: What happens to a player\u2019s draft rights if he does return to school? Does the team that drafted the player retain those rights for the future? If so, then the value of second-round picks could skyrocket; you\u2019d effectively have a new \u201cdraft-and-stash\u201d model, just domestically instead of internationally. And if a team does retain those rights, for how long? Another season? Two? Indefinitely? Not at all? The NBA hasn\u2019t weighed in yet, but that probably has to come sooner than later, before a team takes the plunge on someone who might try to sue his way back into college hoops. \u2014 Marks<\/p>\n
The NCAA has released a new tournament called March Sadness. The bottom-eight Power-4 teams will face off in a tournament where the losers advance. Who\u2019s going (assuming no one can drop out), and how can they keep themselves from going next year? \u2014 James S.<\/p>\n
As of Tuesday morning, in order of worst to best net rating, that would be:<\/p>\n
Rutgers (9-10, 2-6 Big Ten)
\nBoston College (8-10, 1-4 ACC)
\nGeorgia Tech (11-8, 2-4 ACC)
\nMarquette (7-13, 2-7 Big East)
\nPenn State (9-9, 0-7 Big Ten)
\nUtah (9-10, 1-5 Big 12)
\nMaryland (8-10, 1-6 Big Ten)
\nFlorida State (8-11, 1-5 ACC)<\/p>\n
(Note: This was before Florida State defeated Miami on Tuesday.)<\/p>\n
There are mostly two types of coaches on this list. First, you have the newbies: Alex Jensen at Utah, Buzz Williams at Maryland and Luke Loucks at Florida State. All are in their first seasons at their respective schools. You\u2019d imagine that over time, especially Jensen and Loucks with their NBA experience, those guys pick up recruiting and are able to land better talent. Then you have your search season candidates, who have to prove over the next month and a half that they deserve to keep their jobs: Rutgers\u2019 Steve Pikiell, Boston College\u2019s Earl Grant and Georgia Tech\u2019s Damon Stoudamire. (Pikiell is probably the safest of the three.)<\/p>\n
Penn State coach Mike Rhoades is in his third season at a program that had one tournament appearance in the 12 years before his arrival. And then there\u2019s Marquette\u2019s Shaka Smart, whose no-portal philosophy has flopped in a major way. Considering the Golden Eagles have made the NCAA Tournament each of Smart\u2019s first four seasons with the program, he doesn\u2019t seem at risk of losing his job, but it\u2019s hard to imagine he won\u2019t be using the transfer portal at least to some extent come this spring. It\u2019s easy not to take transfers when you have the likes of Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodaro and Kam Jones, but eventually those guys cycle out.<\/p>\n
As for how the aforementioned teams can avoid making March Sadness next season? No easy answer for anyone but Maryland and Marquette. The other six are simply among the toughest high-major jobs in the country right now, regardless of who\u2019s at the helm. \u2014 Marks<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2255597220.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n At just 7-13 this season, will Shaka Smart need to alter his roster-building philosophies to get Marquette back on track? (John Fisher \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Do you think Marquette\u2019s Shaka Smart is going to have to abandon his no-portal philosophy after this year? There are signs of hope as the season progresses (admittedly dim) but do you see this as unsustainable in the current climate of college basketball? \u2014 Brigid S.<\/p>\n
This is something I\u2019ve been thinking about a lot this season. I thought Marquette\u2019s strategy was especially interesting because the most notable coach in college football who\u2019s turned his nose up at the portal, Clemson\u2019s Dabo Sweeney, has been roundly \u2014 and in my opinion, fairly \u2014 roasted for it. But in hoops, there was a general feeling of \u201cGood for Shaka for developing guys and wanting program lifers. What a leader!\u201d<\/p>\n
Football, of course, is a different beast, purely because of roster numbers. You can\u2019t lose a lot of production to the portal and not replenish via the portal. And while it\u2019s true a lot wasn\u2019t expected of Marquette this year \u2014 the Eagles were predicted to finish fifth in the Big East preseason poll \u2014 sitting in ninth place at 2-7 isn\u2019t going to fly for long. Being No. 123 in KenPom isn\u2019t encouraging either.<\/p>\n
So yeah, I think Smart is going to have to adapt. That doesn\u2019t mean he has to change his entire philosophy, though. Michigan State is a good example of a program that mostly wants to develop its own players \u2014 and recruits players willing to stick around through adversity \u2014 but will selectively add from the portal. Four of the Spartans\u2019 starters played for Michigan State last year: Jaxon Kohler, Jeremy Fears, Jr., Coen Carr and Carson Cooper; the other, Divine Ugochukwu, is a transfer from Miami. Surely Smart and Marquette can find a similar happy medium. \u2014 Lindsay Schnell<\/p>\n
Do either of you have any influence over CJ Moore and his continued ignoring mid-majors in his top 25, especially undefeated Miami (Ohio)? \u2014 Hchoops<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s say Miami gets through the MAC season undefeated and loses to Akron in the MAC championship. Is this the magical year where the MAC becomes a multibid conference? Seems very unfair to leave out what would be a 30-win Miami team at that point. \u2014 Milin R.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m with you, why does CJ hate fun so much? I\u2019m kidding, I\u2019m kidding. (And to CJ\u2019s credit, he has Saint Louis ranked higher in his poll<\/a> \u2014 No. 21 \u2014 than its No. 24 ranking in the AP poll.)<\/p>\nI\u2019ve been banging the drum for weeks for Miami to get some AP Top 25 love, but I\u2019m going to defend CJ here because lemme tell you, few people in the country know more about or watch more college basketball than that man. Seriously. If you ever find yourself in a game of \u201cWho Wants to be a Millionaire? College Hoops Edition,\u201d make CJ your phone-a-friend and enjoy cashing those checks.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s true Miami is an impressive 20-0. It\u2019s also true that their underlying numbers are not, shall we say, otherworldly. The Redhawks are No. 90 in KenPom (yikes) and No. 352 in strength of schedule (double yikes). Their schedule is clearly influencing voters. That\u2019s also going to resonate with the selection committee, which means that no, the MAC is probably not a two-bid league. The sad truth is that in the NIL era, where decent mid-major players are going to jump to the Power 4 whenever possible and the clock might have finally hit midnight for Cinderella, it\u2019s going to be harder and harder for mid-majors to capture the attention of America.<\/p>\n
Every voter has their own philosophy about why they rank or don\u2019t rank someone (or vote or don\u2019t vote someone for All-America, conference player of the year, etc). Personally, when I was a voter, I liked to give some attention and kudos to the little guys, especially if they were in the West, because often, I was one of the only voters awake to watch them. I am also of the belief that it is really, really, really hard to win when everyone is gunning for you, and therefore, being undefeated is worthy of a top-25 nod.<\/p>\n
But not everyone agreed with me, and that\u2019s OK, because the AP poll is not a math equation, and there are no \u201cright\u201d answers. \u2014 Schnell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"College football is finally over, which means, blessedly, that it is finally time for everyone to turn their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[2527,6789,2513,2516,3731,12272,2535,2514,2525,56731,4680,2537,123,23531,125,124,2522,2520,4646,4678,2519,4656,10531],"class_list":{"0":"post-126756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-arizona-wildcats","9":"tag-boston-college-eagles","10":"tag-connecticut-huskies","11":"tag-duke-blue-devils","12":"tag-florida-state-seminoles","13":"tag-georgia-state-panthers","14":"tag-gonzaga-bulldogs","15":"tag-houston-cougars","16":"tag-iowa-state-cyclones","17":"tag-marquette-golden-eagles","18":"tag-maryland-terrapins","19":"tag-mens-college-basketball","20":"tag-miami","21":"tag-miami-oh-redhawks","22":"tag-miami-headlines","23":"tag-miami-news","24":"tag-michigan-state-spartans","25":"tag-michigan-wolverines","26":"tag-nebraska-cornhuskers","27":"tag-penn-state-nittany-lions","28":"tag-purdue-boilermakers","29":"tag-rutgers-scarlet-knights","30":"tag-utah-utes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2254542182.jpg\")
<\/p>\n