Duke is not only the favorites to win the league, but perhaps the favorites to win the national championship. Virginia and Louisville also have excellent teams and we take a close look at those two as well. North Carolina has a new coach and an overhauled roster, so we debate on what kind of a season they might have. Miami FL is a potential dark horse and should be a fun team to watch. We break down the entire conference and run through each team!
And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…
We are less than 17 days away from the tip-off of the new college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with North Carolina A&T associate head coach Ricky Moore, who talked about winning an NCAA tourney as a player and coach and his expectations for this season.
In 1995 you were named a Parade All-American: which of your fellow honorees from that legendary class impressed you the most (Vince Carter/Kevin Garnett/Ron Mercer/other)? I would say Garnett: I had the chance to play with him in AAU ball and we also played together at Nike Camp. His tenacity stood out: whether it was practice or a game he had the same mentality of wanting to dominate his opponent. Ron/Vince both had great size and were able to score againt anyone. It would take me all day to review the great players in that class. Back then there were only be a few travel teams in each state so the competition was very tough. Now there are so many teams that the competition level has been watered down.
You were born/raised in Georgia: what made you choose UConn for college? In the early 1990s UConn was trending upward and starting to become 1 of the teams in the Big East who stood out. They played at a fast tempo on offense and used a 2-2-1 press on defense, and I wanted to go to that kind of system because it would showcase my talents. They had several future pros including Ray Allen/Doron Sheffer. I was told that I would start, but I ended up playing most of the minutes and was on the court at the end of each game: I was all about winning. UConn is far from Georgia, but everybody got along and I wanted to be a part of that.
You were a 3-time co-captain: what is the secret to being a good leader? You must bring the same energy day in and day out because everyone is looking to see how you will perform. You must be a great communicator who can motivate your team. Some of my coaches told me to shoot when I was wide open, but sometimes I would try to make a play for a teammate because I was unselfish.
In 1999 you were named national DPOY: what is the key to being a great defender? I was a defensive guy who liked to keep his opponent under his scoring average. It is all about effort and energy: you must always be ready in your stance, but also have very good teammates who you can trust on a pick and roll. Part of that is taking care of your body with treatment/ice because you must be available to play.
In the 1999 NCAA title game you scored 13 PTS in a 3-PT win over Duke: what did it mean to you to win a championship? Nobody except our fans expected us to win that year, but it was the highlight of my career! Duke had 4 lottery picks, so most people did not give us a chance, but Coach K knew how good our perimeter play was. We had great chemistry with guys like Rip Hamilton/Khalid El-Amin. There is no feeling like winning a championship: not many guys can say they won 1 as a player and another 1 as a coach.
In 2001 you were named to the Huskies’ all-century team: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? That is more of an individual award, but there is nothing like cutting down the nets after beating 1 of the best teams in college basketball. I love being on the all-century team, but at the end of the day, there is no better feeling than being part of the 1st team in school history to win a title.
You later returned to your alma mater as an assistant coach and had a 6-PT win over Kentucky in the 2014 NCAA title: how does winning 1 as a player compare to winning 1 as a coach? I joke about it all the time. As player you can do certain things to change the game…but as a coach you are just screaming from the sideline! We had a great pair of guards in Shabazz Napier/Ryan Boatright, which made my job a lot easier. From the time that we rolled the ball out at practice, they knew they had to go out and perform. We got back to work after losing to Louisville in the AAC tourney title game, and once we got into a rhythm, we knew that we had a good chance to win an NCAA title.
You have spent the past 3 years as an assistant to Monte Ross at North Carolina A&T and increased your win total from 7 in 2025 to 11 in 2026: how have you been able to get things going in the right direction? There were several coaching changes in the years before we got here, but my job is to make Monte’s job easier. During the 1st 2 years our team was very young, so this is the 1st time that we have older guys heading into the season, which makes a huge difference. When we were 1st building the culture here, we were just piecing things together, but now we have been able to recruit some guys who can shoot the ball and make plays on the perimeter. This will be the 1st team we have with an offensive identity. We were picked last in the preseason poll that was announced earlier today, but it is great motivation and I think that we can shock some people this year.
Your roster includes players from 10 different states and 2 guys from Greece: what sort of recruiting philosophy do you have? “What fits us”. The guys are always in the gym getting up shots even if we had a long practice. They are hungry and want to compete for a conference title. It will take some time with so many new guys, but hopefully we will be trending upward by the end of the season.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? The goal is to win a CAA championship, and we will have an opportunity to do that. In the past when we were young and our NIL was lower, it was a lot tougher to even think about competing for a title, but that is our aspiration this season. The guys have been working as hard as they can, and the staff is trying to help them get better at each practice, so I think we will have a great season.
The Hoops HD Panel takes a look at a Big 12 Conference that looks to be extremely stacked this year. Arizona was in the Final Four a year ago and looks to be good enough to make a run at making it back this year. Texas Tech is also incredibly talented and is another Final Four contender. As is Houston. That’s three super heavyweights in this league. Other teams to watch are Kansas who has a some of the top freshmen in the country, Cincinnati who is much improved, BYU who once again is really solid, and Iowa State is another team to keep an eye on.
And for all you radio lovers, below is an audio only version of the show…
-High Point is an Under the Radar program that has decided they will spend what they have to on NIL in order to be successful…and it has worked. They won 31 games last year and advanced to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament and will once again have a stacked roster. Second-year coach Flynn Claymon has the tools that he needs to win the league, get back to The Dance, and be positioned to advance beyond the Round of 64. Two key starters are back including Cam’Ron Fletcher, who is a solid frontcourt player and can also hit from beyond the arc. He is clearly a power-conference-level talent. Conrad Martinez returns to run the point and will be part of what looks to be a very solid backcourt. CJ Brown transfers in from South Florida where he averaged double-figures on their NCAA Tournament team last year. And in terms of the depth of talent on their roster, it just goes on. Isaac Garrett was a standout player at Oakland, Filip Brankovic put up big numbers at UTRGV, and Jason Rivera-Torres was a huge player in the post for Monmouth last year. With all due respect to the rest of the league, I do not think that anyone in the Big South will be able to compete with High Point. They may be good enough to land inside the bubble if their schedule can give them the opportunities they need to get the wins they need to impress the committee. They are that good.
-It has been a while since Presbyterian has been picked this high. The program has gotten consistently better under Coach Quinton Ferrell and they may be poised to have as good of a year as they have ever had. Three key starters are back and they have a rather solid rotation consisting of multiple players who were double-digit scorers a year ago.
-Winthrop won a solid 23 games in each of the last two seasons and actually kept pace with High Point in the Big South standings last year. The problem is all five starters from that team are gone and Mark Prosser (who has done a great job with the Eagles) is having to start over. They do bring in some guys who were solid contributors at Under the Radar schools, but they do not appear to have the pieces they had a year ago.
-It is hard to know what to say about Longwood. They have a couple starters back and they appear to have a nice set of guys who have been role players in the past, but no real stars. They were .500 in league play last year and are expected to be in about that range again this year.
-UNC Asheville had a frustrating season last year, but they did actually start to play well down the stretch. They won five of their final eight games before falling in the confernece semis to High Point in a surprisingly close game. Two key starters are back and they have gone into the portal to try and fill out the rest of the roster. Jaylon Johnson comes in from Radford after averaging double-figures and he should be a nice addition. Speaking of Radford…
-Radford had a respectable 9-7 season in Big South play last year, but all five starters are gone and Coach Zach Chu may be in for a long season. They do not have much in the way of proven experience at the D-1 level when it comes to their roster, so it could be a bit of building year.
-Charleston Southern won 15 games last year, which was the best season they have managed in quite some time. Unfortunately, much of that team is gone and they do not seem to have much in the way of proven D-1 talent. They do add a couple of guys that were standout players at the D-2 level, so if they can step up the Buccaneers may be able to do a little better than expected.
-USC Upstate finished 8th last year and is expected to do the same this year. It has just been a tough ride for Marty Richter since taking over as coach two years ago. They do have some guys transferring in who put up impressive numbers at lower-division schools and they will need them to step up in order to be competitive.
-Gardner Webb was awful last year, winning just four games total and one Big South game. Three starters are back, but they do not really seem to be adding anything that makes you believe they will be a whole lot better this year.
We are less than 18 days away from the tip-off of the new college basketball season, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with VCU coach Phil Martelli Jr., who talked about making the NCAA tourney last March and his expectations for this season.
You made 2 NCAA tourneys as a player at St. Joe’s: how good a player were you back in the day? Not very good, but I was fortunate to play for my dad. Someone said that when you coach your son, he needs to be either the best or worst player on the team rather than in-between. Jameer Nelson was clearly our best player back then…which tells you where I was!
In 2025 you were named conference COY at Bryant: what did it mean to you to receive such an outstanding honor? We had great players, which certainly helped spark us. I think the award should go to the “coaching staff of the year” because they all put in a lot of work that goes into that.
Last year you had a very difficult non-conference schedule and started conference play 2-2: how were you able to flip the switch and win 17 of your next 18 games? Your record is just a product of your schedule: we started 2-2 in the A-10 because we lost a tough game to 1 of the best teams in the conference in St. Louis and lost another 1-2 possession game at GMU (who started 18-1 last season). If those games had been separated, then we might have been 14-2 and nobody would have batted an eye. We just stayed true to who were and kept going and flipped that 1% of possessions in our favor.
Your team scored 80.8 PPG last year (the program’s highest in 50 years): what makes your aggressive/up-tempo style of play so effective? You need good players: we always want 5 weapons on the floor, but they do not all need to be shooters. We want interchangeable guys who can do different things. We are hunting great shots and always stay on the attack. If we start the possession with good pace and get the ball moving side-to-side, then we can be very hard to guard. We put a lot into player/skill development, which is what wins the day.
Take me through the 2026 postseason as coach at VCU: You had an 8-PT win over Dayton in the conference tourney title game: what did it mean to you to win a title in a conference you are so familiar with? It is always great to win a championship. I spent the last 3 of my 4 years in St. Joe’s where we were the best team in the regular season but did not get to cut down the nets. To allow our players to do that was extra-special because I never got to climb that ladder in my uniform.
In the NCAA tourney you trailed North Carolina by 19 PTS before pulling off the 4-PT OT upset to give the Rams their 1st NCAA tourney win in a decade: how did that game change your life (if at all)? Not really: it is very much business as usual. I think that I am a funny dad at home and hope I am still the same husband/coach I have always been. It is a nice memory…but we still show up every day and try to get another 1.
Your father Phil was named 2004 national COY at St. Joe’s after going undefeated during the regular season, your mother Judy was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame after winning 3 straight national championships at Immaculata, and your brother Jimmy is your associate head coach: are most of your family conversations about basketball because that is the common denominator for everyone? It is the common denominator, but not the end-all/be-all. My wife played in a championship game and coached some undefeated high school championship teams. People might be surprised to hear that we have very normal conversations at the dinner table or on the patio: they are not different than any other family and there are a lot of laughs/love.
You spent last Thanksgiving in the Bahamas and will spend this Thanksgiving in Maui: what does your family think about your non-conference schedule? It is just what we do. Thanksgiving in this line of work becomes a bit of a throw-away holiday: it is kind of part of the deal. We will get a couple days at Christmas to spend some time together, which will be great.
You brought in several notable transfers this year including Torey Alston/Blake Harper/Nyle Ralph-Beyer: which of them have impressed you the most so far? All those guys look good. Blake is a gifted offensive player and has a great feel for the game. Torey is super-productive and has a high motor. Nyle is a terrific shooter, so they all bring something to the table.
What are your goals for the upcoming season, and what are your expectations for the upcoming season? We are always chasing “great”. At the end of the year if people say we had a “good” year then it is like nails on the chalkboard for me. We do not put any numbers on that, but if we live up to that standard every day then people will eventually say we had a “great” year.
-After one of the most dominant overall seasons we have ever seen from a conference two years ago, the SEC was merely an outstanding conference last year instead of historically being historically dominant like it was in 2024-2025. This year they once again appear to have multiple teams that could make the Final Four, and one in particular that is my pick to win it all.
-Florida: they are my pick to win it all. They are quite simply outstanding in seemingly every position. Four starters return from last year’s team that won 27 total games and finished in 1st place in the SEC. Coach Todd Golden is just one year removed from a national championship and this year’s team is good enough to do it again. Boogie Fland is an experienced point guard, Denzel Aberdeen is a solid shooting guard, Thomas Haugh averaged over 17ppg last year, Alex Condon is a huge force in the post and averaged 15ppg and 7 rebounds per game last year, and, Rueben Chinyelu at center averaged a double-double. They have guys who can come off the bench as well: they have it all.
-Coach Sean Miller has hit the portal and built another very strong team at Texas. Just one starter is back, but the talent is being reloaded. Isaiah Johnson comes in at point guard after having a huge year at Colorado last year, Mikey Lewis was a double-digit scorer for Saint Mary’s and he will help complete a very strong backcourt, and David Punch comes over from TCU after averaging over 14ppg last year, so Texas has a lot of strong pieces and has the talent to be a protected seed if those pieces can play together.
-Arkansas has made it to back-to-back Sweet Sixteens in the two years that Coach John Calipari has been there and will look to go further this year. It looks like they may be starting a freshman at point guard and there could be a learning curve with that, but Jeremiah Wilkinson comes over from Georgia to join some guys who saw key minutes last year. Calipari’s teams always seems to improve as the year goes on, so by the time we get into conference play Arkansas will likely be dangerous.
-Tennessee is having to replace all five starters, but Coach Rick Barnes has never had issues when he had to reload. Terrence Hill Jr. was a standout PG at VCU and is capable of playing at the SEC level, Tyler Lundblade is a grad transfer from Belmont, and the two of them will make up a talented backcourt. Juke Harris averaged over 20ppg at Wake Forest last year and Jalen Washington comes in from rival Vanderbilt to play center. You are never quite sure how good a team will be when they have so many players who have not played together before, but given the talent of the players and the strength of the coaches one could easily suspect that Tennessee will once again be a monster.
-Alabama won 25 games last year, finished 2nd in the SEC, and made the Sweet Sixteen…and still people felt like they could have been better. That is how strong this program has become under Coach Nate Oats. Two key starters are back, and Aden Holloway will likely be a huge contributor at the PG position after he returns from suspension. He had some off-court issues last year, but it looks as though that water has gone under the bridge. Amari Allen is another outstanding guard, Drew Fielder was a great player in the post for Boise State last year, and they have some guys who can come off the bench. It is never a good idea to underestimate Nate Oats: Alabama will likely be near the top of the standings yet again.
-Vanderbilt has gotten good in a hurry under Coach Mark Byington, and last year they won an amazing 27 games before losing in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. Tyler Tanner is one of the best point guards in the country and will be joined in the backcourt by Ace Glass, who put up solid numbers at Washington State a year ago. Bangot Dak also transfers in and at 7′ tall he should be a force in the paint for the Dores.
-Kentucky has been solid under Coach Mark Pope for the last two years, but that is all they have been and the Wildcat fans want them to be so much more than that. Back-to-back 20+ win seasons where they are in the top-25 and getting to the Round of 32 is solid. It is not bad. And…I think that is about what they are poised to do again this year. Just one starter returns, but they have a really strong PG in Zoom Diallo from Washington, and he will be joined by Alex Wilkins who put up crazy numbers for Furman last year, so they’ve got a good backcourt. Milan Momcilovic was a standout player for Iowa State and is another big addition to the roster from the portal. This is a good team! A top-25 team! A team that can win a game in the NCAA Tournament and maybe make the Sweet Sixteen! But…Kentucky fans will not be happy if that is all they do. Unfortunately for their fans I do not see them doing much more than that.
-Coach Dennis Gates has turned Missouri into a consistent top-25-caliber program and is showing all signs of having them in that range again this year. Just one starter returns from last year’s team that lost in the Round of 64, but they once again have a talented group coming in. They may be starting a freshman at PG, but Jason Crowe is no ordinary freshman. In fact he averaged over 43ppg in high school last year, so…he is good! Jamier Jones transfers in from Providence and will join him in the backcourt. Trent Pierce averaged double-figures last year, and at 6’10” can hit from the outside. So, Mizzou has some talent!
-Coach Bucky McMillan had a great first year at Texas A&M last year and showed that he can win in the SEC with his exciting brand of basketball. He will have his work cut out for him this year with just one starter back, but getting Mackenzie Mgbako back from injury should help. PJ Haggerty also comes in after putting up huge numbers at Kansas State and will be a force right away. Jordan Pope averaged double-figures for rival Texas, so TAMU has talented guards. Again. They are not quite as strong in the interior, but this is a pressure-oriented/guard-heavy system. I like TAMU this year and think they may exceed their preseason expectations.
-Auburn was within reach of the NCAA Tournament, but just could not quite get enough wins. One or two more may have done it, and with this year’s expanded field the Tigers will likely be back in The Dance this year after a short hiatus. Steven Pearl begins his second year as coach and coaches are always more prepared for their second year than their first. Tahaad Pettiford is back and he will be a big contributor this year. Kevin Overton also returns, which will give Auburn a good and experienced backcourt. Thomas Dowd comes in after having a really good year at Troy and Adam Olsen also comes in after having a big year at South Alabama. I think Auburn will be better this year than they were a year ago. I like their roster and think they will play well together.
-Georgia is being picked kind of low, but look out. They return four starters from a talented team that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago and Coach Mike White can flat out coach. They have balanced scoring with Blue Cain, Marcus Millender, and Kanon Catchings all averaging double-figures a year ago and are good outside shooters. They may have some issues with depth, but they should be fine. They have added some guys from the portal who can serve as solid role players.
-Porter Moser has won 20+ games for the last three seasons as coach at Oklahoma, but many still felt like they should have been better. They were just 7-11 in league play and fell short of the NCAA Tournament. Two key starters are back, including Xzayvier Brown who is a very solid PG. They also added some talent from the portal, so Oklahoma will definitely not be a team that anyone should overlook.
-Coach Chris Beard and the Ole Miss Rebels really struggled last year, going just 15-20 overall and winning just 4 SEC games. They did have a somewhat young team and appear to have a few more weapons this year. Beard has also proven that he can win, so do not be surprised if we see Ole Miss play a lot better this year.
-It is impossible to know what to really say about LSU because so much of their roster is in limbo. For the longest time they only had four active players listed, and they only played 7 in their exhibition game a few nights ago. A huge issue for the Tigers will likely be a lack of depth on a scale that we have never seen before. They were waiting on the eligibility status of several players to be decided…and right now it is not looking good for them.
-Chris Jans begins his 5th year as coach at Mississippi State and is coming off what was by far the most frustrating year he has had there. They won just 13 games and went just 5-13 in SEC play before losing their first conference tournament game. Josh Hubbard returns after averaging over 22ppg last year and should be getting some help from some solid portal pickups. RJ Johnson was a solid scorer for Kennesaw State and ND Okafor was a good player for Washington State. I must say that I like this team a lot more than 15th place.
-As for South Carolina…yeah, I agree with the last place pick. Coach Lamont Paris has had some good years, but not recently and probably not this year. All five starters from last year are gone and they will have to make due with guys that do not seem to have a lot of solid D-1 experience, much less SEC-level experience.
