Buzz Williams has the ingredients for a quick leap in College Park, and Maryland looks like the clearest bet on this list to make one. After a 12-win season, the Terps are set up to be one of the sport’s biggest movers in 2026-27 with Pharrel Payne back in the fold after a leg injury.
Payne, who put up 17.5 points and 7.2 rebounds, gives Maryland a proven frontcourt anchor, and Williams added three transfer starters in DJ Wagner from Arkansas, Bishop Boswell from Tennessee and Tomislav Buljan from New Mexico. Veteran guard Andre Mills returns as well, and five-star freshman Baba Oladotun is expected to make an immediate impact.
The projection here is simple: Maryland will be in the 2027 NCAA Tournament.
LSU is another team that could take a massive step, and the reason starts with Will Wade’s return to Baton Rouge. The Tigers managed only 15 wins last season under Matt McMahon, but Wade has already changed the talent profile of the roster.
Donovan Dent, Skyy Clark and Mouhamed Dioubate arrive from UCLA, UCLA and Kentucky, respectively, bringing power conference experience to the core. LSU also added international prospects Brice Dessert, Saliou Niang and Michael Ruzic, all of whom are expected to contribute quickly.
If the pieces come together, LSU should be good enough to climb back into the thick of the SEC race, just as Wade’s 2018-19 team did when it won the league’s regular season title.
Marquette’s case is built on continuity, and that’s a valuable thing after a rough season that ended with just 12 wins and the program’s first NCAA Tournament miss under Shaka Smart. The Golden Eagles bring back 62.1 percent of their scoring, which is the highest return rate in the Big East.
Nigel James is the headliner there after averaging 16.4 points, 4.9 assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.9 steals, and he’s a strong candidate for Big East Player of the Year as a sophomore. Royce Parham, who averaged 12.5 points and 4.9 rebounds, and Adrien Stevens, who put up 7.9 points, are back too.
Marquette also added projected starters Sananda Fru from Louisville and Nolan Minessale from St. Thomas, giving Smart more pieces to work with in a season that feels set up for a sharp rebound.
At Xavier, the optimism is tied to both the coach and the budget. Richard Pitino already has two NCAA Tournament appearances on his résumé, from New Mexico and Minnesota, and now he has a chance to make it three different schools by March of 2027.
His first year at Xavier ended at 15-18, but the Musketeers got a major boost when their NIL budget increased, allowing the program to upgrade its talent base. The transfer group front and center includes Chance Westry from UAB, Ruben Dominguez from Texas A&M, Tru Washington from Miami and Michael Nwoko from LSU.
That quartet is expected to drive what many around the program view as a major turnaround at the Cintas Center.
Ole Miss rounds out the list, and Chris Beard’s Rebels sound ready to leave last season’s 15-20 record behind. That campaign was the first losing season of Beard’s Division 1 head coaching career, and he has spent the months since March pushing to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
The offense should lean on the perimeter, with returnees Ilias Kamardine, who averaged 11.3 points, and Patton Pinkins, who scored 9.3 points, both bringing All-SEC caliber potential. Seton Hall transfer Budd Clark adds steady play at point guard after averaging 12.7 points and 4.7 assists, while Pitt transfer Roman Siulepa brings versatility as a small-ball mismatch option with his 10.0 points and 5.5 rebounds.
Micah Handlogten from Florida and Corey Stephenson from Florida International are also in the mix for fifth-year eligibility and could become rotation pieces if cleared. The one thing Beard still needs is a rebounder, but if he finds one, Ole Miss should push into the top half of the SEC.
In Other News...
Maryland Football Just Entered A Reset Fans Never Expected
Maryland football is headed into an unexpected reset after Michael Locksley stepped down as head coach at the University of Maryland, effective immediately. The move comes with the season still in motion, and the school has already said it will launch a national search for his permanent replacement.
Aazaar Abdul-Rahim will take over in the interim for the rest of the year, giving the Terrapins a short-term bridge while the bigger question hangs over the program. For Maryland, the next few weeks are now about keeping the locker room steady, managing the finish to the season and figuring out what kind of leadership the program wants next. [Read more 🡒]
Marylands Next Game Suddenly Feels Bigger Than Fans Expected
A bye week often gives a program a chance to reset, but Maryland comes out of it with a matchup that carries a little extra weight. The Terps are back at home on Saturday, Oct. 31, and the timing alone gives the game a different feel, with both sides trying to regroup after recent losses and both staffs having made midseason changes on defense.
Illinois is the visitor for a noon kickoff on BTN, and the setting makes this one stand out before the ball is even teed up. For Maryland, the date adds a small bit of history to the occasion, and the combination of a fresh start, a conference opponent and a Halloween stage gives this game a little more edge than a typical late-October home date. [Read more 🡒]
Maryland Just Made The Program Reset Fans Knew Was Coming
Maryland moved on from Mike Locksley in the middle of his eighth season, a jolt that had been building for weeks as the Terps kept stumbling through another rough stretch against higher-level competition. The decision ends a run that included some real progress, especially the three straight bowl wins from 2021 to 2023, but it also closes the book on a tenure that never fully escaped the frustration of a 38-49 record since 2019.
Athletic director Jim Smith, who arrived in 2025, made the call with five games still left on the schedule, a sign that the programs leadership decided there was no point waiting any longer for a turnaround. For Maryland, the timing matters almost as much as the move itself, because the next coach will be inheriting a roster, a fan base and a standard that have all been shaped by years of uneven results and one very clear expectation: the reset has to work. [Read more 🡒]