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Welcome back, college basketball.
The hoops season officially begins tonight and will be with us all the way through the first weekend in April where a champion will be crowned in New Orleans. You know what happened the last time a college champion won it all in New Orleans? I’m just sayin’...
Anyway, I wanted to spin off Adam’s weekly football guide for the basketball season. Seeing as there’s over 300 schools competing at the D1 level it won’t be a day specific post, instead I’ll try to track down the best game or two for the entire week to give us something to watch on a random weeknight.
On to the games.
Tuesday November 9
Kansas-Michigan State, 6:00 P.M., ESPN
The first game of the annual Champions Classic features national championship contender Kansas against the always good Spartans of Michigan State. Kansas is the overwhelming favorite to win the Big 12, while Michigan State was picked sixth in the Big 10.
ULM-LSU, 7:00 P.M., SEC Network+
Hey did ya see this, have ya heard about this?
Louisiana Tech-Alabama, 8:00 P.M., SEC Network
The defending SEC champion Tide tips off its season against a La. Tech team that should find itself dancing come March.
Kentucky-Duke, 8:30 P.M., ESPN
Kentucky and Duke both had down years last season but both open 2021 in the AP Top 10.
Wednesday November 10
Buffalo-Michigan, 5:30 P.M., Big 10 Network
Michigan ever so slightly edged out Purdue in the Big 10 preseason poll while Buffalo is the MAC favorites and rightly so with four returning starters from its 2020-2021 team.
Thursday November 11
George Washington-Maryland, 5:30 P.M., Big 10 Network
The Terps are the only ranked team in action Thursday night. That a team as good as Maryland is “only” 21st in the AP poll shows how good the B1G is at men’s hoops.
Regent-Liberty, 6:00 P.M., ESPN+
Keep an eye on this game as LSU will host Liberty next Thursday. The Flames are a good team, they’re the favorites to win the Atlantic Sun and Darius McGhee is the conference’s preseason player of the year.
Friday November 12
Villanova-UCLA, 10:30 P.M., ESPN2
It’ll be a late start but well worth the wait if you have any interest whatsoever in college basketball. The Cats and Bruins both open the year as Top-5 teams in the AP poll and it’s likely we see them again in the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend.
Saturday November 13
Georgia-Cincinnati, 6:00 P.M., ESPN+
The CFP cartel may keep the Bearcats out of the Power 5 invitational but they can’t stop the Dawgs and Bearcats from getting together on the hardwood.