College Hoops Season 2025-26

[KnowTheScore]

I know this is over a month before the season starts, but some exhibitions are starting in a few weeks, so I figured it would be an acceptable time to start the college basketball thread for the 2025-26 season.

At a high level, this season has several highly ranked teams with a fair number of expected White contributors. Purdue, UConn, Illinois, Wisconsin, Creighton, Florida, and Iowa State are all expected to be ranked in the preseason top 25, and I would consider all White-friendly for the year…some more so than others. As per usual, many of the top mid-majors will be White-friendly, such as Illinois State, Belmont, Northern Iowa, and Miami Ohio. There are also several low majors that look to be very White Friendly. Out of all of the rosters I have seen (not all of them to be fair), Purdue, Idaho State, and St. Thomas all look to have the most Whites at 13 each.

I am not sure if anyone else has noticed this but the combination of the transfer portal and the increase in popularity in foreign players have both really helped White numbers on rosters. Although it ultimately comes down to the 8 or so who will regularly play (out of all of those on a 15-16 man roster), many teams have more Whites than I remember seeing in past seasons. For example, UL Monroe (hardly a White friendly team historically) will actually have a majority White roster this season. Same with Oral Roberts. I am sure there are a few other examples out there as well.

I think it would be a good idea if we did a brief write-up on some of our top rooting options this season (I will certainly help with a few of them).

 

[KnowTheScore]

Purdue Boilermakers

Last Season: 24-12, lost on a buzzer beater in the Sweet 16

Purdue will start the season as either the highest or second highest ranked team in the country per the major polls. They will also be our best rooting option for the season as they roster 13 Whites (including an Israeli freshmen) and will play many of them. Look for the Boilermakers to start 3 Whites while also playing several more off of the bench.

Purdue is led by Indiana native Braden Smith, a senior, undersized (6-0) point guard who is clearly one of the top players in the country. Smith “overcame” his lack of attention coming out of high school (Purdue, App State, Montana, and Toledo were only offers) by starting every game for the Boilermakers since his true freshman year, in addition to winning Big 10 Player of the Year last season. Smith has a great chance at winning the national player of the year award. He really is one of the most exciting players to watch in the nation!

Last Season Stats: 15.8 PPG, 42.8% FG, 38.1% 3PT, 8.7 APG, 3.0 TOPG, 4.5 RPG (second leading rebounder on team), 2.2 steals per game

Joining Smith in the backcourt is fellow White and Indiana native Fletcher Loyer. Loyer is also a senior and has also started every game he has ever played in for Purdue. He is one of the top shooters in the nation and will be an important player once again this season. I think a realistic expectation for this season would be 1st or 2nd team all Big10 (2nd team is probably more likely)

Last Season Stats: 13.8 PPG, 46.5% FG, 44.4% 3PT, 1.8 AST, 1.2 TO

Purdue will have at least one more White starting this season and that is likely to be Aussie big man Oscar Cluff. Cluff, a transfer from South Dakota State and Washington State, was a highly regarded portal addition for Matt Painter. He is a 6-11 center who averaged 17.6 points per game for South Dakota State last season. Note: Contrary to the photo, Cluff will wear number 45 for Purdue this year.

Reserves: Purdue also has several Whites who will see time off the bench. The first of these is center Daniel Jacobsen, a 7 foot 4 big man from Chicago. Jacobsen (2nd-year in program) started two games for Purdue last year before enduring a season-ending injury, so he will still be a freshman due to the medical redshirt. I imagine that Cluff will start and Jacobsen will come off the bench. Purdue will also have Omer Mayer, an Israeli freshman, available off of the bench. Mayer played in two EuroBasket tournaments for Israel this summer (U19 and U20) and put up great numbers in each. In the U19 tourney, he averaged 20 PPG while also swiping 2 steals a game. In the U20 tourney, he averaged 16.7 PPG as well as 5.1 APG. Look for veteran North Florida transfer Liam Murphy (a 6-7 wing) to come in and make some threes off of the bench as he shot 42.3% from deep last year on high volume. He is not mentioned on many previews, but some on Twitter have mentioned the possibility of Jack Benter, a 6-6, redshirt freshmen guard, getting minutes. Purdue has a bit of a logjam in the backcourt as there are so many talented options (and Smith won’t come off the floor very much), so Benter probably won’t play a ton, but still wanted to put the information out there.

Non-White Players: In the interest of being fair, Purdue does have several solid non-white players this season. Senior power forward Trey Kaufman-Renn is the most notable and has a good chance at being an All-American this season. Although Smith will still be the team’s best player and overall leader, there is a decent chance Kaufman-Renn will lead the team in scoring this season. Realistically, if Purdue wants to make the final four this season, they will need Renn to have a great year. Look for second year guard CJ Cox to also start for the Boilermakers and to play some great defense.

Overall Ceiling: National Champions

 

[Freethinker]

Great initiative and write up. Purdue under Matt Painter has become the modern day Duke or Gonzaga. A powerhouse major program that utilizes under-recruited White talent. Both of those programs left a major void when they started chasing all of the 5 stars exclusively.

I’ll certainly contribute but not until it gets closer to the season start. I’m too caught up in football and baseball at the moment.

 

[Jimmy Chitwood]

i echo Freethinker’s thoughts. well done! and i will also be happy to contribute closer to tip-off.

 

[KnowTheScore]

It is definitely a busy time with other sports so I am sure more people will contribute closer to the start of the season. Thanks for the thoughts. Purdue has definitely been successful with their recruiting strategy. Seeing schools all over the country (like Gonzaga, Duke, Purdue, Wisconsin, Utah in the past) be successful by recruiting overlooked local/regional Whites as well as a few key international players should be a pretty clear blueprint for how to win at a high level considering it has been done a few times in all areas of the country. Even schools in smaller conferences like Vermont or South Dakota State have been very successful historically following a similar method of recruiting. Of course, few if any teams will follow this strategy preferring the "upside" only possible with "generational" blacks.

 

[KnowTheScore]

UConn Huskies
Last Season: 24-11, close loss to the eventual champion Florida in the 2nd round.

UConn will be a top 5 or 6 team to start the season this year, and there will be enough Whites involved to make this team worth watching. This team is similar to past UConn squads in that there isn’t a ton of White depth (only 6 Whites rostered on the squad) yet most of the White players are expected to contribute. Historically, UConn was not exactly friendly to White athletes; however, that all changed in the 2022-23 season as Coach Hurley played three Whites in the rotation en route to a national championship. The next season was more of the same as three Whites started, and the end result was another national championship. Last season again featured three Whites in the rotation with two starting. This season, look for two Whites to start along with two bench contributors.

Starters

UConn’s most recognizable player is senior forward Alex Karaban. Karaban, already a two time national champion, opted to return to school this season after a disappointing 24-25 season (for his standards). A great final season could propel Karaban back into draft discussions. Last season, Karaban averaged 14.3 PPG on 43.8% shooting and 34.7% from 3. Additionally, he averaged 5.3 RPG and 2.8 APG.

Karaban will most likely be joined in the starting lineup by freshman guard Braylon Mullins. Mullins, hailing from suburban Indianapolis, was both Indiana Mr. Basketball as well as a McDonald’s All American last season. He averaged 32.9 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 4.2 APG, and 3.7 steals per game as a senior in high school. Even more impressive is the fact that Mullins shot over 47% from three last season. Look for Mullins to bring that same great shooting to UConn this season in addition to some solid defense. Based off of his recruiting ranking, Mullins has a good shot at being a one and done, so this may be his only season in college. Mullins will wear number 24 for UConn this season. Also the commitment image is slightly outdated as Mullins was bumped up to a 5 star.

Reserves

UConn will likely have two whites who will get minutes of the bench this season. The first of these is German center Eric Reibe. Reibe enters his first year of college basketball as one of the top 30 recruits per most recruiting sites. Reibe participated in the FIBA U19 world cup this summer and averaged 15.4 points, 5 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. 6-6 Aussie guard Jacob Furphy will likely also factor into the rotation this season. Furphy, no relation to his fellow Aussie Johnny Furphy, averaged 16.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game for Australia in the U19 World Cup this summer. He has even played a few games with the Boomers, the Australian national team. Furphy is from a small town in Tasmania (island off the coast of AUS), so it is very impressive that he has gotten this far already. Serbian guard Uros Paunovic and Turkish center Rrezon Elezaj both are not likely to play much per the reading and research (visiting UConn message boards) that I’ve done.

 

[KnowTheScore]

The Great Replacement in Utah

Unfortunately, one of the only states that would have multiple White friendly programs each season looks to end that trend starting this year. I am of course talking about the state of Utah. The state has produced many talented White players and teams, but this will only be the case for one program in the state this season:

Utah: While there were some dark years in the mid 2010s’, Utah’s best teams typically have had a combination of local White players as well as a few Europeans (and maybe even an Aussie or two). As far as I know, Utah was the most recent power five team to start an all-White starting five with it occurring several times in the 2023-24 season (and possibly in 2024-25?). The Utes have had a lot of success with White teams as well. In fact, 1998 Utah made the championship game starting four Whites and only having two blacks on the entire team. One of the starters on that team, Alex Jensen, was recently named as the next head coach of the Utes. Jensen will look to live up to the great 1998 team by building a roster that looks almost nothing like the team that made the Final Four and championship game. In fact, the team only rosters one White this season after having nine on the roster last year. This is one of the more drastic falloffs I have ever seen regarding team demographics. The team looks to be one of the worst teams in the power conferences this year too as the roster is made up of low efficiency mid major players and “project”-type transfers from the Power 5. German newcomer Jacob Patrick will be the only White on the roster.

Utah's team doesn't quite look the part compared to their gold standard 1998 team.

BYU: BYU started three White players last season en route to a Sweet 16 appearance; however, the number will fall all the way down to one starter this year in all likelihood. The main reason for this is BYU’s newfound interest in “elite” recruiting. As a result of this, BYU spent millions to acquire some of the top ranked high schoolers and transfers (mostly blacks). This leaves Senior guard Richie Saunders as the lone pale face in the starting lineup. Saunders was fantastic last season, averaging 16.5 points on 51.8% shooting and 43.2% from three. He was all Big-12 first team last season, but we will have to wait and see if his new teammates will give him the ball enough to replicate such numbers again this season. Look for senior guard Dawson Baker to get between 15 to 20 minutes per game off the bench in a role similar to last season. Idaho transfer Tyler Mrus and Serbian Mihailo Boskovic will both also likely get minutes towards the back of the rotation.

Richie Saunders - One of the best three point shooters in college basketball.

Utah State: Utah State is the least offensive of these three schools as they have 8 Whites on the team and look to start three of them. With that said, it is still a far cry from the 12 they rostered and five they started three seasons ago (Utah State is the most recent team to make the tournament with an all-White starting 5). Mason Falslev, a junior guard, will be Utah State’s best player this season. Falslev averaged 15 points per game last season to go along with 6.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists. Like most White guards, he is an efficient scorer shooting at a 49.7% clip from the field and 39% from 3. By the way, he achieves this efficiency despite only being 6-3. Beyond that, it is tough to say for sure as there are not a ton of articles discussing their upcoming season yet. I imagine that Tucker Anderson (SF), Drake Allen (G), Karson Templin (PF), and Zach Keller (C) will all get varying amounts of minutes (with probably Anderson and Keller starting). Utah State gave nine guys over 10 minutes a game last season, so our guys will definitely be on the floor even if they are not starting. It is funny that despite being in a lesser conference and having less resources that this Aggies team will almost certainly be better than Utah…I wonder why that is?

Mason Flaslev - 2024-25 All MWC 2nd Team

 

[Freethinker]

The Utah Utes should change their name to the Youffs. That photo filled with all the nappyheaded “student affletes” could easily be Arkansas or Alabama with the team colors and demographics. Very sad change in direction that is not likely to go well for them.

 

[KnowTheScore]

Some exhibitions have started recently and many Whites have been featured. It is tough to pull box scores for some of these BTW. Notre Dame beat Butler tonight starting two Whites in Garrett Sundra and Cole Certa along with several off the bench - could be a decent team to root for this season. Indiana started three with Conor Enright, Reed Bailey, and Tucker Devries. Creighton played Iowa State and started two (while missing two White starters) while Iowa State started three (which will likely be two in the regular season due to injuries). UConn beat Boston College a few days ago starting Karaban and freshman Braylon Mullins. This isn't the most detailed writeup ever due to the box scores being kind of difficult to find, but hopefully it will give you some teams to cheer for this year.

 

[KnowTheScore]

If you need a break from college football tomorrow, Saint Mary's will be taking on Arizona in an exhibition at 5 PM EST. I would think Saint Mary's would start at least three Whites this year, with a chance at four. Arizona has moved away from their Eurocentric rosters, but look for Aussie Anthony Dell'Orso to start along with Lithuanian big Motiejus Krivas getting significant minutes off the bench. For Saint Mary's be on the lookout for fellow Lithuanian Mantas Juzenas. Juzenas is a freshman who had a fantastic U20 Eurobasket tournament. He made the all tournament team while shooting 40% from three! Apart from him, Saint Mary's has its traditional mix of Aussies and Euros with maybe a few more White Americans than usual. I would be happy to do a more in-depth write up on them before the season starts. A pretty White Nebraska team also plays Richie Saunders and BYU tomorrow at 1 EST.

 

[KnowTheScore]

Clemson also played in an exhibition tonight against Presbyterian and started two White big men in Utah transfer Jake Wahlin and Nevada transfer Nick Davidson. Look for former Utah Valley big man Carter Welling to also get significant minutes off the bench. Clemson will be a team to support, but I wish they had a White guard like in 2023-24 when they made the Elite Eight with Joe Girard.

 

[KnowTheScore]

Nebraska beat #8 BYU in a scrimmage today starting four Whites and playing many more off of the bench. Their best player was definitely Dutch forward Rienk Mast who dropped over 30 points on great efficiency. Mast missed all of last season due to an injury but looks to be back at full strength now. Utah State also started four Whites in an exhibition win over Seattle. Saint Mary's started four Whites in a loss to Arizona. Saint Mary's typically heats up as the season goes on so I would not be too concerned about this loss (especially because it is an exhibition).

 

[KnowTheScore]

UConn freshman Braylon Mullins injured his ankle and will be out for the first six weeks of the season. This is terrible news as Mullins will now not debut until December and will likely be a little rusty once he starts playing. He is one of the most likely Whites to be one and done this season, so him being injured will not help his NBA draft exposure. With that said, I would probably prefer him to not be a one and done as I'd rather have him star in college than sit on an NBA bench.