A deep love. A deep passion. The soul of the city. Education opportunities. A place for all of New Orleans to be proud of.

You've just read the deep drivers that motivated renowned artist, Percy Miller (aka Master P) to invest his energy, time, and wallet into Privateer Basketball.

On February 26, 2025, as UNO suffered through the end of its 4-27 campaign, the needle-moving announcement was official. Master P as the new President of Basketball Operations for New Orleans basketball.

The roster was steadily enhanced once the transfer portal opened in March. Retaining MJ Thomas, coming off a superb Freshman season, was priority one. The next set of moves put New Orleans in a position to really become a factor in the Southland.

First-team All-Southland G Jakevion Buckley was a massive coup from in-state rival SE Louisiana. Coleton Benson played highly-efficient quality minutes while at Texas State for two seasons. Churchill Abass was stuck on the bench at Wake Forest, so UNO brought his much needed 6-10, 260 lb. frame to NOLA. Kedrick Osby came in from the JUCO ranks, with a former 3-star evaluation when in High School. The international imports - Swiss forward Enzo Boudouma and Greek forward Panagiotis Pagonis qualify as freshman this year.

Make no mistake, investments were strategically made with the help of Miller (Master P) and the keen evaluations by Stacy Hollowell and the New Orleans staff.

Master P talked on the trip to Fort Worth that this is "David vs. Goliath," and the team needed to attack Goliath with a slingshot. Coach P actually brought the physical slingshot with him, and plans to do so in future road challenges, in which UNO has several ahead.

Opening night offered the Privateers an opportunity at TCU to gain some attention. Well, UNO went to work right away and built a quick 20-point lead.

As the game went on, the Privateers withstood several Horned Frog attacks. By the end of the game, TCU never solved the perimeter. Shooting a porous three-for-27 from downtown. UNO was inspired all night, and the aggressors. Congratulations to New Orleans are Top Team of the Week for Opening Week.

Coleton Benson made all four of his free throws and played a great overall game, finishing with 22 points. Jakevion Buckley had a wild stat line, nine assists and ten turnovers?! But, hey it was enough. This team has the potential to be an amazing story in the Southland. They'll play both regional big boys next week, at LSU on Monday and at Tulane later in the week. They are locked in.

What it all means?
New Orleans is clearly a much bigger and capable team with potentially three go-to guys (Buckley, Thomas, and Benson). Thomas was essentially the 5-man on last year's undersized team. Now? He's about the seventh or eighth tallest player on this current beefed up roster. The size made TCU's life hard, imagine what that could do to Southland teams? The City is behind this team. I think we see a UNO team that can contend with McNeese, perhaps? At the very least, the floor for the conference has been immediately raised with a cellar-dwellar program suddenly appearing to be formidable.


ALABAMA

A Saturday afternoon inside the World's Most Famous Arena for the first major game of the St. John's season. The national spotlight zeroed in on this College Hoops showdown during a College Football Saturday. An absolute banger ensued.

The Tide and Red Storm went pound-for-pound, blow-for-blow all day long without waiting around for a shot. It was the Nate Oats standard of take the first good look you see during each possession. St. John's mirrored the plan. What unfolded was an absolute track meet.

Flow favored Alabama, and I think it caught the Johnnies by surprise as the Tide took an 11-point edge into halftime. Latrell Wrightsell, Jr. was doing a nice job defensively to produce and knocked down a few from downtown on offense. Trends and flow continued well into the second half, and that is about when Wrightsell went down with an injury, and SJU took full advantage:

Latrell had already missed the season-opener earlier in the week, and injuries have doomed him for the majority of his time in Tuscaloosa since transferring in via Cal State Fullerton. But down the stretch in this one, we witnessed a good stretch with Bama and SJU trading baskets. You really couldn't flinch for a while, or else you'd miss a great athletic score. Wrightsell broke the trend with a key steal that helped the Tide separate for good, much to PxP man, Dave Sims, excitement. Really the key moment/play of the day. In case you missed, here's a mash-up of all of Wrightsell's amazing work on Saturday:

Labaron Philon, Jr. is clearly a pro, and likely could/should be on an NBA roster now if he chose to. What a weapon at the college level. He broke his career-high twice in the same week! Philon's 25 points in the marquee game here, currently serve as his new high. I am sure that high-water mark will be broken again this month.

What it all means?
Alabama starts the year with a high-quality road win. The confidence gained from this win for guys like Aden Holloway, Taylor Bol Bowen, Amari Allen, and other will go a long ways. Alabama plays the hardest schedule in the nation annually, so a handful of losses will occur along the way. However, earning a road-win this early is already proving to the powers that be that the Tide can succeed at the hardest task in the game - win an elite road game. They've got one, with more opportunities soon. Like, Thursday. Tide hosts Purdue.

CALIFORNIA BAPTIST

The Lancers are part of the suddenly seven sweepstakes for the WAC Trophy. The league lost Grand Canyon during the offseason, reducing the number to seven total teams. A 3x set of meetings against each WAC foe is coming later this season. The big news is the simple fact that GCU won't be standing in the way any longer. A major opportunity for a team like CBU to breakthrough to March Madness for the first time.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

A date with UC Irvine, on the road, is a dentist appointment for the vast majority of teams in the West. The Anteaters had a 22-game home win streak rolling until UC San Diego marched in on 2/8/2025 and took it away. Tritons took the league title. UCI, of course, kept winning regardless, and reached the NIT title game.

CBU has had some exciting moments since joining D1 in 2018-19. The Armstrong boys were dazzling - Tre and later Taran. Lancers have won a WAC Tournament game each of the past four years, but all four times they fell in their second game and have not reached the WAC Final. Nationally, the squad keeps sniffing the KenPom Top 150, but has not cracked it.

The struggle has been real, but the signs are there. Bringing back Dominique Daniels, Jr., who stands all of 5-10, is a major weapon at the WAC level. He played essentially the whole game at Irvine and can go get CBU a bucket when they must have one.

Daniels got a ton of preseason love, deservedly so. But the staff was focused on finding bodies in the paint. Thomas Ndong was on the bench at Oregon State, he joins Sophomore Bradey Henige, who they need bigger production from. The big surprise that emerged from the week was Junior big, 6-11 Jonathan Griman. Seldomly used in two seasons at CBU, has clearly been ready to contribute this year.

When you go up against UCI, physcicality, effort, and a great plan is required. If not, you will get pounded ruthlessly. I think the Lancers clearly got Griman (9), Ndong (12), and Henige (9) locked in on rebounding and especially O-Rebounds. The Lancers delivered with a 55-32 edge on the glass, which nearly impossible to fathom.

An 18-0 run in the second half shellshocked the Anteaters. Can you believe CBU opened this game in an 11-0 hole? I can't.

What it all means?
Considering where the CBU program has been somewhat stuck at since 2020, this is the first major sign that improvements have been made. The WAC is there for the taking, and the Lancers have a frontcourt strategy to help supplement its backcourt superstar. A big-time road win changes everything for the trajectory of a season. Now, CBU has three winnable home games and a neutral vs. San Diego, before trips at Oregon State and Colorado - which are not overwhelming for this group.


GEORGETOWN

You don't need me to explain to you that the Hoyas futility has been plentiful over the past decade or longer. Sniffing an at-large bid has been non-existent since the 2014-15 season.

Here we are entering Ed Cooley's third year at the Hoya helm. But now, something feels very different. An exhibition demolition of Kentucky in Rupp was a clue. Or a sign? You can't take it that seriously, right?

Wherever you stand on exhibitions, this was very much a real game over the weekend at Maryland. Which brings its own deep-rooted series history:

Hey, I just figured it would be easiest to show the Google explanation above. We made it to November 2025, this game actually happened people!

It was clear from the early going, that Georgetown was the dominant side in this matchup, despite it being a road game. Malik Mack is a steady PG and is blossoming in the early signs of the season. KJ Lewis is an extremely gifted player from Arizona. And the two 7-footers, Vince Iwuchukwu (7-1) and Julius Halaifonua (7-0) give the Hoyas some real matchup pieces to contend with inside.

Maryland is still building an identity under Buzz Williams. A lot can be made of the timing of this game favoring Georgetown. Given the history of the series and the history of Georgetown not being near an at-large discussion, this is still very much a worthy honor for the program.


What it all means?
Georgetown's style of play translates in a hostile, road environment. A paramount feature necessary to handle all of the tough Big East trips and crowds. Resume-wise this was particularly important because the Hoyas only had two road chances to get a non-conference road win. So now when they head to North Carolina on December 7th, its going to feel like a house money opportunity (barring disaster between now and then).


UT MARTIN

Well, well! Here is a team you could never have guessed going to be named Team of the Week. Which is exactly why these awards are so awesome.

Yes, the Skyhawks of UT Martin waltzed into lovely Las Vegas, Nevada and played a tough 40-minute game to send shockwaves across Sin City and directly to UNLV.

Who are these guys? Well I am glad you asked.

Picked 8th in the OVC preseason poll, the Skyhawks have an NCAA-high 13 international players. One-upping their own national high of 12 from a season ago. The roster has 19 total players, including eight freshman. Talk about impossible to predict!

UTM HC Jeremy Schulman is a regional fella, having graduated at Middle Tennessee. He's spent multiple decades on the JUCO circuit, with a high level of success prior to gaining the UTM head job a year ago. Séllé Hann is the Director of Player Development, hailing from Senegal originally. Hann has spent time with Schulman dating back to their successful days at Eastern Florida State (JUCO). Drew Kelly just joined the staff this past spring. Kelly has a rich background, and was recently at Northern Illinois before pivoting to UTM.

These coaches and the rest of the staff constructed a ton of pieces, and its anybody's guess on how they figured out lineup combos together.

Opening night was a Tuesday for this UNLV - UTM matchup. Skyhawks were forcing turnovers early and often, showing the Rebels complex defenses which led to 14 first half turnovers. That figure eventually became 22 turnovers for the game. Offensively, UTM generated 28 made buckets, with 18 assists.

Like most major upsets, breaks had to sustain themselves. During the first half, Andrija Bukumirović wasn't missing. In the second half, Dragos Lungu was massive down the stretch. UTM pulled off a monumental road win for its program and the OVC.

What it all means?
The OVC was looking like a three-horse race entering the season with SEMO, Little Rock, and SIUE. Impossible to watch this game and not think that UT Martin can contend as well. The OVC is a bit deeper than we thought. That's a great development given all of the changes the league is facing.


STRONGLY CONSIDERED FOR AWARDS

ARIZONA - Knocking off the defending champs, Florida, on opening night promises to age very well at the top of the non-conference resume. Arizona loves playing in Las Vegas, and once again it was a success. Koa Peat was the most sensational player any of us saw this week. If somehow you missed it:


TROY - Going on the road twice in the same week against challenging mid-majors is tough enough, then you add in the fact that Troy was replacing nearly everyone from its tournament squad last year. The job Scott Cross continues to do is simply incredible. The Trojans opened the season with a 103-97 OT thrilling victory at Kent State and followed that up with a road win at Furman by three. Two entirely different geographies, two wins. Just a major hat tip here. Cooper Campbell was a key reserve last year, and has stepped up to begin the year. He is eight-for-14 from deep in these two road wins and has 11 total assists.

INDIANA - Adding the Hoosiers for the sheer domination of Marquette on Sunday. The IU faithful has been longing for a coach and system that plays effective modern basketball with spacing. Well, congrats to all. Because Darian DeVries is a gem. And his son Tucker isn't too shabby either. Indiana puts up 100 in a 100-77 drubbing of Marquette. Hoosiers became the first team to put up 100 against a Shaka Smart-coached team in regulation.

GEORGE WASHINGTON - The buzz in the nation's capital isn't just about Georgetown. The Revolutionaries really went hard in the offseason to retain its core of Castro/Autry/Garrett Johnson/Trey Moss/Christian Jones and then go add Tre Dinkins, Jean Aranguren, Luke Hunger, Tyrone Marshall, and Bubu Benjamin. It's a rich roster for A-10 standards. Now its time to go win. A great early season test against AAC favorite (per Bracketeer.Org), South Florida occured. The balanced attack was led by Dinkins (22 points) and the shot-making plus shot selection was excellent. GW finished the game going 30-for-55 for the day in a 99-95 key win over the Bulls.


MARSHALL - Cornelius Jackson has been doing a quietly nice job with the Thundering Herd program since taking over last year for Dan D'Antoni. The Herd went 12-6 in Sun Belt action a year ago and advanced to the final six teams alive (wild SBC Stairway to Seven Bracket). Jalen Speer returned for a fifth season and big man Wyatt Fricks is back. A bunch of newcomers, who are all old, have been mixed in there. Matthew van Komen at 7-4 is now on the team. Last saw him helping Elon improve a season ago. The Herd had the tall task of traveling to UMass and Toledo this week, and they won both games away from Huntington. The win over the Rockets was the result of a perimeter-based domination. The Herd knocked down 15 triples and held the Rockets to six. At UMass, the Herd held the Minutemen to just five makes. A real impressive job by Jackson and staff. Keep an eye on Marshall throughout the season.


HONORABLE MENTION: REMAINING CONFERENCE AWARDS

ACC: VIRGINIA TECH - Amazing win for the Hokies in one of the best games of the weekend. A 107-101 thriller in OT over Providence. Time will tell if this ages into a Quad 1 or not, but a lot of moxy from the Greek star Neoklis Avdalas, who had 33 points, six assists and is clearly a difference-maker in College Basketball.

BIG SKY: IDAHO - The Vandals opened the season with a win over big brother to the west, Washington State. Yes, these two squads are about six miles apart and really only separated by the state border. Kolton Mitchell struggled, but him gathering WSU's defensive attention freed up a bunch of Vandal teammates. Six of them, led by Kristian Gonzalez's 18, finished in double-figures.

THE AMERICAN: NORTH TEXAS - A perfect 3-0 start to the Daniyal Robinson era and the Dylan Arnett game winner to knock off Loyola-Chicago came with tons of drama.

BIG TEN EXTRA: MICHIGAN STATE - The Spartans proved that home court advantage is still a big deal. The Breslin Center was rockin' and the Spartans get this win despite being less talented than Arkansas. Cam Ward, a splendid Freshman, had 18 points off the bench to steal the show.

HORIZON: YOUNGSTOWN STATE - YSU took a lot of lessons from the opening night loss to Pittsburgh and took them to heart as the Penguins migrated southwest to Phoenix. Once there, they took on Grand Canyon and the Lopes' 15-game home win streak and rowdy environment. Many viewed this as another learning lesson, but the 'Guins were sharp enough to pull the major upset, 90-81. Imanuel Zorgvol put up a career-high 18 off the bench. Cris Carroll was excellent in spots, draining three triples. The Penguins were my preseason Horizon League regular season pick, and they have a ton of momentum now.

BIG SOUTH: HIGH POINT - Rob Martin put on an absolute show in a featured Field of 68 Opening Day Showcase blowout over Furman. The way the Panthers thoroughly exploited the Panthers impressed the masses. This team has a new HC in Flynn Clayman and a lot of new faces. They have quickly learned some things that work, and have a commitment to the defensive end.

BIG 12 EXTRA: OKLAHOMA STATE - The Cowboys were sensational on a Sunday. Playing without Anthony Roy, it didn't matter. It was all Cowboys in a marquee opportunity against the SEC's Texas A&M Aggies, 87-63. This team is looking like a real factor in the Big 12 muck of a middle, a cluster of teams likely competing for 1-3 at-large bids. A really solid defensive gameplan from Steve Lutz and staff impressed me the most. TAMU's Federiko Federiko did not score, Pop Isaacs and Rylan Griffen had tough times getting clean looks, and Marcus Hill turned it over five times.

CONFERENCE USA: LIBERTY - The Flames finally got their shot at hosting the Field of 68 Classic in year three of the event. The past two seasons it rotated beginning with the beautiful Boca Raton back when Dusty May was still there. This version was all business for the Flames. Isaiah Ihnen remained sidelined with an undisclosed injury. It did not slow Liberty down. Two convincing wins ruled the weekend. First, a 90-75 win over Charleston where Brett Decker's presence was felt, nailing five threes as did Kaden Metheny. Liberty went 14-for-29 from downtown as a team. Zach Cleveland's 12 & 14 double-double are the lines that Coach Ritchie McKay loves to see. On Sunday, LU handled Florida Atlantic with relative ease, 88-68. Metheny was on a mission, scoring 28 and not missing any shots inside the arc (6-6) and he also buried five treys again. Zach Cleveland once again proved why he is the most valuable player on the squad. This passing Big man dished out 10 Assists and still pulled down 10 defensive rebounds. Liberty's core is tough to stop, especially in their home building.

MAAC: SIENA - Saints buzz was coming in hot around here all summer. Now we got to get a taste of it in Week 1. After dismissing Bryant in the opener, a trip to Brown was on tap for an Ivy League level road test. Gavin Doty put up 21 points and Siena built a sizable lead early to coast to a very impressive 62-46 road win. The Saints perimeter D only allowed four of 24 Brown triples to go in and the rebounding edge was considerably in Siena's favor at 45-36. Playing Gavin Doty (6-5), Brendan Coyle (6-7), Antonio Chandler (6-6), and Tasman Goodrick (6-10) together gives Siena a size edge on the wings and guard areas of the floor and it clearly disrupted the Bears, who couldn't produce points.

MAC: AKRON - The Zips are firing on all cylinders despite getting dealt James Madison in the SBC/MAC Challenge. These guys really take care of the basketball thus far, just a 10.1% turnover rate through two games against worthy opponents. That's good for 16th best in the nation. Tavari Johnson was cruising in the win over Princeton. So much so, that he only needed to play 23 minutes. He buried five treys and dished out six dimes in limited work. Akron beating JMU by 14 and Princeton by 35 is a loud statement, despite both being at home.

WCC: SANTA CLARA - I was on hand for the Broncos impressive win over McNeese. The part that impressed the most was the size of the Broncos. This is a positionally large squad. They outrebounded the Cowboys, 47-28. Sash Gavalyugov was the forgotten man in McNeese's defensive scheme and Sash made them pay. The Villanova transfer went for 19. The entire Broncos roster is really deep, giving Herb Sendek a ton of lineup combos he can turn to for matchup edges. Super interesting game coming tonight at Xavier.

NEC: MERCYHURST - Following an overwhelming task against Northwestern on opening night, the Lakers hung around Chicago and took on Loyola-Chicago from the A-10 on Thursday Night. Mercyhurst entered the season #360 in KenPom and are transitioning in its second D1 season. Nobody saw this one coming! Bernie Blunt III proved to be clutch over and over again on this night. Eventually the Lakers frustrated and amazingly put the Ramblers away, 73-65, in one of the week's most amazing upsets.

ASUN: AUSTIN PEAY - The Governors are quietly entering the 2025-26 campaign with a chip on their shoulder. The chip part is no surprise, if you are familiar with HC Corey Gipson's approach. Preseason talk and polls did not center its attention on the Govs. In fairness, I am not sure how this will turn out. But they did handle Middle Tennessee in an intense exhibition, FWIW. Here in the actual real season, a trip to Air Force is a winable game, but its still a hard trip in altitude of Colorado Springs. Very rare to see an ASUN-level team walk into that building and win by 20, but APSU did do that. Keep your eye on this squad, they stay in the mountains and play Wyoming on Tuesday.

BIG WEST: UC RIVERSIDE - The Highlanders figured to face a really hard transition with building a new roster with limited resources. But if you have followed Gus Argenal's track record, you might be a believer in continued overperformance like we got used to UCR doing under Mike Magpayo (now at Fordham). The first road test of the Argenal era was a trip to North Dakota. UCR made winning plays and out-schemed the Fighting Hawks for an impressive 74-40 road W. Congrats to Coach Argenal, and watch out for UCR being a pain in many Big West games this year.

SWAC: GRAMBLING - The Tigers are going to be a lot of fun and ultra-competitive under new HC Patrick Crarey III. After being humbled at Iowa State, the traveling Tigers headed to Howard, Bracketeer's preseason MEAC Tournament pick to advance. This hotly contested battle allowed Jamil Muttilib to emerge off the bench to score 21. Muttilib was in a bench spot at Appalachian State, really nice work by Crarey to bring him to Grambling. The Tigers host Southern Miss this Thursday in a rare opportunity to host a D1 non-conference game.

PATRIOT: BUCKNELL - John Griffin III continues to test his Bison. He's tried to play big-time national games to help fund basketball into the next level and he's scheduled up in some of the series they have. That opened the season against Delaware, now in CUSA. Bucknell picked up a 78-70 win to start the season well. Then went to Mount St. Mary's over the weekend, entering the game predicted to narrowly lose by KenPom and others. Bison ultimately handled the Mount by 11 on the road. Now at 2-0, Bucknell feels great and heads to Princeton on Tuesday.

MISSOURI VALLEY: MURRAY STATE - The Racers are the most dangerous roster in one-bid land. They showed a taste of that in the runaway victory over Omaha on opening day. There are no shortage of weapons here. The league saw some disappointing losses from Drake and others, so Murray State is climbing the league forecast chart in a hurry. Now up to #7 in my non-power Top 60.

IVY LEAGUE: COLUMBIA - The Lions under new HC Kevin Hovde made quick work of New Haven on the road to give Coach his first career win. Really no surprise that Columbia won the game, but the details impressed. A season ago, Columbia couldn't defend anything. They retained some of the core members from that group and are molding them. Great early sign to only allow 53 points on the road. That would've been the lowest total allowed vs. a D1 squad last season by nine points (62 was the low in 2024-25). Lions have an overwhelming task at UConn coming, but later this week they should settle back in when hosting UMass-Lowell.

AMERICA EAST: VERMONT - The Catamounts win the weekly honor for the league by default. The last remaining unbeaten. Vermont escaped in 2 OT's at Brown and TJ Long's 40 points were beyond impressive.

SOCON: MERCER - With each SoCon team taking at least one loss, it was a largely rough week for our beloved Southern Conference. There is no harm in losing to Tennessee, however. The Bears bounced back by handling Lipscomb in the first ASUN-SoCon Challenge matchup, several more challenge matchups coming this week. Ryan Ridder really likes his Bears, and after witnessing slow starts for Furman and Chattanooga last week, maybe his Bears have a window to close the gap to the top of the SoCon sooner than expected.

CAA: ELON - In the regional rivalry trip at UNC Greensboro, the Phoenix were toast. A 3.1% win expectancy with under a minute to go. In one of the most exciting finishes of the week, Elon got this game to OT before holding on, 92-90. I am not sure how good yet either team is or will be, but this is still a road win and an emotional one:

MOUNTAIN WEST: UTAH STATE - The Aggies picked up a worthy resume win by holding on to beat VCU in Frisco, Texas, 80-77. The Rams came back ferociously late to put this one at risk, but ultimately USU got the job done. Colorado State and San Diego State looked impressive in two home wins each, and New Mexico is coming along. I think you've heard by now about the disappointments of the week in the MW, so let's celebrate the positives for today.

SUMMIT: DENVER - Yes, the Pioneers are 1-2. However, much of the personnel are moving up from D2, led by Carson Johnson. DU was overmatched at Seattle and Washington, yet stayed competitive and cohesive as a group in both efforts. Then, Sunday offered the Pioneers a real chance at Montana State. Carson Johnson delivered when it mattered most, and I thought new HC Tim Bergstraser did a wonderful job in late game clock-management, and it resulted in a 75-73 road win.

No Awards due to no D1 wins during the week: MEAC

Enjoy Week Two, let's do this again every week!