5 Storylines 20 Days Out From College Basketball

Yes, it is still football season. Fall weather is officially upon us. However, basketball is right around the corner. In fact, the college basketball season officially tips off in just 20 days. Big Blue Madness is already in the books and the Blue-White Event is coming on Friday. Additionally there will continue to be more charity exhibition games, scrimmages, and much more across the college basketball landscape.

Then, on Monday, November 4th the real games begin.

In honor of hitting the 20-day-out mark, let’s take a look at five more of the biggest storylines entering the 2024-2025 season. Every five days we will release five more headlines and ultimately reach a total of 25 when the season begins on the 4th of November. As Kentucky Sports Radio’s resident college basketball junkie, I will have plenty of other preview content, including my annual College Basketball Manifesto, over the next few weeks. It is almost here, folks!

5 Storylines 25 Days Out From College Basketball

As Jon Rothstein would say: And Here. We. Go.

AP Poll Top 25 Reactions

BREAKING: College Basketball Preseason AP Poll🚨https://t.co/fHqUF4xL1x pic.twitter.com/kjYGDRyFDw

— On3 (@On3sports) October 14, 2024

• Five Big 12 teams in the Top 10. Six in the Top 25.
• The SEC leads the way with nine teams in the Top 25.
• Four Top 10 teams in the Big Ten, three in the Big East, two in the ACC, and Gonzaga as the lone outlier round out the Top 25.
• Did UConn receive too much, or not enough, respect being voted #3 as the two-time defending national champions?

KenPom Preseason Projections

• The Houston Cougars check in at #1 by a pretty sizeable margin. Coach Kelvin Sampson’s team has finished each of the last three seasons #2 in the KenPom ratings. They finished fifth in 2021 when they made the Final Four. Can they break back through this season after back-to-back Sweet 16 exits?
• Eight Big 12 teams are in the Top 25 (Top 21 actually) with the SEC coming in next placing six teams in the Top 25. The Big East followed with five teams, the ACC had three teams, the Big Ten had two teams, and Gonzaga was once again the lone outlier at #9.
• Teams that are relying heavily on new faces tend to be a bit underrated by the computer metrics. That was certainly the case with KenPom. Arkansas was #16 in the AP Poll, but just #25 in KenPom. Meanwhile, #17 Indiana and #23 Kentucky are #39 and #42 respectively in the KenPom ratings. Louisville is also much lower than general expectations checking in at #64 in the KenPom ratings.

Michigan State in Action

Most programs are just starting to gear up for their exhibition games and other preseason events. There will be secret scrimmages, charity exhibition games, and much more over the coming weeks. However, Michigan State actually went on the road to Northern Michigan on Sunday evening for an exhibition game. Why did the Spartans go to the Upper Peninsula to face a Division II team you may ask? Well, it is actually for a very cool reason.

Coach Tom Izzo is a Northern Michigan alum and the school was retiring his #10 jersey on Sunday evening along with the game. Along with his playing days at Northern Michigan, Coach Izzo also was an assistant coach at his alma mater for four seasons before moving on to Michigan State to work for legendary head coach Jud Heathcote.

Freshman guard Jase Richardson, son of former Spartans star Jason Richardson, led the way with 11 points on perfect 4-4, 2-2, 1-1 shooting. Sophomore forward Xavier Booker, a former five-star prospect and McDonald’s All-American added 10 points and three blocked shots. Michigan State won the contest 70-53.

New Look West Coast Conference

Conference realignment is once again a major storyline heading into the 2024-2025 college basketball season. The Big Ten now extends to the West Coast with Washington, Oregon, USC, and UCLA joining the conference. Oklahoma and Texas joined forces with the SEC as well. Then, you have the complete disappearance of the Pac 12. Oregon State and Washington State each found homes in the West Coast Conference.

On the hardwood, the WCC title ran through Spokane for many years. Coach Mark Few and Bulldogs had earned at least a share of 11 consecutive regular season titles. In three of those seasons Gonzaga went undefeated in conference play. However, Saint Mary’s went 15-1 last year edging out the 14-2 Bulldogs to capture the title. The Gaels were also the last team not named Gonzaga, in 2012, to win the league outright.

Gonzaga is expected to be the class of the West Coast Conference again this season with Saint Mary’s taking a bit of a step back. San Francisco and Santa are two other teams that should compete towards the top. However, the real question is how will the addition of Oregon State and Washington State impact the league? Will their experience at the high-major level allow them to immediately compete for a championship in the WCC? The Cougars have a new leader in former Eastern Washington coach David Riley while Coach Wayne Tinkle’s time in Corvallis could be reaching its end. This will be a fun league to follow this season.

New Faces in New Places – Players Edition

• Oumar Ballo (Arizona to Indiana) – Indiana is no stranger when it comes to playing through the post. Trayce Jackson-Davis dominated the Big Ten for four seasons. Then, last season, Kel’el Ware emerged as a star before going #15 in the NBA Draft. Now Coach Woodson will have two-time All-Pac 12 performer Oumar Ballo to utilize inside. The 7’0” 260-pound bruiser averaged 12.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game last season while shooting an incredible 65.8% from the field. He will once again be one of the best big men in the country.
• Johnell Davis (Florida Atlantic to Arkansas) – A popular preseason All-American selection, Davis will provide a veteran presence to an otherwise fairly young Coach Calipari team at Arkansas. After helping lead Florida Atlantic to the NCAA Championship game as a junior, Davis was AAC Player of the Year as a senior averaging 18.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game. His year-to-year improvement as a shooting threat has allowed him to grow into a potential All-American. 
• Coleman Hawkins (Illinois to Kansas State) – Sometimes timing is everything. Hawkins is certainly a very good, talented player, but what he commanded on the NIL market never fully made sense. After flirting with the NBA Draft, the 6’10” forward landed at Kansas State after putting up 12.1 points per game as a senior at Illinois. Coach Jerome Tang has played the NIL game very well and it will be interesting to see if this big swing pays off for the Wildcats.
• Aidan Mahaney (Saint Mary’s to UConn) – The two-time defending national champions lost quite a bit of backcourt production in Tristen Newton, Stephon Castle, and Cam Spencer. However, landing a two-time First Team All-WCC performer is a great way to reload. Mahaney averaged 13.9 points in each of his two seasons at Saint Mary’s and made 157 three-point shots at a 37.5% clip. Most importantly for Coach Dan Hurley, the Gaels went 53-16 in Mahaney’s two seasons.
• Kadary Richmond (Seton Hall to St. John’s) – If you created a guard to play for Coach Rick Pitino in a factory you’d probably come up with someone like Kadary Richmond. At 6’5″, Richmond is a big, tough guard that is excellent on both ends of the floor. He was a stat sheet stuffer as a senior at Seton Hall putting up 15.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 2.2 steals per game. Richmond could potentially be an All-American this season for St. John’s.