Pac-12 Conference announces full 2023-24 men's basketball schedule
The Pac-12 is currently going out with a bang with what the conference is doing on the football field in its final year as presently constructed. Now, with October upon us, the Conference of Champions is about to tip off its final season of ‘hoops as well.
On Thursday, the Pac-12 released its entire slate for the upcoming college basketball season. 11 of their teams will get things going on November 6th and will compete throughout the winter until the Pac-12 Tournament starts on March 13th in Las Vegas.
The television breakdown in the Pac-12 is quite interesting considering all the different channels and services where fans can consume their games this season. Most will obviously remain on Pac-12 networking with 140 matchups landing there. However, they’ll also have 43 games on ESPN, 21 on FOX Sports 1, four on FOX, and three on CBS and Paramount+.
The Pac-12 will also be featured in some major events and tournaments throughout the season. Their programs will be involved in 28 different titles in total. Major ones are included such as the CBS Sports Classic, Maui Jim Maui Invitational, and the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The West Coast should be in for some high-level basketball in ’23-’24. As the Pac-12’s release pointed out, their programs combined to return and add all kinds of talent to their rosters. That includes experienced conference contributors with five First-Team All-Pac-12 picks back as well as 14 players overall who were All-Conference, All-Defensive, or All-Freshman.
In some ways, it remains quite unfortunate that the Pac-12 is coming to an end at all. On the bright side, though, this last campaign will be for all the marbles as they compete to win this conference’s crown for the final time and be one of the teams from the league who earn a bid into the NCAA Tournament.
LeBron James confirms that Bronny James plans to play
Bronny James plans to play for USC this season according to his father, LeBron James, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
“Bronny is doing extremely well,” James said during the NBA’s Media Day on Monday. “He has begun his rehab process to get back on the floor this season with his teammates and USC.”
In late July, James went to the hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest during a workout on campus. A congenital heart defect was the ‘probable cause’ of the cardiac arrest, the family said in a statement. After the incident, the former McDonald’s All-American arrived at the hospital conscious and stable. The family’s statement revealed that the condition is treatable. The goal was to get Bronny back on the court in the “very near future”.
“If he were to walk through the door right now, you wouldn’t even know what he had,” the Los Angeles Lakers star said.
Bronny James was a four-star recruit out of Sierra Canyon (CA). He came in as the No. 25 overall prospect in the nation from the 2023 cycle. That’s according to the On3 Industry Ranking, an equally weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. On3 was the only service to rank James as a five-star as he came in as the No. 11-ranked player.
USC begins its 2023-2024 season on Nov. 6 against Kansas State in the Hall of Fame Classic in Las Vegas. Whether Bronny is available for the season-opener will be determined closer to game time as he recovers through fall training.