Latest news with #basketballseason
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
CBS Sports: Wisconsin projected to have one of college basketball's top offenses in 2025
With roughly three months remaining until the 2025-26 college basketball regular season, the Wisconsin Badgers received high praise on Friday. In CBS Sports' recent article, titled '101 Days Out: College basketball stars, new faces, contenders, storylines ahead of 2025-26 season', analyst Isaac Trotter outlined several lookahead themes for the 2025-26 slate. Among those themes, Trotter looked at which programs roster the best projected offensive units. Wisconsin, which finished the 2024-25 season with a 27-10 mark and No. 3 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, was listed as one of the outlet's top 10 projected offensive programs this fall alongside the UConn Huskies, Purdue Boilermakers, Louisville Cardinals, Florida Gators, Kentucky Wildcats, Illinois Fighting Illini, BYU Cougars, Texas Tech Red Raiders and Duke Blue Devils. Here's what Trotter shared regarding the Badgers' offensive outlook this season: "The Badgers have three guards who can play on or off the ball in John Blackwell, Andrew Rohde and Nick Boyd, surrounding two sweet-shooting forwards (Austin Rapp and Nolan Winter). That's a dangerous combination offensively. Losing John Tonje stings, but Blackwell is the total package and has All-America upside as the go-to alpha." Yes, Wisconsin's roster is revamped with all sorts of talent, but projecting the program to recreate its 2024-25 offensive success is a difficult task. Wisconsin boasted KenPom's No. 13 offensive unit this past season, a threshold traditional Badger ensembles rarely reach. Backed by All-American wing John Tonje, who now a member of the NBA's Utah Jazz, UW averaged 80.1 points per game off 45.4% shooting from the field, 34.8% from 3-point range and 82.6% from the charity stripe. Notably, Gard's group finished with at least 80 points in 19 contests -- the most by any Badger bunch in years. UW now welcomes the aforementioned Rhode, Boyd and Rapp into its starting unit, three more-than-capable offensive contributors. In a loaded Big Ten, the starting unit shapes up well against almost any program. That lineup's first exhibition test is slated for Oct. 24 against the Oklahoma Sooners in Milwaukee. Contact/Follow on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Wisconsin basketball 2025 preview CBSSports offense projection
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Athletes Unlimited announces new, returning players ahead of fifth season, including Ariel Atkins, NaLyssa Smith and more
Athletes Unlimited announced the newest additions to its growing women's basketball roster on Monday ahead of its fifth season. Ariel Atkins, Te-Hina Paopao, Jacy Sheldon and Kiah Stokes will debut for AU in Nashville in February. The newcomers will join returning players Alysha Clark, Sydney Colson, Isabelle Harrison, Lexie Brown, Kia Nurse and NaLyssa Smith. So far, the early signings include 14 players on AU's roster for 2026. Advertisement "Nashville welcomed us with open arms last season, and we're thrilled to return to Municipal Auditorium for another year of world-class hoops,' said Vice President of Basketball for Athletes Unlimited, Megan Perry. 'With a roster that blends proven leaders and exciting new faces, AU Pro Basketball is where legends rise and new stars are born.' A full 40-player roster and the league schedule will be announced at a later date. Launched in 2022, AU Pro Basketball was the first U.S.-based women's league that played in the winter. The 5-on-5 league is structured around individual performances, with players shuffled to build new teams each week. Players earn points through individual stats and team wins. Advertisement The Dallas Wings' Maddy Siegrist won the AU Pro Basketball title in 2025, setting a league record of 7,052 total points. AU Pro Basketball now runs parallel to Unrivaled, which was founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart and played its first season earlier this year. The offseason 3-on-3 league in Florida gave players an alternative to playing overseas once their WNBA campaigns concluded. Apart from its founders, Unrivaled's rosters included players like Angel Reese, Sabrina Ionescu, Brittney Griner and Aliyah Boston. Atkins, who played in Unrivaled this year, is switching to Athletes Unlimited after the 2025 WNBA season. The Chicago Sky star said she is "super excited" about the switch. Advertisement "They've been building something for a while now," Atkins told ESPN. "They focus on the players having everything they need to give us the opportunity in the offseason." The WNBA season is near its midway point with the All-Star Game this weekend, and will wrap up with playoffs in October. Players will have the last couple months of 2025 to prepare for their respective offseason leagues.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fantasy Basketball MVPs: Who powered Yahoo's winningest teams and what we can learn
Every NBA season, certain players deliver outsized returns that fuel fantasy basketball championships. Thanks to Yahoo's data on the most rostered players on winning teams in head-to-head leagues, we can identify who made the biggest difference and what fantasy managers should learn from them heading into next season. Let's break down the top performers, the late-round steals and the statistical blueprints that these MVPs share. According to Yahoo's end-of-season data, the following five players were rostered most often on the best-performing fantasy squads: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – 32.0% Nikola Jokić – 31.8% Dyson Daniels – 29.2% Brook Lopez – 22.6% Nikola Vučević – 22.2% SGA is the real-life MVP and fantasy basketball MVP. I lobbied for Josh Hart at the midway point because of his value relative to ADP (more on that later), but numbers don't lie. SGA was phenomenal once again, scoring over 30 PPG with elite steals, blocks for a guard, strong efficiency and low turnovers — checking every box in 9-cat. Regardless of format, he remains a top-3 fantasy pick heading into next season. Jokić, unsurprisingly, was a model of consistency, averaging the first triple-double of his career with elite efficiency at all three levels. His fantasy game has no weaknesses, and given his availability and production, he should be the consensus 1.01 next year. More surprisingly, defense catapulted Daniels into the top 3, and when factoring in his 144 ADP in the preseason, he's also in the conversation for fantasy MVP. Though not high-scorers, generating steals and blocks with a low turnover rate is invaluable for any successful fantasy squad. Multiple players taken well outside the top 100 in drafts ranked among the 20 most common players on winning teams. These late-round gems highlight the importance of monitoring breakout trends and low-cost contributors: Dyson Daniels (ADP 144.0) Josh Hart (ADP 116.7) Ivica Zubac (ADP 85.7) Christian Braun (ADP 143.5) Quentin Grimes (ADP: undrafted) : These players show that you don't need stars to win — just well-rounded players who fit your build and fill scarce stat categories. Also, striking first on the waiver wire could have netted substantial value this season, specifically players like Grimes and Braun/Daniels in shallower leagues. Across the top 25 MVPs, several trends emerged: Multi-category contributors are key. Most helped in 5+ categories, not just scoring. Low turnovers were a defining feature. Defensive stats (steals/blocks) were overrepresented, especially for non-bigs. Rebounds and assists from non-traditional positions (like guards) provided sneaky value. Efficient shooting (especially FG%) separated winners from volume scorers. : Winning in 9-cat is about balance and completeness, not flash. To better understand MVP traits, players were grouped into five statistical clusters using their Z-scores from Basketball Monster — more info on Z-scores — across fantasy categories: Cluster 2 has the highest MVP density. Efficient bigs cover several categories and are widely available until the later rounds. Cluster 0 is my favorite. The playmaking guards who cover a breadth of statistics, but also allow you to execute punting, since most playmakers have high turnover rates and varying FG percentages. I tend to lean into this type of player in the early rounds to secure PTS, ASTS, 3PM and STL even though it may not be represented — with players like Tyrese Haliburton and James Harden — in the top tier of MVPs. Cluster 1 is an emerging class focusing more on defensively gifted wings with lower usage rates because of their roles. Examples are Derrick White, Dyson Daniels and Josh Hart. Clusters 3 and 4 are high-risk, low-return bucket-getters like Keyonte George. Love the upside, but it's probably a trap. Prioritize players in Clusters 0, 1, and 2 — these archetypes consistently show up on winning teams. Cluster 2 (efficient bigs) represents the most MVPs in 2024-25; Cluster 1 (defensive wings/glue guys) is the sleeper MVP zone. Don't chase empty volume scorers — efficiency, stocks and low TOs win 9-cat leagues. Finding late-round targets with high steals or blocks upside offers massive returns relative to ADP. Chase production, not headlines. This framework builds rosters that actually win. We'll revisit candidates that fall into each of these archetypes for next season down the line to help you prep for your 2025-26 fantasy hoops drafts.
