2026 COLLEGE BASKETBALL:
DG’s “Fun Facts & Shout-Outs” Toast
Nine Bold North State Title Contenders
(Video = Posted Below)
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Feb. 13, 2026)
While the focus of our weekly “Time-Out” college basketball show is forward-looking as often as possible, we always take a glance back at the previous week’s action, too, and sometimes we’ll offer some quick mentions to those making impactful headlines on the hardcourt, especially in the National Basketball Association, Atlantic Coast Conference and/or across North Carolina.
With that in mind, below is this week’s edition of “Fun Facts and Shout-Outs,” brought to you by our good friends at Jimmy’s bar and King Neptune restaurant in Wrightsville Beach.
Jimmy’s has a full bar, nightly drink specials and live music 365 days a year(!). (It’s a great place to watch a game, too.) Right next door, King Neptune has become one of the best restaurants in the entire greater Wilmington area.
“Fun Fact #1″
Fun Fact: With less than one month remaining in the regular season, exactly half of the state of North Carolina’s 18 Division One men’s basketball teams rank either first in their respective leagues’ conference standings or at least somewhere in the top tier.
Here’s the quick breakdown, which includes four teams from our backyard — Duke, UNC Wilmington, High Point and Appalachian State — that, as we speak, are either by themselves or tied with one other club atop their respective conference standings.
In the ACC, Duke is alone in first place, while NC State and UNC also are in the league’s top tier. It’s important to remember that the March Madness rules work a bit differently for teams in the ACC, which gets multiple bids to the NCAA Tournament every year. Over the past decade, the ACC has had as few as four NCAA bids but as many as nine, and this time the Blue Devils, Wolfpack and Tar Heels — at least for now — are all among the eight or nine ACC squads that have put themselves in good position for Selection Sunday.
Meanwhile, in the Coastal Athletic Association, UNC Wilmington is alone in first place, trying to hold off the College of Charleston, Hofstra and others over these final three weeks of the regular season. Nearby college hoops thrill-seekers should try to get to the Seahawks’ March 1 home game against the Cougars at Trask Coliseum; that contest might end up determining the CAA’s regular-season champion.
In the Big South Conference, High Point is neck-and-neck with Winthrop in the battle for first place. In that race, circle Saturday, Feb. 21, on the calendar; that’s when the Panthers host the Eagles at the Qubein Center — again, probably with the regular-season title and top conference tournament seed on the line.
In the Sun Belt Conference, Appalachian State just put together a crazy-good seven-game winning streak and is trying to hold off Troy, Marshall and South Alabama for first place. If you want to support the Mountaineers in person, might we suggest this Thursday, Feb. 19, when they host the Thundering Herd in a matchup with massive Sun Belt repercussions.
Meanwhile, three additional teams from the Bold North State may not be in great position for a regular-season championship, but they are well-positioned to be among the top seeds in their respective conference tournaments, where NCAA Tournament bids obviously will be on the line.
In the American Conference, under third-year coach Aaron Fearne, the Charlotte 49ers have one of the most explosive offenses in the league, and they’re third in the conference standings.In the Atlantic Sun Conference, under fourth-year coach Grant Leonard, Queens University — which is relatively new to the Division One level — has the #1 offense in the league, and the Royals are third in the conference standings.
Finally, in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, North Carolina Central is back in the race for another championship. The Eagles are in second place and are projected to be among the favorites next month in the MEAC Tournament.
In summary, all told, exactly half of our state’s 18 Division One men’s basketball teams are either in the lead for something special or in the running for something special, which is just one more reason we get to call the Bold North State the “Center of the College Basketball Universe.”
Now on to this week’s shout-outs….
This Week’s Shout-Outs
#1—Shout-out to fourth-year Duke head coach Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devils, who once again rank in the top five nationally and are considered the favorite to win this year’s ACC regular-season championship.
Freshman forward Cameron Boozer will win the ACC Player of the Year award, and he’s among the favorites for National Player of the Year. Sophomore Patrick Ngongba has emerged as one of the ACC’s best centers. Sophomore Isaiah Evans, from Fayetteville, is an NBA prospect on the wing. Senior forward Maliq Brown is one of the best defensive players in the entire nation.
#TheBrotherhood
#2—Shout-out to sixth-year UNC Wilmington head coach Takayo Siddle and the Seahawks, who have followed up last year’s Coastal Athletic Association championship season with another extended stay at the top of the CAA standings.
The recipe this time includes five senior guards — including Nolan Hodge and Noah Ross, who are both four-year Seahawks (a modern-day rarity!) — plus junior center Patrick Wessler, a Virginia Tech transfer from the Charlotte area who appears destined for all-conference honors at his new home. The Seahawks defend the 3-point shot better than any team in their league, and — at the other end of the floor — they are among the CAA’s best at converting 3-pointers, with Hodge leading the way at 40 percent, so that formula is working extremely well for Siddle and Company again this season.
#WingsUp
As usual under Kerns, the Mountaineers’ foundation for success begins with relentless, well-executed defense, which this year is by far the best in the Sun Belt. Interestingly, even in this transfer-centric era, two of App State’s top three players are returnees — senior guard Alonzo Dodd and junior center Luke Wilson, #2 and #3 in your program, respectively. Dodd is one of the best assist men in the league, and Wilson is among the best rebounders and shot blockers. The other key player for the Mountaineers is senior guard Kasen Jennings, a sixth-year senior who had been a role player for Kennesaw State and more recently South Florida before absolutely blossoming during his time in Boone.
#TakeTheStairs
#4—Shout-out to first-year High Point head coach Flynn Clayman and the Panthers, who appear well-positioned for the program’s third straight Big South regular-season title and maybe even their second consecutive — and second ever — trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Other than Duke’s Boozer, who is a lock in the ACC, perhaps the other best chance for a team in the Bold North State to produce a conference player of the year is at High Point, in the form of sixth-year senior forward Terry Anderson, who has become an incredible story of individual improvement and perseverance. After previous two-year stops at a junior college and Lamar University, where he was a good player, the 6-foot-6, 202-pound Anderson averaged only 13 minutes and four points per game last season at High Point. He obviously stayed through the head coaching transition from Alan Huss to Clayman (who was promoted from within), and that decision has paid off big-time. Anderson now leads the Panthers in scoring, at about 16 points per game, and he ranks among the top 10 in the Big South in scoring, field goal percentage, free throw percentage and steals.
#OnTheProwl
#5—Last but not least, shout-out to 17th-year North Carolina Central head coach LeVelle Moton and the Eagles, who have a shot at their first MEAC championship since before the COVID-19 pandemic hit during the 2020 postseason.
NC Central has the most explosive offense in its league, led by a couple of players who previously were high school stars here in the Bold North State: sophomore wing guard Gage Lattimore and senior power forward Khouri Carvey. Lattimore, who starred at Ben L. Smith High School in Greensboro, is a Division Two transfer who is leading the MEAC in scoring (at more than 17 points per game), 3-point shooting accuracy (at about 37 percent) and free throw shooting (at nearly 90 percent). Carvey, who’s from Fike High in Wilson, is a 6-foot-9, 250-pound Morehead State transfer who ranks among the league leaders in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage and blocked shots. The Eagles appear to be battling Howard and Morgan State for conference supremacy this season.
Those are this week’s Fun Facts and Shout-Outs. As always, thanks for joining us on the North Carolina Sports Network.
