The college basketball non-conference slate should largely be considered the preseason. The 10-15 or so games for each team that take place before the turn of the calendar are only of marginal use when evaluating a team. The same can be said of players. If you want to know why Anthony Bennett was drafted first three years ago, just look what he did against non-conference opponents. In the first 15 games of the season, Bennett averaged 19.9 points and 9.1 rebounds. A shoulder injury and enhanced competition caused those averages to fall to 13.3 points and 7.5 boards over the rest of the season, but Bennett's quick start made an impression on Chris Grant and the Cleveland brain trust. There are only a handful of non-conference games in which teams are playing like competition. I will look at seven of these games and spotlight the biggest potential matchup in each.
Duke vs. Kentucky, Nov. 17 - Champions Classic at Chicago
This was the game I was hoping for throughout last season. I wanted to see Jahlil Okafor against the Wildcat bigs, but it didn't happen in the Champions Classic at Indianapolis or in the NCAA tournament (darn Badgers!). The teams and coaches are the same, but the players are almost all new. The teams combined to have seven first-round picks in the 2015 draft. While it is difficult to tell which freshmen will come to prominence, my guess is that the key matchup will be Derrick Thornton vs. Jamal Murray.
The college basketball non-conference slate should largely be considered the preseason. The 10-15 or so games for each team that take place before the turn of the calendar are only of marginal use when evaluating a team. The same can be said of players. If you want to know why Anthony Bennett was drafted first three years ago, just look what he did against non-conference opponents. In the first 15 games of the season, Bennett averaged 19.9 points and 9.1 rebounds. A shoulder injury and enhanced competition caused those averages to fall to 13.3 points and 7.5 boards over the rest of the season, but Bennett's quick start made an impression on Chris Grant and the Cleveland brain trust. There are only a handful of non-conference games in which teams are playing like competition. I will look at seven of these games and spotlight the biggest potential matchup in each.
Duke vs. Kentucky, Nov. 17 - Champions Classic at Chicago
This was the game I was hoping for throughout last season. I wanted to see Jahlil Okafor against the Wildcat bigs, but it didn't happen in the Champions Classic at Indianapolis or in the NCAA tournament (darn Badgers!). The teams and coaches are the same, but the players are almost all new. The teams combined to have seven first-round picks in the 2015 draft. While it is difficult to tell which freshmen will come to prominence, my guess is that the key matchup will be Derrick Thornton vs. Jamal Murray. Both teams boast plenty of excellent point guards in their recent histories. Thornton is a 6-foot-2 freshman who steps into Tyus Jones' slot. Murray led the Canadian squad in the Pan Am games with 22 points per contest, but I am not sure I'd put huge stock into that performance. In general, coach John Calipari's dribble-drive system is not great for guards to produce big stats. Of course, that may have been a recent function of the Harrison twins and their lack of court vision. Meanwhile, Jones and Quinn Cook have put up nice numbers in the Blue Devils' system. While I am not sure who will win the game, I give the matchup edge to Thornton.
Michigan State vs. Kansas, Nov. 17 - Champions Classic at Chicago
It seems like the Spartans and Jayhawks shouldn't be an undercard to anyone, but somehow neither has won a championship in three seasons. Undercard, it is. For Kansas, there is still some roster uncertainty because big man Cheick Diallo has not yet been cleared to play while his academics are scrutinized. We could look at the point guards again with Frank Mason III and junior Lourawls Nairn Jr., but I think that would be me trying to write Lourawls or Tum Tum more often. The stars of the two teams could be Denzel Valentine and Wayne Selden Jr. With Valentine, there is no doubt that he will be focus of the Spartans' attack. He made a quantum jump from sophomore to junior seasons. Continued improvement from Valentine could put him in contention for Big Ten Player of the Year. If he is matched up with the wide-bodied Selden, Valentine could have some problems. At 6-5, 230, the Jayhawks wing is a physical presence. He could knock Valentine off his game and give Kansas some much needed offense. The Spartans won in the 2012 Champions Classic (and in the 2009 regional semifinal of the NCAA Tournament) and they may win again in Chicago, but I am giving the relative edge in value to Selden in this game.
Maryland at North Carolina, Dec. 1
Other than some interesting early season tournaments, there isn't much else on the schedule in November, so we jump to December where old ACC foes meet in Chapel Hill. The Terrapins have only been gone from the conference for two seasons, but Maryland seems reborn in the Big Ten. Publications such as Lindy's magazine have coach Mark Gottfried's team as the preseason No. 1. It is not hard to see why: the Terps have both returning and new talent. Marcus Paige and Melo Trimble are their teams' best scorers, but they probably won't be matched up directly. For this game, I will look into the paint where Kennedy Meeks and Diamond Stone will reside. Meeks, a 6-9 junior, will try to outmuscle the Terrapins' giant freshman. Stone will have two inches on Meeks, but give up 10 pounds to the 265-pound Tar Heel. Although many think the game is going the way of sleek, smaller players, these two players will stage an epic, bruising battle with the elder Meeks taking the fantasy win.
Arizona at Gonzaga, Dec. 5
Unlike the first three big games of the non-conference slate, the Zags and Cats met last year. In an overtime thriller 364 days before this next battle, Arizona went on a 7-2 run to finish regulation and won the game in overtime. In the 2015-16, Gonzaga not only has the homecourt advantage but a nearly intact roster. The returning Cats provided just 21 of the team's 66 points in the win, but Arizona has reloaded with BC transfer Ryan Anderson and scoring guard Alonzo Trier. It is tempting once again to look near the rim where Kaleb Tarczewski will battle Przemek Karnowski and Domantas Sabonis. I think the more interesting battle will be between Anderson and Kyle Wiltjer. Both are excellent stretch power forwards who are better on offense than on defense. Anderson provided 14.3 points and 7.3 rebounds as an Eagle in 2013-14. Those are fine numbers, but they are not quite to Wiltjer's level. The former Kentucky Wildcat hit 46.6 percent of his three-pointers on his way to 16.8 points. He was held to 15 points last season in Tuscon and he might double that at home.
Oklahoma vs. Villanova, Dec. 7 at Honolulu
In the two years since the Big East reformed as a smaller (non-football) conference, Villanova has been the team in the conference. The in-conference excellence has not helped the Wildcats in the NCAA Tournament because they have been knocked out in the Round of 32 in both seasons. Maybe they needed a greater challenge in non-conference. The Sooners will provide that on Pearl Harbor day in Honolulu. Oklahoma may challenge Kansas for Big 12 supremacy with the returning trio of Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins and Ryan Spangler. Villanova counters with Ryan Arciadiacono, Josh Hart and Daniel Ochefu. The Wildcats also add freshman point guard Jalen Brunson, who will be worth watching. The biggest matchup will be between the high-scoring Hield and Hart, whom I expect to be the team's best player. If Hart can make Hield really work for his baskets and punish the 6-4 senior on the end, Hart could be the game MVP.
Utah at Wichita State, Dec. 12
If Gonzaga is not the best team outside of Tier 1, then Wichita State will be. The Shockers have something the Bulldogs do not: a trip to the Final Four in 2013 when guards Ron Baker and Fred VanVleet were freshmen. The pair will be one of the best backcourts in the country again as seniors, but the Shockers will be tested in mid-December when the Utes travel to Kansas. Utah ended Wichita State's 35-game regular-season winning streak with an overtime victory in Salt Lake City last season. The Utes will not have homecourt advantage or Delon Wright who took his game to the NBA. They will have Jacob Poeltl, a 7-footer who had a double-double in the win against the Shockers. Wichita State will counter Poeltl with Cleveland State transfer Anton Grady. The graduate transfer averaged 14.3 points and 7.9 rebounds for the Vikings last season and will do his best despite giving up four inches to Poeltl. In the end, expect the Austrian native to put up excellent numbers against Wichita State again.
California at Virginia, Dec. 22
On paper, this looks like a lopsided game in favor of the Golden Bears. They added two top-10 recruits in Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb to a team that already has Tyrone Wallace, Jordan Matthews and Jabari Bird. Meanwhile, Virginia averaged just 65.3 points last season. This is a selective (and stupid) use of facts. The Cavaliers under coach Tony Bennett play slowly by design and have appeared in the NCAA tournament three of the last four seasons with championships in the ACC in the last two. Virginia won't have Justin Anderson, but it still has Malcolm Brogdon, whose matcheup against Wallace should be one of the best in 2015. The 6-5 guard led the team with 14.0 points. He will be counted on to help slow Wallace, who dropped in 17.1 points with 7.1 rebounds and 4.0 assists. Virginia only lost once at home last season (to Duke), so Brogdon should be able to put the relative clamps on Wallace.
