🏈 Football season is over… Welcome to the Madness! 🏀

For those of you who have been glued to the gridiron and haven’t paid attention to hoops yet, you picked a wild week to join us. Here are the biggest headlines of the college basketball season so far:

🌵 Chasing Perfection: Arizona is 23-0 and killing the Big 12 right now! We have officially made it to a genuine discussion surrounding if Arizona can match the historic Indiana season of 1976. The Wildcats are our game of the night this evening, and Tommy Lloyd’s squad is must-see TV!

🔴 The Second Undefeated: A second undefeated team is lurking just below the surface! Miami (OH) is having the program’s best season ever, sitting at 24-0. “If you won’t play us, rank us” was the slogan for the non-conference slate, and now the Redhawks are finally ranked!

〽️ The Transfer Army: Dusty May had to reload via the portal in Ann Arbor, and it’s working. He brought in guys like Yaxel Lendeborg, Elliot Cadeau, Aday Mara, and Morez Johnson to form a “Transfer Army” that has only suffered one loss on the year.

👶 Greatest Freshman Class Ever? The Class of 2025 is absolutely loaded and they have delivered immediately. Just look at these names:

• Cam Boozer (Duke)
• Darryn Peterson (Kansas)
• Koa Peat (Arizona)
• Caleb Wilson (UNC)
• AJ Dybantsa (BYU)
• Kingston Flemings (Houston)
• Keaton Wagler (Illinois)
• Nate Ament (Tennessee)
• Braylon Mullins (UConn)

🌽 Nebrasketball is Here to Stay: The Huskers are a projected 2-seed right now and thriving under Fred Hoiberg’s system! At full health, Nebraska can compete with anyone in the country.

🌍 Conference Breakdown:

• Big 12: Extremely top-heavy, but primed to put 6 teams on the top 4 seed lines.
• Big Ten: Extraordinarily deep and the only conference with a shot at 10 bids this year.
• SEC: A bit of a down year; it looks like a mirror image of what we’re used to seeing from the Big Ten.
• ACC: The league is BACK. Improved teams like Virginia, NC State, and Miami (FL)—plus surprises like Cal and SMU—have the conference in a great spot.
• Big East: A down year, projecting just 3 bids right now.
• Mid-Majors: The MWC and WCC are both projecting 2-3 teams in the dance, while the A-10 is the conference with the best chance to produce a “Bid Thief!”

To catch you all up, I publish a newsletter daily to cover the key impacts from the previous day and then dive into all of the games that matter for the day.

Sunday saw a good performance from Texas Tech to win in Morgantown!

Michigan dominates Ohio State in Columbus, keeping them at a 1 seed.

USF takes over the American Conference lead after beating Tulsa!

Monday’s Games to Watch:

Navy @ Bucknell | 6:00, CBSSN

Navy takes their 11-1 Patriot League record to Lewisburg tonight. They’re favored by 6.5.

Xavier @ St. John’s | 6:30, FS1

The Pitino Bowl Part 2! The first matchup between these was really fun with SJU getting a big win! At MSG, I’d expect SJU to handle Xavier easily, but they’re coming off the biggest win of the year. They need to avoid a letdown game here! SJU is a 5 seed currently.

NC State @ Louisville | 7:00, ESPN

Suddenly, both of these teams are playing better right now and this game is monumental! NC State is 9-2 in the ACC and looking to move up in the league race! Louisville is fighting for seeding and looking to keep up in the middle of the league. Both teams are a 7 seed currently.

Texas Southern @ Bethune-Cookman | 7:00

Bethune Cookman is a 7 point favorite tonight, and they are leading the SWAC at 9-1.

Yale @ Howard | 7:00, ESPN+

This non-conference matchup is awesome! I love that we’ve got games like this in February. Yale is the Ivy leader, while Howard is doing well in the MEAC! Yale is favored by 8.5 points.

UT Rio Grande Valley @ Nicholls | 7:30, ESPN+

This is a battle of 9-6 Southland teams! UTRGV is favored by 2.5 here.

Houston Christian @ McNeese St & East Texas A&M @ Stephen F. Austin | 7:30, ESPN+

These two games feature home Southland leaders facing lower tier opponents. Both are double digit favorites.

Belmont @ Bradley | 8:00, ESPN+

This MVC battle will be amazing, Belmont comes in at 12-2 in conference play and favored by 2.5. Bradley is 9-5 in conference play and looking to keep up!

UNC Wilmington @ Charleston | 8:00, CBSSN

Monumental CAA game. The winner tkakes over the lead in the conference! UNCW is 8-2 in conference while Charleston is 9-2. Charleston is favored by 1.5 here.

Oregon @ Indiana | 8:30, FS1

Oregon is healthy, and competitive now. Just look at what they did at Mackey this weekend. Indiana is playing really well overall. IU has climbed up to a 9 and will look to keep that going tonight! IU is favored by 11.5.

Arizona @ Kansas | 9:00, ESPN

Game of the night in Phog! If my research was correct, Kansas hasn’t beaten a #1 team in Lawrence, ever. They’re 0-5. Bill Self is 38-0 in his career at home on Big Monday. Which record falls? Arizona presented the last opportunity to do so, and tonight, they are back! Can Kansas beat Arizona and get that curse lifted? Arizona is favored by 2.5.

Northern Iowa @ Murray State | 10:00, CBSSN

Murray State is favored by 4.5 currently and is 10-4 in the MVC. They need to win to keep up with the top of the league!