College basketball season is finally here! With a late start to the season, nearly every single D1 college basketball team is beginning the season on Wednesday, the first day in which games can be played. With plenty of great matchups, here are three we think you should tune into:
#22 UCLA @ San Diego State; 10:30 pm EST, CBSSN
This West coast showdown features a Pac-12 favorite in UCLA, and a top mid-major in SDSU. With an eye-popping 30-2 record last season, the Aztecs had a very real chance to reach the Final Four. They bring back three upperclassmen, but did lose three from last year’s squad, and bring in Che Evans, a four-star recruit by ESPN. The Bruins will be led by 6’9 senior Chris Smith, who has played in every game for UCLA the past three seasons. Expect a high-scoring contest, though it may not be pretty; neither of these teams has practiced together for more than six weeks, and each lost a fair amount of players from last season.
Memphis @ St. Mary's: 2 pm EST, ESPN
This 3:30 pm contest in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, will pit two mid-majors against each other. St. Mary’s is, as always, continuing to work towards the day in which they can unseat Gonzaga as the best in the West Coast Conference. The road begins Wednesday, as Memphis, coached by former NBA star Penny Hardaway, has a competitive team, ready for anything. Look out for Memphis’ DJ Jeffries, who missed the last 12 games of the 2019-20 season with a knee injury. He will be the Tigers’ go-to scorer, although they also have Landers Nolley II, who led Virginia Tech in scoring last season.
Rhode Island @ Arizona State: 7 pm EST, ESPN
You may be looking at this, wondering why I selected this as one of the top games on Wednesday. Well, both of these squads have been solid in recent years, we’ll see a clash between a West region team and an east region team, but that’s not all. Due to Baylor head coach Scott Drew testing positive for Covid-19 Sunday, Baylor dropped out of the Empire Classic, and a search began for a fourth team. Enter Rhode Island. The Rams will play games on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, the latter two as part of the Air Force Reserve Classic. Interestingly enough, Arizona State’s head coach is Bobby Hurley, and Rhode Island’s former coach, who left to take the job at UConn this season, is Danny Hurley. Rhode Island’s team this year was built by Hurley, and has the talent to take down a power program like Arizona State. It should be an intriguing matchup. One that was never supposed to happen, yes, but in this era, we’re beginning to learn how to live with things changing on a dime, a small example beginning in sports.
Cancellations/Postponements so far (from ESPN). Games cancelled unless otherwise noted:
MATCHUP
CSU Fullerton
San Diego
Prairie View A&M
Northwestern
Point Park
Robert Morris-Postponed
Iona
Fordham
#2 Baylor
#18 Arizona State
Gardner-Webb
#9 Duke- Postponed
South Dakota State
#11 Creighton
Charlotte
#12 Tennessee
Eastern Washington
#20 Oregon- Postponed
Central Arkansas
Ole Miss
Bellarmine
Chattanooga- Postponed
Jackson State
Arkansas St
Northern Arizona
Arizona
Xavier LA
Lafayette
Colorado Christian
Denver
Brescia
Murray State
Detroit Mercy
Richmond- Postponed
Wichita State
Utah State
Portland State
Washington
Teams that have cancelled the season entirely:
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