Other People's Men's College Basketball 2023-24 Pre-Season

[ElliottHoo]

That does not sound good. I'm not a doctor but it seems very unusual for a 19 year old ( I think) athlete to have a cardiac arrest. I hope he has a good recovery and is able to pursue his dream.

That was my concern as well, so I looked into it and it turns out roughly 1 in 50k HS and NCAA athletes die every year from heart attacks, like 2k kids/year. Basketball is significantly higher than average, too and all the data is pre-Covid. I had no idea it was that many.

[rsvman]

That was my concern as well, so I looked into it and it turns out roughly 1 in 50k HS and NCAA athletes die every year from heart attacks, like 2k kids/year. Basketball is significantly higher than average, too and all the data is pre-Covid. I had no idea it was that many.

I think you meant to say cardiac arrest, rather than heart attack, as the two things are different.

[brevity]

A couple of looks at the team visiting Cameron on November 10.

CBS Sports: Arizona basketball roster breakdown: Starting lineup prediction, bench rotation, depth outlook for 2023-24

Projected starting lineup

1. Kylan Boswell 6-2 | 195 | Fr.
2. Caleb Love 6-4 | 200 | Sr.

Love initially committed to Michigan after three up and down seasons at North Carolina. But after an issue with his academic credits, he ended up back in the portal and at Arizona. As Lloyd said when announcing Love's signing, the guard is "tremendously talented." However, he's also been brutally inefficient on offense, and it will be a challenge for Lloyd to channel Love's abilities in a positive way.

3. Pelle Larsson 6-5 | 215 | Sr.
4. Keshad Johnson 6-7 | 225 | Sr.
5. Oumar Ballo 7-0 | 260 | Sr.

Bench

Jaden Bradley 6-3 | 185 | So.
KJ Lewis 6-4 | 185 | Fr.
Motiejus Krivas 7-2 | 256 | Fr.
Filip Borvicanin 6-9 | 185 | So.
Henri Veesaar 7-0 | 200 | So.
Paulius Murauskas 6-8 | 220 | Fr.

Depth

Dylan Anderson 7-0 | 240 | So.
Conrad Martinez 6-1 | N/A | Fr.

The Field of 68 also discusses Arizona in the video below and grades Tommy Lloyd's offseason a B-plus. Jeff Goodman (an Arizona alum) has struggled with the addition of Caleb Love, but at this point is a bit defeated on the subject.

[ElliottHoo]

I think you meant to say cardiac arrest, rather than heart attack, as the two things are different.

Oh, yeah, thanks, was typing on my phone and went with the easier one to type out.

Somehow I’d never realized they were entirely different, figured one was a subset of the other. Obviously my family’s history of medical issues heads in another direction.

[TheOldBattleship]

A couple of looks at the team visiting Cameron on November 10.

CBS Sports: Arizona basketball roster breakdown: Starting lineup prediction, bench rotation, depth outlook for 2023-24

Very interested to see this matchup, for good early-season basketball, of course, but also as a good gauge of what this Arizona team is (and as a matchup for Duke; especially for Flip. Is he going to start at center and guard Ballo? Great chance to show out for NBA scouts concerned about his physicality, that's for sure). Just a ton of versatility and depth on this Wildcats squad, but nothing super clear in terms of roles other than what Ballo is going to do in the paint and as a screener. Even Pelle Larsson, who is about as reliable of a player as they come, has some questions on whether he can level up and take on a bigger role. That was true ending the year last year, esp when Kerr Kriisa left, but then you take a team with a lot of changes and questions and add CALEB LOVE? That is some serious question-mark addition. I actually wouldn't hate seeing Love have a really good year (not least since the light-blue meltdown would be incredible if he put up a moderately efficient 12-15 ppg and passed the ball like a reasonable person), but obviously hoping for a 2023-style Love chucking display when we see them.

[brevity]

SportsCenter spoke with John Calipari (for over 10 minutes!) on Tuesday:



So long, they even provided timestamps.

0:00 How is Kentucky coming together so far?
1:50 What will it take to reach the Final Four this year?
3:00 Benefits of the Toronto GLOBL JAM tournament
4:00 Kentucky men's basketball team visits Drake's house
6:00 John Calipari's take on scholarships at the Division I level
7:30 Capitalizing on NIL
9:00 How conference realignment will affect Kentucky basketball

[DavidBenAkiva]

Very interested to see this matchup, for good early-season basketball, of course, but also as a good gauge of what this Arizona team is (and as a matchup for Duke; especially for Flip. Is he going to start at center and guard Ballo? Great chance to show out for NBA scouts concerned about his physicality, that's for sure). Just a ton of versatility and depth on this Wildcats squad, but nothing super clear in terms of roles other than what Ballo is going to do in the paint and as a screener. Even Pelle Larsson, who is about as reliable of a player as they come, has some questions on whether he can level up and take on a bigger role. That was true ending the year last year, esp when Kerr Kriisa left, but then you take a team with a lot of changes and questions and add CALEB LOVE? That is some serious question-mark addition. I actually wouldn't hate seeing Love have a really good year (not least since the light-blue meltdown would be incredible if he put up a moderately efficient 12-15 ppg and passed the ball like a reasonable person), but obviously hoping for a 2023-style Love chucking display when we see them.

I found a few box scores from Arizona's overseas trip this summer.

Arizona vs. Lebanon: Love scored 13 points to go with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal on 4-12 shooting (1-6 from 3) and 4/4 from the FT line.
Arizona vs. UAE: Love scored 11 points to go with 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 turnovers on 4-10 shooting (1-6 from 3) and 2/4 from the FT line.
Arizona vs. Israel Select: Love scored 9 points to go with 1 rebound, 2 assists, and 1 turnover on 4-9 shooting (0-4 from 3) and 1/1 from the FT line.

For the three-game trip, he averaged 11.0 pts on shooting splits of .387/.125/.778.

[MChambers]

I found a few box scores from Arizona's overseas trip this summer.

Arizona vs. Lebanon: Love scored 13 points to go with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal on 4-12 shooting (1-6 from 3) and 4/4 from the FT line.
Arizona vs. UAE: Love scored 11 points to go with 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 turnovers on 4-10 shooting (1-6 from 3) and 2/4 from the FT line.
Arizona vs. Israel Select: Love scored 9 points to go with 1 rebound, 2 assists, and 1 turnover on 4-9 shooting (0-4 from 3) and 1/1 from the FT line.

For the three-game trip, he averaged 11.0 pts on shooting splits of .387/.125/.778.

Looks like he's in midseason form!

[brevity]

I found a few box scores from Arizona's overseas trip this summer.

Arizona vs. Lebanon: Love scored 13 points to go with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal on 4-12 shooting (1-6 from 3) and 4/4 from the FT line.
Arizona vs. UAE: Love scored 11 points to go with 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 turnovers on 4-10 shooting (1-6 from 3) and 2/4 from the FT line.
Arizona vs. Israel Select: Love scored 9 points to go with 1 rebound, 2 assists, and 1 turnover on 4-9 shooting (0-4 from 3) and 1/1 from the FT line.

For the three-game trip, he averaged 11.0 pts on shooting splits of .387/.125/.778.

Looks like he's in midseason form!

Shouldn't have been that hard to find because it's in DBR. I wrote a whole post about Arizona in Israel and the United Arab Emirates in the least popular thread on the main page. Here's a shortened version:

Arizona (Israel/United Arab Emirates, August 10-20)

...College basketball writer Jeff Goodman, also an Arizona grad, expressed his displeasure back in May when Caleb Love ended up in Tucson. He made an emergency video for The Field of 68 with a UNC guy and an Arizona guy. "Talk me off this cliff," he pleaded, "because I didn't think Arizona needed to do this." Goodman was worn down by July, when he made an Offseason Grades video of the Wildcats, also for The Field of 68. "I'm gonna reserve judgment here... if there was a team that could probably take a shot on Caleb Love, it was Arizona... you go in with Boswell, Bradley, and Larsson as your perimeter trio and you're fine. If Caleb Love gives you -- again, he's gotta be efficient. He's gotta be more efficient. Period."

Now I feel like I wasted my "subtraction by addition" joke on Puff Johnson and D'Marco Dunn at Penn State; I should have saved it for this post. It will be interesting to see how head coach Tommy Lloyd distributes the backcourt minutes with returning guards Pelle Larsson and Kylan Boswell and transfer guards Jaden Bradley (Alabama) and Love. Coach Lloyd has a not-so-secret weapon to handle Love: assistant coach Steve Robinson, who was still at UNC when Love was a freshman. Maybe they figure out an optimal use for their dangerous but erratic player; if they do, let's hope it happens sometime after November...

Arizona 124, Israel Select 77 (recap, box score, photos, video clips, postgame comments, full replay)

...Based on the box score, Love played a bit over 20 minutes off the bench (Bradley and Larsson started) and had 9 points off 4/9 shooting, missing all four of his 3-point attempts. He added 6 assists.

Arizona 127, UAE Select 90 (recap, box score, photos, video clip, postgame comments, full replay)

...Love started this game as part of a 3-guard lineup with Boswell and freshman KJ Lewis. He played a bit under 20 minutes this time, going 4-for-10 from the field (and 1-for-6 from outside) to score his 11 points.

Arizona 85, Lebanon National Team 71 (AZ Desert Swarm recap, box score, video clips, postgame comments, full replay)

...Love played a team-high 26 minutes. Arizona went with a 4-guard lineup, with 6-2 Boswell and 6-3 Bradley officially in the backcourt, and 6-4 Love and 6-5 Larsson listed as the starting forwards. Love's stats were about the same: 4 of 12 field goals, with 1 of 6 threes, and 13 points total...

For what it's worth, and it may not be much, Love is still not very efficient and not holding back, shooting more than his fellow guards in these 3 games.

Love: 12/31 FG (38.7%), 2/16 3PT (12.5%)
Boswell: 10/27 FG (37.0%), 5/15 3PT (33.3%)
Lewis: 12/23 FG (52.2%), 3/9 3PT (33.3%)
Larsson: 12/22 (54.5%), 4/10 3PT (40.0%)
Bradley: 8/22 (36.3%), 1/6 3PT (16.7%)

Admittedly, that's some very nice 10-of-15 shooting inside the arc from Love, but it's completely diluted by his ugly 3-point numbers. (One theory: he's already made the most important 3-pointer of his life, so it's all downhill from there.) Lewis played only two games, but appeared to be more efficient with the green light he was given. The only teammate with more field goal attempts was forward Keshad Johnson, who went 20/34 (58.8%). Johnson shot more, but he shot better...

[brevity]

The Maui Invitational was in stay-tuned mode after the wildfires that wrecked the island, but now it appears they'll move to University of Hawaii's arena. (The Messenger is a new site that brought in Seth Davis and Jeff Goodman to handle college basketball content within its Sports section.)

The Messenger: Maui Invitational Expected to Be Played in Honolulu at the University of Hawaii: Sources (Exclusive)

Ongoing talks have centered on playing games from Nov. 20–22 at the University of Hawaii’s SimpliFi Arena at the Stan Sheriff Center. The venue seats 10,300 and is considerably larger than the 2,400-seat Lahaina Civic Center, the tournament’s traditional home...

The Maui Invitational had long been college basketball’s most prestigious early season tournament before declining in recent years as other events assembled stronger fields. This year’s tournament, however, may be the best field ever. It includes three schools that could begin the season as consensus top-five teams: Kansas, Marquette and Purdue. Other schools include Gonzaga, Syracuse, Tennessee, UCLA and Chaminade.

That Maui field is insane. ESPN/Jeff Borzello's Way Too Early Top 25 was updated last week and includes 5 of them in its Top 10:

1. Kansas
2. Duke
3. Purdue
4. Michigan State
5. Connecticut
6. Houston
7. Gonzaga
8. Tennessee
9. Florida Atlantic
10. Marquette

UCLA is a borderline Top 25 team; Borzello has them on the outside looking in. Syracuse is unproven, but projects to have one of the better backcourts (JJ Starling/Judah Mintz) in the ACC.

[Billy Dat]

SportsCenter spoke with John Calipari (for over 10 minutes!) on Tuesday:



So long, they even provided timestamps.

0:00 How is Kentucky coming together so far?
1:50 What will it take to reach the Final Four this year?
3:00 Benefits of the Toronto GLOBL JAM tournament
4:00 Kentucky men's basketball team visits Drake's house
6:00 John Calipari's take on scholarships at the Division I level
7:30 Capitalizing on NIL
9:00 How conference realignment will affect Kentucky basketball

I just heard on the CBS Eye on College Basketball podcast that Cal lost his NIL guru to UNC

https://www.on3.com/nil/news/tj-beis...rd-management/

[brevity]

ESPN: Michigan coach Juwan Howard undergoes heart procedure

Michigan coach Juwan Howard underwent a successful heart procedure Friday, the school announced.

Howard had a scheduled operation to resect an aortic aneurysm and repair an aortic valve, conditions identified during a routine medical check earlier this offseason.

...Howard is expected to fully recover in six to 12 weeks and could return to the program in four to six weeks...

Associate head coach Phil Martelli will serve as the Wolverines' interim head coach during Howard's absence.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

ESPN: Michigan coach Juwan Howard undergoes heart procedure

Hoping for a speedy and full recovery.

[brevity]

CBS Sports: Kansas guard Arterio Morris suspended from program just one day after settling assault case in Texas

Arterio Morris transferred from Texas to Kansas in the offseason, but there was a pending case resulting from his arrest in June 2022 for physically assaulting an ex-girlfriend. Morris played his freshman year at Texas and was admitted to Kansas under the cloud of that case, but it was resolved Thursday in a plea deal.

This suspension news is not directly related to any of that; it actually stems from a new allegation of a sexual assault from last month at the dormitory where the men's basketball players live on the Kansas campus, as reported by the Kansas City Star. Freshmen Johnny Furphy and Elmarko Jackson and grad transfer Nick Timberlake were interviewed by police and appear in the report: Furphy and Jackson as "witnesses", Timberlake as "other". The Star article is careful to point out that the designation of "witness" is loosely defined, and does not mean that Furphy or Jackson observed a crime or had any knowledge of it.

A note to the moderators: CBS Sports does not name the teammates in its article, but it links to the Kansas City Star, which does provide the names and is behind a very poor paywall. I shared the information because (1) if I can read it as a non-subscriber, anyone else can as well; and (2) after the off-campus murder last year involving former and current Alabama basketball players, there is a public interest in the subject of players as witnesses, to the extent they were witnesses, and their availability to speak with law enforcement.

If you disagree with my choice, feel free to extract the last two sentences of the second paragraph.

ETA: Never mind. Deadspin included the names of Furphy, Jackson, and Timberlake in a free article posted within the last hour. It's public information now.

[tommy]

Georgia Tech picked up a big man. I expect he’ll be good On The Road.

https://www.zagsblog.com/2023/09/19/...-cole-kirouac/

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Georgia Tech picked up a big man. I expect he’ll be good On The Road.

https://www.zagsblog.com/2023/09/19/...-cole-kirouac/

Well done with the On the Road reference...

Looks like Kirouac is from outside ATL but goes to Brewster Academy, a basketball factory in NH. It is a good place for the new Tech coaching staff to strengthen relationships.

The article also says they got a commitment from OT Elite player Jaeden Mustaf, so of former Maryland Terp Jerrod Mustaf.

[brevity]

TheMessenger: Florida Atlantic’s Johnell Davis: ‘We All Came Back With One Goal, to Win a National Title’

Last March, [head coach Dusty] May led an Owls program that didn’t start playing D-1 hoops until 1989 to the Final Four. In April, he inked a 10-year deal through the 2032-33 campaign that will pay him in excess of $1.2 million this season.

All that talk about transfer portal woes ruining the chemistry of college hoops? FAU is bringing back 12 of its 13 scholarship players, even after high-major programs tried to get Davis and [Alijah] Martin to entertain the free market.

Florida Atlantic's higher profile this season coincides with an upgrade from Conference USA to the American/AAC. Coach May and the Owls will host closed scrimmages against Hubert Davis and UNC on October 21, and then Johnny Dawkins and Central Florida a week later.

A lot of neutral site games on their regular season schedule. They open with a "Welcome to the Final Four Club" game against Loyola in Chicago as part of the Barstool Sports Invitational. For Thanksgiving, they head to the Orlando area for the ESPN Events Invitational, where they play Butler, either Penn State or Texas A&M, and then a third game against Virginia Tech, Boise State, Iowa State, or VCU. They'll also play Illinois on December 5 as part of the Jimmy V Classic in NYC, St. Bonaventure for the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic on December 16 in Springfield, Massachusetts, and a pre-Christmas game in Las Vegas against Arizona on December 23.

[MChambers]

CBS Sports: Kansas guard Arterio Morris suspended from program just one day after settling assault case in Texas

Arterio Morris transferred from Texas to Kansas in the offseason, but there was a pending case resulting from his arrest in June 2022 for physically assaulting an ex-girlfriend. Morris played his freshman year at Texas and was admitted to Kansas under the cloud of that case, but it was resolved Thursday in a plea deal.

This suspension news is not directly related to any of that; it actually stems from a new allegation of a sexual assault from last month at the dormitory where the men's basketball players live on the Kansas campus, as reported by the Kansas City Star. Freshmen Johnny Furphy and Elmarko Jackson and grad transfer Nick Timberlake were interviewed by police and appear in the report: Furphy and Jackson as "witnesses", Timberlake as "other". The Star article is careful to point out that the designation of "witness" is loosely defined, and does not mean that Furphy or Jackson observed a crime or had any knowledge of it.

A note to the moderators: CBS Sports does not name the teammates in its article, but it links to the Kansas City Star, which does provide the names and is behind a very poor paywall. I shared the information because (1) if I can read it as a non-subscriber, anyone else can as well; and (2) after the off-campus murder last year involving former and current Alabama basketball players, there is a public interest in the subject of players as witnesses, to the extent they were witnesses, and their availability to speak with law enforcement.

If you disagree with my choice, feel free to extract the last two sentences of the second paragraph.

ETA: Never mind. Deadspin included the names of Furphy, Jackson, and Timberlake in a free article posted within the last hour. It's public information now.

Kansas just dismissed Morris, because he's been charged with rape: https://theathletic.com/4913218/2023...as-basketball/

[gam7]

Kansas just dismissed Morris, because he's been charged with rape: https://theathletic.com/4913218/2023...as-basketball/

Not a very good look just one week before a certain 2024 recruiting target goes to visit.

[brevity]

Florida Atlantic's higher profile this season coincides with an upgrade from Conference USA to the American/AAC. Coach May and the Owls will host closed scrimmages against Hubert Davis and UNC on October 21, and then Johnny Dawkins and Central Florida a week later.

It's now October, and this seems like a good time to share information about other preseason games taking place later this month.

To be clear, I'm only listing games between Division I programs, which can take the form of either a closed scrimmage or a charity exhibition. (There are tons of preseason games against non-Division I opponents, like the Duke men playing Division II UNC Pembroke. This post is not about that.)

I've read that teams are only allowed to play two games in the preseason, whether open or closed. I'm not sure if the charity exhibitions count as one of those games; I suspect they do, as I've seen none of the teams below schedule three preseason games of any kind.

Preseason Closed Scrimmages

Florida Atlantic hosts UNC (10/21) and Central Florida (10/28?)
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/...s/70850839007/

Oregon hosts Nevada (10/21)
https://nevadasportsnet.com/news/rep...oregon-schools

Oregon State WBB hosts Nevada WBB (10/21)
https://nevadasportsnet.com/news/rep...oregon-schools

Wichita State plays Iowa in Omaha (10/22)
https://www.kansas.com/sports/colleg...279628899.html

Xavier plays Notre Dame (10/??) and Kent State (10/??)
https://247sports.com/college/xavier...en--212898077/

Preseason Charity Exhibitions

Iowa WBB hosts DePaul WBB outdoors at Kinnick Stadium (10/15, 3pm CT/4pm ET) for Iowa Children's Hospital
https://hawkeyesports.com/news/2023/...er-at-kinnick/

Hawaii hosts Saint Mary's (10/20, 7pm HT/1am ET) for Maui Wildfire Relief
https://hawaiiathletics.com/news/202...ui-relief.aspx

St. John's hosts Rutgers (10/21, 2pm ET) for the V Foundation
https://redstormsports.com/news/2023...ancer-research

South Carolina WBB hosts Rutgers WBB (10/22, 1pm ET) for In the Middle/Nikki McCray-Penson
https://gamecocksonline.com/news/202...mccray-penson/

Dayton hosts Ohio State (10/22, 6pm ET) for the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation and the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio
https://daytonflyers.com/news/2023/6...revention.aspx

Robert Morris hosts Penn State (10/27, 7pm ET) for Coaches vs. Cancer
https://gopsusports.com/news/2023/9/...on-oct-27.aspx

West Virginia hosts George Mason (10/27, 7pm ET) for WVU Medicine Children's
https://wvusports.com/news/2023/8/23...tion-game.aspx

Arkansas hosts Purdue (10/28, 3pm CT/4pm ET) for Arkansas 211/Tornado Relief
https://arkansasrazorbacks.com/razor...-charity-game/

Mount St. Mary's hosts Bucknell (10/28, 4pm ET) for Patrick Behan Support Trust/ALS
https://mountathletics.com/news/2023...pat-behan.aspx

Wake Forest hosts Alabama (10/29, 1pm ET) for Atrium Health Stroke Center
https://godeacs.com/news/2023/10/3/m...-sunday-oct-29

North Texas hosts Sam Houston State (10/29, 2pm CT/3pm ET) AND
Texas Tech vs. Texas A&M in Denton (10/29, 4:30pm CT/5pm ET) for Maui Wildfire Relief
https://meangreensports.com/news/202...n-doubleheader
https://12thman.com/news/2023/9/27/m...r-charity.aspx

Southern Miss hosts Mississippi State (10/29, 2pm CT/3pm ET) for Tornado Relief
https://www.clarionledger.com/story/...r/70972988007/

Illinois hosts Kansas (10/29, 5pm CT/6pm ET on BTN) for Maui Wildfire Relief
https://fightingillini.com/news/2023...relief-efforts

Georgia hosts Eastern Kentucky (10/30, 6:30pm ET) for American Red Cross/Hurricane Idalia
https://ekusports.com/news/2023/9/28...ame-at-georgia

Tennessee hosts Michigan State (10/29, Time TBA) for Maui Wildfire Relief
https://utsports.com/news/2023/8/30/...f-efforts.aspx

As the name implies, closed scrimmages are not for the public and won't receive media coverage, though details have a way of leaking out. But the charity exhibition games are open to the general public (they're not part of a season ticket plan) and will get some attention from media outlets.

Note that the Kansas-Illinois game is being televised on Big Ten Network. I don't know if any of these other charity exhibition games will be televised or streamed, but if you live near any of them (like the Alabama-Wake Forest game in Winston-Salem, announced today), consider going. Click the links for more information.