About a decade after he was banished from college basketball for multiple infractions that included a “strong ass offer” in pitching a recruit, Will Wade is back at the same place that fired him. If you want to know about college basketball’s offseason, you have to start there because it embodies all the chaos and uncertainty in the sport now.
At LSU again, Wade has a number of elite prospects — including 2025 Big East player of the year RJ Luis Jr. — awaiting legal and NCAA clearance to compete this season. At one point this offseason, the Tigers had four players listed on their website. During a preseason exhibition game against McNeese last week, seven were listed in the box score.
Wade is launching his own personal challenge against the NCAA’s eligibility rules and openly asking the question: Who should be allowed to play college basketball?
This offseason was dictated by that question, with attempts to answer it coming via legal rulings as well as from programs’ bank accounts and the transfer portal. If this summer proved anything, it is that the best teams needed a great recruiting staff, a lot of money to spend and the phone numbers for some of the top lawyers in America.
Let’s take a look at some of the best (and worst) moves of the offseason.
Best overall offseason
Sean Miller treated the offseason like Black Friday. Just when it seemed he was done shopping, he found another deal he couldn’t resist. In July, Marcus Spears Jr., the former No. 1 player in the 2027 recruiting class, announced that he was reclassifying up a year and would join the Longhorns, a team that had already made itself a contender over the early summer. That plan started with the return of Matas Vokietaitis, who averaged 16 points and nearly 54.5% shooting from the field during UT’s Sweet 16 run. Colorado’s Isaiah Johnson and TCU’s David Punch were two of the most coveted transfers in the country. Miller signed them. He also got Austin Goosby, a five-star recruit and another anchor of this team’s No. 4 ranked recruiting class. The Longhorns look like national title contenders months after losing Dailyn Swain, a first-round pick in this summer’s NBA draft.
Best returning group
Seemingly everybody added more to the roster this summer — except Brad Underwood, who was content with the returning nucleus of last year’s Final Four team. David Mirkovic (13.6 points per game) and his recovery from a foot injury will be a factor for this group, which also added top-25 recruit Quentin Coleman.
Strongest transfer class
“Rick Barnes retirement watch” enters its fifth season — though it could get renewed for another year, depending on what happens over the next five months. Leading a team of transfers hoping to take the Vols to their first Final Four is Juke Harris (21.4 PPG at Wake Forest) and Terrence Hill Jr. (51 points for VCU in a pair of NCAA tournament games). They’re joined by All-ACC honorable mention Jalen Haralson (Notre Dame), All-Missouri Valley Conference first-team selection Tyler Lundblade (Belmont) and Miles Rubin, the career blocks leader at Loyola Chicago. There’s a strong case for this to be the most impressive group of transfers in America.
Best ‘assuming they get to play’ group
Rick Pitino needed the transfer portal and local lawyer billboards to put a potential top-10 team together for the upcoming campaign. Returnee Ian Jackson, who averaged 9.4 PPG last season, and Baylor transfer Tounde Yessoufou anchor a group whose ceiling is unknown thanks to eligibility questions for Quinn Ellis (a European basketball star), fifth-year player Keyshawn Hall (19.3 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 38% from beyond the arc at Auburn) and Babacar Sane (a former G League standout). Which makes it difficult — nearly impossible, really — to project this team’s ceiling.
In case you missed it, the NCAA is appealing a flurry of court cases involving fifth-year players excluded from the new five-for-five rule. The organization has also been cracking down on international and former G League players seeking a college roster spot. If everyone above gets to play, the Storm will be a national title contender. If not, Pitino’s team will become a Big East afterthought.
Best freshman signee
Despite a mostly pedestrian appearance through three quarters of the McDonald’s All American Game in Phoenix in March, the No. 1 2026 prospect dominated in the fourth quarter to lead the West team to a victory. The 6-foot-7 point forward’s toughness, strength, intellect and sheer talent were on display during that closing stretch of a game that annually features the best high school players in America. A potential No. 1 pick in next year’s NBA draft, Stokes could carry Kansas to the Final Four as long as he proves to be the contributor and teammate the program need.
Best returning player
Jeremy Fears Jr., Michigan State
We hear you, Florida fans. Thomas Haugh is very good. But Fears led the nation in assists last season. Quite frankly, Tom Izzo has the best returning player in America at the most important position on the floor. Izzo’s history with elite point guards is strong, dating to Mateen Cleaves and the 2000 national championship team. The current greatest maestro in America is back, and he plays in East Lansing, Michigan.
Best portal addition
Milan Momcilovic, to Kentucky from Iowa State
The former Iowa State star withdrew from the NBA draft before the entry deadline and reportedly signed a $6 million deal to play for Kentucky this season. The money might just be worth it: He averaged 16.9 points and 49% from beyond the arc last year for the Cyclones. The Wildcats will need similar production from him to reach their goals this season.
Biggest portal loss
John Blackwell, from Wisconsin to Duke
There’s an ongoing conversation in college basketball about the trend of mid-major programs losing top talent to bigger schools every transfer portal cycle. That happens among high majors, too. Wisconsin won 24 games and earned a 5-seed last year with Blackwell (19.1 PPG) leading the way. Yet that wasn’t enough to keep the guard from moving to Duke — a team with real national title hopes and the budget to attract star talent to make up for the loss of Cam Boozer.
Worst overall offseason
The NCAA
The organization keeps taking hit after hit. After it implemented a new policy to grant players five years of eligibility but excluded members of the 2022 high school class, all hell broke loose. Instead of NCAA tournament expansion and the future of college sports budgets, we spent the summer months talking about players using legal terms such as preliminary injunctions and temporary restraining orders. Hundreds of fifth-year hopefuls have sued the sport’s governing body, and there’s still no clarity with three weeks left until the season officially begins.
Most important fifth-year acquisition*
* Assuming his clearance stands
The Gators will be national championship contenders even if Aberdeen’s ability to play isn’t upheld by a judge. Right now, however, the guard who helped the Gators win the 2024-25 title has provisionally returned to Gainesville after a lukewarm senior-year stint at Kentucky. His experience with this talented crew is why Todd Golden wanted him back.
Most perplexing but impactful offseason decision
Trey Kaufman-Renn seeking a sixth season
We’ve been talking a lot about fifth-year players this offseason. What about sixth-year players? Kaufman-Renn, the former Purdue star who redshirted as a freshman, has been temporarily cleared by an Indiana judge to participate in a sixth season of college basketball. The decision comes months after he was selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round of the NBA draft. Kaufman-Renn’s preliminary injunction is expected to be challenged by the NCAA, which considers him ineligible. He’s also a test case for future eligibility challenges.
Best coaching hire
Mike Malone, North Carolina
UNC left the family to install a former NBA champion at the head of the program. Malone hasn’t coached in college in more than two decades, but he has a strong pitch to every high school senior and portal prospect in America who might consider the Tar Heels: Ever heard of Nikola Jokic?
Best coaching retention
Jon Scheyer, Duke, and Todd Golden, Florida
Scheyer and Golden were mentioned in NBA job conversations after Dusty May left reigning national champion Michigan for the Dallas Mavericks. Scheyer and Golden returning to college basketball sends a statement about not just their love for this level of basketball but also the fact that they both believe they can win national titles this season, not to mention the amount of money their schools are willing to commit to keep them.
