The Almanac is BACK!

Less than 90 days til the season starts means it's a good time to preorder our collaborative guide to college hoops. Plus, a look at MTEs and more realignment thoughts.

Author

Mike Miller
August 09, 2023

The day you’ve been waiting for is here. Well, almost here.

The day that announces the day you’ve been waiting for is here. The Almanac is back on September 20.

Let’s dive in.

1. The world’s greatest college basketball preview returns

The most comprehensive, engrossing, detailed breakdown of the 2023-24 college hoops season will hit your inbox in six short weeks: The Almanac, Volume 2.

It’s so … it’s so beautiful!

Beauty and brains, that is.

Once again, it’ll be more than 600,000 words, previewing every single D-I men’s college basketball team, with insights from every coach in all 32 conferences. It’ll feature complete rosters, analysis, projections, and potential pitfalls. You won’t get that anywhere else.

But wait, there’s more! We’ll have storylines to know, transfer portal winners and losers, the Top 100 players, freshmen to watch, All-American teams, 68 must-see games, a complete NCAA Tournament projection, positional breakdowns, and our Top 25.

New this year? Evan Miyakawa will detail the top returning “glue guys” in an analytics-based article that Jeff Goodman almost certainly won’t read.

And of course, it’s all from the elite college basketball minds at The Field of 68, Heat Check CBB, Three Man Weave and Verbal Commits.

If you think I’m laying it on thick, click a couple of reviews from last year’s edition, or take it from Baylor coach Scott Drew: “Everyone that’s a hoops junkie loves the depth of The Almanac.”

Also, we don’t believe in inflation. It remains the premier preview and is still just $19.99. For those ahead of the curve, if you buy before Sept. 20, it’s just $15.99. Order it HERE.

Told you it was the day you’ve been waiting for.

2. Six event fields announced for Nov. & Dec.

Tuesday apparently was the day to announce college hoops tournaments and multi-team events (MTEs).

The Charleston Classic, Diamond Head Classic, ESPN Events Invitational, Myrtle Beach Invitational, NIT Season Tip-Off and Vegas Showdown all released schedule and matchup info, meaning you can start planning out your initial viewing plans for mid-November and around Christmas.

Here’s a rundown:

Charleston Classic: Nov. 16-17, 19

  • TD Arena in Charleston, S.C.

  • The field: St. John's, North Texas, Dayton, LSU, Houston, Towson, Utah, Wake Forest (full bracket)

  • Watch it on: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+

  • Early thoughts: Houston’s the team to beat, but it’ll be fun to see what Rick Pitino’s St. John’s squad can do. Also wondering if a (finally) healthy Dayton squad can string together three wins.

  • HTC Center in Conway, S.C.

  • The field: Charleston, Vermont, Saint Louis, Wyoming, Wichita State, Coastal Carolina, Furman, Liberty (full bracket)

  • Watch it on: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+

  • Early thoughts: The power conference programs are in Charleston, but this might have better games given the quality of Charleston, Vermont, Furman and Liberty in recent years.

NIT Season Tip-Off: Nov. 23-24

  • Barclays Center in Brooklyn

  • The field: Baylor, Oregon State, Florida, Pittsburgh (full bracket)

  • Watch it on: ESPN, ESPN2

  • Early thoughts: Expect a Baylor-Florida final, but I’m willing to listen to Tristan Freeman explain why Pitt is actually going to be overlooked and underrated this season.

Vegas Showdown: Nov. 23-24

  • Michelob Ultra Arena in Vegas

  • The field: NC State, Vanderbilt, BYU, Arizona State (full bracket)

  • Watch it on: ESPN2

  • Early thoughts: An interesting field, but ultimately one that’ll probably get lost amid the rest of the Feast Week games. Wait … BYU vs. Arizona State? How did the Big 12 land two teams in this?

ESPN Events Invitational: Nov. 23-24, 26

  • State Farm House at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Kissimmee, Fla.

  • The field: Penn State, Texas A&M, Florida Atlantic, Butler, Iowa State, VCU, Boise State, Virginia Tech (full bracket)

  • Watch it on: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+

  • Early thoughts: How does FAU adjust to being the favorite, even at an event with the likes of Texas A&M, Iowa State, Boise State, and Virginia Tech — teams who’ll likely be playing in the Big Dance? The Owls certainly got the best draw with an opener against Butler.

Diamond Head Classic: Dec. 21-22, 24

  • SimpliFi Arena in Honolulu

  • The field: Nevada, Temple, TCU, Old Dominion, Georgia Tech, UMass, Portland, Hawai'i (full bracket)

  • Watch it on: ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN+

  • Early thoughts: TCU should be the cream of the crop here. The Horned Frogs have the talent and six weeks to adjust to life without Mike Miles, Damion Baugh and Eddie Lampkin. A potential semifinal against Nevada might be the game of the event.

3. Realignment reax: Greg Sankey feels ‘sadness’

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey is a forward-thinking, aggressive leader in college sports. He’s one of the reasons why the SEC is in its current position of power, and why he’s one of the co-chairs of the D-I Transformation Committee. He’s been a vocal advocate of expanding college championships (including the NCAA Tournament) and hasn’t been shy about expanding the SEC, with Texas and Oklahoma set to join.

So maybe it’s a bit surprising when he says the Pac-12’s imminent demise gives him “a little tinge of sadness.”

“I take responsibility where we’ve made moves,” he said on “The Paul Finebaum Show” on Tuesday. "But there was something different last week about the questions around the existence of the Pac-12 conference, given its long and storied history."

A cynic probably reads that and scoffs. Even a casual college sports fan would be a little dismissive of a statement like that. But some part of me does have hope that it’s a genuine emotion, especially given Sankey’s influence.

His attention is going to be on football and what the future of the Pac-12 means for the college football playoff. With any luck, he’ll have enough feedback about the historical aspects and implications for future fandom that it’ll affect how NCAA Tournament is handled.

Hopefully.

Mad about you

Mark Madsen’s been to a Final Four. He’s been an All-American, an NBA champion and a dancing icon. And he thrived in four seasons as the head coach at Utah Valley. So what can’t he do? Taking Cal back to college hoops prominence will be perhaps his biggest test yet.

Links as you mentally prepare yourself for ESPN Bet ads.

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