Jon Rothstein tabs Maryland men's basketball as Big Ten preseason sleeper team in 2025-26

Ahmed Ghafir
6 days ago
2 min read

With three head coaching changes and hundreds of transfers within the Big Ten this offseason, college basketball analyst Jon Rothstein dove into the revamped 2025-26 Big Ten college basketball outlook with rosters now in place.

All eyes will be on Purdue, who returns Braden Smith as the Boilermakers took top spot in Rothstein’s preseason power rankings and are expected to be one of the top teams across college basketball. Maryland, meanwhile, ranked 11^th in Rothstein’s rankings and noted the completely new roster paired with the new coaching staff as the catalyst.

“Any time you’re flipping an entire roster, you’re leaving yourself open to being a little bit vulnerable,” Rothstein added. “Here’s what I like about Maryland: Solomon Washington and Pharrel Payne went to the NCAA Tournament under Buzz Williams last year. Elijah Saunders started at San Diego State then went to Virginia. He’s going to play a major role upfront for Maryland. He’s been in a program like San Diego State that’s gonna emphasize a lot of the things that Buzz Williams is going to emphasize on a regular basis. And Myles Rice, who transferred from Indiana, is somebody that again two years ago, was part of a renaissance for Washington State, a renaissance that ended in the NCAA Tournament. So there’s NCAA Tournament experience for multiple of Maryland’s starters even if that experience isn’t together.”

In last week’s episode with Rothstein, head coach Buzz Williams pointed to the familiarity that he has on the roster thanks to the four Aggie transfers leading the way to set the new culture within the program. Williams also credited Saunders’ impact on and off the court, along with former Kansas guard ‘Diggy’ Coit as an addition he’s been impressed with through the first three weeks of workouts.

“I think there is some value in experience, particularly when you're going into year number one,” he added.

While all eyes are centered on how the new pieces mesh together, Rothstein pointed to Maryland as the sleeper team to watch heading into 2025-26.

“Buzz Williams has shown, regardless of where he’s been, that he’s going to put a really competitive product on the floor,” Rothstein explained. “He did it at Marquette. He did it at Virginia Tech, took Virginia Tech to the Sweet 16. Took Texas A&M to multiple NCAA Tournaments where the Aggies won multiple games in back-to-back years and looking now at the makeup of that roster – Myles Rice, Elijah Saunders, Solomon Washington, Pharrel Payne – there’s more than enough for Buzz Williams to get Maryland in the bubble picture in 2026.”

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