And so college basketball begins, the long road to a national championship podium in Indianapolis on April 6. Before the first tip-offs, here are a few pertinent numbers.
1917. The last season Loyola Chicago played a basketball season without Sister Jean among us.
3. Total votes in the Associated Press preseason poll for Villanova, Virginia and Baylor. The teams responsible for four of the past nine national championships all begin unranked.
5. Big 12 teams ranked ahead of Kansas in the AP preseason poll. The Jayhawks are No. 19, their lowest place to start in 17 years. Kansas has won two NCAA tournament games in the three seasons since its 2022 national title.
1967. The last time Houston began the season ranked as highly as No. 2. Kelvin Sampson was 12 years old.
16. Purdue’s Braden Smith, at 6-0, is 16 inches shorter than former teammate Zach Edey, but he’s the preseason favorite to be national player of the year — same as Edey. This tall-and-short twosome have already combined to win three consecutive Big Ten player of the year awards, a streak never seen before in the history of the league.
Purdue has had a consensus first-or second-team All-American in seven of the past nine seasons despite never enrolling a top-30 recruiting class or a top-30 prospect at any point during that span.
55.6. While we’re on the subject of Purdue, that was the 2-point percentage the Boilermakers’ defense allowed last season, 332nd in the nation, just one spot ahead of Chicago State, which went 4-28. A true Edey-is-not-protecting-the-rim-anymore stat. Improving that number might have a lot to do with Purdue’s eventual fate.
12-52. Louisville’s record over two seasons only 20 months ago. The Cardinals improved 19 wins last year under Pat Kelsey and begin this season ranked No. 11, even though only one starter returns. It’s the first time in six years they have been in the preseason top 25.
41. Steven Pearl had only 41 full days before Auburn’s season opener to get the Tigers acclimated to life without his suddenly retired father, who moved from the bench to the TV microphone. Not to mention losing all five starters from the Final Four team. Auburn will need to adapt on the fly. The nonconference schedule includes No. 1 Purdue, No. 2 Houston, No. 7 Michigan, No. 13 Arizona, NC State and Oregon.
33, 30, 26. Arguably the three most touted freshmen this season are Duke’s Cameron Boozer, BYU’s AJ Dybantsa and Kansas’ Darryn Peterson. No wonder. Boozer scored 33 points in his first exhibition game against UCF, Dybantsa 30 in his first against Nebraska and Peterson 26 in his first at Louisville, including 24 in the first half. In Boozer’s second exhibition, he had a 24-23 double-double against Tennessee.
0. Marquette did not take one single Division I transfer this season. Nor last season. Nor the season before nor the season before that. The Golden Eagles used one starting lineup every game last season and one starting lineup every game the year before. Only eight different players have started a Marquette game the past three seasons, but in those three years only UConn has won more Big East games — by one. Shaka Smart’s program, picked fifth in the Big East this season, remains one of the most fascinating old-school studies in the sport.
26. Twenty-six of the top 30 scorers last season in the SEC are gone, be it NBA draft, transfer portal, or no more eligibility. The league that produced national champion Florida and seven of the Sweet 16 teams must turn to a new wave.
2. Possible national players of the year named Toppin this decade. Dayton’s Obi Toppin was POY in 2020, Texas Tech’s JT Toppin is just a notch below Purdue’s Smith on the odds board going into this season, and the first Red Raider in history to be preseason AP All-American. No, they’re not related.
4. Players from the Balkans on the Illinois roster, as many as there are from the state of Illinois.
1991. The last time St. John’s was picked to win the Big East in the preseason poll until this year. The Red Storm went 18-2 in league play last season. The previous nine years they were 61-107. The Pitino Effect.
1998. Navy’s last appearance in the NCAA tournament, 27 Selection Sundays ago. But look who’s the preseason favorite in the Patriot League.
8 a.m. Tipoff time for Winthrop at Queens on Nov. 3 in Rock Hill, S.C, the first official game of the season, just 73 minutes after dawn. It’s part of the YouTube streaming marathon that day for the Field of 68 network. Free breakfast biscuits to the first 500 fans. Queens is the preseason favorite to win the ASUN.
26. Gonzaga joins the rebooted Pac-12 next year, but on their way out the West Coast Conference door, the Zags know the perfect parting gift. They’ve won the season or tournament title — and many times both — in 26 of the past 28 years. Might as well exit with one more.
62. Head coaching changes in Division I for this since last season, or roughly a 17 percent turnover. They include two sons replacing their fathers — Steven Pearl taking over for Bruce at Auburn, Doug Davenport for Scott at Bellarmine — and one Florida State Heisman winner, Charlie Ward at Florida A&M. Also, a former Duke Blue Devil who scored 13 points in the 2010 national championship game, Nolan Smith at Tennessee State. And a former Arizona Wildcat who scored 19 points in the 1997 title game, Mike Bibby at Sacramento State. And in the ultimate irony, Ryan Odom at Virginia.
It has been just over seven years since Virginia made infamous history by becoming the first No. 1 seed to lose in the NCAA tournament to a No. 16. Doing the honors was UMBC, coached by Ryan Odom. The great circle of college basketball coaching.
5. In contrast to the above revolving door, five schools in Division I have had only two head coaches since 1980, and three are ranked in the preseason. Purdue (Matt Painter, Gene Keady), Duke (Jon Scheyer, Mike Krzyzewski) and Michigan State (Tom Izzo, Jud Heathcote). The others are Syracuse (Adrian Autry, Jim Boeheim) and Oakland (Greg Kampe, Lee Frederick).
50. This is the 50th season for Kentucky’s Rupp Arena, which has been home to four national champions by four different coaches and an 88.5 winning percentage by the home team. Mark Pope is 40-4 there as an active player or current head coach. Among the home dates for the 50th season is Indiana on Dec. 13, the two basketball blueblood neighbors finally burying the hatchet and resuming their regular season series after avoiding one another for 14 years.
7. The WAC is down to seven teams and only three — Abilene Christian, Southern Utah and UT Arlington — have ever played in the NCAA tournament, so there’s a serious opportunity for a first-timer. California Baptist is the preseason favorite.
5. Only five years ago, St. Thomas-Minnesota was playing as a Division III school. Then the Tommies jumped directly to Division I — the first university in modern times to try such a leap — and after a four-year transition period will open the season at Saint Mary’s on Nov. 3 as the favorite in the Summit League. They could go from Division III to the NCAA tournament in their first year of eligibility.
2004. The last time DePaul played in the NCAA tournament. That’s the longest dry spell for any team in the power conferences. Among other notable droughts going into this season: UNLV, with four Final Four trips to its name, hasn’t played in the NCAA tournament in 12 years. Syracuse hasn’t been since 2021, its longest bidless stretch in 53 years.
Cincinnati, invited nine seasons in a row under Mick Cronin, hasn’t made an appearance this decade. Tulsa, whose past coaches include three future national champions — Nolan Richardson, Bill Self and Tubby Smith — hasn’t made it in nine years.
2026. Years that end in 6 include significant college basketball anniversaries. Ten years ago, Villanova’s Kris Jenkins buried the first 3-point buzzer-beater to ever win a national title . . . 20 years ago, George Mason showed up in the Final Four as an 11 seed, one of the biggest Cinderella stories ever . . . 30 years ago, Rick Pitino won his first title at Kentucky with the championship settled in the Meadowlands’ Continental Airlines Arena, the last Final Four in a traditional basketball building . . . 40 years ago, Louisville won the championship, but who was that new face to the Final Four on the other bench that night? Oh yeah, Mike Krzyzewski, his first of 13 . . .50 years ago, Indiana was an unbeaten champion, and remains the last to do it . . .60 years ago, Texas Western (now UTEP) with an all-Black lineup shocked Kentucky and changed the game . . . 70 years ago, San Francisco and Bill Russell won the championship with a perfect record, something never seen before . . . 80 years ago, Oklahoma A&M — you know it now as Oklahoma State — became the first repeat champion.
So this season should witness a lot of extraordinary things — including reunions.
