College Hoops Season 2025-26
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KnowTheScore
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I agree that Saunders was by far the best player in the game this afternoon. 26 points on 10/16 shooting! It is funny that a player like Saunders probably would not get an opportunity to play for BYU or Utah if he was coming out of high school now. Was glad to see Purdue dominate - they now own impressive wins over both Alabama and Texas Tech.
They aren't ranked or anything yet, but I think Nebraska might be the CF team of the year. They start 4 Whites (including Turkish Berke Buyuktuncel) and are now 6-0. They have solid wins over both Kansas State and Oklahoma. In their 86-85 win over Kansas State tonight, 7 of the 8 guys who played minutes were our guys! Rienk Mast is their best player, averaging 15.4 points, 3.4 assists, and 7 rebounds a game. The Dutch bigman actually recorded Nebraska's third ever triple double recently. Their second best player is Iowa transfer Pryce Sandfort. Although Sanford was a reliable option at Iowa, his play has leaped to new heights at Nebraska - he is averaging 15.6 points on 48.3% shooting and 38.9% from deep. Both of these players have all Big Ten first or second team potential. Former walk-on and coaches son Sam Hoiberg rounds out the starting lineup. Hoiberg doesn't score a ton, but he averages 4 assists and 6 rebounds as a 6 foot guard. Nebraska brings Braden Frager and Cale Jacobsen off of the bench as well. Frager is a wing/forward and is averaging around 11 points per game so far. Jacobsen has more modest stats, but still plays 17 minutes a game. Connor Essegian (formerly of Wisconsin) averages around 16 minutes and 7 points a game. Essegian has had a slow start to the year, and I'd like to see him have a breakout game or two.
They aren't ranked or anything yet, but I think Nebraska might be the CF team of the year. They start 4 Whites (including Turkish Berke Buyuktuncel) and are now 6-0. They have solid wins over both Kansas State and Oklahoma. In their 86-85 win over Kansas State tonight, 7 of the 8 guys who played minutes were our guys! Rienk Mast is their best player, averaging 15.4 points, 3.4 assists, and 7 rebounds a game. The Dutch bigman actually recorded Nebraska's third ever triple double recently. Their second best player is Iowa transfer Pryce Sandfort. Although Sanford was a reliable option at Iowa, his play has leaped to new heights at Nebraska - he is averaging 15.6 points on 48.3% shooting and 38.9% from deep. Both of these players have all Big Ten first or second team potential. Former walk-on and coaches son Sam Hoiberg rounds out the starting lineup. Hoiberg doesn't score a ton, but he averages 4 assists and 6 rebounds as a 6 foot guard. Nebraska brings Braden Frager and Cale Jacobsen off of the bench as well. Frager is a wing/forward and is averaging around 11 points per game so far. Jacobsen has more modest stats, but still plays 17 minutes a game. Connor Essegian (formerly of Wisconsin) averages around 16 minutes and 7 points a game. Essegian has had a slow start to the year, and I'd like to see him have a breakout game or two.
Jimmy Chitwood
Hall of Famer
thanks for sharing this. i will definitely look for them on the schedule! in recent years, Nebraska has been nearly all-black, so this demographic change is significant.
Freethinker
Hall of Famer
One small correction. Dawson Baker also started and contributed 11 points (3rd most for BYU). On the season, he’s started 2/5 games so not sure if he’s an injury fill in or got promoted.
BYU has one other American White in the bench rotation and a few Euro Whites in the deeper rotation (after the first 8 deep). I know we are hard on BYU because we expect a 90% White team, but they are still going to be more palatable to root for than most of the top 25 teams.
Edit: Richie Saunders is also the leading score on the team which is also a big plus in my eyes.
Watching Syracuse v Kansas in a Vegas tournament. Boeheim had some very White-friendly teams before he retired. New black coach and not a White player to be found. Reminds me of when Jay Wright retired from Villanova. The program will recede into irrelevance, but at least they virtue signaled all the way down.
Bucky
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UConn was headed this route as well until Hurley rescued them!
Jimmy Chitwood
Hall of Famer
Bennett Stirtz carried the Iowa Hawkeyes to a hard fought victory over Ole Miss last night, scoring a game-high 29 (on 9/20 shooting, 6/8 from three). the announcers continuously raves about his performance, and it was clear he was the best player in the contest.
with Stirtz running the show in the second half (he played off the ball quite a bit in the first half), the Hawkeyes only had ONE turnover after halftime. that’s an amazing stat! the single turnover was an offensive foul on Stirtz with less than a minute remaining in the game.
the Hawkeyes also got a double-double (14 points and 10 rebounds) from redshirt freshman Cooper Koch.
the Hawkeyes play again tonight in the championship against Grand Canyon, who knocked off all-black Utah last night. the Lopes got 17+ minutes from 4 overachievers, so it was quite a nice caste “upset.”
with Stirtz running the show in the second half (he played off the ball quite a bit in the first half), the Hawkeyes only had ONE turnover after halftime. that’s an amazing stat! the single turnover was an offensive foul on Stirtz with less than a minute remaining in the game.
the Hawkeyes also got a double-double (14 points and 10 rebounds) from redshirt freshman Cooper Koch.
the Hawkeyes play again tonight in the championship against Grand Canyon, who knocked off all-black Utah last night. the Lopes got 17+ minutes from 4 overachievers, so it was quite a nice caste “upset.”
Jimmy Chitwood
Hall of Famer
a couple more predominantly White teams (that haven’t been mentioned yet i don’t think) are having strong starts to the season.
the Belmont Bruins are currently 7-0 but haven’t played a tough schedule. they have 10 players averaging double digit minutes, 7 of whom are gym rats. 3 of them start, including their 3 best players, sophomore Sam Orme, senior Tyler Lundblade, and junior Brigham Rogers. sophomore Drew Scharnowski is instant offense off the bench and plays starter minutes.
Saint Mary’s once again features a very White lineup. the Gaels are 7-0, despite starting 4 blue collar guys and only playing 1 WGA in their whole rotation. their best player in the early going has been Lithuanian junior Paulius Murauskas, but as is the norm for Randy Bennett, they haven’t played anyone yet.
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Iowa got a good win last night over Grand Canyon, despite a subpar shooting night. their defense led the way, holding GCU to just 23 points in the first half before pitching a shutout for the first 5&1/2 minutes of the second half. in fact, the Hawkeyes only gave up 1 point off a free throw in the first 8 minutes of the second half.
an interesting note from the game: junior wing Dusty Stromer, a Gonzaga transfer, came off the bench with the task of guarding Iowa’s alpha, Bennett Stirtz. Stromer, a long, bouncy, sharp shooter never got much playing time with the Zags because the “experts” said “he couldn’t play defense.” well, he forced Stirtz into his worst shooting performance of the young season (5-15), and several of those made buckets came with Stromer getting a breather. “weird,” huh?
Iowa is still undefeated, but up next is a matchup with #11 Michigan State.
the Belmont Bruins are currently 7-0 but haven’t played a tough schedule. they have 10 players averaging double digit minutes, 7 of whom are gym rats. 3 of them start, including their 3 best players, sophomore Sam Orme, senior Tyler Lundblade, and junior Brigham Rogers. sophomore Drew Scharnowski is instant offense off the bench and plays starter minutes.
Saint Mary’s once again features a very White lineup. the Gaels are 7-0, despite starting 4 blue collar guys and only playing 1 WGA in their whole rotation. their best player in the early going has been Lithuanian junior Paulius Murauskas, but as is the norm for Randy Bennett, they haven’t played anyone yet.
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Iowa got a good win last night over Grand Canyon, despite a subpar shooting night. their defense led the way, holding GCU to just 23 points in the first half before pitching a shutout for the first 5&1/2 minutes of the second half. in fact, the Hawkeyes only gave up 1 point off a free throw in the first 8 minutes of the second half.
an interesting note from the game: junior wing Dusty Stromer, a Gonzaga transfer, came off the bench with the task of guarding Iowa’s alpha, Bennett Stirtz. Stromer, a long, bouncy, sharp shooter never got much playing time with the Zags because the “experts” said “he couldn’t play defense.” well, he forced Stirtz into his worst shooting performance of the young season (5-15), and several of those made buckets came with Stromer getting a breather. “weird,” huh?
Iowa is still undefeated, but up next is a matchup with #11 Michigan State.
Jimmy Chitwood
Hall of Famer
Saint Mary’s defeated their toughest opponent to date this afternoon, prevailing against previously unbeaten Virginia Tech, 77-66. it was very much a caste matchup, with SMC starting 4 gym rats and only playing one WGA, while VaTech started just one blue collar Decepticon.
the Gaels (8-0) were led offensively by Murauskas and Dent, who scored 26 of their combined 34 points in the second half, but it was the Gaels’ defense that set the tone early, holding the Hokies to just 20 points before halftime.
up next for SMC tomorrow night is a rematch of last year’s opening round NCAA Tournament game with Vanderbilt.
the Gaels (8-0) were led offensively by Murauskas and Dent, who scored 26 of their combined 34 points in the second half, but it was the Gaels’ defense that set the tone early, holding the Hokies to just 20 points before halftime.
up next for SMC tomorrow night is a rematch of last year’s opening round NCAA Tournament game with Vanderbilt.
Jimmy Chitwood
Hall of Famer
well, St. Mary’s got spanked by Vandy.
in other news, Iowa transfer Brock Harding has landed on his feet at TCU, leading the Horned Frogs to a championship over Wisconsin in a little early season tourney. he was also clutch down the stretch in their win over Florida, hitting the go ahead jumper late before nailing 5 free throws to seal it. as a result, Harding was named tournament mvp, totaling 35 points and 17 assists in the two games.
for Wisconsin, it was bad enough they had ball hogging WGA John Blackwell, but this season they brought in his clone, Nick Boyd. these two, while talented, never turn down an opportunity to take a bad shot. the remaining Badgers (mostly a bunch of gym rats) are just there to defend, rebound, and set screens so these two can argue over who gets to jack up the most attempts and turn the ball over while the offense stagnates. makes for ugly, losing basketball. but, hey, they get their points. sigh.
BYU’s Richie Saunders had another strong outing, going for a game- and season-high 29 points (9-15 shooting) and game-high 8 rebounds with 2 assists and 3 steals (with 2 turnovers), leading the Cougars to a championship in another early season tourney. he was the lone White starter again for BYU, but he was the best player on the court again, as well. while the announcers were drooling over Dybantsa (18 points, 4 rebounds, 3 turnovers), Saunders carried the #9 Cougs to a tough win over Dayton.
in other news, Iowa transfer Brock Harding has landed on his feet at TCU, leading the Horned Frogs to a championship over Wisconsin in a little early season tourney. he was also clutch down the stretch in their win over Florida, hitting the go ahead jumper late before nailing 5 free throws to seal it. as a result, Harding was named tournament mvp, totaling 35 points and 17 assists in the two games.
for Wisconsin, it was bad enough they had ball hogging WGA John Blackwell, but this season they brought in his clone, Nick Boyd. these two, while talented, never turn down an opportunity to take a bad shot. the remaining Badgers (mostly a bunch of gym rats) are just there to defend, rebound, and set screens so these two can argue over who gets to jack up the most attempts and turn the ball over while the offense stagnates. makes for ugly, losing basketball. but, hey, they get their points. sigh.
BYU’s Richie Saunders had another strong outing, going for a game- and season-high 29 points (9-15 shooting) and game-high 8 rebounds with 2 assists and 3 steals (with 2 turnovers), leading the Cougars to a championship in another early season tourney. he was the lone White starter again for BYU, but he was the best player on the court again, as well. while the announcers were drooling over Dybantsa (18 points, 4 rebounds, 3 turnovers), Saunders carried the #9 Cougs to a tough win over Dayton.
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