College Hoops Today

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The Breakfast Buffet: AJ Dybantsa’s debut, Arizona/Florida, Year of the 3 Rick Pitino era

Who’s hungry for college basketball?

Here’s today’s installment of “The Breakfast Buffet”, a daily column that can be found here every single morning getting you caught up to date on everything that’s happened from the day/night before and everything that’s going to happen in the next 24 hours.

Mangia!

Things To Sample

AJ Dybantsa makes his college debut against Villanova
The most anticipated season in the history of BYU’s program gets going tonight in Las Vegas as the Cougars square off against the Wildcats, who are playing their first game under Kevin Willard, who was previously the head coach of Maryland. The 6-8 Dybantsa — who’s firmly in the mix to be the top overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft — has completely changed the perception of BYU’s program before ever playing a game and his presence will ensure that Kevin Young’s program is appointment television for the duration of the 2025-26 season. Dybantsa averaged 24.0 points and 7.5 in a pair of exhibition games during the preseason.

Arizona/Florida
Can the Gators go back-to-back? Who will be the Wildcats’ go-to scorer? These are some of the questions that are on the table as both of these programs begin their respective seasons tonight as part of a massive doubleheader in Las Vegas. Florida returns four frontcourt players — Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh, Reuben Chinyelu, and Micah Handlogten — from last season’s team that won the national title, but its backcourt is vastly different and will be anchored by a pair of transfers in Xaivian Lee (Princeton) and Boogie Fland (Arkansas). Arizona meanwhile, has three players — Jaden Bradley, Tobe Awaka, and Anthony Dell’Orso — back from last season’s team that reached the Sweet 16 and also returns 7-2 big man Motiejus Krivas (7.9 points, 4.5 rebounds), who was limited to just eight games last season due to a foot injury. This feels like an Elite Eight caliber matchup on opening night.

Year 3 of the Rick Pitino era gets going in Queens
St. John’s is 14-0 under its Hall-of-Fame head coach at Carnesecca Arena entering tonight’s opener against MAAC favorite Quinnipiac. Expectations have never been higher for the Red Storm, who are on the heels of a 31-win season where they won both the Big East regular season and tournament titles. Will this team be able to reach the same level as the one a year ago? TBD. There’s more overall talent on this roster, but the defensive tenacity that last season’s squad possessed is something that Pitino is still salivating to see. It’s a sneaky tough opening week for St. John’s, who will also host Alabama at MSG on Saturday.

On The Side

  • Houston’s Kelvin Sampson can earn his 800th career win tonight with a victory over Lehigh. Tip off is at 8 PM ET on CBS Sports Network. Join Tom McCarthy, Chris Walker, and myself for the call.
  • A salute to Missouri’s Dennis Gates, who will open the 2025-26 season tonight on the road against Howard. There’s not many power conference head coaches — if any — who would play a true road game against a mid-major on opening night.
  • UCLA’s first 13 games of the 2025-26 season will be played in the Pacific Time Zone, starting with tonight’s opener against Eastern Washington in Westwood. The Bruins’ first contest away from the West Coast will come on Jan. 3rd against Iowa in Iowa City.
  • Dan Hurley told reporters on Sunday that UConn’s Tarris Reed (hamstring) has returned to practice and will be a game-time decision for tonight’s opener against New Haven. The 6-10 Reed did not play in either of the Huskies’ two exhibition games during the preseason and averaged 9.6 points and 7.6 rebounds last season.
  • Illinois’ Andrej Stojakovic (knee) will probably be a game-time decision for tonight’s opener against Jackson State, Brad Underwood told College Hoops Today. The 6-7 wing is a transfer from Cal who averaged 17.9 points and 4.7 rebounds last season. Stojakovic did not play in in the Illini’s preseason exhibition game or secret scrimmage.

Daily Specials

  • Quinnipiac at St. John’s
  • Missouri at Howard
  • Colgate at Michigan State
  • Arizona/Florida (Las Vegas)
  • BYU/Villanova (Las Vegas)

Leftovers