School basketball has lengthy struggled with getting eyes on its product on the onset of recent seasons, and for months, it appeared as if opening evening of the 2024-25 marketing campaign may very well be the game’s weakest but. That’s not the case as Baylor and Gonzaga have entered the ultimate levels of an settlement to play on Monday, Nov. 4 in a matchup that’s assured to rev the engine of the game, sources inform CBS Sports activities.
The presumptive preseason prime 10 groups will meet at Spokane Area in downtown Spokane, Washington, versus Gonzaga’s on-campus venue, the McCarthey Athletic Heart.
Two probably future Corridor-of-Fame coaches.
Two of the winningest packages of the previous 5 seasons.
And a nationwide title recreation rematch from three years in the past.
That is fairly a manner for the 2024-25 season to start.
Baylor and Gonzaga squared off for the 2021 nationwide championship contained in the COVID-19 bubble in Indianapolis, with the Bears blitzing the Bulldogs 86-70 to win this system’s first nationwide title. The groups final met on Dec. 2, 2022, in a 64-63 win by Baylor in South Dakota. BU holds a 5-2 edge throughout seven conferences relationship again to 1991.
Baylor’s Scott Drew and Gonzaga’s Mark Few are particularly tight. The coaches have labored collectively during the last two months to safe a matchup that works for his or her packages whereas concurrently serving as a boon to school basketball. They beforehand explored Las Vegas and even Mexico as potential locations for this recreation, sources informed CBS Sports activities, however logistics led them to enjoying in Gonzaga’s house metropolis.Â
Tip time and tv community are nonetheless to-be-determined. CBS Sports activities first reported the chance of the matchup earlier this summer time.Â
The Bears will enter the 2024-25 season at No. 7 in Gary Parrish’s Prime 25 And 1, one spot forward of the Zags.
Whereas Duke’s Cooper Flagg would be the most hyped freshman/participant within the sport heading into the season, Baylor freshman wing V.J. Edgecombe might wind up simply as impactful. Drew additionally introduced aboard key transfers in Norchad Omier (Miami) and Jeremy Roach (Duke) with Langston Love and Jayden Nunn serving as key returnees for BU.
Huge man Graham Ike and level guard Andrew Nembhard are essentially the most notable returnees from a Gonzaga squad that made the Candy 16 for a ninth consecutive NCAA Match.
For Baylor, the season opener will kick off the hardest week any staff will face the primary week of the season. The Bears will face Arkansas and new coach John Calipari 4 days afterward Nov. 9 in Dallas.
Except for Baylor-Gonzaga, although, opening evening will likely be overrun with practically 90 unimaginative matchups, lots of them involving power-conference groups internet hosting mid-major fodder — video games that can invariably finish in blowouts. Weak and sluggish begins have lengthy been an issue for faculty basketball as many high-major coaches look to open the season in opposition to buy-game opponents that determine to be simple victories.
Becoming a member of Baylor-Gonzaga because the next-most fascinating recreation on opening evening is Texas vs. Ohio State in Las Vegas.