With The 2021/22 Season About to Start, Let's Catch Up On All The Latest College Basketball News

When we were all children, the most exciting days of the year were usually the ones leading up to either our birthdays, or Christmas. Because they happen at the same time each year, weeks in advance the excitement levels begin to rise, and the anticipation really does build more and more each day. The older we get, the less birthdays/Christmas become the events we most look forward to, being replaced by the start of school or college, or perhaps a long overdue holiday.

Another event in the calendar that brings with it huge anticipation is the start of the new sports season. Fans of NCAA basketball, or college basketball as it is more commonly referred to, will be experiencing this rush of adrenaline right now, as the 2021/22 campaign is only days away. For weeks now, supporters and enthusiasts will have been washing their jerseys, practicing the songs, and searching for NCAAB odds, so they can try to gauge what their team’s prospects are for the upcoming season. Will their side finally go on to achieve glory? Will they be able to turn around what might have been a dreadful 2020/21 campaign? Or will this season be another horror show that they’ll want to forget even before it starts?

Let’s take this opportunity to recall some of the action from last season, to use it as a gauge to see how well those sides might perform in the upcoming campaign, and make some predictions for who might be the front runners in this year’s NCAA tournament.

Who will come out on top in the opening fixture?

To kick off the 2021/22 NCAAB season, we have the Villanova Wildcats of the Big East conference taking on Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers, who are in the Northeast conference. It will be an interesting clash, as the Wildcats are a very strong side, having finished top of the Big East conference last year, with an overall record of 18-7. In fact, they are currently 4th in the AP Top 25 rankings, which illustrates how highly rated they are. They have retained the nucleus of their team, with none of the key players graduating over the summer, so they should be the favourites in this one.

As for the Mountaineers, they had a relatively good time of it last season, as they finished 3rd in their conference, behind the Wagner Seahawks and Bryant Bulldogs, with an overall record of 12-11. They will be hoping for a bit better this year, maybe even pushing to make it into the postseason. However, we expect their season to truly begin in game week 2, as the Wildcats should have more than enough to get past them here.

Will Gonzaga go all the way this year?

If we look to the summit of the AP Top 25 rankings for this year’s NCAAB, then we see a familiar name; the Gonzaga Bulldogs. It is probably common knowledge as to how well they performed in the 2020/21 season, but it is worth reminding people of their record. They went through the regular and the postseason unbeaten, right up to the NCAA Tournament Championship game, where they were finally beaten by the Baylor Bears. While it will have been tough for the players, coaching staff and fans to only lose the most important game of the year, it shouldn’t take away from their fantastic achievement.

The hype behind the Bulldogs hasn’t faded since that championship game, as they go into the new season as clear favourites to make it all the way yet again. They were 7-1 to win earlier in the year, but as the new season is set to begin their odds are even shorter, dropping down to 6-1, which truly is remarkable. We will be intently watching their opening fixtures against the Dixie State Trailblazers, the Texas Longhorns and the Alcorn State Braves to see just how strong they are looking again this year.

Who else could potentially challenge the Bulldogs?

As previously mentioned,the Villanova Wildcats could be one of the sides to progress far into the postseason. Another side who could also be very dangerous this year is the UCLA Bruins, who are currently 2nd in the AP Top 25 rankings. They had an impressive 22-10 record last year, despite only finishing in 4th in the Pac-12 conference. We expect them to be right up there at the end of the campaign.

Another team looking impressive are the Purdue Boilermakers. Yet to win a NCAA Championship, in their history they have won the Big Ten conference more than any other team, and sent 30 players to the NBA. Could this finally be their year? We certainly wouldn’t rule it out at this stage.

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