Five Team Roster Outlooks for 2025-26
A peak behind the curtain at a brand new tool at EvanMiya.com
The official preseason team ratings at EvanMiya.com won’t officially launch until August at the earliest for the upcoming season, so in the meantime, I just released a new “Roster Outlook” tool.
The new tool takes an input of any list of players and predicts roughly how good a team with that roster would be in the preseason. The roster grade is presented as a range of plausible national rankings (such as 26th to 32nd) for the overall team ranking, offensive ranking, and defensive ranking. These rankings are based on where a team with the chosen roster would be ranked in a typical preseason.
Even if a roster isn’t complete, it can still be evaluated based on the players the team has so far. You can also include other potential additions to see how certain players would improve the team, or you can pick generic placeholder players, such as “Big 12 Starter”. When next offseason rolls around, the Roster Outlook tool will be the easiest way to assess rosters on the fly and plan for upcoming moves.
I would also strongly recommend these databases from Jim Root (Three Man Weave) and Jeff Borzello (ESPN) when it comes to tracking offseason roster movement.
It’s important to note that the tool only considers the talent on the roster, not the coach or the team's recent track record. For example, Houston’s roster talent would be analyzed based solely on the individual players, without accounting for Kelvin Sampson’s impact on the team.
To give a sneak preview of the Roster Outlook tool, I’ve picked one team from each major conference, along with one interesting team outside those conferences.
Big Ten: Purdue
Purdue had an incredible offseason, retaining almost all of their key players from last season, including Braden Smith, Trey Kaufman-Renn, and Fletcher Loyer. Based on current projections, Smith is likely to be the highest-rated player in the country in the preseason at EvanMiya.com. With so many other strong supporting players, including incoming big man Oscar Cluff and sophomores CJ Cox and Gicarri Harris, there’s a decent chance Purdue is the #1 ranked preseason team on our site. Purdue’s roster continuity is a significant reason why: returning players are expected to play 77% of the team’s minutes next season. The Roster Outlook tool says that Purdue’s roster would typically have a preseason ranking between 1st and 4th.
Big 12: Kansas
Kansas won’t be in contention for the top spot in the preseason AP poll this year, but its roster still has a lot of potential. Darryn Peterson is expected to be the star on this year’s team, but I anticipate Flory Bidunga having just as big of an impact, especially on the defensive end. The Jayhawks’ defense has a higher expected rating than the offense, with the overall team roster being ranked between 15th and 25th in a typical preseason.
Big East: UConn
Alex Karaban’s decision to return to Storrs for his senior year took this UConn roster from good to great. UConn’s roster ranking range is between 4th and 9th, which should be a massive improvement over last year’s underwhelming squad. If Karaban had chosen to leave for the NBA, Connecticut’s ranking would have been about 10 spots worse. Silas Demary and Malachi Smith are also really significant additions through the portal.
SEC: Tennessee
Tennessee’s roster features an interesting mix of veterans and younger players with considerable potential. The biggest win for the Vols this offseason was acquiring transfer Ja’Kobi Gillespie from Maryland, the third-best player in the portal, according to EvanMiya.com. Along with Felix Okpara, Gillespie will provide some much-needed experience to pair with Tennessee’s exciting young talent, headlined by freshman phenom Nate Ament. The Roster Outlook tool says that this roster would typically have a preseason ranking between 18th and 26th.
ACC: NC State
I’d argue that no team has had a flashier offseason than NC State. New head coach Will Wade quickly hit the recruiting trails hard, putting together the third-best incoming transfer class in the entire country, according to EvanMiya.com. Darrion Williams is the big catch, as Williams is the best player to enter the transfer portal this offseason, according to EvanMiya.com. Williams is good enough to be a first- or second-team All-American this year. The rest of NC State’s roster is probably underrated by most as well. Tre Holloman, Ven-Allen Lubin, Terrance Arceneaux, and Quadir Copeland are all substantial additions. NC State’s roster ranking range is pretty wide: between 5th and 20th best in the country.
It’s interesting to see how much of an impact the addition of Darrion Williams has on NC State’s outlook for 2025-26. If you submit NC State’s roster without D5, the team’s roster ranking range drops from 5-20 to 33-39.
Other Conferences: Gonzaga
Gonzaga lost some key players to graduation this offseason: Ryan Nembhard, Nolan Hickman, Ben Gregg, and Khalif Battle. However, Graham Ike is back and will be a prolific scorer once again. Braden Huff will also have a chance to be fully unleashed this year and will be a force to be reckoned with on the offensive end. Between Ike, Huff, Innocenti, Smith, and Diagne, the Zags’ returning players are expected to play 64% of the team’s minutes this year, a very healthy number. Mark Few also has Tyon Grant-Foster and Adam Miller transferring in, who are likely to play significant roles. The Roster Outlook tool says that this roster would typically have a preseason ranking between 10th and 22nd.
Accessing The Tool
The new Roster Outlook tool is available to Premium subscribers at EvanMiya.com. In addition to this feature, subscribers get access to a ton of other fabulous things, including:
Player skill projections and grades
Lineup grades, strengths, weaknesses, and optimization tools
Matchup previews and predicted score explanations
Keys to victory for every team
Hypothetical transfer portal lineup projections
Game injury reports and injury line adjustments
There are over 100 Division 1 programs with subscriptions to EvanMiya.com. In addition, thousands of regular college basketball fans are also signed up because the public tiers are so affordable (just $29.99 per month for the Premium tier or half that when paid annually). Come join the fun and sign up over at EvanMiya.com!
You left off two Gonzaga transfers who redshirted -- Braden Smith and Jalen Warley, who both likely will start. Not sure how you would even classify transfers who redshirt ... are they returners or newcomers?