Ranking the 23 biggest stories in men’s college basketball for our 2023 year-in-review

Although the college basketball season splits the Gregorian calendar, you know how this goes, people. It’s the holiday season and the media-content gods mandate a best-of list to end the year no matter the source material. Best albums, best movies, photos of the year, best podcasts, top TV shows, favorite memes, most memorable sporting moments and on and on and on. 

My fellow college basketball fans, the nonconference season is almost entirely in the rearview and league play is set to start in earnest across the country. Christmas induces a lull on the calendar, which opens an opportunity for a look back over the previous 12 months to reflect on the great and bad, good and sad, remarkable and regrettable. I’ve developed a motif here in recent years by aligning the number of notable stories with the year on the calendar. So, there you have it: It’ll be the 23 biggest stories of 2023 in men’s college basketball.

In parentheses below, I’ve linked stories associated with the headlines, so you can click thru and read even more if you’d like. Scroll down and you’ll be reminded just how big of a year this was in the sport. I had about 30 candidates in contention for 23 spots. Here were the 23 most significant stories in ’23.

23. Juwan Howard returns to coach Michigan after heart surgery, internal investigation (December): Howard is one of college sports’ more famous coaches and Michigan is one of the 20 best jobs in college basketball. UM’s surprise September announcement regarding Howard’s heart surgery was a big enough headline unto itself. When speculation arises about job status? That’s a national story. (Howard’s temper almost costing him his job in 2022 was my No. 7 item a year ago). Earlier this month there was uncertainty whether Howard would return following a verbal altercation in team practice with Michigan’s strength coach. He was cleared and has resumed his normal duties as head coach, but Michigan has lost momentum. A situation to monitor in 2024, for sure.

22. Jim Nantz’s final Final Four (April 3): When a person entwined with a sporting event for decades moves on, that’s a sizable story. Few people in sports broadcasting history can match the uninterrupted longevity of Nantz’s 37-year run on CBS calling the Final Four (and even longer in working the NCAA Tournament). UConn beating San Diego State in Houston (fittingly, the city where Nantz went to college and got his start in broadcasting) was Nantz’s 354th and final tournament broadcast. His meticulous preparation and March Madness narration will be missed, but thankfully Jim is far from retiring. He remains CBS’ No. 1 broadcaster for the NFL and golf for years to come. In hoops, the scintillating Ian Eagle will take over as the lead NCAA Tournament play-by-play voice in 2024 and beyond.

21. Markquis Nowell’s MSG moment punctuates Jerome Tang’s stellar debut season at K-State (March 23): Kansas State hired Tang in March 2021 after the man spent two decades in the background building Baylor behind Scott Drew. Tang’s first year at K-State saw the Wildcats picked ninth in a 10-team Big 12. OK, but here’s what happened: Tang guided the team to 26 wins and a No. 3 seed. Nowell was his diminutive star point guard from New York City, and after a rock-solid regular season, Nowell went legend in the NCAAs. In the regional semifinals against Michigan State, Nowell had 20 points and a tournament-record 19 assists (plus five steals) in what was the best game of March Madness 2022. I was courtside and will never forget this performance.

20. Cooper Flagg picks Duke (Oct. 30): Rare is the college commitment — from someone more than a year away from actually playing college basketball — that can register as one of the biggest headlines in the sport. Flagg is different. The top-rated recruit in 2024 is also viewed by evaluators as one of the 3-5 most promising prospects of the past 20 years. Picking Duke wasn’t a shock, but it still means a lot to the greater college hoops landscape. Duke has the No. 1 class and is a near-lock to be a preseason top-three team in 2024. Similarly, Flagg will be a top-three name in college hoops by next fall, no matter what happens later this season or whomever opts to return for 2024-25.

19. NCAA Tournament expansion speculation — and resistance to the idea — heightens (January): The No. 11 item from my list at the end of 2022 makes a repeat appearance thanks to the NCAA’s transformation committee formally recommending in January that every Division I sport explore whether to pursue expanding their championship events. The topic has cooled in the back half of the year, but don’t mistake that for dissolution. Expect this to bubble up again in 2024, even if there’s a wave of resistance against it. I reported last January that significant expansion in the short term wasn’t an outcome on the table. That proved true, and sources have reiterated that’s where things stand … for now. The general public has little desire for expansion. If the NCAA is smart, it won’t mess with a near-perfect thing.

18. Hunter Dickinson transfers to Kansas (May 4): One of the most overused phrases in sports in 2023 (certainly THE MOST overused in the college arena, at least) was “in the transfer portal/NIL era.” The portal has beget a news economy unto itself in football and basketball. In basketball, the highest-profile transfer of 2023 was Dickinson, who walked away from a hefty NIL offer at Michigan and decided to play for Bill Self. Dickinson was in search of a new scene, more money and an increased chance of making a Final Four. He was the top target out of more than 1,800 players in the portal, so when his close-to-the-vest choice of KU was revealed, it was a huge headline. So far, so good: Dickinson is playing like an All-American (18.3 ppg, 12.5 rpg) and Kansas has been ranked inside the top five every week of this season.

17. New Mexico State cancels its season (Feb.12): What happened earlier this year at NMSU was borderline unprecedented. First, NMSU player Mike Peake shot and killed a University of New Mexico student in self-defense amid fleeing what was an apparent catfishing attempt. That incident stemmed from a skirmish between NMSU and UNM students at a 2022 football game. The coaching staff later obtained Peake’s gun and were initially uncooperative with police as the investigation began. It got worse. In February, credible allegations of repeated sexual abuse and other forms of hazing from within the men’s basketball program were brought forth by one of its players. There was little choice in the matter; the season had to end, the coaching staff had to be fired and the team was broken up.

16. Princeton makes a Cinderella Sweet 16 run (March 18): The 15th-seeded Tigers outplayed No. 2 Arizona in the first round, then straight up destroyed 7-seed Missouri two days later. It was the fourth time we’ve had a No. 15 seed make the Sweet 16, but that didn’t make it any less impressive or eye-opening. If anything, this one carried the most emotional impact. Princeton did it months removed from the death of the greatest coach in school history, Pete Carril, whose final season (1995-96) also featured his Tigers knocking off a West Coast power with national title hopes. It 1996 it was UCLA. In 2023, Arizona.

15. San Diego State beats FAU at the buzzer (April 1): The Aztecs made history by making their first Final Four. They’re also the only Mountain West program to ever pull off the feat. Here’s an even better factoid: Lamont Butler’s buzzer-beater to cap a 14-point second half comeback vs. FAU was the sixth buzzer-beater in a national semifinal or title game, but the only one that went in after the team shooting the ball was trailing as the shot was released. The very definition of win or go home. It was also San Diego State’s only lead of the second half and the fifth-largest comeback in Final Four history. One of the best moments of the year.

14. Ed Cooley takes Georgetown job, enraging the Providence fan base (March 20): This doubles as the notable headline of Georgetown firing program legend Patrick Ewing. But after a miserable 2022-23, Ewing’s exodus became a sad formality. It was Cooley’s awkward split from his hometown of Providence that bumps up the notoriety here. Cooley chose to leave a place where he was revered. For nearly a week, the speculation about him turning on Providence for Georgetown became unavoidable, and truth be told, Cooley didn’t handle it as well as he could have. Over 12 seasons, he kept PC relevant in most seasons and set a few program records along the way. Friars fans won’t get over it for a long time. Now Cooley is trying to bring Georgetown back to respectability. Mark it: Cooley returns to Providence on Saturday, Jan. 27.

13. UNC’s historic flop (March): Hubert Davis’ debut season as Tar Heels coach included a glow-up that will live forever in college hoops lore. Carolina beat Duke in Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game — then ended Coach K’s career by beating Duke in the Final Four. It’s hard to fall far from that height. Buuuuut … making the national title game and returning almost every player of note positioned UNC as the No. 1 team in the preseason in 2022-23. That set the stage for a one-of-a-kind college hoops pratfall. The Tar Heels were merely average. After falling out of the polls faster than any preseason No. 1 team ever (it took a month), they went 20-13 and became the first team in modern history to fail to make the NCAAs after being preseason No. 1. Because of this, the orbit of Davis’ third season is being tracked all the more sedulously. 

12. Bronny James picks USC, suffers cardiac arrest, makes CBB debut in seven-month span (May 6, July 24, Dec. 10): This item being No. 12 tells you how newsworthy 2023 was in men’s college basketball. James announcing his commitment to USC genuinely feels like it happened more than a year ago, but no, that was in May. The sports world was stunned in late July when news broke that Bronny, one of the more famous incoming freshmen in history, was rushed to the hospital after collapsing during a team workout. In an instant, his life changed. Thankfully, he not only survived, but an optimistic diagnosis and recovery plan enabled Bronny to make his college basketball debut in early December. It remains incredible that he is a part of the sport after something that could have ended his playing career. James is working his way toward being a productive role player, but we’ll see how relevant his time at USC is in 2024. The Trojans are 6-5 and one of the season’s early disappointments.

11. Louisville’s dismal 2023 (all of 2023): Things are so bad at U of L, this is a repeat entry from my 2002 list. No. 12 last year, and up a spot in 2023. Congrats? Kenny Payne is 9-35 in 1.5 seasons and has never won outside of the KFC Yum! Center … where he’s just 10-15. Yet Cardinals athletic director Josh Heird will not make a move. Fans are more than fed up — they’ve given up. Gary Parrish recently wrote on why this should’ve already ended: “It’s unbelievably bad. The idea that a top-10 program of all time could sink to this level — Louisville finished 290th at KenPom last season and is 185th right now — was truly unimaginable before Payne sank it to this level. And the best way to get people all over the country to stop focusing on that would be for Louisville to agree to pay Payne every penny it owes him, generously remove him from this tour of humiliation, name an interim coach and let all of the attention turn away from this disastrous two-season experiment and instead toward what has to happen next for this once-proud program to return to its usual elite place in the sport.”

10. Jim Boeheim’s awkwardly executed retirement (March 8): No coach in college sports history has a lengthier affiliation with one school than Boeheim. It’s where he played and coached for all but two and a half years of his adult life, which amounted to 57 years. We’ll likely never see a union so long-lasting between a player-turned-coach and school ever again. Unfortunately, Syracuse was lackluster in Boeheim’s final two seasons, going 33-32 and failing to even qualify for the NIT. After SU lost to Wake Forest in the opening round of the ACC Tournament, Boeheim was his typical, prickly self with the media and double-talking about whether he had already decided to retire. Then, less than three hours after the game ended, Syracuse sent out a press release — sans a corresponding statement from Boeheim — that Adrian Autry would be taking over as coach of the Orange. Things were smoothed over in the days that followed, but Boeheim made the transition tougher than it needed to be. 

9. Bob Huggins resigns at West Virginia after DUI arrest (June 18): A year ago, Huggins’ induction into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame was one of the 22 biggest stories of ’22. Less than a year later, an embarrassing end. Huggins stained his legacy for good after two incidents forced him out of a job he loved. In May, Huggins used homophobic slurs and derogatory language toward Catholics on Cincinnati radio, which led disciplinary actions. Still, his job was spared at that point. Six weeks later, Huggins was pulled over during daylight hours in Pittsburgh and arrested on suspicion of DUI. Less than 24 hours later, he was out. This caused WVU’s 2023 to gyrate, and the effects are still being felt. He threatened a lawsuit for wrongful termination, but that seemingly fizzled. Huggins left with 934 wins but no proper send-off. 

8. St. John’s hires Rick Pitino (March 20): When I sat down with Pitino at Iona in February, I sensed he was itching for one more shot at a high-profile job. Lo and behold, a second NCAA tourney trip with Iona paved the way for St. John’s to maneuver past Providence and Georgetown in wooing Pitino. He could continue to live at his posh Westchester County home while being back at Madison Square Garden, back in the Big East, back in the big-time. It’s to-be-determined if St. John’s will be NCAA Tournament-good in Year 1 under Pitino, but few doubt the program’s potential in the next half-decade with one of the 10 best men’s college coaches ever. From NCAA purgatory to this. One of the most interesting men in basketball history.

7. Bob Knight dies at 83 (Nov. 1): So large a cultural figure was The General, his passing was included on every national nightly news broadcast. Commentary and varying reflective points of view came from all directions in the American sports landscape. Knight was, for some, an icon and role model. For others, an outmoded bully whose motivational tactics and sideline behaviors are thankfully no longer in use or tolerated. No matter your opinion on the man, it’s irrefutable that Knight was a force and a personality that transcended college basketball. I’ll also use this space to note that the sport lost an entirely different kind of coaching legend in 2023, someone who is also high up on the list of all-time greats: Louisville legend Denny Crum, who won two national titles, died in June at the age of 86. 

6. Zach Edey returns after dominant NPOY campaign (all of 2023): From a stats perspective, the 7-foot-4 Edey had one of the best national player of the year seasons of the 21st century. He averaged 22.3 points, 12.9 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and guided Purdue to Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles, plus a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed. He was the biggest force in the sport, which was an interesting juxtaposition with his ultra-calm demeanor on and off the floor. Nobody like him in college basketball, nor has there been for a good while. Edey flirted with going to the NBA but opted to come back, and look how that’s working out. Heading into 2024, he’s the clear favorite to win NPOY again. If he does it, he’ll be the first men’s player since Ralph Sampson four decades ago to win back-to-back NPOY honors.

5. The Big Ten and Big 12 kill the Pac-12 (summer): Football rears its greedy head once more and inflicts seriously negative impacts on college hoops. The decimation of the Pac-12 is unquestionably a college basketball story just as much as it is a college football one. In 2024, we’ll have 31 conferences instead of 32, which means one more at-large bid for the NCAA tourney. It’s utterly depressing how the 108-year history of the Pac-12 — the league of John Wooden, Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton, Lute Olson, Ralph Miller, Marques Johnson, Ed O’Bannon and on and on — was ruined. The Big Ten is getting USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon. We so sure that’s going to work out well for those four schools, beyond what they’ll get deposited in their bank accounts? The Big 12 plucked Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah to form a 16-team league of its own. Amid this, Gonzaga and UConn were tossed aside and missed their window to possibly receive Big 12 invites. Oh, right, Cal and Stanford are going to the ACC, too. Blech. Conference realignment never truly settles, but the tectonic movement of 2023 was the shift that caused more consequential damage than any year prior.

4. No. 16 Fairleigh Dickinson topples top-seeded Purdue (March 17): In 2018, UMBC made history by becoming the first 16-seed to ever beat a 1-seed. But Fairleigh Dickinson was an even bigger point-spread underdog than UMBC. The smallest team in the tournament vs. the biggest man and best player in college basketball, Zach Edey. A genuine stunner and a moment that will be recalled decades from now, no doubt. Remember, the Knights had to win their First Four game just to earn the right to play Purdue. Not only that, FDU was only IN the Big Dance on a technicality. Merrimack won the NEC but did not receive the auto bid because it was not yet eligible to play in the NCAAs after recently classing up to Division I. Purdue choked, FDU changed its reputation forever and March Madness delivered once more, as it does every. single. year. 

3. Darius Miles, Brandon Miller’s murder-case involvement mars sport, ruins Alabama’s season (January/February/March): Tragically, gun deaths were a recurring theme in college basketball’s 2023 news cycle. There’s the New Mexico State headline above, in addition to Michigan State briefly putting its season on hold after an on-campus shooting. The biggest story happened at the University of Alabama. Jamea Jonae Harris was killed in a car in a popular nightlife area close to Alabama’s campus in the early hours of Jan. 15. She was a 23-year-old mother to a 5-year-old boy. She was allegedly shot and killed by a man named Michael Davis. The gun used in the shooting, according to police, belonged to Darius Miles, who was a member of Alabama’s team at the time of the shooting. The player who couriered the gun to the scene was allegedly Alabama’s Brandon Miller. Miles and Davis were charged with capital murder. Their cases are ongoing. Miller was never deemed a suspect nor charged. Despite his consequential role in the tragedy, Miller faced no discipline. That brought on a monsoon of criticism against Alabama coach Nate Oats, Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne and school president Stuart Bell. Around college basketball, Oats’ reputation took a hit for the program’s multiple missteps and his poorly worded statements amid the fallout from Harris’ murder. None of this impacted Miller’s NBA Draft stock; he was taken No. 2 by the Charlotte Hornets. 

2. FAU turns in historic mid-major folk tale with Final Four + strong November/December continuation (all of 2023): The astonishing Final Four appearance isn’t the whole story. We just saw the Owls upset No. 4 Arizona in Las Vegas last weekend. Dusty May’s team — now ranked No. 7 with a 10-2 record vs. a challenging non-con schedule — is proving last season is no one-off. The Owls went 33-5 in 2023. That’s the most wins and fewest losses of any team in men’s college basketball over the past 12 months. To think, FAU had never even won an NCAA Tournament game (just one prior March Madness appearance) before pulling off a classic mid-major Final Four run. (It was brutally under-seeded as an 8, too. And it had little business blowing it vs. SDSU.) May has become one of the hottest coaches in the sport and FAU has been the counterculture team. At a time when most college programs are losing multiple players by the year to transfer, not a single Owl left for another school. Special group, and more greatness might away in 2024. 

1. UConn makes history with NCAA title (April 3): The national champion doesn’t always hold the No. 1 spot on my list, but considering trail of destruction the Huskies left in Albany, Las Vegas and Houston, I think it’s the biggest story of 2023. Having another bona fide top-shelf program makes college hoops stronger and more appealing to the masses. Connecticut earned its elite status by blowing out everybody on its way to one of the most impressive NCAA championship runs in history. Connecticut did what few others can claim: win all six NCAA Tournament games by double digits and by an average of 20 points. UConn also won four straight to wrap a championship run by holding all its opponents under 35% shooting — a first in tournament history. HELLO: It trailed for only 55 seconds in the entire tournament! 

What’s more, UConn achieved an NCAA record in November by winning 24 straight games vs. nonconference opponents by double digits. That reinforced what a fifth title verified: blue blood status. Adama Sanogo, Andre Jackson Jr., Jordan Hawkins and Tristen Newton placed their names amongst the legends at that proud school, which now sits tied for fourth for all-time men’s NCAA titles. As Dan Hurley told me on the court moments after UConn beat San Diego State: “The blood is as blue as it gets.” The team is good enough to be in the conversation to repeat. It’s a gigantic task, but if it were to happen in 2024, hard to see how any story could top that.