Candid Coaches: Who will be the best team this season?

[HooperScooper]

Who will be the best team in 2025-26?​

Purdue	32%
Houston	28%
Duke	8%
St. John's	8%
UConn	5%
Florida	5%

Of course Norlander points out that the coaches haven't been very good at predicting the champion in this informal poll of about 100 coaches they've done the last few years. Kansas was the pick last year. And in the 2023 poll. Epic fail. UNC was the pick in the 2022 poll. Even more of an epic fail! So I like where UConn is here. Just enough votes to be in the mix. But disrespected enough to have a chip on their shoulders.

UConn: "Love what Danny Hurley and his staff have done with their roster. They have an excellent blend of returners, homegrown, impact transfers, older, and incoming freshmen. Three out of four? Hope not!"

Candid Coaches: Who will be the best men's college basketball team this season?

In CBS Sports' annual survey of nearly 100 coaches across the sport, two schools rise above all others

www.cbssports.com

 

[bjc42]

Who will be the best team in 2025-26?​

Purdue	32%
Houston	28%
Duke	8%
St. John's	8%
UConn	5%
Florida	5%

Of course Norlander points out that the coaches haven't been very good at predicting the champion in this informal poll of about 100 coaches they've done the last few years. Kansas was the pick last year. And in the 2023 poll. Epic fail. UNC was the pick in the 2022 poll. Even more of an epic fail! So I like where UConn is here. Just enough votes to be in the mix. But disrespected enough to have a chip on their shoulders.

UConn: "Love what Danny Hurley and his staff have done with their roster. They have an excellent blend of returners, homegrown, impact transfers, older, and incoming freshmen. Three out of four? Hope not!"

Candid Coaches: Who will be the best men's college basketball team this season?

In CBS Sports' annual survey of nearly 100 coaches across the sport, two schools rise above all others

www.cbssports.com

I think this is pretty balanced and based on national opinions kind of to be expected. Maybe it's just me but I don't think Duke belongs in this group of teams. I think they will be top 10 but not quite good enough to get to the #1 slot.

 

[auror]

I think this is pretty balanced and based on national opinions kind of to be expected. Maybe it's just me but I don't think Duke belongs in this group of teams. I think they will be top 10 but not quite good enough to get to the #1 slot.

Duke has a lot of good players.

Cam Boozer could be All-American. Ngongba is very good (remember we desperately wanted him in recruiting), Evans can really shoot, people like Cayden and think he's actually underranked, Maliq Brown is one of the best defenders in the country. Sarr is a 1st round pick. Foster and Khamenia are good pieces off the bench, plus whatever Darren Harris gives them (I liked him in high school a lot).

They basically have 8 high major caliber starters with 1 of them being really elite.

 

[superjohn]

I think this is pretty balanced and based on national opinions kind of to be expected. Maybe it's just me but I don't think Duke belongs in this group of teams. I think they will be top 10 but not quite good enough to get to the #1 slot.

Agreed, Duke and Florida don't belong.

I think we have the best team but can see arguments for Purdue and Houston. St. John's is the wildcard. They probably have the most upside out of the top teams but they also probably have the most downside of the top teams.

 

[RichCTBB]

Duke is still looking to rely heavily on freshmen which hasn’t worked for anyone in the most recent era of the portal

 

[Iluvsuebird]

I wanna see Purdue. PG's rule college ball and they have a good one. Houston will be awesome until they face a hot shooting team in the tourney.

 

[bjc42]

Duke has a lot of good players.

Cam Boozer could be All-American. Ngongba is very good (remember we desperately wanted him in recruiting), Evans can really shoot, people like Cayden and think he's actually underranked, Maliq Brown is one of the best defenders in the country. Sarr is a 1st round pick. Foster and Khamenia are good pieces off the bench, plus whatever Darren Harris gives them (I liked him in high school a lot).

They basically have 8 high major caliber starters with 1 of them being really elite.

That's fair. I think Flagg> Boozer and the guys around Boozer aren't quite as good. I could be wrong though.

 

[REB1094]

Am I just super ignorant or is Purdue getting insanely overrated this summer?

 

[navery12]

Am I just super ignorant or is Purdue getting insanely overrated this summer?

They're returning 2 preseason All Americans and one of the best shooters in the country, and brought in 2 good transfers with Oscar Cluff and Liam Murphy while losing basically nothing from last year's team. They're going to be really good

 

[Lafayette]

Am I just super ignorant or is Purdue getting insanely overrated this summer?

Pick a year…they have been overrated for awhile

 

[auror]

Pick a year…they have been overrated for awhile

Were they overrated the year they made it to the title game as the #3 team on the S-curve?

 

[Lafayette]

Were they overrated the year they made it to the title game as the #3 team on the S-curve?

Didn't we work them over? Were they better than Alabama?

Or pick when they had Edey and Ivey and lost to St. Peters.

Purdue has been overrated for 4-5 years going.

 

[jleves]

You young ones just don't understand that you should not tempt the fate of the basketball gods.

(Unless it was Pitt back in the day getting high seeds - then it didn't matter)

 

[navery12]

Didn't we work them over? Were they better than Alabama?

Or pick when they had Edey and Ivey and lost to St. Peters.

Purdue has been overrated for 4-5 years going.

Have they though? Going back the last 5 years of the preseason AP Poll:

Preseason #14 - Lost Sweet 16
Preseason #3 - Lost in Championship Game
Preseason UR - Lost Round 1
Preseason #7 - Lost Sweet 16
Preseason UR - Lost Round 1

 

[Lafayette]

Have they though? Going back the last 5 years of the preseason AP Poll:

Preseason #14 - Lost Sweet 16
Preseason #3 - Lost in Championship Game
Preseason UR - Lost Round 1
Preseason #7 - Lost Sweet 16
Preseason UR - Lost Round 1

I will concede these do not qualify as overratings in the preseason.

I will stick with just this loss as #7 seeding stung (St. Peters) well below where their preseason rank would suggest an exit.

 

[Leebo]

Needed to highlight to be able to read anything. Guess that feature wasn't conceived with dark mode in mind.

 

[RuffRuff]

Duke has a lot of good players.

Cam Boozer could be All-American. Ngongba is very good (remember we desperately wanted him in recruiting), Evans can really shoot, people like Cayden and think he's actually underranked, Maliq Brown is one of the best defenders in the country. Sarr is a 1st round pick. Foster and Khamenia are good pieces off the bench, plus whatever Darren Harris gives them (I liked him in high school a lot).

They basically have 8 high major caliber starters with 1 of them being really elite.

Duke is hard to predict, as Scheyer does less with more a lot. Their upside is going to be with freshmen and two sophomores that played somewhat sparingly last year, all blue chip. Their upside will be whether Cam Boozer is Banchero good. Early word out of their camp is Sarr is having a tough time. I sense youth will get in the way here are it’s proven this is an old man’s sport. Vegas has them third, in front of us.

Purdue will be very good, high floor team that has a ceiling because of athleticism shortages. I do think they are set up to disappoint, as they’ll have a ton of expectations and no dominant player like Edey to bail them out.

Houston lost their lead guard/scorer and 28 year old dawg of a big. They did bring in possibly the best class of Sampson’s career this year to go along with the three key returners.

I kinda see Purdue, Houston and UConn as 1A group. 3 top coaches in hoops along with core returners. Then there are about 8-9 teams in the 1B group that can make a run depending on how they develop. (Duke, UM, UF, StJ, Ark, BYU, UK, Ville).

I need to see how StJ operates without a PG this year before I can profile them. They had two last year and offensively challenged.

This poll is grain of salt. Anyone that watched Kansas disappoint two years ago knew the that team was set up to have the same issues last year. It’s a lazy poll.

 

[ConnZag3]

Need Purdue to blow it in the tournament with the Final Four in their backyard just like when Houston blew it (Shead injury aside...) in 2023 with the Final Four in their backyard. There were enough Purdue fans in Phoenix; it would be absolutely brutal in Indy.

 

[RuffRuff]

Need Purdue to blow it in the tournament with the Final Four in their backyard just like when Houston blew it (Shead injury aside...) in 2023 with the Final Four in their backyard. There were enough Purdue fans in Phoenix; it would be absolutely brutal in Indy.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out because they'll be motivated to win their first in their home state. Purdue in Indy would blow the doors off Houston in Houston. You're talking a city college in a football state versus a basketball school with a massive B10 fanbase in a passionate basketball state.

 

[BigTenFan]

Also- Fletcher Loyer, TKR and Braden Smith all Indiana kids. Lots of motivation.....and talent

 

[Excalibur]

Didn't we work them over? Were they better than Alabama?

Yes and Yes.

That Purdue team was probably the 4th or 5th best team of the past 10 years. They played and beat Alabama in a neutral site game that season. Had they met in the postseason, Edey probably scores 50.

 

[Lafayette]

Right but UConn was a tier above everyone, so 4th or 5th but 2nd was quite a ways down from UConn.