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Here are the five most intriguing storylines heading into the college basketball season:
Transfer-mania
It was the perfect storm: The new transfer rule, which allows players to switch schools once without having to sit out, went into effect in tandem with the extra year of eligibility being given out due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It resulted in a record amount of movement, leading to an offseason that felt like free agency.
Several top teams — Texas, Kentucky, Auburn, Arkansas and Kansas, among many others — used the transfer market to build Final Four-caliber rosters. That could lead to slow starts for many schools, with so many new players. Get ready to be surprised by unrecognizable rosters on a nightly basis.
Coach K’s swan song
After 42 years at Duke, and five years at Army before that, Mike Krzyzewski is hanging it up. It is the story of the season, one of the sport’s giants saying goodbye.
It will start with a bang, as Duke meets Kentucky in the Champions Classic at the Garden, and maybe it will end in a big way, too, if fantastic freshman Paolo Banchero and company can send Coach K to his 13th Final Four. Krzyzewski wants to make it about his team, repeatedly saying that his only focus is winning, same as it has always been.
Good luck with that. Farewell tours don’t work that way, not for a Hall of Famer like him.
Blue Bloods return with a vengeance
Last season, for the first time since 1976, Duke and Kentucky missed the NCAA Tournament in the same year. Kansas didn’t get out of the first weekend. Michigan State barely got in, then was eliminated in the First Four. Recent history will not repeat itself.
The first three are Final Four contenders. UCLA, after its run as an 11th-seed to the Final Four, is a popular pick to win it all. Last season was likely a one-off. The schools you’re used to seeing on the big stage should be back.
Can’t miss show in Memphis
There isn’t a more fascinating team entering the season than Memphis, from its elite NBA prospects to former NBA stars coaching them. Penny Hardaway has yet to lead his alma mater to the tournament entering his fourth season, but he has a top-10 team on paper after pairing returning stars Landers Holley II and DeAndre Williams with top recruits Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren, and Miami transfer Earl Timberlake.
He brought in Larry Brown and Rasheed Wallace as assistant coaches, creating an even more interesting dynamic. Can we get HBO to film its “Hard Knocks” series following this group?
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