Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Iowa fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
The college basketball season has finally come to an end as Michigan defeated UConn to win the National Championship on Monday night, becoming the first Big Ten team to do so in 26 years. There was little time for the Wolverines to celebrate – with the game ending shortly before midnight
ET on Monday, the transfer portal officially opened within a half hour and the world turned its eyes to next season.
Such is life in a multi-billion dollar business.
For Ben McCollum and the Iowa Hawkeyes, that pivot to next year started a bit sooner after Iowa’s Elite Eight loss to Illinois. But now both the Hawkeyes and the rest of the college basketball world are full steam ahead on the 2026-2027 season.
Year one under BMC was a resounding success, anchored around Iowa’s historic run in the NCAA Tournament. While the regular season ended right around where most fans expected, the tournament push leaves any memories of frustrating losses to Maryland or Penn State buried deep in a dark corner only to be scrounged up when some jerk mentions them in a story about next season.
Last week we asked the fanbase just what they expect out of McCollum in year two in Iowa City. Did that Elite Eight run set a new standard for the program? Or was it more of a flash in the pan?
The Fans Have Spoken
The results are a bit mixed. Nearly half of you — 48% — said the Sweet 16 is the bar for a successful year. Another 26% are comfortable with a Round of 32 appearance, while 13% just want to make the tournament. Only 14% combined think the expectation should be an Elite Eight or better.
That feels remarkably reasonable for a fanbase that just experienced the most exciting three-week stretch in Iowa basketball since the Reagan administration. The experience of watching this team knock off Florida and Nebraska clearly gave fans the appetite for more March basketball without setting unreasonable expectations for a roster in transition.
The 13% who said just making the tournament is good enough? They’re not wrong either. Iowa loses Bennett Stirtz — all 40 minutes per game of him — plus Tavion Banks and Brendan Hausen. That’s a lot of production, leadership, and identity walking out the door. A step back in the regular season wouldn’t be surprising; how McCollum navigates this portal season will tell us a lot about the program’s trajectory.
So Where Do We Actually Stand?
Our own BoilerHawk dove deep into the roster situation this morning, and the picture he paints is cautiously optimistic. The short version: Iowa’s in better shape than you might think, even with three departures.
Kael Combs steps into the lead guard role after quietly running the show alongside Stirtz all season — 2.4 assists to 1.4 turnovers — and he was pivotal in the NCAA Tournament opener against Clemson with 15 points. As BoilerHawk noted, the biggest step for Combs is consistency. He can be the guy, but he needs to be that guy every night, not just in March.
Two portal names to watch at point guard: Kyan Evans from North Carolina (originally Colorado State, where he shot 45% from deep) and Finley Bizjack from Butler (17.1 PPG, more of a Stirtz-sized scorer at 6-foot-4). Evans hails from Kansas City — McCollum territory — which feels significant.
The wing position is quietly loaded. Tate Sage could be primed for a breakout — BoilerHawk points out he fits the mold of past McCollum scorers at Northwest Missouri State, and he was playing his best ball in March. Add in Isaia Howard, incoming four-star Ethan Harris, and Elite Eight recruiting bump commit Jaidyn Coon (who D-1 scouts are reportedly sky-high on defensively), and Iowa has real depth on the wing for the first time in a while.
Cooper Koch returns after starting all 37 games and continues to be the Swiss Army knife of this roster — he can guard true 5s, space the floor with his three-point shooting, and carries the emotional legacy of his dad J.R.’s 1999 Sweet 16 team. Keep an eye on redshirt freshman Trey Thompson too, who spent the year learning the McCollum standard and apparently looks massive in every team photo.
The bigquestion mark is center, and McCollum was blunt about it after the Illinois game: “We need some size. We just don’t have a true five.” The 40-12 paint scoring deficit in the Elite Eight made the case louder than any press conference could. BoilerHawk flagged Saint Mary’s Andrew McKeever — a 7-foot-2 sophomore who averaged 8.2 points and 9.2 rebounds — as a portal target that would fill that void instantly.
Then there’s the Folgueiras question. Will the March Madness hero return? BoilerHawk isn’t optimistic, and the reasoning makes sense — Folgueiras ran hot and cold, played just 9 minutes in the Elite Eight loss, and doesn’t have the prior McCollum relationship that the Drake transfers do. We’ll always have that corner three against Florida, but his future in Iowa City is genuinely uncertain.
The Bottom Line
The poll results mirror the reality of Iowa’s situation: this is a program on the rise, but Year 2 likely brings more roster turnover and legitimate questions about replacing Stirtz and Banks (and potentially Folgueiras). The Sweet 16 as the expectation bar (48%) feels like the sweet spot — it acknowledges the momentum McCollum has built while recognizing that getting back there with a retooled roster would be another significant achievement after such a long drought.
If last offseason is any indication, things are likely to be a whirlwind in the coming weeks. The spring window kicked off on Tuesday, April 7 and over 1,000 Division I men’s basketball players entered their names before the sun set on Day 1. The portal drew around 2,100 players in 2024 and nearly 2,700 last year, and most coaches expect this year’s number to blow past 3,000 before the window closes on April 21. College basketball’s annual game of musical chairs gets bigger every single year, and this offseason is shaping up to be the wildest one yet.
This week, we want to know where you think Ben McCollum should be focusing his time (and money) in the transfer portal. Is center truly the biggest need? Or is it a PG to replace the massive production lost with Bennett Stirtz? Or maybe somewhere completely different?
Let us know in this week’s Reacts poll.
Check out SB Nation Reacts for more polls and results from across the NCAA.
