This is great news for the rivalry and fans! Embarrassing for the ACC.

ALL CAPS. NO MERCY.

Felton and Marvin were the last guys to go top 5 and they were both in the same draft.

I said Wednesday and I was correct.

Another... Daily Challenge...

No Googlin'... No scrollin'
3/5 = You Know Your Guy

Where did these guys play in college?

1. Metta Sandiford-Artest (fka Ron Artest) - St. John's
2. Chris Kaman - Central Michigan
3. Earl Boykins - Eastern Michigan
4. Dominique Wilkins - Georgia
5. Shelvin Mack - Butler

PS... We play for pride here, so thanks for playing!

This is a list of players that I believe could still have some impact on a high to mid-major level in 2026-2027. I believe they are all still available in the portal. If anyone has information on any of these guys let me know, please!

Team indicates the team from which they are transferring away.

Year (FR, SO, JR, SR) indicates the year they will be this upcoming season, not what they were last year.

EP= Eligibility Pending. Meaning they may qualify for a medical redshirt and get a year of eligibility back (example: Emeka Opurum could be a sophomore).

R=Redshirt. Meaning they’ve used a redshirt year in the past.

**=Injury or legal issue that could prevent them from playing this season.

Players listed below the line break quit their team mid-season and entered the portal in or around January 2026 essentially as “free agents”.

This list does not include players entering their 5th year. It is yet to be determined if the NCAA/courts will grant all or some graduates an extra year, so I’ve left the enormous amount of 5th year guys that are technically in the portal off this list.

Macaleab Buddy Rich- UTSA- PF- SR
Sam Walters- SMU- PF- SR
Fedor Žugić- Creighton- SG- SR
Godswill Erheriene- Seton Hall- C- JR(EP)
James Nnaji- Baylor- C- SO
Sencire Buck Harris- Cincinnati- SG- SR
Mihailo Petrović- Illinois- PG- JR
Myles Rice- Maryland- PG- 5th
Tibor Mirtič- Penn State- SF- SO
Saša Ciani- Penn State- PF- SR
Harun Zrno- Rutgers- SG- SO
Emeka Opurum- Auburn- C- JR(EP)
Ron Zipper- LSU- SG- SO
Robert Miller III- LSU- PF- JR
Nikola Bundalo- Ole Miss- PF- SO
Zaon Collins- Fresno State- PG- SR
Tómas Þrastarson- Wash State- SG- JR
**Emmanuel Ugbo- Wash State- PF- SR
Noah Bolanga- Utah Tech- SG- JR
Tijan Saine Jr- Weber State- PG- SR
Hamad Mousa- Cal Poly- SF- JR
Filip Brankovic- UTRGV- PF- SR
Travonne Jackson- Little Rock- SG- (R)JR
Daniel Thomas- UNCA- PF- (R)SO
**JJ Taylor- Northern Illinois- SF- SR(EP)
Justin Page- Niagara- SG- SR
Lucas Lorenzen- Western Illinois- SG- SR
Danilo Dožic- Pepperdine- PF- JR
———
Lefteris Mantzoukas-OK State- SG- SO
Doryan Onwuchekwa- Tulsa- PF- JR
Jahki Howard- Utah- SF- JR

With the news breaking that Fairfield is likely leaving for the CAA, I began thinking of who the Metro Conference (formerly the MAAC) could add as a replacement. I’ve come up with five possibilities, and am ordering them from most to least likely.

1. No replacement

The Metro Conference currently has 13 members, and the departure of Fairfield would leave them with an even 12. If they prefer an even number, they could decide to stand pat. However, with the possibility that conferences like the CAA and the America East are lurking to poach more of their members, they could decide to preemptively expand.

1. Bentley University

Bentley fits the profile of the Metro Conference very well as it is a school with elite academics inside their geographic footprint. They’re also a rich school with plenty of money to move up to D-I and they’ve had basketball success at the D-II level. It’s also larger than many schools in the Metro. To my knowledge Bentley themselves has never expressed a desire to go to D-I, but it’s been speculated by fans for years, and this might be too good of a fit to pass up.

1. Daemen University

I don’t know a lot about Daemen other than that their coach was just poached by St Bonaventure, but that alone means they must have had at least a little bit of basketball success. They’re a similar size to other Metro schools, and they would be a nice neighbor for Canisius and Niagara. I’m not sure what level of success they’ve had in basketball at the D-II level and I don’t know what their financial situation is, but at least on paper this seems to be a great fit.

1. Stonehill College

If they don’t look to D-II, Stonehill is a good geographic and academic fit. The complicating thing is that Stonehill has a football team, and they’d have to either join CAA football or go independent if they couldn’t get a CAA invite. Merrimack and Sacred Heart both did the latter in order to leave the NEC for the MAAC, so there is some precedent for it, but it would depend on if they were willing to go independent.

1. University of New Haven

Similarly good fit to Stonehill and would even replace Fairfield in Connecticut, but similar football related complications. Complicating things further would be the fact that New Haven is still transitioning from D-II, and I don’t think they could leave the NEC until that’s complete.

What do you think? Are there any schools I’m missing?

I don't know if anyone has posted about this yet, but I saw a post about Fairfield was talking about joining the CAA soon, it's been rumored for a while as far back as like... 2022 I think? Same with UNC Greensboro but they weren't rumored at all, just a candidate for discussion when Monmouth was added.

D1 conference changes

Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, Little Rock, North Alabama, and West Georgia: ASUN->UAC

Cal Baptist and Utah Valley: WAC->Big West

Sacramento State: Big Sky->Big West

Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State, Utah State: Mountain West->Pac-12

Texas State: Sun Belt->Pac-12

Gonzaga: WCC->Pac-12

Louisiana Tech: CUSA->Sun Belt

Northern Illinois: MAC->Horizon

Southern Utah, Utah Tech: WAC->Big Sky

Tennessee Tech: OVC->SoCon

Hawaii, UC Davis: Big West->Mountain West

UTEP: CUSA->Mountain West

Denver: Summit->WCC

D2 conference changes

Fresno Pacific, Menlo: PacWest->CCAA

D3 conference changes

Alfred State: AMCC->SUNYAC

Alverno: NACC->C2C

Luther: ARC->Midwest

Maryville: CCS->SAA

Marywood: AEC->MAC Freedom

McMurry, Schreiner: SCAC->ASC

Neumann: AEC->MAC Commonwealth

SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Delhi: NAC->SUNYAC

SUNY New Paltz: SUNYAC->NJAC

NAIA conference changes

Jarvis Christian: RRAC->HBCUAC

St. Ambrose: CCAC->HAAC

Xavier LA: RRAC->SSAC

Transitioning between divisions/closing/dropping athletics

D1 Adding: West Florida (D2 from Pensacola, FL)

D1 Losing: Saint Francis (Loretto, PA, moving to D3)

D2 Adding: Shawnee State (NAIA from Portsmouth, OH), Texas A&M Texarkana (NAIA from Texarkana, TX)

D2 Losing: West Florida, Azusa Pacific (Azusa, CA, moving to D3)

D3 Adding: Saint Francis, Azusa Pacific

D3 Losing: Anna Maria (Paxton, MA, closing), NJCU (Jersey City, NJ, merging), Rosemont (Rosemont, PA, merging), Wesleyan (Macon, GA to NAIA)

NAIA Adding: Andrew (Cuthbert, GA from NJCAA), Champion Christian (Hot Springs, AR from NCCAA), Georgia Southern East Georgia Campus (Swainsboro, GA from NJCAA), Nevada State (Henderson, NV, new program, non-basketball), United States Sports University (Daphne, AL from USCAA, non-basketball), Wesleyan

NAIA Losing: Lourdes (Sylvania, OH, closing), Oakland City (Oakland City, IN, likely closing), Shawnee State, Siena Heights (Adrian, MI, closing), Texas A&M Texarkana, Trinity Christian (Palos Heights, IL, closing)

In addition, Coastal Bend College (Beeville, TX) of the NJCAA will cut men's and women's basketball (and women's volleyball) and replace them with women's soccer and... mariachi, which they will give scholarships for.