Well friends, I don’t know if you happened to catch it, but the much-maligned NBA All-Star Game made a triumphant comeback on Sunday night as at least 75% of the players involved decided “Hey, let’s take this somewhat seriously.” It was a breath of fresh air for those of us who haven’t wanted to quit All-Star Weekend despite years of repeated letdowns, and it was also the inspiration for me to dust off an idea I’ve written about for various publications in the past… the Hypothetical College Basketball All-Star Game.
Here’s how this hypothetical game would work: As opposed to the traditional East-West format used in the National Basketball Association’s All-Star Game, the College Basketball All-Star Game would field 12-man rosters for a North Team and a South Team, and beyond that, there are only 3 things you need to know about how this all would work:
- I realize there are various ways I could make the distinction between North and South, including, but not limited to:
- Assigning certain conferences to the respective geographic teams, i.e. the SEC and Big 12 are designated South while the ACC and Big Ten are designated North, but with all of the wonkiness with conference realignment over the last decade and a half, that just didn’t feel right, especially since half of the ACC could be classified as “The South.”
- Utilizing the Mason-Dixon Line as the divided between the North and South, but frankly, it’s been nearly 16 years since I was in high school and I’m not confident that I know exactly where that line runs anymore. However, I’m going by the tried and true method of using my gut to determine what schools qualify as North and which ones are South.
- No more than 1 player per school is allowed on the roster, which means All-Star caliber players like Christian Anderson, Emanuel Sharp, Robert Wright II, Kylan Boswell, Koa Peat and Flory Bidunga (among others) missed the cut because they had only the second-best All-Star cases on their teams.
- Similar to the NBA All-Star Game, winning matters to a certain extent when establishing the roster, so that means the majority of the top teams in the country will be represented here.
With all of that said, here are the rosters for the 2026 Hypothetical College Basketball All-Star Game
North Team
Starters: Braden Smith (Purdue), Keaton Wagler (Illinois), Darryn Peterson (Kansas), AJ Dybantsa (BYU), Graham Ike (Gonzaga)
Bench: Jeremy Fears Jr. (Michigan State), Bennett Stirtz (Iowa), Nick Boyd (Wisconsin), Joshua Jefferson (Iowa State), Alex Karaban (UConn), Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan), Zuby Ejiofor (St. John’s)
South Team
Starters: Darius Acuff (Arkansas), Kingston Flemings (Houston), Caleb Wilson (North Carolina), JT Toppin (Texas Tech), Cameron Boozer (Duke)
Bench: Labaron Philon (Alabama), Tyler Tanner (Vanderbilt), Jaden Bradley (Arizona), Quadir Copeland (NC State), Tyler Bilodeau (UCLA), Thomas Haugh (Florida), Malik Reneau (Miami)
Editor’s Note: We’ll move Thomas Haugh into the starting lineup as the replacement for the injured Caleb Wilson. And we’ll add Otega Oweh of Kentucky to the bench as an injury replacement.
The Bracket
Bracketology Breakdown
No. 1 Seeds: Michigan Wolverines (Midwest Region), Duke Blue Devils (South Region), Arizona Wildcats (West Region), UConn Huskies (East Region)
Multi-Bid Leagues: ACC (8), Big 12 (8), Big East (3), Big Ten (10), Mountain West (3), SEC (10), WCC (2)
SEC Seeding: Florida (3), Alabama (5), Vanderbilt (5), Arkansas (6), Tennessee (6), Kentucky (7), Texas A&M (9), Auburn (10), Georgia (11), Texas (11)
Bubble Watch
Last 4 Byes: Auburn, UCLA, USC, New MexicoÂ
Last 4 In: Georgia, San Diego State, Texas, TCU
First 4 Out: Ohio State, Mizzou, Santa Clara, California
Next 4 Out: Virginia Tech, VCU, Seton Hall, West VirginiaÂ
10 Biggest Games of the Week
Monday, February 16 — 9 p.m. ET, ESPN — Houston at Iowa State
Tuesday, February 17 — 6:30 p.m. ET, Peacock — Michigan at Purdue
Wednesday, February 18 — 7 p.m. ET, ESPN — Arkansas at Alabama
Wednesday, February 18 — 9 p.m. ET, ESPN — BYU at Arizona
Friday, February 20 — 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2 — VCU at Saint Louis
Saturday, February 21 — 2 p.m. ET, ESPN — Tennessee at Vanderbilt
Saturday, February 21 — 3 p.m. ET, ABC — Arizona at Houston
Saturday February 21 — 5:30 p.m. ET, TNT — UConn at Villanova
Saturday, February 21 — 6:30 p.m. ET, ESPN — Michigan at Duke
Saturday, February 21 — 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN — Iowa State at BYU
