College men's basketball season preview

This year's 50 things to know about the college basketball season is based on the 50th edition of the magazine.

Michael McGuire, a coal miner, came to the game after work to be with his son and mother. John Calipari used his family's history in coal mining to motivate his players. He offered tickets and VIP treatment to a real game at Rupp Arena for the McGuires.

The Wildcats were the first team to lose to St. Peter's in the NCAA Tournament last season. Oscar Tshiebwe is the reigning national player of the year.

Tshiebwe made around $500,000 when Kentucky visited the Bahamas for exhibition games in August. St. Peter's was picked to finish eighth in the MAAC. Shaheen Holloway is now the coach at Seton Hall. Several of St Peter’s‘ potential returning players transferred, including twin brothers Fousseyni and Hassan Drame, who are now at La Salle.

Temple transfer Jeremiah Williams injured his Achilles tendon in October and will miss the season. Iowa State still has center Osun Osunniyi, who was the Atlantic 10’s defensive player of the year the last two seasons at St. Bonaventure.

Gonzaga’s Drew Timme and Kentucky”s Tshiebwe were unanimous Associated Press preseason All-Americas. North Carolina Armando Bacot, Indiana“s Trayce Jackson-Davis, and Houston‘s Marcus Sasser were also named to the first team.

Houston is coming off a season when it went 32-6 and got within one step of the Final Four. The No. 3 Cougars are in the top five for the first time since the Phi Slamma Jamma days of 1980s. They play St. Joseph’s at Hagan Arena on Friday.

This is the record 10th time North Carolina has been ranked No. 1 in the preseason by the Associated Press. The last time it happened was in 2015-16 when the Tar Heels lost to Villanova in a national championship game on Kris Jenkins’ buzzer-beater.

The Tar Heels return four starters after losing the championship game to Kansas. Armando Bacot, the ACC’s preseason player of the year, did some acting over the summer. If Villanova beats Iowa State on Thanksgiving, it is likely to play North Carolina the following day (5 p.m., ESPN).

Baylor is ranked No. 5 despite a complete roster overhaul. The team performed well at the GLOBL JAM international tournament over the summer. Freshman Keyonte George had 37 points. George is the highest-ranked recruit in the program history.

Sean Miller has been hired as the new coach of Xavier. He had a checkered tenure at Arizona from 2009-21.

Xavier hired Miller after Travis Steele was fired. Jonas Hayes led Xavier to the NIT championship. Hayes parlayed that NIPT success into the Georgia State job. No. 4 Kentucky plays at No 2 Gonzaga on November 20. Gonzags could play No 1 North Carolina a week later.

Jay Wright will be an analyst for CBS Sports Network on Dec. 7 when Penn visits Villanova. He will make his studio debut on December 17 during a CBS tripleheader.

TCU is ranked No. 14 in the preseason. Manhattan fired coach Steve Masiello on Oct. 25. Several players left the team. The Jaspers were picked to finish second in MAAC by the league's coaches.

Hartford is in the process of dropping down to Division III and competing this year as an independent. The Hawks made it to the NCAA Tournament in 2021. Hartford plays at Penn on Black Friday and hosts the Quakers on Jan. 23.

John Gallagher is suing Hartford's Board of Regents vice chairman. He claims he was misled about the move to D-III. Gallagher has been Hartford’s head coach since 2010-11.

UCLA is picked to win the Pac-12 for the third consecutive year. Jaime Jaquez and Tyger Campbell are the Bruins' studs. Amari Bailey and Adem Bona were McDonald's All-Americans. Bonsi was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, but left his family when he was 13 to learn the fundamentals of basketball in Turkey.

Stanford's Harrison Ingram is the first Pac-12 freshman of the year to come back for his sophomore season in 10 years.

Jahvon Quinerly is on the Cousy Award watch list. He was a freshman at Villanova last season.

Arizona center Oumar Ballo is selling T-shirts with his name for $35. Balla and other Mali players boycotted the FIBA World Cup African qualifiers over the summer because they said the country refused to reimburse them for travel and expenses. Delaware reached the NCAA Tournament last year for the first time under Martin Ingelsby. Jon Scheyer is in his first season as the new coach at Duke. Amile Jefferson is the program's all-time leader with 150 games played.

Jameer Nelson Jr. and Aaron Estrada are preseason all-conference players. Davidson has its first new coach in 33 years. Texas Tech lost nine of its top 10 scorers from last season's Sweet 16 team. Arkansas brought in five transfers and three freshmen.

Players who exaggerate being fouled will be given a technical foul and opponents will get one free throw.

Sports Illustrated ranked all 363 teams and came up with Villanova at No. 13, Temple at no. 72, Penn at #. 140, St. Joseph’s at number 193, La Salle at Number 208, and Drexel at $279.36.

Texas has moved into the Moody Center. The facility is a $385 million and replaces the Erwin Center, which was the Longhorns' home since 1977. Texas has beaten Arkansas there in a charity exhibition and will host Gonzaga on Nov. 16.

Kenny Payne is the new head coach at his alma mater, Louisville. Payne's team lost an exhibition game at home by 10 points to Division II Lenoir-Rhyne on Oct. 30. Pete Nance, the son of former NBA slam-dunk champion Larry Nances, played 107 games in four seasons for Northwestern. He has transferred to North Carolina.

Coppin State played 13 of its 15 nonconference games on the road last season and lost them all. This year, 14 of the 17 nonleague games are on road. Sam Sessoms is 293 points away from 2,000 career points.

Conferences are allowed to experiment with an extra TV timeout each half for the first stoppages under the 17, 14, 11, 8, and 4-minute marks. Indiana ended a five-year NCAA Tournament drought. Mike Woodson’s team returns Trayce Jackson-Davis and boasts probably the best recruiting class in the Big Ten.

Woodson's daughter Mariah tweeted a picture of her dad admiring his landscaping.

Creighton returns three double-digit scorers and adds Baylor Scheierman, a transfer from South Dakota State. Scheerman was the Summit League’s player of the year and the only D-I player to lead his conference in rebounds and assists.

Creighton is ranked ninth in the AP poll. Creighton was picked to win the Big East for the first time. The Bluejays play Villanova on February 4 and on Feb. 25 at the Wells Fargo Center.

Kendric Davis was the American Athletic Conference player of the year for Houston last season. He is now at Memphis. The Southern Conference requires players who transfer within the conference to sit out a season, so Honor Huff had to leave VMI for Chattanooga.

Keyontae Johnson hasn't played since his collapse on Dec. 12, 2020, while playing for Florida. He fell face-first at midcourt in the fourth game. Johnson is now playing at Kansas State.

Houston, UCLA, Kentucky, and North Carolina are the top picks to reach the Final Four.