Seven early-season men’s college basketball tournaments to watch

November 17, 2022 admin

The Champions Classic was the start of early-season tournament season in men’s college basketball, with powerhouses Michigan State beating Kentucky in double overtime, while reigning national champion Kansas took down Duke without head coach Bill Self. Seven more tournaments will follow this month and next, with a slate that highlights some of the game’s top programs and elite players.

Here is your handy guide to the men’s games that will all appear on the ESPN family of networks through the rest of 2022.

Jackson throws it down vs. South Carolina State

Dates: Nov. 17-18, 20

Site: TD Arena, Charleston, South Carolina

First-round matchups:

Furman Paladins vs. Penn State Nittany Lions
Old Dominion Monarchs vs. Virginia Tech Hokies
Colorado State Rams vs. South Carolina Gamecocks
Davidson Wildcats vs. Charleston Cougars

Team to beat: Virginia Tech experienced some crucial turnover this offseason — Keve Aluma and Nahiem Alleyne are both gone — but Mike Young has endured change throughout his career, and still managed to average 21 wins over the past five seasons. Hunter Cattoor (11.3 PPG) and Justyn Mutts (9.0 PPG, 7.5 RPG) join Wright State transfer Grant Basile (18.0 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 1.7 BPG) as Virginia Tech aims to win this event and keep Young’s streak alive.

Sleeper team: Davidson. The Wildcats lost two of their top three scorers from last season (Hyunjung Lee and Luka Brajkovic) and Bob McKillop is retired now. But his son, new head coach Matt McKillop, has Foster Loyer (28.3 PPG, 46.7% from the 3-point line), the program’s leading scorer last year, to succeed here and beyond — including competing for the Atlantic 10 title in the first season of Davidson basketball without Bob McKillop since 1989.

Player to watch: G.G. Jackson. He was a top prospect in the 2023 class before he made the decision to reclassify into the 2022 class, decommit from North Carolina and then commit to new head coach Lamont Paris and South Carolina — suddenly making the Gamecocks a must-watch program in 2022-23.

Something for the college hoops junkies: When Drexel transfer Camren Wynter, a key pickup for Penn State this offseason, was on the floor last season, the Dragons shot 53% from inside the arc.

KJ Simpson and Tristan da Silva are the top scorers in Colorado’s victory over No. 11 Tennessee.

Dates: Nov. 17-18, 20

Site: HTC Center, Conway, South Carolina

First-round matchups:

Colorado Buffaloes vs. UMass Minutemen
Murray State Racers vs. Texas A&M Aggies
Boise State Broncos vs. Charlotte 49ers
Loyola Chicago Ramblers vs. Tulsa Golden Hurricane

Team to beat: Texas A&M. After making a run to the NIT championship game last season, the Aggies are positioned to finish in the SEC’s top tier. Buzz Williams’ squad returned three of its top four scorers from 2021-22, including Henry Coleman III (13.5 PPG, 9.0 RPG), and added Wichita State transfer Dexter Dennis (12.0 PPG).

Sleeper team: Boise State. The offseason story centered on what the Broncos lost (Emmanuel Akot, Abu Kigab), but Marcus Shaver Jr. (16.0 PPG) is one of the top point guards in the country, and Tyson Degenhart (2021-22 Mountain West freshman of the year) is poised to take the next step in his development.

Player to watch: This will be a good opportunity for Tristan da Silva, a 6-foot-10 athlete who averaged 9.4 PPG and connected on 37% of his 3-point attempts last year, to prove he can anchor a Colorado team that lost its top three scorers in the offseason.

Something for the college hoops junkies: When he was at South Carolina, new UMass head coach Frank Martin finished top 50 in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency rankings in six of the past eight seasons. UMass has failed to achieve a top-50 mark for eight consecutive seasons.

Dates: Nov. 23-24

Site: Anaheim Convention Center Arena, Anaheim, California

First-round matchups:

Fresno State Bulldogs vs. Washington Huskies
Saint Mary’s Gaels vs. Vanderbilt Commodores

Team to beat: Saint Mary’s got a boost in April when Logan Johnson (10.7 PPG) announced that he would return for a fifth year, after leading the program to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Yes, the Gaels lost Tommy Kuhse and other standouts, but Randy Bennett’s track record suggests that the team will be competitive in the West Coast Conference again.

Sleeper team: Mike Hopkins has not accrued the momentum many had anticipated when he arrived at Washington, following his role as a Syracuse assistant, but transfers Keion Brooks Jr. (Kentucky) and Noah Williams (Washington State) hope to give the Huskies a chance to be competitive this season.

Player to watch: Brooks struggled to find his way at Kentucky, where he averaged 10.8 PPG last season. A fresh start in Seattle could help him showcase his potential.

Something for the college hoops junkies: Since the 2007-08 campaign, Randy Bennett’s Saint Mary’s squads have finished with at least 25 wins 11 times.

Armando Bacot gets the basket plus the foul

Dates: Nov. 24-27

Site: Moda Center/Veterans Memorial Coliseum/Chiles Center, Portland, Oregon

First-round matchups:

North Carolina Tar Heels vs. Portland Pilots
Iowa State Cyclones vs. Villanova Wildcats
UConn Huskies vs. Oregon Ducks
Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Michigan State Spartans

Team to beat: North Carolina. Yes, the news of G.G. Jackson’s decommitment from North Carolina has been a major headline this summer. But the Tar Heels return the key players from 2022’s national title game run, including Armando Bacot (22.0 PPG, 7.5 RPG), and add Northwestern transfer Pete Nance, a 6-10 forward who averaged 14.6 PPG and shot 45% from 3 last season. North Carolina will not only be the team to beat in Portland, the Tar Heels could be the team everyone is chasing once the NCAA tournament begins.

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Sleeper team: Collin Gillespie and Jay Wright are both gone. But first-year head coach Kyle Neptune begins the new era of Villanova basketball with a crew that counts on veterans Eric Dixon (18.3 PPG) and Caleb Daniels (16.7 PPG), along with five-star prospect and projected NBA draft lottery pick Cameron Whitmore, who is recovering from a preseason injury. Neptune boasts the talent to maintain the same pedigree the program enjoyed under Wright.

Player to watch: A key member of an Oregon squad that chases a Pac-12 title this season, Kel’el Ware, a 7-footer from North Little Rock, Arkansas, is projected to be the 11th pick next summer, per ESPN’s most recent 2023 mock draft.

Something for the college hoops junkies: Before transferring to Alabama this season, Mark Sears (19.6 PPG, 6.0 RPG and 4.1 APG at Ohio) helped the Bobcats keep turnovers to just 14.1% of their possessions, according to hooplens.com.

Armando Bacot gets the basket plus the foul

Dates: Nov. 24-27

Site: Veterans Memorial Coliseum/Moda Center/Chiles Center, Portland, Oregon

First-round matchups:

Duke Blue Devils vs. Oregon State Beavers
Florida Gators vs. Xavier Musketeers
Purdue Boilermakers vs. West Virginia Mountaineers
Portland State Vikings vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs

Team to beat: While a talented young Duke squad might need some time to mature under new head coach Jon Scheyer, Gonzaga and Drew Timme — a preseason All-American on every reputable list and a Wooden Award candidate — will be ready to put last season’s Sweet 16 loss to Arkansas behind them and make another run toward the program’s first national title. Chattanooga transfer Malachi Smith (10.0 PPG) boosts a Bulldogs offense that lost lottery pick Chet Holmgren in the NBA draft.

Sleeper team: The NIT championship run not only helped Xavier reboot after a rocky finish to its regular season, it also convinced the nucleus of that team to return — a group that includes Jack Nunge (15.5 PPG, 6.0 RPG) and Colby Jones (13.5 PPG, 7.0 APG). New head coach Sean Miller is also high on UTEP transfer Souley Boum, who averaged 19.8 PPG and shot 37% from beyond the arc last season.

Player to watch: Dereck Lively II and Dariq Whitehead are the top two recruits in the 2022 class according to ESPN, but Jeremy Roach (13.0 PPG) — a hero in Duke’s Final Four run last season — is the veteran who will play a significant role for Scheyer.

Something for the college hoops junkies: Purdue’s Zach Edey made 77% of his shots at the rim for Purdue last season, per hoop-math.com.

Kendric Davis sets up DeAndre Mitchell for the flush in the paint.

Dates: Nov. 24-25, 27

Site: ESPN Wide World of Sports, Orlando, Florida

First-round matchups:

Florida State Seminoles vs. Siena Saints
Ole Miss Rebels vs. Stanford Cardinal
Oklahoma Sooners vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers
Memphis Tigers vs. Seton Hall Pirates

Team to beat: Memphis lost key players to the transfer portal and Jalen Duren to the NBA, but the addition of Kendric Davis (19.4 PPG, 37% from 3 last season), a Wooden Award candidate after a stellar career at SMU, will give Penny Hardaway a chance to make another run at the NCAA tournament.

Sleeper team: Porter Moser has some continuity with Tanner Groves leading a group of returnees at Oklahoma, which also added Grant Sherfield (15.0 PPG) from Nevada.

Player to watch: Stanford coach Jerod Haase has quietly built a program that can compete for the Pac-12 title with Spencer Jones and Harrison Ingram, the top scorers from last season’s team. But Michael Jones, who averaged 11.8 PPG at Davison last season, could determine where the Cardinal land in the conference standings.

Something for the college hoops junkies: Poor shooters can become great shooters over time, too. Take Al-Amir Dawes (Clemson), one of three key transfers for Shaheen Holloway’s Seton Hall squad that could upset the field here and throughout the season. He finished 48-for-151 (nearly 32%) from beyond the arc as a freshman before improving to 84-of-211 (nearly 40%) in the same stat last season.

Dates: Dec. 22-25

Site: Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu, Hawai’i

First-round matchups:

Iona Gaels vs. SMU Mustangs
Seattle U Redhawks vs. Utah State Aggies
George Washington Colonials vs. Washington State Cougars
Pepperdine Waves vs. Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors

Team to beat: Rick Pitino’s Iona squad won 25 games last year on its way to a MAAC regular-season championship. Nelly Junior Joseph, a first team all-MAAC player, is back, and he will join Cruz Davis, a four-star recruit who originally committed to Oregon State, as Pitino aims to win a second consecutive league crown.

Sleeper team: Although Darrion Trammell transferred out, Cameron Tyson (33.5 PPG, 55.6% from 3) and Riley Grigsby (7.0 PPG) are back to help a new coach capture a share of the WAC crown in 2021-22.

Player to watch: Louisville transfer Samuell Williamson is now at SMU, where he hopes to match the hype that has followed him since he was a five-star recruit in the 2019 class.

Something for the college hoops junkies: In his 33 years as a head coach, Rick Pitino has just one losing season (1980-81, at Boston College).

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