| idleguy.com November 2026 | Page 6
Feature
|
College Hoops Tip-Off 2026-27: The Preseason Top 25, Freshmen to Watch, and Last Year's Champions
By Claude AI, Assistant Publisher
The ball goes up on the 2026-27 men's college basketball season the first week of November, and if the preseason poll is any guide, the road to the Final Four runs through Gainesville. Florida, the 2024-25 national champion, opens the year at No. 1 in the Associated Press preseason Top 25, just ahead of Duke, with Illinois, UConn, and Arizona rounding out the top five.
It's a season of new faces on the bench and on the floor. The defending national champions lost their coach to the NBA, the most hyped freshman class in years is spread across a dozen programs, and the transfer portal has once again reshuffled nearly every contender's roster. Here's what you need to know before tip-off.
The Preseason Top 25
Others receiving votes: Missouri 167, Nebraska 70, Purdue 53, Ohio State 39, North Carolina 20, TCU 17, Saint Louis 13, VCU 12, Iowa 12, Virginia Tech 10.
By conference, the SEC leads the way with seven ranked teams, followed by the Big 12 with six, the Big Ten with five, the ACC with four, the Big East with two, and the new-look Pac-12 with one, Gonzaga, in its first season after leaving the West Coast Conference.
Florida on Top, Duke Close Behind
Florida's No. 1 ranking is the Gators' first preseason top spot since the 2006-07 season, when Billy Donovan's club opened the year as defending champion and went on to win its second straight title. Todd Golden's group has a similar foundation: forwards Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon are back, along with center Reuben Chinyelu, the reigning national Defensive Player of the Year. Guard Denzel Aberdeen, a Kentucky transfer, won a temporary court injunction allowing him to play a fifth season. The Gators also won the SEC regular-season title last year, clinching it with a 111-77 rout of Arkansas.
History offers a word of caution, though. The last team to start the season at No. 1 and finish it as national champion was North Carolina in 2008-09. Last year's preseason No. 1, Purdue, didn't make the Final Four.
Duke lost national Player of the Year Cameron Boozer to the NBA, where the Memphis Grizzlies took him third overall, but Jon Scheyer reloaded. Guard Caleb Foster, Cayden Boozer (Cameron's twin), and big man Pat Ngongba return, and former Wisconsin star John Blackwell arrives through the transfer portal. Add two of the nation's top five freshmen, and the Blue Devils have a real shot at the No. 1 ranking by December.
The Champs Start Over
Defending national champion Michigan opens at No. 16, and it's easy to see why the voters hedged. Head coach Dusty May left in June to take over the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, and assistant Mike Boynton was promoted to replace him. Point guard Elliot Cadeau, the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, is the lone returning starter from the title team, and prized freshman Brandon McCoy Jr. will miss the season with a torn ACL. The Wolverines open against Oakland on November 2.
Freshmen to Watch
The Class of 2026 arrives with as much hype as any recent class. Here are the newcomers expected to make the biggest splash:
Keep an eye on UCLA's Nikola Kusturica, another international newcomer, as well.
Looking Back: The 2026 Champions
Michigan won the 2026 national championship on April 6 in Indianapolis, holding off UConn, 69-63, at Lucas Oil Stadium. Cadeau scored 19 points to earn Most Outstanding Player honors. It was the Wolverines' second national title and their first since 1989, ending a run of four straight losses in the title game (1992, 1993, 2013, and 2018). It was also the Big Ten's first national championship since Michigan State in 2000.
The win came with a few historical twists. Michigan became the first team to win a title with a starting lineup made up entirely of players who began their college careers elsewhere, a sign of the transfer-portal era. And the loss was UConn's first ever in a national championship game, snapping a 6-0 record in title games dating back to 1999 and denying the Huskies a third title in four years.
In the national semifinals, Michigan routed Arizona, 91-73, and UConn beat Illinois, 71-62. Duke was the tournament's overall No. 1 seed but didn't reach Indianapolis.
On the women's side, UCLA won its first NCAA women's basketball title on April 5 in Phoenix, crushing South Carolina, 79-51. Center Lauren Betts was named Most Outstanding Player, and coach Cori Close finally brought the Bruins a championship to match their 1978 title in the AIAW, the governing body before the NCAA took over women's basketball.
Conference Champions
Michigan's 19-1 Big Ten record set a conference record for wins, but Purdue beat the Wolverines in the Big Ten tournament final. Arizona swept the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles, both firsts for the Wildcats since joining the league. Duke freshman Cameron Boozer took ACC Player of the Year with 84 of 86 votes on his way to the Naismith Award.
Other 2026 conference tournament champions included Gonzaga (WCC), Utah State (Mountain West), VCU (Atlantic 10), South Florida (American), and Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley).
The Bottom Line
Florida and Duke look like the class of the field, but with seven SEC teams in the Top 25 and an unproven freshman class, expect the rankings to shuffle plenty before conference play begins. Michigan's title defense may be the season's best underdog story, and Kansas with Tyran Stokes could be its most fun to watch. The madness, as always, is just getting started.
Sources
|
Your ad could be in the next issue of idleguy.com for as little as $6 per month. Contact Fearless Rick using the form on page 15 for more information.
is the official online marketplace for idleguy.com and dtmagazine.com, featuring vintage magazines and other merchandise for sale.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| idleguy.com November 2026 | Page 6