NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 14 matchups for 2022 ACC/Big Ten Challenge
2. Ohio State at Duke
In a rematch of one of last season’s best games, Duke has a new coach and brand new roster, featuring four 5-star prospects and a top-10 caliber roster. The Blue Devils are always a main attraction in NCAA Basketball and will be even more with Jon Scheyer leading the way. As for Ohio State, they won’t have E.J. Liddell or Malaki Branham but do have several transfers and a top-10 incoming recruiting class of newcomers.
Both teams have plenty of talent and Dereck Lively and Dariq Whitehead are future NBA Draft lottery picks. It’s going to be one of the top games in the month of November and the only reason why there’s one bigger is that Duke lost to them in the Final Four last year.
1. North Carolina at Indiana
In terms of bringing back talent, not too many teams did better than the Tar Heels and Hoosiers. All-Big Ten forward Trayce Jackson-Davis is back, along with starting point guard Xavier Johnson and five-star freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino leading the backcourt. In all rankings, Indiana is either 1 or 2 in the Big Ten at the moment and is a consensus preseason ranked team for next season.
Not only is North Carolina also going to be ranked but also potentially No. 1 in the preseason top-25 NCAA Basketball poll after bringing back four starters and landing Northwestern transfer Pete Nance. He and Armando Bacot form one of the best frontcourts in college basketball, while Caleb Love and RJ Ravis are one of the best guard duos as well.
Next. WTE ACC power rankings for 2022-23. dark
There’s a great chance that both of these teams will be ranked when they play in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge and there isn’t another matchup that’s clear to happen. And that alone makes it the clear No. 1 game to watch in this series next season.