Bracket Boss

Already having big shoes to fill replacing a coaching legend in Greg McDermott, new Creighton head man Alan Huss struck early in the portal by bringing in forward Oswin Erhunmwunse from Providence. Averaging just 6.9 points per game last season for the Friars, Erhunmwunse displayed his defensive ability by averaging 8.3 rebounds. A major reason Creighton failed to make the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time in awhile was the absence of graduated big man Ryan Kalkbrenner and the hope is that the defensively solid but offensively challenged Erhunmwunse can help in that regard.   

Gerry McNamara is getting the band back together in Syracuse as the newly named head coach and former alum brings forward Tasman Goodrick to join guard Gavin Doty from Siena. Averaging 9.7 points per game and over 7 rebounds for Siena last season, Goodrick adds some size to the Orange who are in desperation mode to get back to their old winning ways. 

Looking for an opportunity for more playing time, Brazilian guard Eduardo Klafke departs Ole Miss for a fresh start at Butler. Averaging just 4.6 points per game last season, Klafke will look to help Butler get back to the NCAA Tournament in 2027. Consider this a minor move for the Bulldogs with some untapped upside. 

 In a bit of a shocker after posting a big ncaa tournament game in a near upset of Duke, Siena shooter Gavin Doty will follow coach Gerry McNamara to Syracuse. Fresh off returning to his old school where he engineered some terrific March moments, McNamara strikes quickly in netting Doty who was considered one of the best mid major players who entered the transfer portal. 

The Purdue Boilermakers hauled in Princeton forward Caden Pierce on Tuesday as a key initial option to help replace seniors Fletcher Loyer, Trey Kaufman Renn, and Braden Smith. Having not played since a full season ago, Pierce averaged a little more than 11 a game for the Ivy League club. 

 The Tennessee Volunteers struck fast on opening day of the transfer portal as they reeled in Belmont shooter Tyler Lundbade. With shooting a major issue for Tennessee last season, Lundblade averaged 15.6 and was a deadeye shooter as shown in a 93.4 percentage at the line and 40.6 on threes. Needless to say this was a big get right out of the gate for Tennessee.

 We are just about 48 hours until the lid is removed from the transfer portal and the chaos begins and hundreds of players move about college basketball. I will have it all covered here so stay tuned as I will be posting updates throughout the day Tuesday and beyond. Make sure you bookmark this site and keep coming back as things will be happening nonstop. 

It was a tough ending for Illinois in the Final Four as they lost to a UCONN team that had control of the contest pretty much throughout. We already talked about how Illinois bucked some strong trends of even reaching the Final Four after losing their first conference tournament game as only 5 of the previous 100 team under such a scenario reached that stage. Even more pronounced is that NO team has ever won the NCAA Tournament in the modern age without winning at least one conference tournament game. Add in that Illinois only hit on 7 of 13 trends regarding what a national champions looks like and it was no shock here they are heading home. 

I have spoken often about avoiding certain coaches when filling out an NCAA Tournament bracket due to the fact they tend to almost always underachieve when the event gets underway. Steering clear of having such coaches' teams advanced far in your bracket is always a seemingly negative venture and such prominent names on that list include Tennessee's Rick Barnes, TCU's Jamie Dixon, Marquette's Shaka Smart, Wisconsin's Greg Gard, and most prominently Arizona's Tommy Lloyd. Coming into the tournament Lloyd had a dubious NCAA Tournament history and that made picking Arizona to go far in this year's tournament something you felt a bit uncomfortable about despite how overpowering the Wildcats were all season. Well, despite reaching the Final Four, the bad version of Lloyd came out in an utterly embarrassing performance against Michigan where his team was not even competitive from the start. On the flip side, Michigan's Dusty May us on my list of coaches you tr...

After a recent wobble where both Baylor and one UCONN squad won an NCAA Tournament without a McDonald's All-American in the last five years, the trend is fully back on track as all four Final Four participants have such a player on the roster. So that now brings it to 44 of the last 48 national champions having a McDonald's All-American in uniform. This now reinforces the trend as back to being fully legit and dependable going forward after it looked like the NIL was beginning to erode confidence in it. So keep paying attention to which McDonald's All-American land where this offseason. 

After the miracle shot heard 'round the world, UCONN freshman guard Braylon Mullins is widely being viewed as a top-20 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Averaging 11.9 points for the Huskies this season, Mullins has struggled with his three-point shot for large stretches of the season but is still viewed as a top shooter who could start for a large number of teams at the next level. With the miracle three against Duke serving as big time momentum going into the draft season, Mullins should be one-and-one in Connecticut. 

Add Kansas big man and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Flory Bidunga to the list of those entering the transfer portal AND also declaring for the NBA draft. Having kept his options open to return to Kansas or his new team should be transfer, Bidunga is getting info on where he could be selected after averaging 13.3 per game for the Jayhawks who lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament two weeks ago to St. John's. With top-scorer Darryn Peterson slated to be a top-three pick in the draft and with head coach Bill Self continuing to deal with health issues that have called into question his future in coaching; Kansas is not looking overly stable as the portal gets set to open next week. 

Now hear me out. How could I possibly suggest a clear top three NBA pick should remain in college another season after an absolutely crushing loss to UCONN in the Elite Eight in the case of Duk'es Cameron Boozer? Allow me to explain and it is not as outlandish as you may think. First off, Boozer may not even go first or second as BYU AL Dybansta and Kansas' Darryn Peterson could gain those spots. In addition, Boozer was blessed to be born into a wealthy family as his father Carlos made millions in a long and very solid career. So there is no financial need for Boozer to enter the draft to help his family and in actuality, the NIL era also allows him to make pretty good coin as as college player. Spending another season in college with his brother and being able to run it back to remove the stain of 2026 certainly could be enticing and so this is something which Boozer should consider.