This week, 2027 No. 2 prospect Bruce Branch III said he will reclassify to the 2026 class; Rodney Rogers, the former Wake Forest star who played a dozen seasons in the NBA, died at age 54; and Kansas star freshman Darryn Peterson (hamstring) will miss all three games of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Other college basketball stories we’re tracking include…

Malik Reneau Breaks Out

When we last checked in on the Miami Hurricanes, they were in the midst of letting a promising start to their campaign fade away, and wound up winning just 15 games that season to miss the NCAA tournament for the first time in three years.

Things went downhill even further last season as Miami managed a mere seven victories in the worst effort in program history.

However, the Hurricanes entered this season as the 76th-ranked school and a strong 5-1 start has vaulted them to 46th place through Sunday’s action. We’ll see how things go on Thursday when Miami faces No. 9 BYU, but for now, everything is coming up roses.

On Sunday, the ‘Canes slaughtered Delaware State 97-41 as senior forward Malik Reneau went off for 24 points (on 10-for-10 shooting), 10 rebounds, three assists, two blocks, one steal and one three-pointer – all in just 19 minutes. His only miss came from the line.

Reneau transferred from Indiana this season after regressing in almost every category as a junior, however, so far with Miami he’s been gold, getting way more touches, taking and hitting more treys (although this is still a small part of his game), getting to the line more often and upping his scoring and rebounding. Hell, even his personal fouls are down, so he’s doing a much better job of avoiding foul trouble.

For perspective, Reneau has already set a career high with three double-doubles through just six games. Breakout City, baby!

The 6’9”, 238-pound Miami native hasn’t drawn much attention yet, but there’s real talent here, so don’t sleep on him working his way into 2026 NBA draft second round potential. Reneau, who has been compared to Trendon Watford, offers versatility on offense (including an ability to rock the rim… see video below), but needs to work on finishing with his right hand to avoid allowing defenders to cover him in a predictable manner.

Notre Dame’s Great Hope

In 2022-23, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish endured one of the worst seasons in school history with just 11 wins. They’ve been slowly working their way back to respectability since, increasing to 13 wins before earning 15 last season. Baby steps.

Notre Dame is off to a solid start this season, having won four of their first five games heading into the Players Era Festival on Monday. The Irish are led by junior guard Markus Burton, a longshot to win the John Wooden Award this season (currently +10000 as per FanDuel).

Despite missing some time last season, he upped his bucket count en route to improved numbers. This season, however, Burton has been inconsistent, but is perhaps hitting his stride after going off on Wednesday for a season-best 25 points (10-of-13 shooting) with four assists and two three-pointers.

He’s been getting to the line – and converting his FTs – more often this season, so that’s helped his scoring, given that he’s not getting as many touches so far. Even so, Burton’s 19.4 PPG is nearly seven points ahead of the team’s next highest scorer.

A 6’0”, 190-pound Indiana native, he was the ACC Rookie of the Year in 2023-24 and entered his name into the 2024 NBA Draft, but mostly to get feedback on what he needed to improve to ultimately get to the pro level.

This offseason, Burton opted against entering the draft or transferring to another school. While he doesn’t currently look like a future NBA player, he will draw interest from some professional league, especially if he proves capable of building on his sophomore season.

RotoRob Tune of the Day

Jazz combo Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers were active from 1955 until Blakey’s death in 1990. In 1955, they released “Minor’s Holiday,” a tune that found its way onto the 1987 compilation album A Sample of Blue Notes.

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