The college basketball season tips off today around the country.
Here is a look at what’s new and what to look for this season from the Cal Bears, Stanford Cardinal, San Jose State Spartans, Santa Clara Broncos and Saint Mary’s Gaels.
CAL BEARS
Last season: 14-19, 6-14 (15th in the ACC)
Head coach: Mark Madsen, third season, 27-38
Season opener: Nov. 3 vs. Cal State Bakersfield
Projected starters: Senior forward Rytis Petraitis (8.2 points, 5.7 rebounds), junior guard Dai Dai Ames (8.7 points, 1.9 assists at Virginia), senior forward Chris Bell (9.3 points, 2.0 rebounds at Syracuse), senior forward John Camden (16.8 points, 5.5 rebounds at Delaware), senior center Milos Ilic (14.4 points, 7.5 rebounds at Loyola Maryland).
Key reserves: Senior guard DeJuan Campbell (7.8 points, 2.5 rebounds), senior forward Lee Dort (3.6 points, 4.6 rebounds), sophomore forward Sammie Yeenay (transfer from Grand Canyon) and sophomore center Mantas Kocanas (transfer from Florida Atlantic).
Strengths: Bell, Camden and Ames are transfer portal acquisitions that are huge scoring threats. Bell, a Syracuse transfer, shot 44.3% from 3-point range during ACC play last season. Campbell is the only returning guard who got any playing time last season, but the Golden Bears feature a roster with lots of options in the backcourt.
Weaknesses: Cal lost its top five scorers from the 2024-25 season, including Andrej Stojakovic (who transferred to Illinois) and Jeremiah Wilkinson (who transferred to Georgia). The Bears have little experience at the traditional five position other than Ilic. Outside of Dort, the two other players on the roster over 6-foot-10 have just 11 games of experience combined.
Outlook: In their first year in the ACC the Bears went 6-14 in conference without a single win over a team with a winning conference record. This season the Bears will be trotting out an almost entirely new rotation.The Bears could once again have a hard time keeping up with the bigger and more athletic teams in the conference. The Bears are projected to finish 16th in the ACC according to the 2025 preseason poll.
STANFORD CARDINAL
Last season: 21-14, 11-9 (7th in the ACC). Reached the second round of the NIT.
Head coach: Kyle Smith, second season, 21-14
Season opener: Nov. 4 vs. Portland State
Projected starters: Senior guard Benny Gealer (6 points, 2.03 assists), junior guard Ryan Agarwal (7.3 points, 4.9 rebounds), senior forward Chisom Okpara (6.5 points, 2 rebounds), sophomore forward Donavin Young (3.2 points, 2.5 rebounds), sophomore center
(2.6 points, 2.7 rebounds).
Key reserves: Sophomore guard Anthony Batson Jr. (1.0 points, 0.5 steals), graduate student forward AJ Rohosy (21.3 points, 10.5 rebounds at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps), sophomore forward Evan Stinson (2.9 points, 1.3 rebounds) and sophomore center Tallis Toure (1.1 points, 0.6 rebounds).
Strengths: Agarwal showed flashes of being a volume scorer and now has the opportunity to be a main option on offense. The Cardinal have solid size and rebounding ability with Cammann, Toure, Rohosy and freshman center Kristers Skrinda, all of whom could see key minutes at the four or five. Stanford returns 11 players who have experience in Smith’s system.
Weaknesses: Stanford lost its top three scorers from last season: Maxime Reynaud (drafted in the second round by the Sacramento Kings), Oziyah Sellers (transferred to St. John’s) and Jaylen Blakes (graduated). Stanford has 11 returners, but only three have started 10 or more games for the Cardinal. The roster also doesn’t feature a proven Division I scoring threat. It will be the first chance for many key players to have a large role on the team.
Outlook: Last season’s 21 wins were the most for the program since 2015, and this season Stanford will be relying on a lot of players who don’t have much experience at the Division I level. Despite the Cardinal’s success last year, the ACC preseason poll has Stanford projected to finish 17th.
SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS
Last season: 15-20, 7-13 (8th in the Mountain West). Played in the NIT for the first time since 1981.
Head coach: Tim Miles, fifth season, 53-80
Season opener: Nov. 3 at Utah
Projected starters: Junior guard Colby Garland (12.1 points, 4.4 assists at Longwood), guard JeVaughn Hannah (12 points, 4.1 rebounds at Western Michigan), sophomore guard Jermaine Washington (4.4 points, 1.0 assists), forward Adrian Myers (redshirted at Mississippi State), forward Yaphet Moundi (9.8 points, 7.4 rebounds at Iona).
Key reserves: Freshman guard Ben Roseborough, freshman guard Melvin Bell Jr., freshman center Eren Karakaya (U-19 league in Turkey), Sadraque NgaNga (6.8 points, 3.3 rebounds), junior forward Marcus Overstreet (6.2 points, 5.3 rebounds at Mercer).
Strengths: San Jose State is deep in the backcourt with Garland, Hannah and Washington capable of playing key minutes out the gate. Roseborough and Bell are both highly rated recruits who will be expected to play a role in the guard rotation. Washington showed he can compete in the Mountain West during SJSU’s 71-70 upset victory over New Mexico last season where he went plus/minus 18 and scored 13 points. Moundi, the Iona transfer, brings a physical rebounding presence the Spartans will need to compete in the physical Mountain West.
Weaknesses: The Spartans have 11 new faces for the second straight year. Washington and NgaNga are the only returners who played meaningful minutes for the Spartans. The Spartans lost their top six leading scorers, including Josh Uduje (graduated), Latrell Davis (transferred to San Diego State) and leading rebounder Rob Vaihola (transferred to Minnesota). Eleven of the 16 players on the roster are freshmen or sophomores.
Outlook: San Jose State has a tough non-conference schedule, including games at Utah, UC Santa Barbara and Michigan State to open the season. Most of the MW favorites are experienced, and Grand Canyon, a dominant basketball school in recent years, has joined the conference. But, the teams in the middle of the pack, such as New Mexico, UNLV and Nevada, have also gone over major roster overhauls. The Mountain West preseason poll had the Spartans projected to finish 10th.
SANTA CLARA BRONCOS
Last season: 21-13, 12-6 (4th in the WCC). Reached the second round of the NIT.
Head coach: Herb Sendek, tenth season, 160-120
Season opener: Nov. 4 vs. Cal Poly Humboldt
Projected starters: Senior guard Thierry Darlan (10.9 points, 6 rebounds with Delaware Blue Coats of the NBA G League), senior forward Elijah Maji (11.1 points, 4.3 rebounds), junior forward Jake Ensminger (3.5 points, 5.1 rebounds), senior guard Brenton Knapper (5.9 points, 1.97 assists), freshman center Francis Chukwudebelu.
Key reserves: Sophomore forward Chris Tadjo (1.7 points, 1.2 rebounds at Iowa), sophomore guard Gehrig Normand (0.6 points, 0.2 at Michigan State), sophomore center Bukky Oboye (1.6 points, 1.1 rebounds), graduate student guard Juan Reyna (4.2 points, 1.0 rebounds at Jackson State), freshman guard KJ Cochran.
Strengths: Santa Clara brings in Darlan, the first player in NCAA history to regain eligibility after competing in the NBA G League, and he can be expected to be a main scoring option for the offense. Maji was the Broncos fourth leading scorer in 2024-25 and now can expect to be the main option alongside Darlan. The Broncos also boast a roster with great depth, size and athleticism at the guard and forward positions.
Weaknesses: Santa Clara lost six of its top seven scorers from last season. Four players ran out of eligibility, Christoph Tilly transferred to Ohio State and Tyeree Bryan transferred to Texas Tech. Santa Clara goes from an upperclassmen heavy rotation to a team of 10 combined freshmen and sophomores. While the roster has great size and athleticism, it is raw in terms of Division I experience.
Outlook: Santa Clara had a strong recruiting class (Cochran was a four-star recruit and Chukwudebelu was a three-star recruit) and brought in a player with professional experience. Despite only six returners who saw playing time with the team in the 2024-25 season, Santa Clara is projected to finish fourth in the West Coast Conference according to the preseason poll.
SAINT MARY’S GAELS
Last season: 29-6, 17-1 (1st in the WCC), made the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season, reaching the second round.
Head coach: Randy Bennett, 25th season, 562-222
Season opener: Nov. 3 vs St. Thomas
Projected starters: Sophomore guard Mikey Lewis (8.2 points, 1.7 rebounds), sophomore guard Tony Duckett (10.4 points, 1.9 assists at San Diego), freshman forward Dillan Shaw, junior forward Paulius Murauskas (12.1 points, 7.7 rebounds), senior center Harry Wessels (5.2 points, 3.4 rebounds).
Key reserves: Forward/center Jazz Gardner (4.6 points, 3.8 rebounds at Pacific), sophomore Joshua Dent (0.6 points, 0.2 rebounds), freshman forward Mantas Juzenas (Lithuania), sophomore center Andrew McKeever (2.4 points, 2.0 rebounds).
Strengths: Lewis was the WCC freshman of the year and Muraskas was their second leading scorer last season. Saint Mary’s has great size and paint presence with three 7-foot or taller centers on its roster, all of whom received a good amount of playing time the previous season and bring good rebounding presence. Almost all of the Gaels forwards are capable of playing in the front court and backcourt.
Weaknesses: Maraskas is the only player on the roster to start a game for the Gaels last season. With Lewis and Wessels most likely moving to the starting lineup, the bench for the Gaels lacks a ton of experience. The Gaels reserves consist of five freshmen which could lead to early growing pains while getting accustomed to a tough conference. Shaw was a four-star recruit coming out of high school.
Outlook: Saint Mary’s has finished in the top three in the WCC the past four seasons. While Saint Mary’s lost four of its top three scorers from the previous season, Saint Mary’s is projected to finish 2nd in the West Coast Conference according to the preseason poll.