Louisville: It’s the dawn of a new era for the Louisville Cardinals. After a disappointing 2020-2021 season where the Cardinals just missed out on an NCAA tournament bid, the bottom fell out entirely. This season saw a 13-19 record for the Cardinals and the mid-season firing of head coach Chris Mack. With the much anticipated hiring of Kenny Payne as new coach during the offseason and the end of the IARP investigation that has haunted the Cardinals for several years, it seems the Cardinals are finally ready to leave behind the sins of the late 2010s and enter a new era. The start of that new era, as it turns out, may be a bit rocky. A large amount of roster turnover and failure to acquire many of the high profile transfers this off season has left the roster with less talent than Cardinals fans may be used to, especially at the point guard position. This was on full display in an ugly 57-47 exhibition loss to Lenoir-Rhyne, a team that went 10-18 last year at the Division 2 level. Louisville narrowly avoided a second disaster a few days later, defeating Division 2 Chaminade 80-73. While a rebuild was deeply necessary for the Louisville program, this upcoming year may not be pleasant for Cardinal fans.  

North Carolina: On February 16th, 2022, the North Carolina Tar Heels suffered an embarrassing loss to ACC bottom feeder Pitt, seemingly putting a final nail in the coffin of Hubert Davis’s first season as the Tar Heels’ head coach. Since then, the Tar Heels won 5 in a row to end the regular season, including spoiling Coach K’s final home game as Duke head coach. Afterwards, they went on an unlikely run to the national championship game as an 8 seed, highlighted by a defeat of arch-rival Duke in the Final Four that ended Mike Kryzewski’s career. And despite the disappointing loss to Kansas in the championship game, they now return 4 starters for the 2022-2023 season and open as the preseason Number 1 team in the country. And while the loss of Brady Manek would leave a major hole, North Carolina found a seemingly perfect replacement in Northwestern transfer Pete Nance. The Tar Heels are expected to win the ACC and once again compete for the national championship.

Gonzaga: There is only one goal for the 2022-2023 Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Bulldogs have accomplished quite a lot over the last few seasons. Gonzaga has been to the Sweet 16 seven straight times, and has been in the title game 2 of the last 5 tournaments. They have won the West Coast Conference 10 years in a row. There is just one thing that Gonzaga has yet to accomplish, which is finally get over the hump and win a National Championship. The Bulldogs were one win away from the first undefeated college basketball season since 1976 and possibly being proclaimed the best team ever in 2021, before being run off the court by Baylor in the title game. They once again returned a great roster in the 2021-22 season, led by unicorn NBA prospect Chet Holmgen, before a shocking loss to Arkansas in the Sweet 16 of the tournament. This year, the Bulldogs have opened up as the Number 2 team in the country, led by returning staple and National Player of the Year candidate Drew Timme. It won’t take long to see the quality of this Gonzaga team, as they open with a murderer’s row of a nonconference slate, with games vs. Michigan State, at No. 12 Texas, vs. No. 4 Kentucky, the Phil Knight Legacy tournament that includes several top teams, vs. No. 5 Baylor, and at No. 20 Alabama all before the beginning of the new year. Time will only tell if this is the year Gonzaga can finally attain the national championship trophy they have been seeking for over a decade.

Houston: After impressive finishes in the last three NCAA tournaments, Kelvin Sampson’s Houston Cougars look poised to have their best team in a long time, entering the year as the Number 3 team in the country. After missing most of the 2021-2022 season, heralded guard Marcus Sasser returns to the Cougars as an All American candidate, highlighting a roster that retains most of the pieces of an Elite Eight Team. The Cougars have a clear path to a top seed in the tournament, as they face a relatively easy conference slate in their last year in the American Athletic Conference. If all goes right, Houston could see their best team since the days of Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwan. 

Kansas/Baylor: The Kansas Jayhawks and the Baylor Bears share quite a bit in common. They are both contenders in the Big 12 conference. They have won the last two national championships, with Baylor taking home the crown in 2021 and Kansas winning last season. Both lost significant talent to the NBA Draft, with Jeremy Sochan of Baylor and Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun of Kansas being drafted in the first round. They are both coached by some of the best coaches in the country, with Scott Drew turning a Baylor program in disarray into a national power and Bill Self cementing himself as possibly the best coach in the sport with his second title. And both teams enter the 2022-2023 tied for 5th place in the country. Kansas and Baylor are the frontrunners to win what is possibly the best conference in the country in the Big 12, with Jalen Wilson assuming the role as Kansas’s top threat after the departure of much of the title team and Baylor being led by returning leading scorer Adam Flagler and NBA prospect Keyonte George. Both will look to repeat recent glories and once again win a national championship.

Duke: For the first time in over 40 years, the Blue Devils will have to adjust to life without Coach K on the sidelines. There is quite a bit of unknown for the preseason Number 7 team in the country, with Jon Scheyer taking the coaching mantle from Mike Kryzewski. In a much more familiar phenomenon for Duke at this point, they will also be without much of last year’s team. Four starters of the uber talented squad that took Duke to the final four were drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft. For this year’s team, the Blue Devils do bring back point guard Jeremy Roach and a very talented freshmen class that includes 3 of the top 5 rated recruits in the 2022 class. They are the top threat to challenge arch-rival North Carolina for control of the ACC, and are a likely candidate for a deep run into the NCAA tournament. 

UCLA: After a slightly disappointing follow-up to a surprising 2021 Final Four run in the 2022 season, Mick Cronin’s UCLA Bruins begin the 2022-2023 season ranked Number 8 in the country and once again as favorites to win the Pac-12 conference. While Johnny Juzang moved on to the NBA, the Bruins return two veterans of the past two years, forward Jaime Jacquez and point guard Tyger Campbell, both of whom are Pac-12 Player of the year candidates. This is in addition to an impressive Freshman class, which includes a talented wing in Amari Bailey and an acclaimed center in Adem Bona. This combination of veteran leadership and freshman talent has led to the Bruins being the clear favorites in the Pac-12 conference and a contender to win the Pac 12’s first national title since 1998. 

Tennessee: Despite a strong finish to the 2021-2022 season, with Tennessee winning their first SEC tournament since 1979, the ghosts of NCAA tournaments past once again confronted both the Tennessee Volunteers and head coach Rick Barnes, with Tennessee being upset by Michigan in the second round. Despite losing Kennedy Chandler to the NBA draft, the Volunteers come into the 2022-2023 ranked Number 11 in the country with a strong veteran roster, led by guards Zakai Zegler and Santiago Vescovi. Tennessee is seen as one of the three main contenders in the SEC, joining Arkansas and Kentucky as national champion hopefuls. These hopes were only bolstered by a dominant 99-80 exhibition victory over preseason No. 2 Gonzaga. This may be the best chance in a long time for the Tennessee Volunteers to finally make a Final Four and even win a national championship and for head coach Rick Barnes to finally shed his reputation of underperforming in the tournament. 

Indiana: In a year where the Big Ten conference seems more wide open than ever, it may finally be time for the Indiana Hoosiers to return to glory. After 5 seasons of mediocrity and 3 different head coaches, the Hoosiers were finally able to make an (albeit brief) NCAA tournament appearance for the first time since 2016. And in Mike Woodson’s second year as head coach, they are somewhat of a de facto preseason favorite to win the Big Ten conference, ranked Number 13 in the country and returning most of their production from their previous year. The most notable returning player is star center Trayce Jackson-Davis, who is a leading candidate for both Big Ten and National Player of the Year. This Hoosier team will be tested early, as they host No. 1 North Carolina at Assembly Hall on November 30th, but they remain probably the most clear contender in the Big Ten conference.

On November 6th, the Transylvania University Pioneers Volleyball team clinched the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament title for the fourth year in a row, defeating the Mount St. Joseph University Lions in the championship game. With this win, the Pioneers, who are currently ranked #18 in the country, will advance to the NCAA Volleyball Tournament. 

The Pioneers, 9-0 in conference and 23-5 overall, entered the HCAC tournament as the number one seed, having secured the best conference record during an October 26th showdown with Mount St. Joseph, who at the time was also undefeated in conference. In the semifinal round, the Pioneers faced off against the Rose-Hulman Fightin’ Engineers. Despite a close first set, the Pioneers would eventually defeat Rose-Hulman 3-0, with Madison Sweeney and Kayden Holcomb both leading the team with 9 kills a piece. The Pioneers would advance to the championship and a rematch with the number two seeded Mount St. Joseph Lions. The Pioneers came out swinging in the first set, winning it 25-14, before putting the Lions away by winning each of the next two sets 25-12, earning a clean sweep and the conference championship

The 3-0 defeat of Mount St. Joseph marked the 6th consecutive game where the Pioneers swept their opponent 3-0, a streak that dates back to an October 23rd match at Anderson University. The Pioneers also swept the conference awards, with coach Amy Bamore winning Coach of the Year, Junior Grace Ward winning Player of the Year, and Freshman Isabella Myers winning Newcomer of the Year. The Pioneers would also take home several of the tournament honors, with Karrington Jackson, Madison Sweeney and Grace Ward making the all tournament team, and Ward also taking home tournament MVP. 

By winning the tournament, the Pioneers have secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Volleyball Tournament. The Pioneers, now ranked #18 in the country, will host a regional of the tournament, with Transylvania’s first match being on Thursday, November 10th against the Randolph-Macon College Yellow Jackets at 8:00 P.M in the Beck Center. Transylvania will host the following two rounds of the regional on the following Friday and Saturday, and if the Pioneers advance that far, they will be re-seeded into the Quarterfinals, which begin November 16th.

On November 3rd, the Kentucky Wildcats defeated the Kentucky State Thoroughbreds 111-53 in the final exhibition game for the Kentucky men’s basketball team before the start of the regular season on Monday, November 7th versus Howard University. The offensive showing by the Wildcats was doubly impressive considering the fact that the two returning starters from last year’s team, reigning National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe and back to back SEC assists leader Sahvir Wheeler, were out for the game with minor injuries. The Wildcats are one of the several teams in the country that have returned several key pieces for this season and have legitimate ambitions of competing for a national title. 

After a somewhat underwhelming performance in their first exhibition, a 56-38 victory over Missouri Western State, the Wildcats came strong out of the gate for this exhibition. After Kentucky State scored the first basket of the game, the Wildcats would go on a 32-5 run for the next 8 minutes of the game, ultimately taking a 61-25 lead into the second half, scoring more in the first half then in the entirety of the first exhibition game. The Wildcats would take their foot off the gas a bit in the second half, although they would still manage to break the century mark, coming away with a 111-53 victory. 

While the new starting lineup of Cason Wallace, CJ Frederick, Chris Livingston, Jacob Toppin and Lance Ware was impressive, the leading scorer for the Wildcats would be Senior Antonio Reeves, who transferred to Kentucky from Illinois State during the offseason. Reeves would score 23 points, shooting 50% both in total and beyond the arc, while coming off the bench.  During a postgame interview, Reeves was very complimentary of the Freshmen on the team, saying, “They work hard everyday. I see them going 100% everyday. They even teach me stuff, like you [interviewer] said they’re beyond their years. Those guys are hard workers and they showed that during the game.” Freshmen Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston had impressive nights, scoring 12 and 14 points respectively. And Freshman center Ugonna Onyenso, while not lighting up the box score offensively, showed flashes of a future defensive stalwart, with 11 rebounds and 4 shots blocked.

Unfortunately, the reason a new starting lineup was needed was the fact that the top returning scorers from last year’s Wildcat team, Oscar Tshiebwe and Sahvir Wheeler, were sidelined due to injury. Tshiebwe, the reigning National Player of the Year and a projected All American, is still rehabbing from a minor knee procedure that he underwent in October. Head coach John Calapari has repeatedly emphasized the minor nature of the surgery, which was described as a cautionary measure, and in an interview after the exhibition said that they are continuing to hold Tshiebwe out simply as a cautionary measure. On the other hand, Sahvir Wheeler is continuing to deal with what has been described as a lower leg injury he suffered during the first exhibition against Missouri Western State. Calapari has described the injury as “short-term”, though a timeline for return remains unclear. Neither Tshiebwe nor Wheeler are expected to play in Kentucky’s first two games of the season against Howard and Duquesne, setting the November 15th game against Michigan State in Indianapolis as a possible return date for the two veteran players.

The Wildcats, ranked preseason No. 4 in the country, face a difficult non-conference slate to start the year. They face the Michigan State Spartans on November 15th as a part of the Champion’s Classic. A major test on the road comes five days later on the 20th, when they travel to Spokane, Washington to face the No. 2 Gonzaga Bulldogs. They face a pair of daunting neutral site games when they travel to London on December 4th to face the No. 22 Michigan Wolverines, and then travel to Las Vegas on December 17th to face the No. 8 UCLA Bruins. Finally, they wrap up the non-conference slate when they host No. 5 Kansas in Rupp Arena on January 28th. This is in addition to the SEC conference, where they are expected to take home the regular season crown over other contenders such as the Arkansas Razorbacks and Tennessee Volunteers. Ultimately, the one and only goal for the Wildcats this year will be to wash away the stench of last year’s disappointing finish and win the program’s ninth national championship.