Fran Fraschilla on why he wrote a book, and previewing the 2026-27 college basketball season

College basketball's regular season starts next month, and few people are more excited than Fran Fraschilla.

The ESPN analyst and former coach is adding a new title to his résumé: author. Don't Mess With Happy will be released on Oct. 20 and is now available for pre-order. Co-written with David Smale , Fraschilla's new book features stories and lessons from two decades as a college coach and two decades as a broadcaster.

Fraschilla coached at Manhattan, St. John's, and New Mexico. He joined ESPN in 2003 and has not returned to coaching. We recently spoke with Fraschilla about his book and to preview the 2026-27 season.

Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Fran Fraschilla: "I coached for 23 years. I left at 43, thinking I was heading back after a hiatus. Once I got to ESPN, I decided, with two little boys living in Highland Park in Dallas, that I probably wouldn't mess with happy, and I stayed.

"It's a lifetime love affair with the game of basketball, which starts in Brooklyn, New York, as a city kid on the playgrounds, 23 years of coaching, and now going into my 24th year of broadcasting. I'm not necessarily the hero of the book. I'm just a guide to so many great basketball stories about people like Jay Wright, Tom Izzo, Rick Barnes, Brent Musburger, Jon Sciambi, and on. I've been in some unique places in basketball, and I decided to put it down on paper."

What would you consider the most fascinating detail in your book?

"I decided to go to Marquette University to be the associate head coach in 2007. It's the first chapter of the book. I was going to a place that had come off a Final Four (in 2003), with a Hall of Fame player in Dwyane Wade and a very close friend in Tom Crean. I was 90 minutes from getting on a plane in Dallas and going to Milwaukee, and I talked to my boss at ESPN. It was basically some niceties. He did a great job and said all the best of luck. As soon as I hung up the phone, I told my wife, I'm not messing with happy. I'm staying in broadcasting. That's the hook of the book, in the sense that here's a guy who could have easily gone back to coaching."

So, there was a sliding-doors situation where you could have been Marquette's head coach?

"The next year (Crean) leaves for Indiana, and the guy that he hired (as associate head coach) was Buzz Williams. When Tom left, Buzz became Marquette's head coach. The cool thing is, I haven't regretted my decision to stay in TV for a second because it's a great lifestyle. I'm still around the game. I'm around the game every day. I have been since I was 13, whether it's talking to coaches, doing coaching clinics, or putting out coaching videos. And ironically, because I stayed home to be a father, I have a son coaching in the NBA and a son coaching in the ACC . I'm not sure that would have happened had it not been for me being able to spend so much time with them when they were just little boys in Dallas."

Did you receive any other offers after turning down Marquette?

"I was offered the head coaching job at South Florida in the Big East… Later, Bobby Cremins tried to talk me into going to College at Charleston, a great mid-major job. I decided against it. I would have missed my son Matt's senior year of high school. And sure enough, he got an offer to play at Harvard for Tommy Amaker. My life's been idyllic in the sense that I've had two incredible careers."

Let's look ahead to the upcoming season. Today, who is the best team in college basketball?

"Hands down, it's Florida, because they have three guys on the frontline who are all capable of being on NBA rosters right now: Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon, and Rueben Chinyelu. They all decided to stay at Florida. They're probably getting paid well via NIL. For that reason, they're an anomaly in college basketball because they've chosen to stay together for one more year. All three of them won a national championship two years ago, so they're clearly the best team. I think Duke would probably be not far behind, along with UConn."

Do you think this will be Bill Self's final season at Kansas?

"Bill and I are very close, but we haven't talked about it. If they have a great season, which depends on how the judges rule on two key guys, Melvin Council Jr. and Tre White , I think it could be a really good year for Kansas. But I would bet this will be Bill Self's final year, in part because I think he wants to go out with a good team and a good taste in his mouth. He's accomplished everything in basketball. The one thing I do know about him, because I talked to him about this, is that he wants to be a really good grandfather. I say that not flippantly. …But I think Bill wants to really spend time making sure his health is great, that his golf game is better, and that he's a great grandfather. So, I would not be surprised if this is his final season."

Who is the best college basketball player?

"I would say on Jan. 1, it'll be JT Toppin when he comes back from his knee injury at Texas Tech. I think (Florida's) Thomas Haugh could make an argument. (Duke's) Joaquim Boumtje-Boumtje, Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje's son, will be 17. If he's not the best player in college basketball, he'll be in the top five. A sleeper player-of-the-year candidate would be Tyler Tanner at Vanderbilt, who turned down a chance to play in the NBA to come back. Another guy that, if he's healthy, is David Mirkovic at Illinois, who I love. People are just finding out how good he is."

What challenges will Michael Malone face at North Carolina?

"There's more coaching in one NBA game than there is in three college games because of the length of possessions and the fact that you're trying to stop the best players in the world.

"In-game coaching won't be an issue for Michael. It's all the stuff away from the court, the recruiting, the transfer portal, which is essentially the biggest part of recruiting right now, and the fact that he's going to spend less time coaching basketball than he would in the NBA, where all you do is coach basketball. So the adjustment is not going to be on the court. It's going to be how good a talent level they've been able to put together in the first year. From what I can see, they probably have top-20 talent, which is a good thing for a first-year head coach, especially one who got the job in April. But I think he's going to have to grow into the job as far as all the other things that go on in college."

Which non-power-conference team should we watch closely?

"VCU comes to mind. Phil Martelli Jr. has done a great job there. The A-10 has been somewhat underrated. Phil Jr. has a team that I think could really make noise in the postseason. I think College of Charleston can be a team (to watch) out of the CAA. John Groce has coached at Illinois. He had success at Ohio. Again, the transfer portal lets you get good players quickly. John put together, I think, a very good team there."

"No, but right off the top of my head, it's the upset of the season if Florida is not in the Final Four… I think Illinois, when they are fully healthy and get David Mirkovic back, and Michigan State are clearly Final Four-worthy. I think Arizona is Final Four-worthy. I think Duke is Final Four-worthy."

"I'll give you a couple of teams that might be on the fringe, and Virginia is one for sure. If you want a dark horse for the Final Four, I would say the Miami Hurricanes with Jai Lucas. If they get Malik Reneau reinstated and his eligibility restored, that is absolutely a team that, if they got to Detroit, you would not be shocked."