College Basketball - 2026-27

[JCA-CrystalCity]

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/03/26/sports/boston-college-mens-basketball-coach-luke-murray/


really a '26-'27 story, but Boston College hire's UConn assistant coach and Bill Murray's son (and Brian Doyle-Murray's nephew) as head coach.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Transfer Portal season is starting.

Yale might have been OK with its 2 seniors, Ivy POY Townsend and Ivy Defensive POY Simmons, leaving, but two other starters are going to transfer. Their starting center, Samson Aletan, completed his degree after 3 years so will graduate and transfer for his last year of eligibility. That hurts, but it also looks like their starting small forward (really a 6'6" power forward who developed an outside game) Sophomore Isaac Celiscar entered the portal and looks like he'll be transferring either to Kentucky or Baylor. He has had good games the past couple of years when Yale played power conference teams, including Alabama after Christmas last year, and was probably their best player the last half of the conference season. Yale had a guard from Baltimore (Brathwaite) ready to move into Simmons slot, and the 6th man (Fox) could have moved into Townsend's slot and they would have kept on at their NET 60 range, but without Aletan and Celiscar, they are going to be pressed to keep up their streak of 25 years in the top 4 of the league.

[Natsinpwc]

My money is on Jones to figure it out.  And at least make the tourney.

For Penn, Ethan Roberts is in the portal but he had no Ivy eligibility left.  TJ Power seems a fairly sure thing to return but one never knows should he have a big bag of money placed in front of him. The buzz is all about Jack McCaffrey the coach’s son.  He played at Butler one injury filled season. Their coach left and he’s in the portal. No official word yet.  The only kids in the portal leaving are Oberti who played sparingly and Foster who only played one game.

I read good things about Altman who was a freshman this year but didn’t play due to injury.  And Ethan Lin an incoming frosh. Both guards.

Sorry for all the inside Ivy basketball talk. I blame JCA

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Sorry for all the inside Ivy basketball talk. I blame JCA

well, I did add the news about  the Boston College hire.

Well, the Ivy stuff an example of just how vulnerable conferences outside the power 4 are to losing talent through the portal. We just went through the first men's tournament that had no teams from outside the power 4 conferences make the sweet 16. It  had been thought that perhaps the Ivies were not going to be vulnerable to the portal and NIL because their degrees were pretty   valuable and, frankly, the players would have a hard time getting playing time on power 4 teams. Among others, I think Wolf at Michigan a year ago and Lee at Florida kind of disproved that. The only real way this works for lower conferences is guys like Power and Casey Simmons, who for some reason weren't finding their spots on power 4 teams and who can start and develop by transferring to other conferences.

[Natsinpwc]

Yes the portal with no transfer limits and NIL have changed things drastically. Used to be the mid majors and smaller conferences could have competitive teams by keeping their guys together. But now everyone is moving around.  And Michigan showed you can win but just putting a veteran team together of veteran transfers that never played together before.

It’s an upside down world for me where pro sports have more continuity with players than college sports.

[HalfSmokes]

well, I did add the news about  the Boston College hire.

Well, the Ivy stuff an example of just how vulnerable conferences outside the power 4 are to losing talent through the portal. We just went through the first men's tournament that had no teams from outside the power 4 conferences make the sweet 16. It  had been thought that perhaps the Ivies were not going to be vulnerable to the portal and NIL because their degrees were pretty   valuable and, frankly, the players would have a hard time getting playing time on power 4 teams. Among others, I think Wolf at Michigan a year ago and Lee at Florida kind of disproved that. The only real way this works for lower conferences is guys like Power and Casey Simmons, who for some reason weren't finding their spots on power 4 teams and who can start and develop by transferring to other conferences.

UCONN erasure

[HalfSmokes]

Yes the portal with no transfer limits and NIL have changed things drastically. Used to be the mid majors and smaller conferences could have competitive teams by keeping their guys together. But now everyone is moving around.  And Michigan showed you can win but just putting a veteran team together of veteran transfers that never played together before.

It’s an upside down world for me where pro sports have more continuity with players than college sports.

Pro sports are unionized and there is no real penalty for failure. That makes player salaries predictable and limits the amount of desperation. College has schools were it would be illegal to unionize players (basically every public SEC school is in a state that bans or severely restricts public sector employees from forming a union) and were success can mean a better conference and failure can mean a program has to shrink

[JCA-CrystalCity]

UCONN erasure

Truth is I was reading a Kentucky fan site and that was a term they used.

Big East in hoops, then maybe Gonzaga and St Mary's conference. Is that where UCSD is?

[HalfSmokes]

Truth is I was reading a Kentucky fan site and that was a term they used.

Big East in hoops, then maybe Gonzaga and St Mary's conference. Is that where UCSD is?

Power 4 is about revenue. The Big East is not paying anything remotely close to the Big10/SEC/ACC/Big12.
Hurley can stay competitive because he’s a great coach with a track record of producing pros, but the rest of the big east is fading fast

[Natsinpwc]

Big East has been top heavy for a while. Was Villanova but then the coach left.  And now UConn and St Johns.  Marquee coaches.  The schools don’t have the football revenue.

[HalfSmokes]

Big East has been top heavy for a while. Was Villanova but then the coach left.  And now UConn and St Johns.  Marquee coaches.  The schools don’t have the football revenue.

That’s why Willard is an idiot. Maryland may be down, but the program is funded with Big10 money. Villanova just doesn’t have the same resources. A great coach who can reliably place kids in the NBA can get away with less NIL and school funding, Willard is not that coach

[Natsinpwc]

That’s why Willard is an idiot. Maryland may be down, but the program is funded with Big10 money. Villanova just doesn’t have the same resources. A great coach who can reliably place kids in the NBA can get away with less NIL and school funding, Willard is not that coach

Well they paid him.  People at Maryland didn’t seem to like him

[imref]

March Madness expands to 76 teams starting next year, and beer companies are now able to sponsor.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Transfer Portal season is starting.

Yale might have been OK with its 2 seniors, Ivy POY Townsend and Ivy Defensive POY Simmons, leaving, but two other starters are going to transfer. Their starting center, Samson Aletan, completed his degree after 3 years so will graduate and transfer for his last year of eligibility. That hurts, but it also looks like their starting small forward (really a 6'6" power forward who developed an outside game) Sophomore Isaac Celiscar entered the portal and looks like he'll be transferring either to Kentucky or Baylor. He has had good games the past couple of years when Yale played power conference teams, including Alabama after Christmas last year, and was probably their best player the last half of the conference season. Yale had a guard from Baltimore (Brathwaite) ready to move into Simmons slot, and the 6th man (Fox) could have moved into Townsend's slot and they would have kept on at their NET 60 range, but without Aletan and Celiscar, they are going to be pressed to keep up their streak of 25 years in the top 4 of the league.

fwiw, Celiscar is going to Baylor, and Aletan to Providence.

[nats2playoffs]

March Madness expands to 76 teams starting next year, and beer companies are now able to sponsor.

And NOBODY thinks this is a good idea. It will DESTROY the making of brackets for contests and pools.

We need a PETITION site to block this stupid idea.
 

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I guess this is 8 more at large teams, so the bubble will be pushed lower. I wonder if this is to get non-power conference teams a shot at at-large. IIRC, Miami really shouldn't have gotten an invite based on NET, but Akron won that tournament.

[HalfSmokes]

I guess this is 8 more at large teams, so the bubble will be pushed lower. I wonder if this is to get non-power conference teams a shot at at-large. IIRC, Miami really shouldn't have gotten an invite based on NET, but Akron won that tournament.

The realistically, we’ll get sub .500 power conference team. I’d like to see something like ever conference regular season and post season champ getting an auto bid and in cases where those teams are the same, then an extra at large

[Natsinpwc]

fwiw, Celiscar is going to Baylor, and Aletan to Providence.

Baylor is impressive.  They have some talent.

Jack McCaffrey is going to Richmond instead of playing for his old man. Probably a smart move.

Ethan Roberts went to Notre Dame.