The 2024-25 college basketball season officially starts regular season play on Monday, November 4. This is one of the most anticipated seasons in the history of the sport, especially for the state of Kentucky with two new head coaches leading the Cats and Cards. This was a rollercoaster of an off-season, so let’s discuss what happened.
Coaching Carousel
College basketball took a huge twist this offseason with many coaches signing at different colleges. The first big change started when Eric Musselman signed with USC after spending five years in Arkansas. This led to a domino effect with big-time programs signing new coaches: John Calipari to Arkansas, Mark Pope to Kentucky, Kevin Young to BYU. If you looked at this five years ago, you would’ve never believed John Calipari to Arkansas. The NIL in today’s game has allowed coaches like Calipari to recruit high-level talent at schools that aren’t considered “blue blood.”
Elite Recruiting Class of 2024
Many analysts and fans of the NBA have already predicted that the 2024 NBA draft from this past summer is one of the weakest classes of all time, largely because the freshman class of 2023 for college basketball underperformed. This year seems different, we should have a lot of young talent performing at a high level this season. Cooper Flagg, a reclass from Monteverde High School is a generational talent who looks like the best freshman, maybe even the frontrunner for ACC POTY. Flagg is most people’s early prediction for #1 pick in the NBA draft. Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, the number two and three ranked freshmen in the nation both signed with Rutgers and have shown out in the preseason. There are too many good freshmen to mention the rest but expect these “Diaper Dandies” to make a huge impact this season.
UConn Chases 3-Peat
Dan Hurley and the UConn Huskies are chasing their third straight title after beating San Diego State and Purdue the past two years. In 2022, the Huskies made a surprising championship run as a 4 seed. But last season, Hurley’s squad was the team to beat from the jump, and nobody could stop them. Dan Hurley was in talks with other teams this offseason, but his heart was always in Storrs, Connecticut. He turned down a six-year, 70-million-dollar contract from the Los Angeles Lakers. UConn lost a lot of talented players from last year including a star freshman (Stephon Castle), one of the best centers in the nation (Donovan Clingan), and elite guards Tristan Newton and Cam Spencer. They hit the recruiting trail hard this offseason, bringing in five-star Liam McNeeley and star transfer Aidan Mahaney from St Mary’s. Then, Alex Karaban withdrew from the NBA Draft and announced he was coming back to school which has this team right back in the mix to be a title contender once again.
Transfer Portal
We all know the impact created by the transfer portal being implemented back in 2018. Every year the portal continues to grow and expand. This year, that trend continues with the greatest tranter portal in its young history. Whether its superstars “testing the waters” to see where the money lies, following their head coaches to other schools, or getting an opportunity to shine somewhere else, the portal has gotten to a certain point of insanity. Programs can build a whole roster just using the transfer portal and still compete with every other school in the country. We saw it with Kentucky and Arkansas this offseason, no rebuild, just reload.
Some major names appeared in the portal this offseason. Johnell Davis (FAU to Arkansas), Oumar Ballo (Arizona to Indiana), Kadary Richmond (Seton Hall to St. John’s), Coleman Hawkins (Illinois to Kansas State), Great Osobor (Utah State to Washington), and many more. Those last two names, Coleman Hawkins and Great Osobor are great examples of how NIL has completely changed the landscape of college basketball. Hawkins and Osobor both took 2+ million-dollar NIL deals to enroll at their respective universities. These guys were both stars at their former colleges but opted out so they could “chase a bag.” Star players in both college basketball and football have opted out of a commitment and opted into a money-filled contract.
National Player of the Year Race:
Last season the National Player of the Year race was a one man show. Zach Edey captured the award back-to-back for the first time since Ralph Sampson (Virginia) in 1981-83. This year the field is wide open, here are some of the preseason favorites to take home College Basketball’s National Player of the Year.
Hunter Dickinson, Center, Kansas. 2023-24 stats: 17.9 pts, 10.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 54.8 FG%.
RJ Davis, Guard, North Carolina. 2023-24 stats: 21.2 pts, 3.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 42.8 FG%
Cooper Flagg, Forward, Duke. 2023-24 high school stats: 16.5 pts, 7.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists.
Mark Sears, Guard, Alabama. 2023-24 stats: 21.5 pts, 4.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists.
Ryan Kalkbrenner, Center, Creighton. 2023-24 stats: 17.3 pts, 7.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 64.6 FG%.
Johni Broome, Center, Auburn. 2023-24 stats: 16.5 pts, 8.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 54.8 FG%.
Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey
When you think of the state of Kentucky, college basketball is up there in terms of what we are famous for. University of Kentucky is known as the winningest program in college basketball history and University of Louisville has also had a rich history. The past few seasons have been the complete opposite. Kentucky has been pretty solid in the regular season, but can’t find a way to win in March. The Wildcats haven’t made it past the first weekend of March Madness since 2019, and Louisville hasn’t made the tournament since 2019. Losses to Saint Peters and Oakland in the big dance had the Kentucky fanbase fed up with Coach Calipari, so the Hall-of-Famer packed his bags and moved to Fayetteville. Mark Pope is now in town, reviving the program day by day hoping to bring Kentucky back to the gold standard.
Since 2017, when Rick Pitino was fired, Louisville hasn’t had a coach that they can find success with. Chris Mack had an overall record of 63-36 which didn’t satisfy Louisville basketball fans. He had a good team in 2020, but that season ended by Covid. The hire of Kenny Payne gave the fanbase some hope, as he was a known man around the state as a former player for the Cardinals and assistant coach for Kentucky, but it quickly turned into a big mistake. Kenny Payne was the worst hire in Louisville’s history. After winning just 12 games in his two seasons at Louisville they had no choice but to restart with a new coach.
Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey both got hired this offseason with hopes to turn the state of Kentucky around in terms of winning success. Many believe these coaches will be household names for years to come because fans are already impressed. Mark Pope is no stranger to Kentucky fans as he won a national championship at Kentucky as a player under coach Rick Pitino. We have seen similar starts to their careers, both are offensive-minded and bring a lot of passion and energy to their teams and fanbases. Kelsey from Charleston and Pope from BYU haven’t had much success in March Madness. However, they both come from smaller schools in which they won a lot of games. Pope and Kelsey both had strong off-seasons, bringing in older players who have produced at their old schools. Pope has also brought three of the top players in the country for Kentucky’s 2025 recruiting class. They have made a good impact on their basketball programs already. Both teams performed very well in their exhibition games, but none of that counts unless they can win when it matters.
Trinity’s Kentucky vs Louisville Matchup Predictions:
Adam Eaton ‘25: “Why are you asking me this question? Kentucky.”
Kyle Bibelhauser ‘25: “Kentucky because we own them, and it is at Rupp.”
Jack Davis ‘25: “Louisville because we have the passion and energy coming from Pat Kelsey.”
Jackson Supsky ‘25: “Louisville, we’re the best team in the country.”
Dr. Striegel: Kentucky
Luke Barrott ’25: Kentucky
Meyer Hitch ‘25: “Louisville, they should be number one in the country”
Sawyer Tapp ‘25: Kentucky
Owen Lanham ’25: Kentucky
Hot Takes:
Dr. Striegel: Indiana can make a Final Four run
Michael Hourigan ’26: Kentucky makes the Final Four
Mark Pope will have a better Kentucky career than John Calipari
Adam Eaton ‘25: “This is my hot take. After watching Kentucky play their first exhibition games, I can already tell you how Mark Pope is going to operate. Of course, this year, we don’t have the flashy talent of years past, but we have experience, and we have an organized offense. Everything that Pope ran against Kentucky Wesleyan worked. Maybe it’s a bit tougher to do this against D1 talent during regular season play, but I don’t think so. If the offense gets a man open, they will shoot, and there is a good chance it’s going in. Whether it’s Koby Brea, Jaxson Robinson, Andrew Carr, Otega Oweh, Travis Perry, Ansley Almonor, etc, everyone is threat to spark it from behind the 3pt line. If Pope can bring in talent, as he has already done, (5-star CG Jasper Johnson, 4-star G Acaden Lewis and 4-star C Malachi Moreno) Kentucky will be great. Pair talent with great coaching, that’s the recipe for a successful basketball program.
Kentucky will make it to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament
Jackson Supsky ’25 (certified Kentucky-hater): “They haven’t done it very consistently the past couple of years, although they have some of the best talents in the country. Yeah, so it’s pretty amazing to me. That’s my hot take.”
Kentucky finishes top 3 in the SEC and wins the SEC tournament
Kyle Bibelhauser ’25: “The media has been disrespecting Kentucky all offseason. Kentucky was picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll for the SEC. This is because Kentucky has a new coach with all new players, but the Cats will shock some people this season. I’m confident that Kentucky can win the SEC even though it is loaded this year, and many people believe it is the best conference in the country. I have been to the past two SEC tournaments in Nashville and witnessed BBN take over the arena just to get disappointed by the team’s performance. Mark Pope has promised to give it his all in the SEC tournament, unlike John Calipari. As a fan who will be in attendance, I’m excited.”
Rutgers makes the Elite Eight
Jack Davis ‘25: “Rutgers makes the Elite Eight because they have the best freshman duo in the country.”
Auburn makes the Elite Eight
Luke Barrott ‘25: “We have an explosive squad this year, Broome and Chad can get us there for sure.”
March Madness Champion Predictions
Kyle Bibelhauser ’25: “Guard play wins in March. North Carolina has the best backcourt in the nation, so I’ll take them.”
Jackson Supsky ‘25: “Louisville Cardinals because they are the best team in the country.”
Jack Davis ‘25: “Bama, they have one of the best players (Mark Sears), a good transfer class, and good returning players.”
Adam Eaton ’25: “Gonzaga, they have a favorable schedule and bring back their whole team. Bring in big time transfers as well. They’re also going to beat Baylor tonight.”
Owen Lanham ’25: Duke
Will Desensi ’25: Notre Dame
Barrett Buckley ’25: Baylor
Kyle Patchin ‘25: UConn
Henry Conway ‘26: Duke
Chase Hamilton ’25: UConn 3 peat
Dr. Striegel: Baylor
Sawyer Tapp ’25: Cincinnati Bearcats
Luke Barrott ’25: UConn
Meyer Hitch ’25: Baylor
