Top 5 biggest redemption stories heading into the 2025-26 season ft. Kelvin Sampson's title quest

With the books closed on the 2024-25 college basketball season, attention now shifts to 2025-26 and possible redemption stories. What are the burning narratives that 2024-25 left incomplete, and the opportunities to craft a second act next season? Here are five of those stories that bear watching.

Top 5 redemption stories for 2025-26

A year after coming up two points short, can Kelvin Sampson get his NCAA title at Houston? (Photo Credit: IMAGN)

5. Will Wade's second chance

At only age 42, Will Wade has already won 246 Division I games and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament with each of his last three employers. But like Icarus flying too close to the sun, NCAA recruiting issues banished him from LSU. After bringing lowly McNeese State to college hoops prominence, he's back with a power conference job at NC State.

For that matter, State itself is a fascinating situation. Kevin Keatts took them to the Final Four in 2023 only to lose his job a year later when a senior-laden team was awful. Can NC State be relevant? Can Wade be more upright in his second chance at big time hoops? It's a story to watch.

4. Can Tennessee reach the Final Four?

Rick Barnes has jumped Tennessee to heights previously unreached. The legendary coach has made the Vols a fixture not just in the SEC race but in the hunt for the Final Four. But despite the program's second and third-ever trips to the Elite Eight in the last two years, Barnes and the Vols haven't broken through for a Final Four.

With Ja'Kobi Gillespie in from Maryland and top frosh Nate Ament, the Vols figure to have another chance to make program history. Can it be a redemption story for a program seeking new heights? Call it what you will, but Vol fans are up for it.

3. Is there hope at Indiana for DeVries?

Indiana maintains program pride as one of the blue bloods of college basketball. But the harsh truth is that the Hoosiers haven't won a title since 1987 and haven't reached a Final Four since 2002. For that matter, IU hasn't gone past the Sweet 16 since that 2002 team.

New coach Darian DeVries is the next new hope. But of the four coaches between Mike Davis (who coached that 2002 team) and DeVries, three took other programs deeper in the NCAA Tournament than the Hoosiers have been since that 2002 run. In other words, this redemption arc would refute mountains of proof that Indiana is a tough place to win.

2. Rick Pitino's next act

Returning from his own NCAA exile due to issues at Louisville, Pitino made Iona competitive and then brought his high energy style to St. John's. The Red Storm won 31 games in Pitino's second season, but did fall in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and see star R.J. Luis hit the transfer portal. There's unfinished business here, but Pitino would love to take his fourth school to a Final Four trip.

1. Can Kelvin Sampson finally win it all?

In many ways, 2024-25 looked like the year it was finally coming together for Kelvin Sampson. Even in the title game, his Cougars controlled the style of play and found themselves with multiple late opportunities to win the game. But after Houston fell two points short, it became fair to wonder if Sampson (age 69) will win the title that has eluded him so far.

Sampson's redemption arc also has his own set of NCAA issues, although punishing people for text messaging seems archaic in the modern climate.

What do you think of our 2025-26 redemption stories? Share your take below in our comments section!