The biggest questions for the 2023-24 men’s college basketball season

Welcome to the Year of the Big Man in men’s college basketball. Maybe the Year of the Big Coaching Change, too. There are a lot of threads to follow once the 2023-24 season begins in 12 days.

Let’s start with the return of Zach Edey, last year’s Wooden Award winner who solidifies Purdue as the favorite in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers have a chance to avenge last season’s historic first-round upset loss to 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson and chase a national title. Virginia did the same thing five years ago. Maybe Purdue will, too.

In the ACC, Duke’s Kyle Filipowski, an AP preseason first-team All-American, decided to postpone his NBA dreams and return to lead a strong Blue Devils squad that will have to top North Carolina — determined to erase a disastrous 2022-23 season that ended without an NCAA tournament berth — and national semifinalist Miami to win the league championship and vie for the national title in Jon Scheyer’s second year at the helm.

Hunter Dickinson, the talented big man who anchored Michigan a year ago, and his new Kansas team might stand in the way, though. Dickinson’s arrival in Lawrence elevated the Jayhawks to the No. 1 spot in the AP preseason top 25 poll. “I want everybody to know we’re better than them,” he told ESPN at Big 12 media day earlier this month. Nothing will be easy in the Big 12, though, which adds last year’s AAC champion Houston along with three other schools this season, as realignment continues to redefine collegiate sports.

On the West Coast, Arizona and Oumar Ballo look like a team with Final Four hopes, while UCLA, Colorado and USC (with or without Bronny James) all seem capable of winning games in March, too. For the Pac-12, ending its 26-year national championship drought in its final year of existence as we know it would be a remarkable storyline — even if it does seem unlikely.

Finally, there will once again be noise around reigning national champion UConn, which hopes to win back-to-back NCAA titles for the first time since Florida in 2006 and 2007. The Huskies will face competition within the Big East from Marquette and Creighton, which are also contenders for the league’s fourth national title since 2016. The top story however remains Rick Pitino’s return, with the task of boosting St. John’s as well as Ed Cooley’s similar attempt to revitalize Georgetown.

These aren’t the only storylines we’ll be watching this season — there’s plenty surrounding the top conferences. ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, Joe Lunardi, John Gasaway and Myron Medcalf discuss some of the topics heading into the 2023-24 men’s college basketball season.

Jump to preseason conference winner predictions

Is the Big 12 the most dominant conference in the sport? Why or why not?

John Gasaway: All hail the Big 12, it is indeed the most dominant men’s Division I conference. For the past few years that statistical status was a product not only of national titles won by Baylor (2021) and Kansas (2022) but also of the league’s relatively svelte 10-team configuration. (In this case fewer members meant a lower probability of having multiple weak teams.) Now? The Big 12 has added four new programs and it’s still tops, thanks in large part to first-year member Houston.