2024-25 College Basketball Preview: 10 Storylines to Follow

Ross Kelly

By most accounts, college basketball held its first-ever season in 1895, thus making the 2024–25 college basketball season the 130th in its history. It tips off on Monday, Nov. 4, and lots has transpired since the UConn Huskies cut down the nets for the second year in a row back in April.

Top players went off to the NBA, big-name coaches changed schools, and even several programs changed conferences. While college basketball often gets overlooked until March Madness rolls around each year, here are 10 of the biggest storylines to keep in mind ahead of the 2024–25 NCAA basketball tipoff on Monday.

Kansas Starts at No. 1, but Where Will It Finish?

This is the fifth time the Jayhawks are the top ranked team in the preseason AP Poll, but they've never advanced past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament in any of the previous four. Last year was a struggle as Kansas went 23–11, with the 11 defeats being the most in 35 years. Coach Bill Self leaned more so on the transfer portal than incoming freshmen, landing Zeke Mayo, who was the Summit League Player of the Year in 2023–24 to pair with preseason All-American selection in Hunter Dickinson.

Duke's Youth Movement

After landing four 5-star recruits—including the No. 1 overall prospect in Cooper Flagg—the Blue Devils have the top-ranked incoming freshmen class in the nation. They'll be expected to contribute right away as Jon Scheyer lost more than 80 percent of his team's scoring from a year ago. Duke has a difficult non-conference schedule, including matchups with Arizona, Kentucky, and Kansas—all before Thanksgiving. The hope is that will help prepare the frosh for the ACC schedule but you have to go back a decade to find the last freshmen-heavy team to prevail at the end of March Madness, and that team was the 2015 Duke Blue Devils.

Leaving the Cats for the Hogs

After 14 up and down seasons in Lexington, Ky., John Calipari headed about 600 miles west to coach the University of Arkansas. There will be less of a spotlight on him, which likely played a huge role in his move, but Coach Cal has a monumental task as Arkansas returns only one scholarship player. Calipari has brought in seven transfers and six incoming freshmen, so he'll have to work his magic to get them all on the same page, and he won't have much time as the Hogs play No. 8 Baylor in the first week of the season. If he can lead Arkansas to its first Final Four since 1995, then Calipari will become the first head coach to lead four different programs to the Final Four.

Will Gonzaga Rebound?

The Zags program took a step back last year as its eight losses were its most in 13 years, while it failed to win the West Coast Conference for the first time in 12 years. Gonzaga is joining the refurbished Pac-12 in 2026–27, so these next two years may be its best opportunity to finally win its first NCAA championship before the level of competition picks up. Mark Few's squad returns 80.3 percent of its scoring from a year ago and adds Braeden Smith, who was the Patriot League Player of the Year in 2023–24. One player the Bulldogs won't have is Steele Venters, who was the Big Sky POY in 2022–23 and then transferred to Gonzaga. He'll miss his second straight season after tearing his Achilles' in August, after tearing his ACL the prior year.

The Good and Bad of Conference Realignment

When it comes to conference realignment, football gets most of the attention but it could be just as impactful on the hardwood. While several teams switched conferences, the SEC (Texas), the Big 12 (Arizona), and the Big Ten (UCLA) each landed programs that perennially have top-25 teams. Then there's the ACC, which is often thought of as the best college basketball conference in the land. However, that conference is a bit more watered-down than before as the three schools it landed—SMU, Cal, Stanford—have all missed every NCAA Tournament since, at least, 2018. That could allow for the cream of the crop of the ACC—Duke and North Carolina—to look even better by season's end with, presumably, a couple of easy wins now on its conference schedule.

Life After Zach Edey

Zach Edey is the only man over the last 40 years to win two National Player of the Year awards, but he's since taken his talents to the Memphis Grizzlies. Thus, Purdue has a 7-foot-4 void to fill, and after the Boilermakers fell in the NCAA Title Game last season, they enter this year ranked 14th. Their 49 March Madness wins are the most ever without a natty, but they have a projected lottery pick in Braden Smith. Additionally, Matt Painter could be grooming his next Edey as incoming freshman Daniel Jacobsen stands at 7-foot-4, and he excelled at the famed Brewster Academy prep school, which has produced two dozen NBA players.

Houston Looking to Break Through

No program has more wins (125) in Division I over the last four years than the Cougars. They've made one Final Four, one Elite, and a pair of Sweet 16s over that span but have yet to break through to the national championship game. Speaking of national titles, the Houston program is still searching for its first. The Cougars are one of 17 programs to make at least six Final Fours in school history but the only of those to never cut down the nets. The Coogs would love to scratch their names off that dubious list, especially with this year's title game taking place down the road in San Antonio.

Big Ten Title Drought

It's been 24 years since a Big Ten team was serenaded with One Shining Moment as the NCAA national champion. While it's been 27 years since a Pac-12 program won March Madness, the dissolution of that conference puts the spotlight on the Big Ten's drought. Since Michigan State claimed the last title for the Big Ten in 2000, the ACC and Big East have each had eight champions, while the SEC and Big 12 have each had three champions. Even the AAC (with UConn in 2014) cut down the nets. Four Big Ten teams landed in the preseason top 25 but none higher than No. 14, while a combined 15 teams from the Big 12 and SEC enter the year ranked in the top 25.

Who Will Be the Player of the Year?

The AP Preseason All-American Team consists of six players in total, five of whom have already played four years of college basketball: Mark Sears (Alabama), RJ Davis (North Carolina), Hunter Dickinson (Kansas), Johni Broome (Auburn), and Caleb Love (Arizona). The other member has played four years of high school basketball: Duke freshman Cooper Flagg. Will one of these six emerge as the Player of the Year, now that Zach Edey is playing pro ball? Or, could a sleeper emerge like three-time Big Easy DPOY, Ryan Kalkbrenner of Creighton, or new Arkansas transfer, Johnell Davis? The only freshman to be named Player of the Year over the last dozen years was Zion Williamson, of Duke, so Flagg at least has the school ties in his favor.

UConn Chasing History

Not since UCLA won seven straight NCAA championships from 1967–73 has a school even three-peated. Coach Dan Hurley flirted with heading to the NBA to coach the Lakers, but he's back in Storrs, Connecticut, with a new contract to boot. However, the Huskies lost four starters from last year's team but were still able to win a year ago after losing three starters from the prior season's title-winning team. UConn's six national titles since 1999 are as many as the schools with the next-most have combined—Duke (three) and North Carolina (three).