’22-’23 College Basketball, at a Glance

BY: ISAIAH LAMPTON

NOVEMBER 15, 2022

November is finally here. Nearing the end of college football season and on the brink of basketball season, it’s a great month for sports fans. The Men’s College Basketball season kicked off November 7th, with 200 games scheduled for the day. Arguably, the biggest game of opening week is Michigan St-Gonzaga in the Peraton Armed Forces Classic. 

Conference play won’t begin for most teams until late December, but for now the larger Power 5 schools schedule “bye” games to start out the year strong and play smaller, Mid-major institutions. Bye games are when larger D-1 schools offer smaller colleges a pretty penny to come play them. The “bye” expression comes from the fact that these games are  won by the larger schools before the ball is ever tipped off. But, the joy of basketball is watching many of these schools lose their bye games.

This new year of college basketball carries a lot of excitement because of the large quantity of stars returning to the NCAA. Last year’s National Player of the Year, Oscar Tshiebwe returns for Kentucky after averaging 17.4 points per game as well as grabbing 15.2 rebounds per game. He’s a favorite to run it back and win the award this year, as well. Other candidates include Gonzaga Forward Drew Timme, Michigan Center Hunter Dickinson, and Indiana Forward Trayce-Jackson Davis. 

The Kansas Jayhawks won it all in New Orleans last year, but with the losses of their top 3 scorers, Ochai Agbaji, David McCormack, and Christian Braun they will turn to their youth in Freshman Forward Grady Dick. Dick is a prolific three-way scorer with an NBA frame and underrated athleticism. 

Other contenders that are capable of going all the way include North Carolina, Houston, Gonzaga, and Kentucky. UNC returns two preseason All-Americans with Guard Caleb Love and Center Armando Bacot. The Tarheels are the #1 ranked team in the nation, can they keep that up? Well, they travel to Assembly Hall on November 30th to play the 13th ranked Indiana Hoosiers.