November 4th was a great day for college basketball fans around the world, as opening night featured freshman Cooper Flagg’s long-awaited Duke debut and a glimpse into how Kentucky will rebuild in year one of the Mark Pope era.

The excitement was in the air, especially in Pennsylvania.

Starting with Penn State, the second year of the Mike Rhoades era has fans in Happy Valley, well, happy. With a paired top 30 high school and transfer class, PSU quickly retools a roster that was in the NCAA tournament just two years ago. Penn State also brings back the conference’s defensive player of the year and one of the best point guards in the country, Ace Baldwin, Jr., who is also on the Bob Cousy preseason watch list for the award given to the nation’s best point guard. Baldwin’s running mates seniors Zach Hicks and Puff Johnson, complement the star one guard brilliantly.  Record prediction: 17-13

Pitt comes off a disappointing season and not for the reson that we would usually think of. Pitt comes off a year where they won 22 games and finished fourth in the ACC but didn’t receive an invitation to the NCAA tournament. The script on how to win in college basketball has been leaked — every team needs veterans and a good coach. Luckily for Pitt fans, Jeff Capel’s team is led by the veteran presence of the Diaz Graham brothers down low, and this team will go as far as guard Ishmael Leggett takes them. Record prediction: 18-12

Interestingly, the only of the Pennsylvania teams that made the NCAA tournament last year was neither Penn State nor Pitt. Rather, Duquesne did. In Keith Dambrot’s last year coaching the Dukes, he caught lightning in a bottle, as they won 25 games making the tournament for the first time in over 40 years. But with the losses of Dambrot and all-league players Dae Dae Grant and Jimmy Clark, the Dukes are in for a down year. Record prediction 12-18.

On the whole, the Big 10 looked strong on opening night. All 14 of the teams that played won, and in what I’m going to call a “swing year” for the B10, Monday was a very important night for the conference. The Big 10 lost arguably its best player ever, as Purdue’s Zach Edey left for the NBA. With so much uncertainty surrounding the post-season performance of the teams in this league, they needed to send a message night one. That they very well did, as Ohio State upset top 25 Texas, Illinois had five players score 10+ led by 31 points by Freshman Will Riley, and a brand new Michigan team exploded for a 50-point win at home vs Cleveland State — not to mention 25th ranked Rutgers, who didn’t play on Monday but who houses the 2nd and 3rd ranked high school recruits from this year’s freshman class in Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, whose dad Ron won five NBA championships and whose brother Ron Jr played basketball for Rutgers for four years.

The Big 12 is king when it comes to college basketball, with five teams ranked inside the AP top 10 to begin the year. Outside of Baylor’s loss on Monday, the conference dominated. Newcomers like Arizona and Utah lit the place on fire, both teams scoring 100 points each in two wins. And NCAA hopeful teams like Cincinnati and UCF both picked up huge wins, with UCF taking down top 15 ranked Texas A&M. To go along with the rest of the conference’s dominance, top five teams Kansas, Iowa State, and Houston all won big at home on night one. The conference is expected to put nie to ten teams in this year’s NCAA tournament.

The Big East is the home of the back-to-back champion UConn Huskies, but there is new hope to emerge from the league. The Big East has by far been the most top heavy conference in the country for the last two years, as in 23-24 they only sent three teams to the tournament, but all three teams received top 3 seeds. But the vibe around this conference in 24-25 is much different. Teams including Xavier, St Johns, Villanova and Providence all are in position to make a move towards the NCAA tournament. Seasons are never truly lost in November, but they can definitely foreshadow what is to come. The four teams that played “buy” games on Monday won by a combined total of 17 points. A shaky start for the Big East, but as long as they have UConn, they will be fine.

The SEC has emerged as the clear cut second best conference in the country, as teams like Alabama and Auburn continue to climb, but in 24-25 there could be a power shift for the SEC. Turnover in this conference is bigger than any other in the country. On one hand, Arkansas nabbed coach John Calipari from Kentucky, who brings in former player and BYU coach Mark Pope to spearhead this season. Put plain and simple, the SEC was terrible night one, as only 9 of the 13 teams that played won. The aforementioned Texas teams, Texas A&M and Texas, both lost. But the biggest and most embarrassing loss came at the hands of the South Carolina Gamecocks, who lost 74-71 to North Florida. A far cry from the top 25 ranked team we watched all of last year. The conference will be fine, but a regrouping after this week is an absolute necessity.

The ACC is the conference everybody will be watching for one reason and one reason only: basketball’s next mega star, Duke’s Cooper Flagg. Duke and North Carolina come into this season with sky high expectations, as they house the two best players in the country. UNC’s R.J Davis’s decision to come back to school and try to win a national championship is everything UNC is about and the conference included, but it’s going to look a little different this year. Virginia looks to find themselves in a post Tony Bennett era as the legendary coach unexpectedly announced his retirement mere weeks before the season’s tip off. A boring, but albeit successful opening night for the ACC, as all 15 of the teams in play picked up wins. Duke and Miami shined the brightest on opening night, as the Blue Devils freshman duo of Kon Knueppel and Cooper Flagg combined for 40 points and the Miami senior duo of Nijel Pack and Lynn Kidd combined for 45 points on 19-22 shooting from the field.

But perhaps the national champs this year will not be a Power 5 team. Rather, they may reign from the West Coast Conference. After a flogging of a top 10 Baylor on opening night, Mark Few’s Gonzaga Bulldogs showed us who we thought they were. All-American hopefuls Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard lead this team, with dynamic shooters like Nolan Hickman and Dusty Stromer on their outside and a electric scorer in Khalif Battle that can take over any game.

And finally, let’s give a prediction for the Final Four.

Gonzaga, for the reasons state above, are my first choice.

Mississippi State is my second. Chris Jans added to his team that finished last year with a top eight seed in the NCAA Tournament by forming what might be the nation’s best backcourt, highlighted by Josh Hubbard, Kanye Clary, Riley Kugel and Claudell Harris.  They will shoot teams out of the gym.

Alabama is my third. Two words: Mark Sears. Two more words, transfer class. Nate Oats returns all of the most important parts of his team that went to the Final Four last year, but the catch is they got even better. With the addition of transfers Clifford Omoruyi, Aden Holloway, and Chris Youngblood, the Tide’s roster looks unfair on paper when you add Grant Nelson and Derrion Reid to the picture painted by All-American Mark Sears.

Baylor is my fourth. Everybody relax, Scott Drew’s teams have been built on adversity and overcoming growing pains. Baylor is headlined by freshman star and projected NBA lottery pick VJ Edgecombe, but the Bears also have one of the deepest lineups in the country. Norchad Omier and Jeremey Roach, who transferred from Miami and Duke, respectively, have both made it to the Final Four and know what it takes to get this team to San Antonio in early April.

As we head into week two, Happy Hoops Season to all!