Six weeks out

It’s the rare good Monday. Know why? You can almost hear the squeak of shoes on a hardwood floor. The jostling on defense. The snap of the net.

Practices officially start today for most programs, though some have to wait a few days depending on what their summer schedules were. That also means we’re six weeks from season tip-off. Obviously, you’ll spend the next few weeks reading The Almanac, Vol. 2, so you’re ready for the season. (Didn’t grab it yet? Click here.) Told you it’s a good Monday.

Let's hit what mattered over the last few days.

1. Mizzou misery might be a thing of the past

Remember that period when Missouri basketball was a bad-to-middling program? The dark days of Kim Anderson and underwhelming Cuonzo Martin?

Those dog days are over.

Last season’s surprise 25-10 season — complete with their best-ever SEC finish — marked an impressive debut for new coach Dennis Gates (who’ll look to prove Rob Dauster’s Almanac prediction wrong again this season). And it seems like there’s no slowing the program this season. Or the future.

Boateng’s commitment is a big deal. The 4-star 2024 prospect is the fourth-highest rated prospect in school history, behind only Michael Porter Jr., Linas Kleiza and Tony Mitchell, all of whom were 5-stars. He’s sitting at 26 overall in the 247 Sports composite and is the fourth overall ‘24 prospect to commit to the Tigers.

The 6-5 wing is the headliner of the group, which also incudes 7-foot center Peyton Marshall, 6-6 wing Marcus Allen, and 6-4 point guard T.O. Barrett, all of whom are viewed as 4-star prospects. It’s a good group to pair with incoming 4-star freshmen Trent Pierce and Jordan Butler, which will give the Tigers size and athleticism comparable to other SEC teams.

But here I am, rambling a bit when I buried the lede: Missouri now has the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class.

Yes, the No. 1 class.

Will it last? With Duke in hot pursuit of Cooper Flagg, and Rutgers still likely to land Dylan Harper, probably not. But it’s an indicator of significant future success under Gates, who’s shown he can win with a group of assembled transfers. If he’s just as good at developing talent, Missouri will almost certainly ditch the unofficial title of “Best Program to Never Reach a Final Four.”

2. More recruiting news from a busy weekend

Boateng was hardly the only important commit from the last three days. A slew of schools landed 4- and 3-star prospects between Friday and Sunday. Here’s a rundown:

Robert Miller III was a big prize for LSU, both literally and figuratively. The 6-10, 225-pound power forward was the highest-rated recruit to commit over the weekend not named Boateng.

He’s LSU’s first of the 2024 class, and is an impact player on both ends of the floor thanks to his long arms and fluid hips, and has a nice shooting stroke. He might struggle at first against stronger SEC players, but that’ll come with time.

Meanwhile, two Big 12 schools both snagged 3-star prospects.

TCU’s first 2024 commit is Top 150 player Micah Robinson, a 6-6 wing who chose the Horned Frogs over LSU and Vandy. They have one more scholarship available.

Oklahoma State picked up shooting guard Jeremiah Johnson, a 6-3 Arizona native who picked the Cowboys over TCU, LSU, Saint Louis and SMU. He’s also a Top 150 prospect and would be a good fit in Mike Boynton’s system.

In more news for the 2024 class:

• Dominick Stewart, a 3-star guard from California, is headed to Penn State.

• Iowa added Chris Tadjo, a 6-8 forward from the NBA’s Latin America Academy.

• Cornell added guard Anthony Nimani.

• Abilene Christina picked up wing Dontrez Williams.

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3. An All-American schedule

The American Athletic Conference lost some of its big draws from the 2022-23 season, but its six newcomers — Charlotte, FIU, North Texas, Rice, UTSA and UAB — provide plenty of hoops intrigue.

Each team will play 18 league games with 14 total members. A minimum 60 will be televised on either ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. Most of the rest are on ESPN+.

And when you look for the gems in the AAC schedule that got announced Friday, there are plenty of terrific games. Two might be as compelling as anything from the last few AAC seasons — and they’re within two weeks of each other.

FAU, coming off its 35-win season and a run to the Final Four, heads to Memphis on Feb. 25. The Tigers’ return trip is on Saturday, March 9, in a game that could decide the regular-season champion. (The Almanac has them as the top two teams.)

What’s wild is that while FAU has nearly everyone back, Memphis has an entirely new roster this season (provided DeAndre Williams doesn’t get his 38th 5th season approved).

Beyond those two gems, these should be worth watching:

• Jan. 4: North Texas at Wichita State

• Jan. 14: FAU at UAB

• Jan. 21: Memphis at Tulane

• Jan. 23: UAB at Charlotte

• Jan. 28: Memphis at UAB

• Feb. 8: FAU at UAB

• Feb. 21: Charlotte at Memphis

• March 2: Tulane at FAU

• March 3: UAB at Memphis

• March 8: Wichita State at Tulane

4. Marijuana and money news to know

Not everything from the last few days includes news about rosters, recruits or projections. Here are some notable headlines that deserved a little more context than just the Fast Break:

• The NCAA might remove marijuana from its banned substance list. Right now, it’s just a recommendation from the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports. Any official move would come after further discussion by the NCAA. (And state laws would still dictate whether athletes can legally partake.)

• In the ongoing NIL rulings, a U.S. District judge granted class-action status in a portion of the House/Prince vs. NCAA lawsuit, which sets up the NCAA being forced to allow schools to make NIL payments to athletes. This could cost the NCAA more than $1 billion in backpay.

• Texas and Oklahoma were originally expected to pay $160 million to the Big 12 for departing to the SEC. There’s a detailed explanation from USA Today, but it comes down to the two schools receiving full revenue shares for 2022, 2023, and 2024. Also, ESPN is offsetting the money a bit.

5. Title odds then and now

Combining a summer of transfers and NBA departures plus the timing of six weeks ahead of season tip-off seems like a good time to spotlight some odds of who’s favored to win it all in April.

Per our friends at Bet Rivers, the table below highlights what things looked like after UConn win the 2023 title, and what the odds are now.

Seeing Gonzaga and UCLA drop because of player departures isn’t surprising. But I guess oddsmakers aren’t buying that Caleb Love is addition by subtraction. Not sure why they’re less bullish on Villanova, either.

For the risers, it’s also not a surprise to see Kansas, Purdue, Michigan State and Tennessee see their odds improve. That coincides with what we project at The Almanac as well. Still, I would’ve thought Marquette and Creighton would’ve seen slight bumps, not drops. And what’s with the FAU odds? Placing the Owls in the same vicinity as Indiana and Kansas State is ludicrous. Seems like a decent value to me.

Need some more gambling insights? Jim Root highlighted some against-the-spread splits to track for this season, including data on why Harvard is so good on the road.

Wins at bay

Baylor’s been one of the sport’s premier programs for the last four years. They’ve won with talent, with defense, and offense. Yet, last season saw their defense falter for the first time in ages. And Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster aren’t sure if Scott Drew added enough pieces in the offseason to right the ship.

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Links as you realize the Broncos must have felt bad for Deion and the Buffs.

• Tennessee Tech coach John Pelphrey agreed to an extension through 2026-27.

• Former Providence player (and my old boss) Rick Cordella is now the President of NBC Sports.

• Colleges working with NIL collectives worries Title IX activists.

• What’s a college hoops director of video and analytics do?

Thanks for reading The Field of 68 Daily! If you have a news tip or feedback, email us at [email protected].