In the free agency era, college basketball coaches are constantly in projection mode and are often asking themselves questions about their teams, such as:
- What’s our best lineup?
- What will we be great at?
- Who will play well together?
- What tweaks are we adding offensively or defensively? Did we fix our issues?
This week, the first official practices for the 2025-26 college basketball season got underway. With the season starting Nov. 3, there’s no place to hide anymore, and the summer work is about to show. After a barrage of coaching changes and hundreds of players flip-flopping from school to school, there are fewer known commodities than ever before. Just seven high-major teams (Purdue, UConn, Marquette, Stanford, Notre Dame, Iowa State and SMU) are slated to return 50% or more of their minutes from last year. For reference, 32 high-major clubs returned north of 50% of their minutes ahead of the 2019-20 season.
This time of year is critical for determining the hierarchy of each team, and starting jobs are up for grabs.
Let’s dive into six massive preseason position battles that will have a pivotal say on these respective teams hitting their stride.
Candid Coaches: Who will be the best men’s college basketball team this season?
Matt Norlander
The contenders: Caleb Foster or Cayden Boozer
Duke will have multiple pitches in the arsenal, depending on who earns the starting point guard gig. Boozer is a tried-and-true floor general. He walks onto the floor trying to make others better. Boozer will do all the little things that impact winning, but there are some questions about whether he can routinely punish drop coverage. The good thing for Boozer is that traditional ball screens aren’t the lifeblood of Duke’s offense. It’s way more layered and slick, which should accentuate Boozer’s unselfishness and sky-high basketball IQ while covering up some of the scoring concerns on his profile.
Foster is totally different. The junior wants to score first, but he can also run a team in his spare time. You have to guard Duke’s pick-and-rolls differently when Foster is out there because of his strong downhill drives and ability to step back and punish defenders who try to cheat and go under ball screens. Foster can also be an outstanding defender when he’s dialed in.
The situation also matters. Duke wing Dame Sarr enters college basketball with some similar questions about his 3-point shooting. Does Duke want to trot out lineups with Cayden Boozer, Sarr and a low-volume shooter at the 5? That could get clunky, unless Isaiah Evans and Cameron Boozer are just utter deadeyes (entirely possible).
The beauty of Duke’s roster construction is that a clear answer doesn’t have to emerge right away. There’s depth galore, and Foster can easily slide off the ball if Duke needs to get both guys on the floor.
Early lean: Foster
Who is UConn’s fifth starter?
The contenders: Braylon Mullins or Jaylin Stewart
Dan Hurley’s lineup can look vastly different depending on whether Mullins or Stewart is on the floor, next to the presumed four other starters: Silas Demary Jr., Solo Ball, Alex Karaban and Tarris Reed. Mullins is a tried and true net-stripper, who rises off the floor effortlessly and doesn’t see contests. The 6-foot-6, five-star freshman is going to be a major weapon for this UConn offense that will generate a ton of open catch-and-shoot 3-pointers.
On the other hand, Stewart is an enormous three-level scorer with real-deal athletic measurables. The 6-7, 225-pound forward has shown flashes of being a problem for opposing defenses, and when the junior is locked in, there are flashes on tape where he can be a multi-positional asset for this defense.
UConn’s shooting with Mullins on the floor is ludicrous. You’re likely getting more thump on the glass and defensively when Stewart checks into the game.
It’s a first-world dilemma for UConn’s coaching staff because both of these dudes would start for almost every other high-major.
Early lean: Mullins
Who is Baylor’s No. 1 scoring option?
The contenders: Obi Agbim or Tounde Yessoufou or Michael Rataj
Prized Wyoming transfer Obi Agbim was Baylor’s alpha in July when the Bears competed in the World University Games held in Germany, but Scott Drew didn’t have his full arsenal. Neither ballyhooed freshman Yessoufou or Rataj, a Oregon State transfer, were allowed to play in the tournament due to their international statuses.
Now fully together, Baylor will find out real quick who the top dog will be for this squad. Rataj seems best-suited as a strong complementary piece. The skilled forward will be a valuable connective piece of this team thanks to his pass, dribble and shoot skillset, which opens the door for Agbim or Yessoufou to become the dude. Agbim is a boatload of fun. When the pull-ups are dropping, you’re plum out of luck, and he’ll put you on a poster if you’re not careful. Yessoufou’s rapid development from a high-energy forward to a legit ball-handling weapon is tantalizing. The visions of Anthony Edwards are hard to ignore. The ceiling is high, but he needs some seasoning.
Agbim is slated to be the head of the snake offensively for awhile, but do not be surprised if Yessoufou earns more and more of the pie as the season progresses.
Early lean: Agbim
Big or small for Indiana?
The contenders: Sam Alexis or Conor Enright
Four guys feel like locks to start for Darian DeVries: point guard Tayton Conerway, sniper Lamar Wilkerson, sniper (part two) Tucker DeVries and skilled forward Reed Bailey.
Which direction Indiana chooses to go with the fifth starter is compelling.
The Hoosiers could go all-in on small ball with Enright, a DePaul transfer, stepping into the starting five to provide a second point guard who can shoot and has some serious fire in his belly. The double-point guard look with Conerway and Enright, combined with the playmaking from Bailey, would open up plenty of open catch-and-shoot treys for DeVries and Wilkerson. Indiana would be a tough cover in transition with that quintet, too.
Or Indiana can go more traditional with Florida transfer forward Sam Alexis joining the frontcourt mix next to Bailey. Alexis would buff up the shoddy interior defense and provide a play-finisher in the paint who can hold up physically against the monster frontlines in the Big Ten.
It could very well be matchup dependent. When Michigan State comes to town, you might need a second big to survive the avalanche on the glass. When it’s time to face Iowa’s undersized, but highly skilled, big man group, maybe Enright gets extra tick to try and pester All-American hopeful Bennett Stirtz.
The push-pull for the Indiana coaching staff will be fascinating to monitor.
Early lean: Alexis
Who will be Arkansas’ starting center?
The contenders: Nick Pringle or Malique Ewin
John Calipari double-dipped in the portal market for a center, and they couldn’t be more different. Pringle is a bruiser who is surprisingly light on his feet on the perimeter. While he didn’t post a high block percentage (just 1.9%), Pringle was still a very useful defender at South Carolina. He can play drop coverage. He can play at the level. He can blitz ball screens. In certain matchups, Arkansas should be able to switch Pringle onto the perimeter, where he can hang with swift guards. He doesn’t need a huge offensive role, but Pringle’s offensive rebounding, screening and interior finishing will help this team.
Pringle wants to be a role player, while Ewin wants to be an offensive star.
The skill level with Ewin is enticing. The Florida State transfer is all of 6-11, and he can handle it and make plays for others. While he’s not much of a shooter, Ewin has some impressive playmaking on his tape. At FSU, he routinely punished teams that sent a double team his direction. If he can draw two defenders, Ewin can create good looks. His offensive creativity will help Arkansas have a different look from the normal Calipari-induced offense that usually features two or three guards driving into the teeth of the defense without much rhyme or reason over and over again.
But Ewin’s attention to detail defensively can come or go, depending on how much he’s getting fed on the other end. Calipari teams are notorious for icing out big men in favor of the guards. It took them forever to get Jonas Aidoo rolling in the short-roll game last season. If Ewin’s touches go down, will that impact the defense? Florida State had to live with Ewin’s turnstile defensive sequences. Arkansas does not.
Calipari will need both to survive the SEC gauntlet, but Pringle’s willingness to do the dirty work gives him the slight edge entering preseason workouts.
Early lean: Pringle
Which guard emerges for St. John’s?
The contenders: Oziyah Sellers, Joson Sanon, Kelvin Odih or Dylan Darling
Four starters seem set in stone for St. John’s as practice gets underway:
1. Ian Jackson will man one of the guard spots, and his speed in transition will be weaponized in this scheme.
2. Dillon Mitchell, a Cincinnati transfer, is one of the best wing defenders in the country. Rick Pitino, who famously likes playing great defense, is going to get him on the floor. Mitchell is also a high-energy lob threat who can run the floor extremely well.
3. Bryce Hopkins might be the most talented player on this team. St. John’s paid big money to land the Providence transfer, and he’s going to get every opportunity to prove he can be one of the best players in the league again.
4. Zuby Ejiofor. Well, duh. The lunch-pail veteran is the captain of this team.
After that, though, it’s a total crapshoot.
Darling, an Idaho State transfer, provides the closest thing to an initiator point guard on the roster, but he’s going to be tested defensively after playing plenty of zone last year in the Big Sky.
Sanon is an assassin from 3-point range, and his one-dribble pull-up is so nasty, but he has to round out the rough edges in his game. He rarely puts pressure on the rim and hasn’t shown much interest in making plays for others. Plus, you know you’re not playing for Pitino if you aren’t relentless on the defensive end. Sellers and Odih are two more in the mix here. Sellers offers a nice mix of on-ball creation, spot-up shooting, off-ball cutting and he plays mistake-free basketball. Odih might only be a freshman, but he’s got great size and brings it on the defensive end.
The competition for minutes will be fierce, and that’s just the way Pitino likes it.
Early lean: Sellers
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