(Note: Submitted questions have been edited for clarity and length.)<\/p>\n
I know the talk has been that this is the \u201cyear of the freshmen,\u201d so let\u2019s put that to the test. Can we do a mini-bracket challenge by class? Pick an all-star team for freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors (top five players in each class that you\u2019d put together, not just best five). First-round matchups are freshmen vs. seniors, then sophomores vs. juniors. Who would you put on each five-person team and who\u2019s winning this tournament? \u2014 G.S.<\/p>\n
First, this question is awesome. Second, it\u2019s took an Athletic mind-meld to answer it. So the three of us \u2014 Brendan Marks, CJ Moore and Lindsay Schnell \u2014 built our dream teams together. Many players have been granted medical redshirts and other waivers, so we went by what school rosters listed for class. Players had to be (mostly) healthy; guys who are out or likely out for the season were not considered. And because everyone needs an occasional breather, we went with five starters and three subs; eight-man rotations feel manageable, ego-wise. Here\u2019s what we came up with:<\/p>\n
Freshmen: Keaton Wagler, Illinois; Kingston Flemings, Houston; AJ Dybantsa, BYU; Cam Boozer, Duke; Koa Peat, Arizona (Darryn Peterson, Kansas; Brayden Burries, Arizona; Caleb Wilson, UNC)<\/p>\n
Sophomores: Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State; Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt; Christian Anderson, Texas Tech; Morez Johnson Jr., Michigan; Patrick Ngongba, Duke (Labaron Philon, Alabama; Isaiah Evans, Duke; Flory Bidunga, Kansas)<\/p>\n
Juniors: Silas Demary Jr., UConn; Milan Momcilovic, Iowa State; Thomas Haugh, Florida; JT Toppin, Texas Tech; Rueben Chinyelu, Florida (PJ Haggerty, Kansas State; Pryce Sandfort, Nebraska; Henri Veesaar, UNC)<\/p>\n
Seniors: Braden Smith, Purdue; Bennett Stirtz, Iowa; Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan; Joshua Jefferson, Iowa State; Graham Ike, Gonzaga (Tamin Lipsey, Iowa State; Jaden Bradley, Arizona; Alex Karaban, UConn)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a shame we can\u2019t have a freshmen-seniors final, since those two teams are (in my opinion) pretty clearly the best \u2014 but ultimately, because of the scoring prowess, versatility and sheer athleticism, I\u2019m riding with the rookies to win it all. Teams haven\u2019t been able to stop any of those eight guys by themselves, so I don\u2019t anticipate that changing if they team up like the Monstars. \u2014 Brendan Marks<\/p>\n
The freshmen are clearly the most talented group here and would be the favorites to win, but give me the seniors. Old wins! With the right coach, the combination of Smith and Stirtz working out of ball screens would be a nightmare. Also love the possibility of inverted pick-and-rolls with Jefferson, Lendeborg or Ike initiating. Imagine unleashing Lipsey and Bradley for short spurts and telling them to wreak havoc. Also, a lineup that would include Karaban in Ike\u2019s spot would put five shooters on the floor and be a nightmare to guard. \u2014 CJ Moore<\/p>\n
I keep going back and forth between the sophomores and seniors, but I\u2019m going to stick with my gut and say sophomores, mostly because I love Fears, and in March, you need a tough point guard to win. (I assume we\u2019re playing this game in March, preferably during the Final Four off day.) Tanner is maybe the best player in the SEC, Anderson can get hot with little to no notice, and can you imagine the jolt of energy in bringing Philon off the bench?! \u2014Lindsay Schnell<\/p>\n
Is the Dana Altman era over at Oregon or has he earned the right to go out on his own terms, especially considering all the injuries this season? \u2013 D.D.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Real talk, it is shocking to me how bad Oregon (8-12, 1-8 Big Ten) is this year. Yes, they\u2019re currently missing roughly 30 points from the lineup with both guard Jackson Shelstad (15.6 ppg) and big man Nate Bittle (16.3) out with injuries; Bittle should be back in a couple weeks, but Shelstad is likely to miss the rest of the season. Still, I watch them and my eyes practically start bleeding. It\u2019s just flat-out ugly. It\u2019s shocking because Altman is such a good coach, and for years, one of his calling cards was how he could get new groups of guys to play together and win.<\/p>\n
That is not the case right now. Part of it is because Oregon did not recruit well out of the portal. The Ducks also don\u2019t have a general manager to navigate the NIL and rev-share game, odd for a high-major as cash-loaded as Oregon. Moving someone into that role would make a difference. The Ducks are in the race for Tyran Stokes, the No. 1 player in the 2026 class. The addition of Stokes would certainly help because there\u2019s an obvious lack of talent on the current roster. But Stokes is not the kind of impact freshman that we\u2019ve seen all over college hoops this year, so he might not singlehandedly save the day.<\/p>\n
Altman is not in danger of losing his job, and his seat isn\u2019t even warm. When you win almost 70 percent of your games \u2014 he\u2019s 378-170 overall in 16 seasons in Eugene \u2014 with multiple regular-season and conference-tournament championships, plus nine NCAA Tournament appearances, you get some breathing room. It also seems Altman, 67, has too much pride to just walk away. My prediction is he coaches at least two more years, gets Oregon back to a respectable level and then one of the premier jobs in college hoops conducts a national search for its next coach. \u2014 Schnell<\/p>\n
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\n Andy Enfield\u2019s move from USC to SMU in 2024 set off a chain reaction during one of the busier coaching carousels of recent years. (Sam Hodde \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
SMU kicked off a coaching carousel in 2024 when it hired Andy Enfield from USC. Of all the schools involved, which one is the happiest with their hire? Who is the least happy? Are your answers different from what they would have been in April 2025, and do you think they will change in April 2027? \u2014 Dan K.<\/p>\n
I love this question, even if it hasn\u2019t been two full seasons since that epic 2024 coaching carousel. Not only was that one of the most movement-filled offseasons in recent memory, but the multiple high-profile openings (Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan) had a profound domino effect on the entire sport. Other than Enfield, who you already mentioned, the other ten most notable hires (in alphabetical order by new school) were probably:<\/p>\n
\u2022 John Calipari (Arkansas via Kentucky)
\u2022 Kevin Young (BYU via the NBA\u2019s Phoenix Suns)
\u2022 Ben McCollum (Drake via Division-II Northwest Missouri State)
\u2022 Mark Pope (Kentucky via BYU)
\u2022 Pat Kelsey (Louisville via Charleston)
\u2022 Dusty May (Michigan via Florida Atlantic)
\u2022 Jake Diebler (Ohio State via promotion from interim status)
\u2022 Eric Musselman (USC via Arkansas)
\u2022 Mark Byington (Vanderbilt via James Madison)
\u2022 Darian DeVries (West Virginia via Drake)<\/p>\n
Happiest undoubtedly looks like Michigan, which won the Dusty May sweepstakes, then won the Big Ten tournament in his debut season and is now a national title front-runner. It\u2019s hard not to see May having staying power with the Wolverines; he\u2019s my pick for who is still happiest by 2027. Vanderbilt is up there for happiest, too, although Byington\u2019s turnaround efforts in Nashville have been so encouraging that he seems destined to be in the mix for bigger jobs in short order.<\/p>\n
As for least happy, do Drake and West Virginia count? Both hires \u2014 McCollum (now at Iowa) and DeVries (now at Indiana) \u2014 left for Big Ten programs after one season. If not those two, then I probably lean toward Ohio State, which missed the NCAA Tournament in Diebler\u2019s first full season and is on the bubble again this year.<\/p>\n
But you\u2019re right, Dan, that those answers are different than they would\u2019ve been in April 2025. At the time, Kelsey and Pope had brought stability to storied programs desperately in need of it, with their arrows pointed firmly upward \u2026 and now, they\u2019re two of the biggest underperformers in the sport relative to preseason expectations. Calipari, meanwhile, was seen as being on the downslide of his career after how things ended in Lexington. But he made the Sweet 16 as a double-digit seed last season and has another SEC contender brewing in Fayetteville. To steal a popular line from coaches: It\u2019s a year-to-year proposition. \u2014 Marks<\/p>\n
Which teams may not have gotten off to great starts with all the player movement, but seem to be playing better as the season goes on, and could be mid-level seeds to watch out for in March? \u2014 Nick D.<\/p>\n
Florida is the first team that comes to mind. The Gators started the season 5-4, with all four nonconference losses \u2014 three top-four teams Arizona, Duke and UConn \u2014 coming by a combined 15 points. UF had chances to win late against both the Blue Devils and Huskies, but couldn\u2019t get over the hump while transfer guards Xaivian Lee (Princeton) and Boogie Fland (Arkansas) found their footing. But Todd Golden\u2019s team is 9-2 since then, including marquee wins at Vanderbilt and against Georgia, while looking like a team that can make an NCAA Tournament run. Lee and Fland are improving, while the Gators\u2019 fearsome frontcourt has finally started taking over games.<\/p>\n
The other who comes to mind is Kansas. The Darryn Peterson saga has been well-documented<\/a> at KU, and Peterson\u2019s yo-yoing in and out of Bill Self\u2019s lineup made for an uneven start to the season in Lawrence. But as the Jayhawks proved when they stomped then-No. 2 Iowa State, anything is possible for this team with Peterson back healthy. \u2014 Marks<\/p>\n The NCAA appears fairly toothless in its ability to enforce any sort of rules on teams. However, would the selection committee be able to punish teams like Alabama (and any other future offenders) who play temporarily eligible players if those players are subsequently ruled ineligible later in the season? Although the Tide lost with Charles Bediako on Saturday<\/a>, it would seem like the Committee could easily treat any wins with these players as losses and essentially \u201cvacate\u201d these victories come Selection Sunday. \u2014 Chaz C.<\/p>\n Kentucky coach Mark Pope suggested this solution, but it\u2019s not happening. The judge in the case barred the NCAA from \u201cattempting to impose, suggesting or implying any penalties or sanctions\u201d for Bediako or Alabama. Translation: You cannot penalize the Crimson Tide for playing Bediako during the temporary retraining order window. (The original TRO was granted on Jan. 21 for 10 days, but was extended another 10 days on Monday because the attorney for the NCAA was not going to be able to attend Tuesday\u2019s hearing due to weather.)<\/p>\n