Essentials for tip-off

Good morning. It doesn’t feel like the typical Monday, does it?

Sure, it’s gonna be dark by 5 pm (or earlier) tonight, but that makes it an ideal day to settle in and enjoy college basketball. There’s nearly 200 games on the sport’s opening day, and they’re not just meh games. I’ll get to all that and the rest of the weekend’s news.

1. Top 100 players and 10 teams who can win it all

Two-time national POY Zach Edey is in the NBA, but there’s still plenty of big names and star players to capture fan attention during the men’s 2024-25 college hoops season.

And unlike previous seasons where it was mostly big men as the most recognizable faces, this season’s spread across every position.

In fact, you’ve got a couple of damn fine teams if you broke up 10 best players according to The Field of 68.

OK, maybe the top 5 is a little guard heavy and the second five would be forward-heavy, but you get my drift.

The full list of our Top 100 players can be found below

• No. 11-20, No. 21-30, No. 31-40 and No. 41-50

• No. 51-60, No. 61-70, No. 71-80, No. 81-90 and No. 91-100.

Braden Smith (11), Caleb Love (16), Kadary Richmond (14) and Donovan Dent (47) would be my picks as the best bets to slide into the Top 10, while Malik Reneau (51), Kasean Pryor (57), Erik Reynolds (66), Solo Ball (67) and Bruce Thornton (75) all could end up in the Top 50.

Of the players who didn’t make the Top 100, I’d add Xavian Lee (Princeton), Steven Ashworth (Creighton), Emmanuel Sharp (Houston), Trey Townsend (Arizona) and Mitchell Saxen (Saint Mary’s) as the guys most likely to end up as Top 100 players.

So. Who’s winning it all?

Rob Dauster created a list of 10 team that can win it. And he debuted it on a call with Jeff Goodman, John Fanta and Terrence Oglesby. And Jeff was predictably peeved with Rob’s final team among that 10.

Did you disagree with Rob’s list? It didn’t include Iowa State, Arizona or Purdue (three teams in the Top 10 at KenPom), North Carolina or Tennessee (in the Top 10 at Torvik) or Baylor (Top 10 at EvanMiya).

Check back in early January and we’ll see how much it changed.

2. What to watch on opening day

There are 199 games featuring D-I teams today. But … 82 of those games are a D-I team vs. a non-DI team. Expect some blowouts. Still, there will be plenty of sweet matchups.

No. 8 Baylor vs. No. 6 Gonzaga (in Spokane) is the day’s obvious marquee game, but with an 11:30 pm ET tipoff how many people will stay awake to watch it live?

The ideal option for fans ready to luxuriate in college hoops all day is The Field of 68 Opening Day showcase, which features three (3!) of the day’s best matchups, all before MNF kicks off. Even better? You can watch all three on YouTube.

• Charleston vs. Southern Illinois, at Noon ET

• Santa Clara vs. Saint Louis, 3 pm ET

• McNeese vs. South Dakota State, 6 pm ET

Here’s a video that’ll get you suitably hyped.

What else?

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