The biggest questions for the 2023-24 men's college basketball season - ESPN

Welcome to the Year of the Big Man in men's college basketball. Maybe the Year of the Big Coaching Change, too. There are a lot of threads to follow once the 2023-24 season begins in 12 days.

Let's start with the return of Zach Edey, last year's Wooden Award winner who solidifies Purdue as the favorite in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers have a chance to avenge last season's historic first-round upset loss to 16-seed Fairleigh Dickinson and chase a national title. Virginia did the same thing five years ago. Maybe Purdue will, too.

In the ACC, Duke's Kyle Filipowski, an AP preseason first-team All-American, decided to postpone his NBA dreams and return to lead a strong Blue Devils squad that will have to top North Carolina — determined to erase a disastrous 2022-23 season that ended without an NCAA tournament berth — and national semifinalist Miami to win the league championship and vie for the national title in Jon Scheyer's second year at the helm.

Hunter Dickinson, the talented big man who anchored Michigan a year ago, and his new Kansas team might stand in the way, though. Dickinson's arrival in Lawrence elevated the Jayhawks to the No. 1 spot in the AP preseason top 25 poll. «I want everybody to know we're better than them,» he told ESPN at Big 12 media day earlier this month. Nothing will be easy in the Big 12, though, which adds last year's AAC champion Houston along with three other schools this season, as realignment continues to redefine collegiate sports.

On the West Coast, Arizona and Oumar Ballo look like a team with Final Four hopes, while UCLA, Colorado and USC (with or without Bronny James) all seem capable of winning games in March, too. For the Pac-12, ending its 26-year national championship drought in its