NCAA Basketball: Each top 25 team’s toughest November test in 2023-24

10. Florida Atlantic

November 8 (at Loyola-Chicago)

Darlings of last year’s NCAA Tournament, the Owls advanced all the way to the Final Four, concluding a program-altering season. Now, Johnell Davis, Alijah Martin, Vladislav Goldin and most of the pieces from that run return for the Owls’ first season in the AAC, which heightened expectations ahead for Dusty May’s crew. Florida Atlantic gets a few intriguing challenges in the nonconference schedule, though the biggest tests come in December.

Honestly, the biggest challenge may be their first, in what’s basically a road game against Loyola-Chicago. The Ramblers should be much improved after a terrible performance last season, and we’ll see our first look at how the Owls respond to an entire offseason of expectations. The Owls do head to the ESPN Events Invitational and could face much stiffer competition, but their opening games on Thanksgiving is against a Butler squad against whom they’ll certainly be solid favorites.

9. Tennessee

November 29 (at North Carolina)

Josiah-Jordan James, Santiago Vescovi, and Zakai Zeigler all return to Knoxville, giving plenty of reason for great expectations for the Volunteers this season. Compared to a number of the teams ranked in the preseason, Tennessee has quite the difficult November, including five contests away from home. The first of those is a true road game at Wisconsin, but there are even tougher times ahead.

The Volunteers head to the Maui Invitational later in the month, though their opening round matchup is against a rebuilding Syracuse squad before facing either Purdue or Gonzaga in round two. The game that stands out is their ACC/SEC Challenge showdown in Chapel Hill against North Carolina. The Tar Heels are coming off a disappointing season but put together a really talented lineup that could spell trouble for the Volunteers.