Newsletter Archive

For the second time this week a Division II team upset a Division I team, with Northwood knocking off Western Michigan, 85-81. Northwood was picked 11th in their conference’s preseason poll and won just nine games last season. The other Division II win came on Monday, when Hawai’i Pacific opened

It was a slower day on Thursday for games, but there were a couple very interesting results. Unfortunately for the casual fans there were no big upsets, but George Mason did beat James Madison for the first time in 21 years. Two of the best mid-majors in the country battled

It was a fairly pedestrian day of college hoops, with only 14 of the 34 games featuring two Division I teams. The most eye popping score came from Athens, where Georgia absolutely dismantled Maryland Eastern Shore, 94-29. That’s not a typo. This is the same UMES team that took Georgia

After starting off the season quickly on Monday, we’ve hit a bit of a lull in the scheduling the last few days. The Fairfield vs. Villanova game was the highlight of the slate yesterday, as Fairfield controlled the game in the opening and last quarter en route to a 75-63

Christian Anderson announced his ascendance to superstardom last night, with a stat-stuffing performance in Texas Tech’s 98-60 win over Lindenwood. Anderson poured in 34 points to go along with 11 assists, seven rebounds and four steals. On top of that? Only one turnover. He and JT Toppin make up one

We were treated on Tuesday afternoon to a game that felt like an Elite Eight contest as #8 Tennessee and #9 NC State battled in a close game. NC State fell behind early but battled back to take control in the 2nd half en route to an 88-77 win. Khamil

How much fun was that? Opening day delivered on multiple fronts with some eye opening performances and eyebrow raising results. The headline of the night belonged to Arizona freshman Koa Peat. He poured in 30 points to go along with seven rebounds, five assists and three steals against defending champion

College basketball is back, and we were treated to some great basketball on the first day of the 2025-26 season. Now, it might not have been the prettiest, but all throughout the day there were games that were coming down to the wire. The game that had the most eyes

College basketball is BACK. Shoutout to the Field of 68 for putting together a full day of hoops for us. They’ll handle the morning slate, while the defending national champions tip off a double-header in Las Vegas for the night cap. We’re proud to present the first Watchability Index of

We. Are. Back. Thanks for joining us on the ride, as we are about to embark on a fun-filled 153 days of action until the next National Champion is crowned. We’re excited to present the first women’s Watchability Index of the season: New content at Basket Under Review Will Warren’s

Folks, we’re nearly there. This is the final newsletter of the offseason! With a new season on the horizon, we figured it’s time to ask you - what do you want to see here next week? Scores and recaps? One big storyline as we’ve done for the last month? Message

We’ve made it! Kind of. This will be the last newsletter before there are games! With the season starting in three days, what do you want to see in the newsletter? Scores and recaps? Top performances? A few bigger stories at the top, as we’ve done in the past two

We’re just four short days away from the college basketball season, so it’s time for some Final Four picks. We polled the staff and here’s what they came up with: Some notes: * Houston is the most common champion (four times) * Houston and UConn appear in the most Final Fours (six

We’ve officially reached the point in the offseason where the season is so close but yet feels so far away. We’ve already seen a rush of commitments prior to the start of the early signing period, secret scrimmages are all but over, and exhibition games are essentially wrapping up in

The NCAA’s recent rule change allowing college athletes and staff to bet on professional sports will have to wait a little bit longer. The vote to delay the effective date was a direct response to a memo from SEC commissioner Greg Sankey asking the NCAA to overturn the ruling. In

Yesterday, I mentioned how exhibitions don’t matter in the grand scheme of the college basketball season. They aren’t a great barometer for how a season is going to turn out because coaches are trying out new lineups, implementing changes, and not going through a full scouting report for their opponents.

Tyon Grant-Foster was granted eligibility for the upcoming season by a Spokane County judge last night. Grant-Foster was originally denied a waiver by the NCAA two weeks ago. He began his career in the 2018-2019 season at JUCO Indian Hills. He played there two years before transferring to Kansas for

Sometimes you just need to remind yourself that preseason exhibition results do not matter in the grand scheme of things. However, when you’re Mikayla Blakes, you have the ability to set the tone before a very likely huge season. Her performance of 40 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 5

We had an incredible slate of exhibition games this weekend. Kansas beat Louisville | Kentucky beat Purdue | BYU beat North Carolina | Michigan beat St. John’s | Indiana beat Baylor | Duke beat Tennessee For a full list of exhibition scores from the weekend, go here. All these games are great - but what

We are now less than a week away from November, which only means one thing—it’s college basketball season. The exhibition games and scrimmages have still been a popular talking point, and there was quite a bit to talk about from this past weekend. It’s almost here, folks. In one

Well, the FBI’s investigation into illegal gambling activity broke wide open yesterday. The irony of this news breaking the day after the NCAA approved a rule change allowing student-athletes and staff to bet on professional sports is not lost upon us. College basketball is currently dealing with its own gambling

October isn’t necessarily a month where you’d expect staff moves to be made; however, we were treated to an early morning announcement with some coaching staff news out of the ACC. Virginia Tech announced that Liz Kitley would be returning to the school with the title “Assistant to the Head

When news broke Tuesday that Louisville landed a commitment from G-League guard London Johnson, several coaches and media members had something to say. The most notable comments came from Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo. Izzo isn’t shy about his feelings regarding the current state of college basketball, so it’s

It was a Wednesday filled with news, but none bigger than a surprise transfer announcement just 12 days until the college basketball season kicks off. Minnesota’s Mallory Heyer announced that she is planning on entering the transfer portal as a graduate transfer. Heyer plans to graduate from Minnesota in December

Big East Media Day is always a quote factory and this year was no different. The Big East is without a doubt the most entertaining conference in America. The basketball-first passion, the rivalries, the larger than life personalities and a week of epic battles at Madison Square Garden to crown

Conversation around the upcoming season is in full swing, and nearly every day we are seeing an all-conference preseason poll come out. However, the headline on Tuesday was the AP announcing the preseason first-team All-Americans. Hannah Hidalgo and Lauren Betts each received 29 of the 31 potential votes. Sarah Strong

For most conferences, there’s a fairly clear hierarchy of teams reflected in their preseason polls. For the Sun Belt? Well...it’s complicated. Yes, you’re reading that correctly. Eight (!!) different teams received first place votes. The team voted third, South Alabama, has the most first place votes. The team voted first,

With the start of the season drawing near, conferences are continuing to put out their preseason polls. While not as crazy as the men’s Sun Belt preseason poll with 8!! teams receiving first place, the women’s Sun Belt preseason poll was released on Monday with four teams garnering a first-place

It was a big weekend for debuts, but there were none bigger than AJ Dybantsa’s first appearance in a BYU uniform. The potential first overall pick in the 2026 draft delivered with a stat-stuffing, highlight filled performance. Dybantsa had a few lapses defensively, but it doesn’t seem like an exhibition

As the 2025-26 season draws closer, this past weekend was a big weekend for closed scrimmages. However, last week there were two notable exhibitions that caught the attention of NCAAW fans as UConn and Boston College faced off on Monday and Alabama and Florida State matched up on Thursday. Alabama

The Kentucky men‘s basketball program is set to payout a total of $22 million to its players this season, according to a report from the Lexington Herald-Leader. “The payroll number for John Calipari’s final UK team — a star-studded group featuring two NBA lottery picks and a few other

Some news - the Basket Under Review team is growing! We’re pleased to announce the addition of several new contributors from college basketball blog Heat Check CBB. Heat Check was a staple in CBB media for several years. Their daily watchability graphics, bracketology and written work were enjoyed by

A new trend sweeping the nation is “hiring” big name alums for what is essentially a glorified advisory role. From the team’s release: “Hayward will volunteer his time in the newly-created position, working alongside head coach Thad Matta, General Manager/Director of Player Personnel Tony Bollier, and Vice President/Director

The Preseason AP Poll is here. Let’s overreact accordingly. Some interesting nuggets from the initial poll: * Purdue is preseason No. 1 for the first time in school history. * Houston’s streak of consecutive poll appearances is up to 107 weeks. Tennessee has the second longest streak at 81 weeks. * BYU, St.

The annual mid-October tradition of Ken Pomeroy releasing his preseason rankings signifies just how close we are to a new season of college basketball. A few notes to point out from the Top 25: * Kentucky’s defense is ranked 4th, which is nearly 90 spots higher than Mark Pope’s average defensive

The college basketball world lost an icon late last night, as Loyola Chicago announced the passing of Sister Jean. Sister Jean first stepped on campus at Loyola over sixty years ago. She joined the basketball team in an official role in the early 90’s and was a fixture in the

College basketball had a gambling issue this past season. Several teams lost players to suspensions because of gambling related charges and investigations. So how did the NCAA respond? Just let ’em do it, of course! The new proposal still needs approval from the DII and DIII levels to pass, but

College basketball Twitter was set ablaze yesterday with this tweet from Basket Under Review contributor Rocco Miller. This does not look like a tournament that gives access to more mid-majors. This looks like a tournament that wants to get rid of mid-majors before the tournament even begins in earnest. If

Billy Clyde Gillespie is back, again. After a brief administrative leave and internal investigation, the 65-year-old was reinstated last night, according to a release by the university. Gillespie has a long history of accusations and investigations, dating back to his days at Kentucky in the late aughts. He’s known for

It was so good to see college basketball highlights back on the timeline this weekend. Yes they were clips from dunk contests and watered down intrasquad scrimmages, but that’s still something! We’re four weeks from the start of another season and we’ve finally reached the point where we’ll see some

Heavy sigh. Despite overwhelming disapproval from fans, the NCAA and TV executives are nearing a decision (read “they’ve made a decision and are just letting us down easy”) to expand the NCAA Tournament. The number they’ve decided on is 76 according to a report from Ross Dellenger. Under this new

Nevada head coach Steve Alford just lost an assistant to the NBA G-League, which is a perfectly normal thing that happens in the coaching carousel. This time though, the assistant he lost is going to play in the G-League. When was the last time you saw an assistant coach sign

Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors passed a massive increase in their athletics budget yesterday, funneling $229.2M into the department over the next four years. According to the school’s release, the plan will support a full front office for the football program, additional operational funding for Olympic sports and infrastructure

The Players Era Festival continues to beef up it’s lineup for the 2026 edition, adding Louisville, Miami, Missouri and Ohio State. The festival has drawn the biggest brands in the sport the last two years, offering guaranteed NIL payouts and plenty of opportunities to grab a resume-building win. While paying

Our first big giveaway of the season is here, with the “Predict the Preseason AP Poll” contest. The premise is simple - try to guess the exact order of the first AP Poll, which traditionally debuts the second week of October. As a subscriber to this newsletter, you’re eligible to

Tyson Chicken logos on Arkansas uniforms? Fedex logos on Memphis uniforms? STARBUCKS LOGOS ON WASHINGTON UNIFORMS?? Jersey patches are likely coming to college uniforms as soon as next fall, according to a report from Yahoo Sports senior college football reporter Ross Dellenger. It’s just another step towards the professionalism of

Another day, another spin of the coaching carousel in college basketball. The situation at Wagner hit the mainstream media yesterday, with this detailed report from Zach Braziller at the New York Post. “Copeland is being accused of verbally abusing several players and refusing them water breaks during strenuous practices,” the

It was a relatively uneventful day in the college basketball world, but we did get one piece of news that could add another wrinkle to roster construction in years to come. Yes, you’re reading that correctly. A player who spent the previous two years in the G-League is now going

When was the last time we had three coaching changes in September? Bruce Pearl’s retirement on the first day of official practice sent shockwaves across the college basketball landscape yesterday. He steps away after 30 seasons as a head coach, amassing a 706-268 (.725) record, two Final Fours (2019 & 2025)

Happy first day of official practice to all who celebrate! Before you dive into today’s content, take a moment to vote for the 2025-2026 All-Name Team. Vote here. Also, our first women’s basketball AMA (ask me anything) is on Wednesday, September 24 at 8pmEST. Maryland head coach Brenda Frese joins