We are less than two months away from the start of the 2025-26 men’s college basketball season! Most everyone — well, except maybe Fresno State or Air Force — carries some sort of optimism heading into the new season. Though who are the most intriguing teams? Now, intriguing doesn’t mean the best — or the worst — but who I am most fascinated by?
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This was tough to pick, but here are my three!
UNLV:
I don’t think there’s any one team in the Mountain West that I’m intrigued by more than UNLV heading into the new season. Josh Pastner hasn’t been on a sideline since 2022-23 and brought in the most loaded transfer class in the conference. UNLV lost star point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. to LSU, but their transfer class — led by Kimani Hamilton — plus their loaded non-conference slate (they play Memphis, Alabama, Maryland and Stanford) make them arguably the most intruging team for me. Can Pastner get UNLV back to a top-3/4 program in the conference, or will they underperform like his final two seasons at Georgia Tech?
Grand Canyon:
I won’t spend too much time on this one because the reasoning is simple: How can you not be intrigued when Grand Canyon is playing its first season in a new conference? Bryce Drew can coach — having strung together four-straight 24-win seasons with four NCAA Tournament appearances in five years. But the Mountain West is a sizable step up from the WAC. Grand Canyon, who will be without Tyon Grant-Foster and Duke Brennan, may not miss a beat. But whether they do or don’t remains to be seen.
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New Mexico:
Donovan Dent, Tru Washington, Mustapha Amzil, Filip Borovicanin, Braden Appelhans … all gone. Richard Pitino joined his dad, Rick, in the Big East. In comes former UC San Diego head coach Eric Olen. The Lobos return essentially nobody. The range of outcomes is quite wide, even though Chris Howell, Kevin Patton Jr. and Utah State transfer Peyton Albury do bring juice. But how will this team jell?! Will this group sink or swim in Olen’s first season. He’s an exceptional coach who uses modern principles — but can his team play spoiler? Let’s see!
Who are the most intriguing to you? Let us know in the comments!
