Gary Parrish
College Basketball Insider
68 things to get excited about for the 2015-16 college hoops season
November 12, 2015 5:06 pm ET
1. FRIDAY NIGHT'S SCHEDULE
Where better to start than with opening night? Twenty-three teams ranked in the Associated Press poll will get their seasons underway -- including the reigning national champion Duke Blue Devils, who are hosting Siena at Cameron Indoor Stadium. That's the good news. The bad news is that there's not a single game between two ranked schools. So, as usual, college basketball is sort of limping into its season.
2. STEPHEN F. AUSTIN AT BAYLOR
Again, there are no games between ranked teams scheduled for Friday. But Stephen F. Austin at Baylor could be interesting, if only because it represents the start of Brad Underwood's third season at SFA, and he rarely lost in his first two. Underwood is 61-8 as a head coach with wins over VCU and Memphis, So be careful, Baylor. Be careful.
3. TEXAS VS. WASHINGTON /PITT VS. GONZAGA IN ... ASIA
Gonzaga and Pitt are playing in Japan. Meantime, Texas and Washington will play the first ever men's college basketball game in China early Saturday … though it'll still be Friday here in the States. It's the debut of Shaka Smart at UT. And, depending on how things unfold over the next four months, it could end up being the first game in the final season Lorenzo Romar spends at Washington. He hasn't made the NCAA Tournament since 2011.
4. THE VETERANS CLASSIC
I'm starting the season in the same spot I started last season -- here at the United States Naval Academy. I spent Thursday on campus, 33 miles east of Washington D.C., with North Carolina, Temple, Florida and Navy -- otherwise known as the four teams competing in this event. Just a neat experience in a variety of ways. And now, on Friday night, I'll get to watch the nation's preseason No. 1 team open its season … albeit shorthanded.
The Tar Heels take over the ship Simulator at the Naval Academy on Thursday. (CBS Sports)
5. MARCUS PAIGE'S RETURN FROM INJURY
North Carolina's leading returning scorer, Marcus Paige, fractured a bone in his hand earlier this month during a practice and is expected to be sidelined for a couple of more weeks, at least. And that's too bad. As Kobe Bryant has showed us, you can get 20 seasons of professional basketball if you're awesome enough. But you only get four seasons in college, at most, no matter what. And it's never cool when a Player of the Year candidate has to miss part of his final season with an injury. So get well soon, young man.
6. ANOTHER SHOOTER EMERGE AT UNC
Paige attempted 238 3-pointers last season and made 39.5 percent of them. But no other returning player averaged even one made 3-pointer per game or successfully connected from beyond the arc at least 37-percent of the time. And that'll probably have to change, one way or another, if North Carolina is going to win a national championship. Somebody else needs to shoot from deep and well.
7. THE ACC RACE
Yes, North Carolina is the favorite in the ACC. But Virginia returns most of the important pieces, including coach Tony Bennett, from last season's team that won the league, and Duke, as my friend Pete Gillen might say, is still Duke. Notre Dame and Miami should be good, too. So, sure, my money is on UNC, I guess. But it's reasonable to suggest at least two and maybe three or four other teams will challenge the Tar Heels in the ACC.
8. THE BIG 12 RACE
The only Power 5 league more up for grabs than the ACC is probably the Big 12 -- where Kansas, Iowa State and Oklahoma are ranked fourth, seventh and eighth in the preseason AP poll. In other words, this could go lots of different ways. And Kansas will really have to work to get that 12th consecutive Big 12 title.
It really is amazing that Kansas is even in a position to win a 12th consecutive league championship in this era of college basketball. And my prediction is this: Once KU's streak of conference titles is snapped, whenever that is, you'll never see another Power 5 school string conference titles this way again.
10. A RESOLUTION TO THE CHEICK DIALLO SITUATION
The highest-profile freshman who still isn't cleared to play this season is Kansas forward Cheick Diallo, the reigning Most Valuable Player of the McDonald's All-American game. The NCAA should rule one way or another soon, presumably. If the ruling is favorable, KU's odds of getting that 12th consecutive Big 12 title will increase.
11. A RESOLUTION TO THE TACKO FALL SITUATION
I am, as I wrote last week, in favor of the NCAA getting out of the initial academic eligibility business and allowing schools -- Stanford, Southern Miss, Tulsa, Illinois, Washington State, everybody -- to decide which student-athletes they're comfortable enrolling and allowing to play. UCF's Tacko Fall is among the reasons why. Fall, by all accounts, is an intelligent and ambitious student who is majoring in engineering. But the native of Senegal still hasn't been cleared. And, honestly, who benefits from making him sit? Again, by all accounts, Fall is an intelligent and ambitious student who seems genuinely interested in trying to use basketball to further his education and escape his impoverished background. Why do we have a system that makes it so difficult for him to do it?
12. SKAL LABISSIERE AT KENTUCKY
Skal Labissiere, like Diallo and Fall, had questions surrounding his eligibility all the way into October. But the Haitian immigrant was ultimately cleared, and he was terrific in UK's exhibitions. It's not crazy to think he could lead Kentucky to a national championship, then become the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. And if he isn't the No. 1 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, then the No. 1 pick will probably be …
13. BEN SIMMONS AT LSU
No, the SEC won't be the nation's best basketball league this season. But NBA scouts are going to spend a lot of time bouncing from one SEC campus to another because at least four schools have possible lottery picks. Kentucky and LSU are two such schools, obviously. But Mississippi State and Vanderbilt are also on that list thanks to the presence of Malik Newman and Damian Jones.
While I'm on the subject of the SEC, let's talk about Vanderbilt for a minute. The Commodores will have Jones in the middle, and that's great. But what's really going to make that offense work is how Vandy can surround him with four players -- Riley LaChance, Wade Baldwin IV, Luke Kornet and Matthew Fisher-Davis -- who shot at least 38 percent from beyond the arc last season. It's nice to have shooters like that.
15. INDIANA'S OFFENSE
Speaking of fun offenses … Indiana might have the most entertaining offense in college basketball this season, if only because the Hoosiers can play lineups featuring five guys who are comfortable beyond the 3-point line. I know because I watched them practice two times recently. I know because I was really impressed with …