Arizona Basketball 2026-2027 - Follow Up From Final Four Season

[TJ]

Projected Starting Lineup

There is going to be a lot of turnover, so I’ll update as we go along

PG - Transfer/Transfer
SG - Caleb Holt/Bryce James
SF - Ivan Karchenkov/Cam Holmes
PF - Transfer/Transfer
C - Mo Krivas/Transfer/Endurance Aiyamenkhue/Mabil Mawut


2025-2026 Roster

Jaden Bradley - out of eligibility but is immediately eligible for the Ring of Honor as he won the conference POTY. Well deserved

ADO - Gone. Too streaky for me to miss.

Evan Nelson - out of eligibility. who?

Tobe Awaka - out of eligibility. Good luck on Wall Street when your international basketball career is over. Hes a super smart individual

Brayden Burries - Will declare. He will have a good NBA career. I see a lot of Jamal Murray in him

Koa Peat - Will declare. If I were him, I’d stay one more year and develop a jumper and better ball handling skills. Plus, the 2026 class is loaded, so Koa would have a chance to be Top 5 in 2027 instead of Top-20

Dwayne Aristide - I expect him to transfer. His Agent was sniffing around the market the past month or so and I dont see him breaking into the starting lineup next season

Ivan Karchenkov - recently, he popped up on some mock drafts, and people have been doing thorough assessments of his game because he already has an NBA body and plays really good defense. I think he stays, but you never know.

Mo Krivas - Pay attention to this one. He’s 50/50 to stay. He popped up on late first round mocks because he’s big and strong, but he doesnt play aggressive enough underneath. My guess is he declares but keeps his option to return

Sidi Gueye - He plays with a ton of energy and athleticism, but is incredibly raw and looks like he’s never played organized basketball in his life. If he stays, he could be a back end rotation player. Not sure where his head is. Emmanuel Stephenson was in the same position last season, but chose to transfer and play like crap at UNLV.

Bryce James - He’s developing as expected. May see some back end rotation minutes next season, but really wont be a factor until his junior year. And yes, LeBron is perfectly fine with Tommy’s plan.

Mabil Mawut - I honestly have no clue where he is developmentally, but I know he’s skinny as a twig and not physically ready to play Big12 basketball

Commitments

Caleb Holt - He’s gonna be a star. Second highest rated recruit in Arizona history behind Ayton. Already seeing Top-5 mocks for him in 2027

Cam Holmes - Will see some time at SF. Solid overall game and could be a great player by his sophomore season if he’s patient

Recruits

Tommy’s pretty much done with high school recruits. There’s a European big who’s being evaluated, but like in past years, those dont materialize until well into summer after euro seasons end

Transfers

I was wrong when I said that this would be a roster with a lot of high school recruits. On the contrary, there will be lots of transfers. There will be a power forward that comes on shortly thereafter; and then the focus will be on depth. I imagine that Tommy wants a deeper bench with more veteran presence. Now that Tommy has secured more NIL funds, he has a great chance of loading up.

Gonna be hard top this season’s team, but I thin getting pummeled in the F4 will make sure that Tommy addresses much needed depth.

 

[TJ]

Sidi and Aristode transferring

 

[GatorAZ]

Always good when you have to replace starters AND depth.

 

[TJ]

Reinforcements coming

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[TJ]

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

OOC so far:

St John’s MSG
UCLA Vegas
UConn home
Auburn away (heard that this might get canceled or postponed)
Maui invitational (BYU and a bunch of turds)

There will be others since Arizona likes
To schedule tough

 

[azgreg]

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

OOC so far:

St John’s MSG
UCLA Vegas
UConn home
Auburn away (heard that this might get canceled or postponed)
Maui invitational (BYU and a bunch of turds)

There will be others since Arizona likes
To schedule tough

Add a neutral/neutral series with Michigan St.

 

[TJ]

Krivas' back up

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[TJ]

Red shirt candidate

Arizona announces signing of Dutch center Endurance Aiyamenkhue

Arizona has announced a new signing. Read on for the latest.

247sports.com

 

[Phrazbit]

There is some smoke that Koa Peat might return. He stunk up the shooting drills at the combine and his stock has plummeted.

 

[TJ]

There is some smoke that Koa Peat might return. He stunk up the shooting drills at the combine and his stock has plummeted.

50/50 at best. The team is operating as if he's leaving.

 

[Phrazbit]

50/50 at best. The team is operating as if he's leaving.

Well, a month ago I would put it at 1/100.

I hope he takes a look at a lot of these skilled, big hustle guys who can't shoot outside and that if they leave early, quite often, they never get a chance to play and improve in the NBA.

Especially with NIL money now, staying has gotta be a lot more realistic. If he really has slid to be a late 1st round pick, then he'd make a lot more money next year in college. And if he uses that year to learn to shoot respectably and beef up more, he's back in the running for a early pick next year.

 

[TJ]

Well, a month ago I would put it at 1/100.

I hope he takes a look at a lot of these skilled, big hustle guys who can't shoot outside and that if they leave early, quite often, they never get a chance to play and improve in the NBA.

Especially with NIL money now, staying has gotta be a lot more realistic. If he really has slid to be a late 1st round pick, then he'd make a lot more money next year in college. And if he uses that year to learn to shoot respectably and beef up more, he's back in the running for a early pick next year.

Koa had a horrible workout and some mocks now have him in the early 2nd round. If he stays in the draft, it's his ego making the decision with no logic. He would be making $3 million at Arizona, which is more than the first year salary of a second round player. Next season's draft is awful, and Koa would almost assuredly be a top-10 pick.

 

[TJ]

This is what being a brand name program gets you

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[Chaplin]

This is what being a brand name program gets you

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

Sounds like a Club World Cup (or Champions League) for college basketball.

 

[TJ]

Koa’s Klutch pro day was another sh*t storm.

Just come back, young man

 

[Carolinacacti]

I heard he changed his shooting. Right before workouts, good job Klutch

 

[Russ Smith]

There is some smoke that Koa Peat might return. He stunk up the shooting drills at the combine and his stock has plummeted.

That's the word on UCLA boards he's coming back. In fact some insiders are joking Peat will play 4 years at UA and retire a multi millionaire. maybe I wasn't wrong all along saying he was the ideal recruit because he's too small to jump real early to the NBA.

Hearing Yessefou is staying in the draft, big blow for UCLA he was coming to UCLA if he went back to school. And we're being told Momcilovic is going to Kentucky

 

[TJ]

That's the word on UCLA boards he's coming back. In fact some insiders are joking Peat will play 4 years at UA and retire a multi millionaire. maybe I wasn't wrong all along saying he was the ideal recruit because he's too small to jump real early to the NBA.

Hearing Yessefou is staying in the draft, big blow for UCLA he was coming to UCLA if he went back to school. And we're being told Momcilovic is going to Kentucky

Pope paying $30 mil for another seven seed?

 

[Phrazbit]

On the topic of guys who would have been better off staying in college because they need to develop in many ways before going pro...

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

And they won!

But he's giving them nothing, he looks terrified every time he gets subbed in.

 

[TJ]

On the topic of guys who would have been better off staying in college because they need to develop in many ways before going pro...

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

And they won!

But he's giving them nothing, he looks terrified every time he gets subbed in.

He would’ve been a Sun had Maluach not been available.

 

[GatorAZ]

I doubt this happens but he would be a perfect fit with Krivas.
.

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[TJ]

Neither Milan nor Koa will be here this season.

We move on

 

[azgreg]

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[azgreg]

xc_hide_links_from_guests_guests_error_hide_media

 

[Russ Smith]

I mentioned it the other day we're told Momcilovic is likely going to Kentucky and he's going to get some crazy amount in the 6-8 million range.

This NIL has gotten absurd, UCLA was waiting on Tounde Yessefou, who admittedly we tampered with before he got into the portal. Last week rumors surfaced if he came out of the draft he may pick St Johns. ANd of course last night he pulled out of the draft and committed to SJ. Why? Because SJ recruited his girlfriend, from LA, dating since HS, who's not even a D1 athlete! And they were not the only school doing so Louisville and Baylor were talking to her too. I assume UCLA did too she's local, but allegedly part of his deal with SJ is he can use his NIL money to pay his GF's out of state tuition fees to attend SJ.

Momcilovic is a great shooter, would be a great pickup but again we were told Kentucky was a virtual done deal some booster was willing to kick in a massive amount to get him