Can Rick Pitino resurrect St. John's? Will Hunter Dickinson lead Kansas to glory? Can anyone stop Duke? These are among the key questions entering the season.
Merry Christmas, college basketball fans! Opening day has arrived and the 217-day gap since UConn beat San Diego State in the national championship game is over. There are 184 games across the country today as the road to Selection Sunday, which will be Saint Patrick's Day this particular season, begins. After a crazy offseason of coaching moves and nearly 2,000 players moving through the transfer portal, there are more unknowns than certainties in this sport heading into the year.
In choosing to head to Lawrence, he instantly made KU the front-runner for the national title. Averaging more than 18 points and nine rebounds per game in each of the last two seasons, the senior should dominate in the Jayhawks offense. But Kansas did lose an exhibition game at Illinois. Exhibition or not, Kansas shooting 3-for-12 from 3-point range, then shooting 6-for-28 against Fort Hays State in their final preseason tune-up, could signal problems around perimeter shooting.