NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 4 teams in 2021 Hall of Fame Tip-Off field

An annual NCAA Basketball non-conference tournament that’s always compelling to watch is the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament, a four-team event that hosts at least a couple of preseason Final Four contenders that offers up some early good basketball for the season.

It’s located in the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut and is for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, spotlighting the many men and women that have contributed to the great game that it is today.

In the last time, this event was played No. 7 Virginia won the four-team tournament, beating UMass in the semifinals before defeating Arizona State in the finals in a defensive struggle. It was a fun showcase of the Cavaliers’ defense against Remy Martin, along with former Minutemen star Tre Mitchell in the game prior.

The Hall of Fame Tip-Off didn’t get played last season due to the covid pandemic. The host site, the Mohegan Sun, turned into a location where we got plenty of neutral site games, as many teams were looking for non-conference games. One of them included the big upset of Virginia Tech over Villanova.

But now we’re getting back to normal with these events, including the Tip-Off having a major field to make up for last season. The four participating teams; Tennessee, Purdue, North Carolina, and Villanova, are all preseason top-25 teams in many way-too-early top-25 rankings for 2021-22.

Villanova will take on Tennessee and Purdue will face North Carolina, with all of us having the chance to see four highly competitive games. But who should be viewed as the favorite here? This is how I would rank all four programs right now.