5 Storylines 10 Days Out From College Basketball

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Football season is very much still in full swing. The weather is starting to change and we are getting some perfect fall days over the last week or so. However, basketball is right around the corner. In fact, the college basketball season officially tips off in just 10 days. Monday, November 6th will be here before we know it. Several Top 25 programs begin their seasons on that opening Monday including each of the preseason Top 5. It will be a massive slate of games to tip off the season before Baylor vs. Auburn really get things going on Tuesday, Nov. 7.

In honor of hitting the 10-day-out mark, we will be taking a look at five more of the biggest storylines entering the 2023-2024 season. Every five days we will release five more headlines and ultimately reach a total of 25 when the season begins on the 6th of November. You can find each previous article below:

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

Mid-Major Madness

Kansas enters the season with three returning starters and the addition of Hunter Dickinson. Duke got potential NBA lottery pick Kyle Filipowski to return for his sophomore season. Zach Edey returned to Purdue after winning National Player of the Year. Expectations are high once again in Lexington and Tom Izzo has a Top 10 team in East Lansing. Traditional powers and blue bloods are alive and well in college basketball. However, a lot of what makes the sport great is the mid-major programs that make themselves known in March. Who are the teams that could play the role of Cinderella this season? Let’s take a look.

Drake Bulldogs. Fresh off winning Missouri Valley Player of the Year, Tucker DeVries returns for his junior season. The 6’7″ guard averaged 18.6 points per game while shooting 37.3% from three-point range. Bradley will be very good once again and Belmont is alway tough, but look for the Bulldogs to go dancing for the third time in four seasons.
Charleston Cougars. Coach Pat Kelsey led the Cougars to 31 wins last season and played eventual national runner-up San Diego very well in the first round. Lafayette transfer CJ Fulton could be the best point guard in the CAA, Frankie Policelli from Stony Brook is a skilled 4-man, and 6’10” Ante Brzovic is back as a potential First Team All-CAA performer.
Eastern Kentucky Colonels. In the transfer portal era what we saw from Eastern Kentucky this off-season was unheard of. Coach Hamilton’s entire squad announced together they were returning for another year. There won’t be a team in college basketball with more lineup continuity and that will be enough to push Eastern Kentucky into the NCAA Tournament.
Yale Bulldogs. Yale tied for first place in the Ivy League, but lost to Princeton in the tournament championship before the Tigers made an improbable run to the Sweet 16. Still, the Bulldogs were a Top 75 KenPom team and return four starters including preseason Ivy League Player of the Year Matt Knowling. Coach James Jones should go dancing this year.
Grand Canyon Antelopes. What do you get when you mix an excellent mid-major transfer portal class with a returning backcourt as good as Jovan Blacksher and Rayshon Harrison? Most likely, you’ll get a NCAA Tournament team. Harrison will be the league’s preseason Player of the Year after averaging 17.8 points per game last season. He is joined by the likes of Tyon Grant-Foster (DePaul), Sydney Curry (Kansas), Lok Wur (Oregon), Caleb Shaw (Northern Colrado), and Duke Brennan (Arizona State) who made up Coach Drew’s transfer class.

Hashing Out the Mountain West

Yes, the Mountain West is a mid-major conference. No, we didn’t talk about any of the member teams in the section above. Why? That would be because this league is good enough that it now deserves its own section. San Diego State, Utah State, Boise State, and Nevada all played in March Madness last season with the Aztecs making it all the way to the national championship game. That level of success is unlikely to come in 2023-2024, but a resurgence at Colorado State and New Mexico’s high-level backcourt will help make the Mountain West as interesting as ever.

San Diego State has made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances and that number would be four as they were 30-2 at the end of the 2020 season. Last season, the Aztecs broke through and went all the way to the national championship game before losing to UConn. This team won’t be that level of good, but returning Darrion Trammell and Lamont Butler in the backcourt is a good start to at least winning the league again. However, a veteran inside-outside presence of Max Rice and Tyson Degenhart at Boise State will have something to say about that. Additionally, New Mexico will have one of the best mid-major backcourts in the country with Jaelen House, Jamal Mashburn Jr., and Jemarl Baker Jr. Iona transfer Nelly Junior Joseph will play a key role inside as well.

This will likely return to being a two, maybe three, bid league this season after placing four teams in the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons. Colorado State making a return to the top end of the standings could lift the league’s ceiling. However, it’ll be Coach Tim Miles (San Jose State) and Jeff Linder (Wyoming) who likely determine the floor. The Mountain West is always an entertaining, competitive league and this coming college basketball season will be no different.

Coaches Ready to Take a Leap

Sticking with our mid-major theme, who are the coaches that are ready to take the next step? Much is made about the hot seat, but what about the more fun side of that equation? After last season we saw guys like Mark Madsen and Grant McCasland take the leap to high-major programs. Here are five names (skipping the obvious in Dusty May and Pat Kelsey) to watch going into the 2023-2024 college basketball season.

Mike Morrell (UNC Asheville). Last season couldn’t have gone much better for Coach Morrell and the Bulldogs. They swept the regular season and conference tournament titles in the Big South while winning 27 games. Then, they returned one of the best mid-major players in the country for this season in Drew Pember. This 40-year old will be highly sought after next off-season.
Takayo Siddle (UNC Wilmington). Sticking in the state of North Carolina, Coach Siddle won 27 games in his second season at Wilmington and 24 games a year ago. The Seahawks won the CBI postseason tournament in 2022 as well. However, a CAA conference tournament title has remained elusive. Making The Big Dance could catapult this 37-year old into a major conference job.
Eric Henderson (South Dakota State). Fresh off sweeping the league to an 18-0 regular season record, plus a conference tournament title, in 2022, the Jackrabbits faced a bit of a disappointing 2023. They finished just 19-13 after winning 30 games the year before. Coach Henderson’s predecessor is now at Iowa State. Returning to the top of the Summit League, which they should do this season, could mean it is time to move on to bigger and better things.
Darrin Horn (Northern Kentucky). Coach Horn may not really qualify for this list because he has been a head coach at South Carolina in the past, but it is time for him to return to the high-major ranks. The Norse will be the best team in the Horizon League this season and he will do nothing but pad his 80-41 record through four seasons. Look for him to get back to a power conference school after making the NCAA Tournament this year.
Bob Richy (Furman). Furman finished in the KenPom Top 100 each of Coach Richy’s first six seasons at the helm. Finally, last season, the Paladins got over the hump and made the NCAA Tournament which included an upset #4 seed Virginia. Another SoCon title could launch him to the high-major ranks.

Old Big East

No, this isn’t the 1980’s with Patrick Ewing dominating the paint for Georgetown, Rollie Massimino patrolling the sidelines at Villanova, and the rivalry between St. John’s and Seton Hall. However, there is plenty of competition in this historic basketball conference. Marquette returns eight primary rotation players from the Big East regular season and tournament champions. Connecticut is the defending national champions. Creighton returns key pieces from a team that just narrowly missed their first ever Final Four. Oh, and Rick Pitino is now the head coach at St. John’s and has taken college basketball by (Red) storm.

The battle between Marquette, UConn, and Creighton atop the league standings will be one of the most interesting in the country this season. However, we haven’t even mentioned Villanova who had become the class of the “new” Big East under Coach Jay Wright. His predecessor, Coach Kyle Neptune, did not have a good first season. The Wildcats finished just 17-17 and missed the NCAA Tournament. All-American candidate Justin Moore is back and healthy along with a slew of veterans that could allow them to compete with the previously mentioned teams.

The Big 12 is the de facto best conference in college basketball this season. However, the Big East isn’t far behind. In fact, the battle at the top could be even deeper and more interesting.

January, February, Izzo, April

It seems like no matter what happens in the regular season, the Michigan State Spartans are going to be there in March. Last year, Coach Izzo made the Sweet 16 as a #7 seed and nearly defeated Kanas State falling 98-93 in overtime. Only once in the last seven years has Michigan State failed to win at least one game in the NCAA Tournament. This will be a team though that has even higher expectations. Michigan State enters this season as a Top 10 team expected to compete with Purdue at the top of the Big Ten. Will we see yet another March Madness run by Coach Izzo? If so, it won’t come as a surprise this time around.

The Spartans return a veteran core to mix with a very talented freshman class. You’ll be hard-pressed to find an older starting lineup that the one in East Lansing. AJ Hoggard is back for his senior season as one of the best point guards in college basketball. Graduate student Tyson Walker is a trendy preseason All-American pick. Junior Jaden Adkins is the baby of the group. In the front court, graduate student Malik Hall and senior Mady Sissoko return for another go around. However, for what the starting lineup features in experience the bench will balance out with youth.

Five-star forward Xavier Booker, along with four-star prospects Jeremy Fears and Coen Carr, are all expected to play major roles this season. Booker is a 6’10” stretch 5-man. Fears is a plug-and-play backup playmaker behind Hoggard at point guard. Meanwhile, Carr is one of the best athletes and most physically gifted wings in the country. Michigan State fans have a lot to be excited about this college basketball season.