St. John's and Michigan State Headline the First Saturday of the College Basketball Season

Entering the 2025-2026 season, a large part of the college basketball community was not buying the North Carolina Tar Heels as one of the 25 best teams in the country, but they proved all of them wrong, at least for the first week.  The Tar Heels blew out Kansas in Chapel Hill and looked great in the second half.  Caleb Wilson is turning into a star.  Kansas, on the other hand, has numerous issues.  They don’t have much on the offensive end outside of star Darryn Peterson. Unless Peterson has a Kevin Durant-like year, the Jayhawks might struggle.

That was the biggest storyline from the Friday games.  There were also some other eye-opening results on Friday. Georgetown got a massive win against Maryland in College Park.  I don’t know how good Maryland will be this year.  Utah State and VCU lived up to the hype with that game coming down to the wire.  Finally, Yale dominated a good Navy team.  The Bulldogs are going to dominate the Ivy League again.

The day was also not without some concerning results.  Oregon and UCLA struggled against much lesser competition again. Delaware lost to Division 2 Wilmington, which marks the third Division 2 team to win this week.  

That brings us to the first Saturday of the college basketball season.  There are not as many games as there will be as the year progresses, but there are a ton of quality games, especially in the early window.  

No. 15 Alabama Crimson Tide vs No. 5 St. John’s Red Storm- Two Power 5 favorites open the day at Madison Square Garden

The favorite in the SEC and the favorite in the Big East meet at Madison Square Garden.  That is just the tip of the iceberg for this game.  The Red Storm are loaded and are going to take and make a ton of threes, as well as play fantastic, smothering defense against everyone.  Trust Rick Pitino in these types of games because he has won them so many times.  It doesn’t hurt that St. John’s is a legitimate National Championship contender this year.

Alabama plays at one of the fastest paces in the country and will shoot a high volume of threes, drive into the lane, and get fouled.  That works against most teams, but the Red Storm are so disciplined that it might be hard for the Crimson Tide to score. Alabama also doesn’t play much defense against anyone, and St. John’s is good enough to outscore Alabama if they are not making shots.

South Florida Bulls vs George Washington Revolutionaries- Dangerous Mid-Majors clash at the Hall of Fame.

Another game that features two favorites in their respective conferences.  South Florida is the favorite in the American. It boasts a deep roster that should win the league fairly easily. George Washington and head coach Chris Caputo enter the Atlantic 10 season as favorites for the first time in a long time.  This game will serve as a significant measuring stick for each team to gauge its standing.  South Florida is favored in this game, and it is expected to be close.

Utah Valley Wolverines at Boise State Broncos - Defending WAC champ against a team looking for a bounce back.

Utah Valley won the WAC regular season last year and did most of it on the defensive end.  The Wolverines know who they are and how they need to win games, and they don’t deviate from that.  Oh, Boise State, which just lost to Division II Hawaii Pacific on opening night, needs to win as many games as possible to hopefully salvage its NCAA Tournament hopes, even though it is a giant hill to climb at this point.  Something tells me that the Broncos are due for a huge bounce-back game.

No. 14 Arkansas Razorbacks at No. 22 Michigan State Spartans- Top 25 teams battle in Breslin

There isn’t much more to say about this game other than John Calipari vs Tom Izzo in primetime at one of the historic venues in college basketball.  It doesn’t get much better than that, and this is usually a regular-season game that we all get towards the end of November or in early December, not in the first week of the season.  This game is going to feature tremendous defense, three-point shooting, and two of the better athletes in the game: Trevon Brazille and Coen Carr.

Oklahoma Sooners vs Gonzaga Bulldogs - WCC and SEC in Spokane

Oklahoma is likely to be a bubble team and will likely knock off a team or two in the regular season, especially being in the SEC.  That team will not be Gonzaga.  The Bulldogs are a better team, and they don’t lose in Spokane.  That's the analysis: the Bulldogs don’t lose in Spokane, and they are better than the Sooners

Here are the rest of the picks for a fun Saturday of college hoops.