25 storylines to watch for the 2022-2023 college hoops season

In case you somehow weren't aware, last season was Mike Krzyzewski's final season as head coach of the Duke Blue Devils. He reached another Final Four with the help of another No. 1 overall NBA pick (Paolo Banchero) before losing in heartbreaking fashion to rival North Carolina. While legends like John Wooden, Dean Smith, and Adolph Rupp have retired previously, this meticulous planning of Coach K's retirement could become the blueprint that other legendary coaches follow. What made Krzyzewski's retirement tour so divisive was due to how rare it was.

Jon Scheyer takes over at Duke, and it is like nothing changed -- at least before any games have been played. Duke brings in another crop of highly touted freshmen and plans to get them to become a cohesive unit by the time March comes. A year ago, we saw North Carolina replace their legendary coach with an assistant who was a former player, and things didn't start very smoothly. Despite a very up-and-down season, the Tar Heels clicked at the right time and made a run to the national championship game. Duke starts in a better place than UNC did and looks to create another Final Four run. They have the talent to pull it off.

While we had a year-long retirement tour for one Hall of Fame coach, another abruptly retired just weeks after his own Final Four run. Jay Wright retired as head coach of the Villanova Wildcats, not even a month after reaching his 4th Final Four and his third in 3rd in seven seasons. Wright retires with 642 wins, eight Big East regular season championships, five Big East tournament championships, and two National Championships. His retirement marks the third Hall of Fame college basketball head coach with multiple national championships in 13 months to retire (Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski) and may signal a trend that the old guard may not be able to totally adapt to the changes in college athletics. Or, it may just be the natural order of things. Williams and Krzyzewski were in their 70s, while Wright (who just turned 60) felt he didn't have "the edge" anymore.

In any case, Kyle Neptune ... who had previously served as an assistant for Wright before becoming Fordham's head coach last season ... takes over the Wildcats program and will attempt to continue its rebirth. 

Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe becomes the first reigning National Player of the Year to return to school since North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough did it in 2008. Hansbrough's Tar Heels would win the national championship that following season, something Tshiebwe and Big Blue Nation would love to duplicate.

The NIL opportunities for college athletes have allowed some of the better players to stick around longer instead of "striking while the iron is hot." For quite some time, a college player with a great season would feel compelled to declare for the NBA Draft because his stock was at its highest, and their ability to make money would be at its peak. That wasn't always the truth, and players would go undrafted or make a lot less than the riches that prospects associate with professional life. Tsihiebwe, who was likely a mid-to-late-first-round pick, has been able to line up plenty of NIL deals that make it reasonable to make great money as a college player while also working to improve his game and possibly his draft stock. He's joined by guys like Drew Timme, Armando Bacot, Jaime Jaquez, Kendric Davis, and many more who returned to school and making this one of the most experienced seasons we've seen in a long time. 

This seems like a yearly question now but is this finally the season Mark Few and Gonzaga bring a national championship home to Spokane? The Zags have gone 192-18 since the 2016-2017 season and reached two national championship games, losing to North Carolina and Baylor. They've produced high draft picks and are perennially at the top of the rankings but just haven't achieved the ultimate goal.

Gonzaga is stacked again. Drew Timme, Julian Strawther, and Rasir Bolton are back, while Malachi Smith transfers in from Chattanooga. If sophomore point guard Nolan Hickman can develop and take over Andrew Nembhard's role, the Bulldogs will be in the thick of the national championship race once again. 

Hubert Davis had quite a wild first year as head coach at North Carolina. He was tasked with modernizing the Carolina system that Roy Williams ran for 18 years, and that has been around since Dean Smith started over 60 years ago. The Tar Heels began the season 12-6 and had three losses by more than 20 points (including embarrassing blowouts to Miami and Wake Forest), and fans were concerned that Davis was in over his head and that the program ... who had struggled in Roy Williams' final two seasons ... was in trouble.

The Heels would go on to win 17 of their final 21 games, including two of the most memorable wins in program history -- beating Duke in Mike Krzyzewski's final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium and beating them again in the Final Four, ending Coach K's career. Along the way, they beat Baylor and UCLA, as well as dominated a St. Peter's team that everyone seemed to have problems beating. Four of the "Iron 5" return, as well as several key reserves, Northwestern transfer Pete Nance and a nice freshman class. Carolina is a buzz team entering the season, but are they ready to be the hunted? Is Hubert Davis the coach who lost fans' confidence in January or the one who made an epic run to the national championship game? We do know there will be "live-action" going on out there.

North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Duke, and UCLA all have national championship aspirations. North Carolina returns almost everyone from a national runner-up; Kansas is the defending national champion (albeit retooled); Kentucky returns the national player of the year and another great recruiting class; Duke actually has the top-rated recruiting class ... though with a new coach; UCLA still has much of the core that led them to the 2021 Final Four. Four of the five should begin the season ranked in the top ten, with the fifth hanging just outside.

This comes off a Final Four run where we saw three bluebloods (Kansas, North Carolina, Duke) reach the national semifinals, with Villanova ... one of the more successful programs of late ... also playing on the final weekend. We could see a similar scene in Houston next April. 

If Houston basketball was a stock, buy now if you haven't already. Their Final Four appearance in 2021 was not a fluke nor an outlier for a program that was largely forgotten since the glory days of Phi-Slamma-Jamma of the 1980s. The Houston Cougars under Kelvin Sampson is an elite program that next year will have the benefit of moving to the Big 12 conference and all that comes with it.

Sampson loves his teams to be physical and to pound the glass -- he wants to beat you up. He also loves running fresh guys out there and keeping high energy on the court at all times. That's a given, and he has a physical scorer in Marcus Sasser who can fill it up. This team can win it all, and that means they'd be able to do it in Houston -- host of the 2023 Final Four. 

To some people, Indiana has lost its status as the blueblood of college basketball. That happens when you haven't won a national championship in 35 years or been to a Final Four in 20 years. Former Hoosier standout Mike Woodson was hired to get the Hoosiers back to elite status, and he may have the team to do that right now. Trayce Jackson-Davis is one of the top returning big men in the country and is the best of four returning starters. Freshman combo guard Jalen Hood-Schifino should be plugged into the starting lineup to give Indiana a dynamic presence in the backcourt. Woodson wants to build a culture of defensive intensity, and he began laying the foundation for that last season. Indiana is one of the frontrunners to win the Big Ten this season, and Hoosier fans are excited to be back in the mix. 

After winning just one national championship over a 30-year span (including the Big 8 era), the last two national champions are from the Big 12. Baylor won its first national title in 2021, and Kansas won its 4th last April, making the Big 12 arguably the premier league in the country. Kansas and Baylor should be contenders once again, TCU is a rising program, and Texas and Texas Tech will be in the running as well. This conference is getting ready for some major changes, as Houston (which is now a top-tier program), Cincinnati, BYU, and UCF are joining in 2023, and Texas and Oklahoma will be leaving at some point. The league that was fighting for its life about 16 months ago has now become a power and only going to get better.

But can Kansas repeat? Well, they lost a ton of talent from last year's title squad, and the Jayhawks will retool around forward Jalen Wilson and point guard Dajuan Harris. It may take some time to figure out roles and rotations but expect Bill Self's team to be formidable when March rolls around. 

Basketball has become more of a shooter's game where stretching out defenses and dribble-driving it to the basket for a layup or a kick-out for three is the norm. The days of the dominant big man have seemingly gone away. Well, if you liked the old-school big man, then the 2022-2023 college hoops season may be for you.

We've already touched on National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe returning to Kentucky and Trayce Jackson-Davis back in Indiana. North Carolina's double-double machine Armando Bacot and Purdue's 7-4 tower Zach Edey will also be back for another season. Add in Gonzaga's Drew Timme, Creighton's Ryan Kalkbrenner, Michigan's Hunter Dickinson, and Florida's Colin Castleton, and this is a fantastic season for bigs. Duke freshman Dereck Lively II and Oregon's Kel'el Ware will likely impact freshman bigs.

This season, there will be 26 schools either changing conferences are moving to Division I. Pretty much all of them involve mid-major conferences, with the notable moves being James Madison, Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss moving to the Sun Belt and recent NCAA tournament darling Loyola Chicago leaving the MVC for the Atlantic 10.

One of the weirdest changes is Hartford, who left the America East Conference to become independent before transitioning to Division III in 2023-2024.

Here is the list of schools moving this year:

*Bryant (Northeast) to America East Conference

*Austin Peay (OVC) and Queens (DII) to ASUN Conference

*Loyola Chicago (MVC) to Atlantic 10

*Hampton, North Carolina A&T (both from Big South), Monmouth (MAAC), and Stony Brook (America East) to the Colonial Athletic Conference

*Mount St. Mary's (Northeast) to MAAC

*UIC (Horizon), Belmont, and Murray State (both from OVC) to Missouri Valley Conference

*Stonehill (DII) to Northeast Conference

*Little Rock (Sun Belt), Lindenwood, and Southern Indiana (both DII) to Ohio Valley Conference

*Lamar (WAC) and Texas A&M-Commerce (DII) to Southland Conference

*James Madison (Colonial), Marshall, Old Dominion, and Southern Miss (all from CUSA) to Sun Belt

*Southern Utah (Big Sky) and UT-Arlington (Sun Belt) to WAC

*Chicago State (WAC) and Hartford (America East) become independents.

Of course, some of the bigger realignment moves happen after this season. While Oklahoma's and Texas' move to the SEC and USC's and UCLA's moves to the Big Ten aren't planned to happen for a couple more years, the impact of those pending departures will have some effect on the current season. Imagine some of the hate UCLA will get as they play Pac-12 road games this season.

Of the schools that will be playing their final seasons in their conferences, most are actually intertwined. Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF are in their final year in the AAC before moving to the Big 12 (BYU is leaving the West Coast Conference for the Big 12 as well). Those openings in the AAC be filled by Conference USA's Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, Rice, UAB, and UTSA next season. Those C-USA defections mean that the league will welcome Jacksonville State and Liberty from the ASUN and New Mexico State and Sam Houston from the WAC next summer. Elsewhere, Campbell will leave the Big South for the Colonial Athletic Association after this season.

Let's go back to the future for a second. We cannot understate the significance of UCLA leaving the Pac-12. The fact that the program that has won more NCAA tournaments than any other school (11) will be leaving the "Conference of Champions" is so surreal that you think that somebody will step in and stop it. UCLA isn't leaving yet, but expect some interesting interactions as the Bruins begin to make their final trips around the league before heading to the Big Ten. And expect some opinions from Bill Walton about it. 

It's nice to see Thad Matta back in college basketball. If you remember, Matta and Ohio State mutually agreed to part ways due to his health ("drop foot") and how it was affecting his ability to coach and recruit. Five years later and he's back in college basketball and back at Butler. He played three seasons for the Bulldogs (two as a starter), served two stints as an assistant coach, and was Butler's head coach from 2000-2001. He left for Xavier, then after three years, landed at Ohio State, where he coached for 13 seasons.

A lot has changed at Butler since he last coached in Hinkle Fieldhouse. In 2000-2001, the Bulldogs were in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, which is now known as the Horizon League, and after a one-year stint in the Atlantic 10 in 2012-2013, the Bulldogs moved to the Big East ... where it has been ever since. They've reached two national championship games under Brad Stevens and have had one of the more dramatic resurgences in college basketball this century.  Ironically, when Matta left Ohio State, the Buckeyes hired Chris Holtmann away from ... Butler.

Of course, the big question is Matta's health. If his foot is truly healthy, he could get his groove back and change around Butler's fortunes. Time will tell on that, but seeing him back is great. Hopefully, he'll get Butler back.

Xavier's streak of solid head coaching hires that began in 1979 with Bob Staak ended when Travis Steele was dismissed this past March. Skip Prosser, Thad Matta, Sean Miller, and Chris Mack followed Staak and would also move on to bigger jobs, but Steele went just 70-50 with the Musketeers (he quickly found a new job up the road at Miami-OH).

His replacement is an old face: Sean Miller. Miller went 120-47 during his first five-season stint from 2004 to 2009. Miller's Muskies went to four NCAA tournaments and reached the Elite 8 in 2008. He would leave for Arizona, where he had both successes (five regular Pac-12 titles; three Pac-12 tournament titles) and failures (an NCAA investigation revealed violations tied to him). The failures led to his firing in 2021.

So the two reunite for a double-reclamation project. Xavier hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since 2018, the program's longest dry spell since Staak arrived in the late 1970s/early 1980s, and Miller wants to build back his image. This job is different this time around as Xavier is now in a premiere conference (Big East) than it was when he first was there (Atlantic 10), but he inherits an experienced team that won the NIT championship last season. 

Arkansas really overhauled its roster this summer. For starters, they lost all their starters and top two reserves from a team that reached the Elite 8 last year. Eric Musselman has brought in a ton of new talent: Transfers Trevon Brazile (Missouri), Jalen Graham (Arizona State), Ricky Council IV (Wichita State), and twins Makhi and Makhel Mitchell (Rhode Island), as well as freshmen Nick Smith, Anthony Black, Joseph Pinion, and Jordan Walsh. How will they fit? Who knows? Look for Musselman to mix and match lineups all year until he figures out a proper rotation. Expect the lone productive holdover, Davonte Davis, to take on a much larger role. If/when it gets figured out, Arkansas could reach the regional final for a third straight year. 

It's no secret that Louisville has been going through a series of messes for the last several years that has now produced five different head coaches (full-time or interim) since the 2016-2017 season. A blackmailing scandal involving former head coach Chris Mack and one of his former assistants led to a six-game suspension for Mack and, ultimately, his departure.

Enter Kenny Payne, the coach the fan base wanted and one the entire program believes can right the ship. Payne played at Louisville in the late 1980s, winning a national championship as a freshman in 1986. He was an assistant for John Calipari at Kentucky from 2010 to 2020 before a two-year stint as an assistant for the New York Knicks. So the Cal and NBA ties should help recruiting at a program that's had its fair share of obstacles of late. This proud program hasn't won an NCAA tournament game since 2017 and may find some growing pains in an improved ACC. But Payne has infused a ton of energy in a program that has hit some really hard times.

St. Peter's became the darling of the NCAA tournament last March, becoming the first 15-seed to reach the Elite 8. Obviously, next to nobody saw that coming but it lends the question: Who could be next season's St. Peter's?

It could be Iona, who is coached by Rick Pitino. Pitino's Gaels reached the NCAA tournament in 2021 and won the MAAC regular season title last season. They also have a big in Nelly Junior Joseph who could be trouble in the NCAA tournament. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi returns all five starters from a team that went to the 2022 NCAA tournament. Don't forget Oral Roberts, who still has Max Abrams filling up buckets all over the Summit League. If ORU can't win the Summit, perhaps South Dakota will with their stable of long range shooters. Grand Canyon University reached their first NCAA tournament in 2021 and head coach Bryce Drew has an outstanding backcourt of Jovan Blacksher Jr. and transfer Rayshon Harrison.

Or it could be someone from out of nowhere. Like St. Peter's.

Every year it seems that some Cinderella team happens in the NCAA Tournament, and all of a sudden, their coach becomes the hot name for open jobs in power conferences. Last year that Cinderella was St. Peter's, and that coach was Shaheen Holloway. After the Peacocks made it to the Elite 8 before losing to North Carolina, Holloway moved across the state and took over his alma mater, Seton Hall. It made sense, as Holloway was a great point guard at Seton Hall and was an assistant to Kevin Willard ... who left the Pirates to take over at Maryland. Seton Hall lost their top three scorers from last season, but this is still a talented team that can make the Tournament. Holloway knows the program, knows the area, and knows exactly what is needed to get the Pirates back to contending for Big East championships. 

Five years ago, the PK80 event in Portland became one of the top draws in all of college basketball. This year's PK85 event, which celebrates Nike co-founder Phil Knight's 85th birthday, is loaded. On the Invitational side, we get North Carolina vs. Portland, Villanova vs. Iowa State, Oregon vs. UConn, and Michigan State vs. Alabama. Wow! Then looking at the Legacy bracket, there's Duke vs. Oregon State, Xavier vs. Florida, Purdue vs. West Virginia, and Georgia vs. Portland State.

The women's Invitational bracket has Iowa State, Michigan State, North Carolina, and Oregon, while the Legacy bracket consists of Duke, Iowa, Oregon State, and UConn.

The event is two eight-team men's tournaments and two four-team women's tournaments that will be held on Thanksgiving and throughout the weekend using three venues: Moda Center (Portland Trail Blazers' arena), Chiles Arena (University of Portland) and Veteran's Coliseum.

Not all coaches get a year-long retirement tour when they leave a job -- most get fired. There is no shortage of candidates to be on the college basketball hot seat.

Front and center have to be Georgetown's Patrick Ewing. The Hoyas have been to one NCAA tournament during his five-year tenure, and that was due to an improbable Big East title run in 2021. It bottomed out last season, as the Hoyas went 6-25 last year and 0-19 in Big East play. Ewing is a Georgetown legend and someone who spent a lot of time paying his coaching dues to get this job, and it is sad to see it not working out.

Elsewhere, there are Arizona State's Bobby Hurley, Cal's Mark Fox, Clemson's Brian Brownell, Nebraska's Fred Hoiberg, NC State's Kevin Keatts, Northwestern's Chris Collins, Pitt's Jeff Capel, Stanford's Jerod Haase and Washington's Mike Hopkins sitting on varying levels of hot seats. If things don't improve then, changes could be made.

Let's also mention the possibility of some more retirements looming. Syracuse's Jim Boeheim is now the focus of everyone's when-is-he-gonna-hang-it-up focus. So are fellow ACC coaches Jim Larranaga (Miami), Leonard Hamilton (Florida State), and Mike Brey (Notre Dame). Who knows if we will get another stunning retirement next April?

We've already discussed the coaching changes at Duke, Villanova, Louisville, Xavier, and Butler, but there are quite a few other notable new coaches.

Mike White somewhat stunningly left Florida to become the new head coach at rival Georgia, replacing Tom Crean. Florida hired San Francisco's Todd Golden. Jerome Tang takes over for Bruce Weber at Kansas State. Fran Dunphy, who has already coached Philadelphia schools Penn and Temple, will take over at LaSalle ... making him the first person to be the head coach at three different Big 5 schools.

Frank Martin was fired by South Carolina and is now at UMass. Kevin Willard left Seton Hall for Maryland ... and was replaced by St. Peter's Shaheen Holloway. Chris Jans replaces Ben Howland at Mississippi State. Former Indiana head coach Archie Miller heads up Rhode Island. Former UCLA and St. John's head coach Steve Lavin will get another head coaching gig -- San Diego.

Matt McKillop will take over for his father, Bob, at Davidson. Bob McKillop spent the last 33 years as head coach of the Wildcats. Florida Gulf Coast hired former Penn State head coach Pat Chambers. Former NBA player Mo Williams takes over at Jackson State. Another former NBA point guard, Rod Strickland, is now the head coach at Long Island University. 

While this seems like a blue blood kinda season, the Bluejays could end up being the national champs. Creighton was one of 2021-2022's most pleasant surprises -- finishing 4th in the Big East, reaching the conference title game, and beating San Diego State in the tournament before losing to eventual champion Kansas in the second round. Much of that team returns, including center (and Big East Defensive Player of the Year) Ryan Kalkbrenner and last year's freshman of the year, Ryan Nembhard. The Bluejays added one of the top transfers ... South Dakota State shooter Baylor Scheierman ... who can fill it up from anywhere. With a lot of changes going on in the Big East -- Villanova, Xavier, Seton Hall and Butler have new head coaches and regular season champ Providence losing four of its top five scorers -- Creighton has a great opportunity to capture their first outright Big East title. 

Last year it finally all came together for the Gamecocks. Aliyah Boston was an unstoppable force and the latest women's basketball star to lead South Carolina to their second national championship since 2017. Since 2013, the Gamecocks have gone 299-47 and reached eight Sweet 16s, four Final Fours, and two national championships. Boston is back, and South Carolina brings in one of the top recruiting classes in the country. This is a program that has arrived. Dawn Staley is staking her claim as one of the top coaches in America and may have South Carolina on the verge of being the next dynasty in women's basketball. 

Now, I asked if they could be the next UConn. UConn last won a national championship in 2016 -- their longest title drought since the Huskies won their first championship in 1995. It isn't like UConn has fallen off -- they've reached the last 14 Final Fours (that's insane) and lost to the Gamecocks in last year's final. But Paige Bueckers tearing her ACL is a huge blow to the Huskies and to the season in general. With three other starters headed off to the WNBA, UConn's streak could come to an end. 

Don't you love when basketball games are played in weird places? Stanford and Wisconsin will face off at the Milwaukee Brewers' baseball stadium, American Family Field. The "Brew City Battle" will see the Badgers face the Cardinal in men's hoops while Wisconsin's women's team will take on Kansas State in the doubleheader. This was last pulled off in 2015 when San Diego State and San Diego faced off at the Padres' Petco Park in the Bill Walton Basketball Festival.

Gonzaga and Michigan State will face off on an aircraft carrier. The USS Abraham Lincoln will play host to the Zags and Spartans on Veterans Day. If you remember, Michigan State and North Carolina first played on a carrier back in 2011, which was so popular that more aircraft carrier games were scheduled the following year. Two of those games, however, were canceled due to poor court conditions. A game between Florida and Georgetown in Jacksonville was stopped at halftime due to condensation, and an Ohio State-Marquette game was called off altogether.