Yes, it is still football season. Fall weather is officially upon us. However, basketball is right around the corner. In fact, the college basketball season officially tips off in just two weeks. Kentucky fans have already been treated to Big Blue Madness and the Blue-White Event. Now, this week, the ‘Cats will host Kentucky Wesleyan for an exhibition matchup. Additionally there will continue to be more charity exhibition games, scrimmages, and much more across the college basketball landscape.
Then, on Monday, November 4th the real games begin.
In honor of hitting the 14-day-out mark, let’s take a look at five more of the biggest storylines entering the 2024-2025 season. Every five days we will release five more headlines and ultimately reach a total of 25 when the season begins on the 4th of November. As Kentucky Sports Radio’s resident college basketball junkie, I will have plenty of other preview content, including my annual College Basketball Manifesto, over the next few weeks. It is almost here, folks!
As Jon Rothstein would say: And Here. We. Go.
Freshmen to Watch
The addition of Name, Image, and Likeness, along with the transfer portal, has made college basketball older than ever. A returning trio of Hunter Dickinson, RJ Davis, and Mark Sears headline the preseason First Team All-American list with nearly 400 combined games under their belt. Getting old and staying old has overtaken the one-and-done philosophy for even some of the top programs. However, young talent is still exciting and there are plenty of freshmen who will make a major impact on the national landscape this winter. The 2024 was class wasn’t overly talented, but there are some high-profile names to know. Here are some of the best freshmen in the country that you’ll want to follow this year.
- Ace Bailey (Rutgers). You don’t typically think of elite freshmen and Rutgers Basketball. However, Coach Steve Pikiell brought it On3 #2 prospect Ace Bailey and #3 Dylan Harper. If anyone is going to compete with Flagg to be the #1 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft it will be Bailey. He was excellent in Rutgers’ charity exhibition game against St. John’s looking the part of a future star. Bailey is so smooth athletically, fluid with the ball in his hands, and can make any shot on the floor.
- VJ Edgecombe (Baylor). Edgecombe is next up in a lineage of elite freshman guards to play for Coach Scott Drew at Baylor. The 6’4″ two-way standout is a perfect fit for the defensive interesting that the Bears demand. He should be a starter from day one and certainly has the potential to be an All-Big 12 performer this season.
- Cooper Flagg (Duke). The nation’s top prospect, and projected #1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Flagg enters as one of the most anticipated freshmen in a long time. What makes Flagg so special is how high his floor is. A 6’9″ forward, he will immediately be an impact defender across several position for Duke. He also rebounds at a high-level and is a good facilitator offensively. It obviously remains to be seen whether he can live up to All-American hype, but it is a very safe bet to say he will be one of Duke’s best players from day one.
- Liam McNeeley (UConn). The two-time defending national champions have quite a bit of production to replace. Stephon Castle and Donovan Clingan were NBA lottery picks while Cam Spencer went in the second round. Tristen Newton is on a two-way deal with the Indiana Pacers. That means that freshman Liam McNeeley will be thrown into the starting lineup and expect to contribute at a high-level right away. How ready he is will go a long way to answer the question of whether or not the Huskies are a viable contender for a three-peat.
- Jayden Quaintance (Arizona State). This was a heck of a recruitment to follow. A super young prospect, Quaintance reclassified from 2025 to 2024 where he remained a Top 10 prospect and eventually spurned the blue bloods signing with Coach Bobby Hurley at Arizona State. At 6’10” and 225 pounds he certainly has the physicality for the college game and is a truly special talent. The Sun Devils aren’t expected to be very good, but you’ll see Quaintance likely be their best player right away.
Maui Invitational Preview
There are four Top 11 teams in this year’s Maui Invitational including a heavyweight first round matchup between #5 Iowa State and #11 Auburn. Among the unranked teams, Michigan State is expected to be very competitive this season while Memphis never goes long without a storyline. Colorado and Dayton went to the Sweet 16 and Round of 32 respectively last season and certainly won’t be pushovers. As always, this Thanksgiving week tournament will serve as a launching off point for the college basketball season.
EvanMiya’s 10,000 Season Simulations
Our college basketball community has so many really smart people. Evan Miyakawa is one of the best and brightest when it comes to using analytics and doing fun things with numbers. He ran 10,000 season simulations to determine the various ceilings and floors of every team in the country.
As Evan said himself, teams with new coaching staffs and/or high roster turnover generally will have more variance between their ceiling and floor. That certainly proved to be true with programs such as Arkansas, Baylor, Duke, Kentucky, and Michigan having high levels of uncertainty. Meanwhile, programs like Houston generally stick pretty close to their preseason projection regardless of how many simulations you run.
It was also interesting that across Evan’s 10,000 simulations, only six teams had a ceiling finish of #1 in the country. Alabama, Duke, Gonzaga, Houston, Iowa State, and Kansas were those teams. According to the FanDuel Sportsbook, Gonzaga is the longest shot of those six to win the title with current odds of +2000.
(Not So) Secret Scrimmage Season
What happens behind closed doors doesn’t necessarily behind closed doors. That is certainly true with the likes of Trilly Donovan out in the universe. Aside from these secret scrimmages there have been several high-profile televised games as well. St. John’s came back in the second half to defeat Rutgers 91-85. North Carolina beat Memphis 84-76 on the back of 33 points from Seth Trimble. Xavier put it to Dayton 98-74. There will be several more exhibition games and charity scrimmages to come this week. Below you can peruse some of the “verified” scrimmage scores curated by Trilly Donovan himself.
***North Texas actually defeated SMU 82-78***
Blue-White Event Takeaways
Kentucky fans have faced a rollercoaster of emotions each of the last two weekends. Back on Friday, October 11th Big Blue Madness filled Rupp Arena and had excitement for the season reach a fever pitch. However, then Kentucky Football lost to Vanderbilt at home on Saturday. It was a similar sequence of events this past weekend. The Blue-White Event took place at Memorial Coliseum on Friday night with our first real look at this team in 5-on-5 action. Then, on Saturday, the Wildcats were embarrassed down in The Swamp. In order to forget about football, here are some takeaways from the Blue-White Event.
- Andrew Carr is who we thought he was. If you created a forward to play for Coach Mark Pope in a laboratory you’d end up with someone similar to Carr. The 6’11” four-man started the contest off by settling behind a staggered double screen as his defender went up through and knocked in a three. He went on to finish with 25 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. Most impressively, Carr shot an incredible 6-11, 3-4, 10-10 from the field.
- Buy all of the available Collin Chandler stock. It would be unfair to start to throw around Reed Sheppard and Rob Dillingham comparisons. However, whatever your expectations were for Chandler, it is time to ratchet them up. The 6’4″ freshman guard scored 19 points on 7-10, 4-7, 1-2 shooting and was the “White” team’s go-to scoring option at the Elam Ending. He looks like the best NBA prospect on Kentucky’s team.
- Lamont Butler is the straw that stirs the drink. 11 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, and elite defense. That is what you got from Lamont Butler on Friday night and what Coach Mark Pope will be asking of him all season long. Not only is Butler quite possibly the best perimeter defender we’ve seen at Kentucky in two decades, but he also is an outstanding playmaker off of the dribble offensively. The toughness and leadership qualities he brings to the table can’t be overstated either. Kentucky will goes as Lamont Butler does this season.
