The upcoming college basketball season is less than a week away from tipping off. After COVID-19 prompted the abrupt end to last season. Local programs are hungry to improve upon where they left off.

Cincinnati Basketball was on the cusp of a potential conference tournament three-peat. Before COVID-19 shut college basketball and just about everything else down in March. The Cincinnati Bearcats earned the top seed in the American Athletic Conference tournament. Cincinnati goes into this season ranked fourth in the AAC’s preseason coaches poll. Houston Basketball is considered to be the AAC’s team to beat this season. Memphis Basketball could be another AAC team to watch. With the recently drafted James Wiseman departure fiasco now behind them.

Meanwhile, Wichita State Basketball is dealing with a coaching turmoil days before this season starts. Their former head coach Gregg Marshall recently resigned amidst allegations of abuse. Plus, UConn Basketball’s departure from the conference leaves more room for potential contenders to thrive. Chris Vogt and Keith Williams are two Bearcats poised to be leading players this season. Williams had the most points among Bearcats returning this year; while Vogt lead the team with 1.6 blocks per game last season.

Travis Steele is striving to lead Xavier Basketball back to the NCAA Tournament. After missing out on the big dance during his first two years as head coach. Hope springs eternal though for an NCAA Tournament appearance this season. Even though many expect Xavier to finish in the middle of the pack conference-wise. Finishing seventh in the Big East is occasionally good enough to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Xavier won’t have to face some of last year’s most notable Big East players. Seton Hall Basketball star Myles Powell and Marquette Basketball star Markus Howard graduated. While Mac McClung and LJ Figueroa transferred to non-Big East schools. Partly because of this, no single team looks like a runaway favorite to win the Big East this season. Meanwhile, Xavier has many returning players expected to flourish this season. Most notably, senior Paul Scruggs and sophomore KyKy Tandy. Xavier is also bringing in four promising freshmen and two graduate transfers.

One phrase springs to mind when thinking about Northern Kentucky Basketball. They’re picking up from where they left off. That phrase applied to last season; which was Darrin Horn’s first as NKU’s head coach. NKU was greater Cincinnati’s only team to earn an automatic bid to this year’s scrapped NCAA Tournament. Winning their third Horizon League Tournament since 2017. While winning back-to-back conference titles for the first time as an NCAA Division I program. With several returning players, NKU could contend for a Horizon League Tournament three-peat in 2021.

Bryson Langdon and Paul Djoko could be NKU’s leading players this season. Conference-wise, Wright State Basketball could once again be NKU’s best Horizon League challenger. Youngstown State Basketball is also expected to be a tough challenger for NKU this season. Both were the only schools to rank higher than NKU in the preseason conference rankings. NKU will also have two Horizon League newcomers to contend with. Former Northeast Conference stalwart Robert Morris Basketball. Plus, former Summit League member Purdue Fort Wayne Basketball.

On-court expectations aside, this season is set to be a bumpy ride for every school. The season will begin with the nation grappling with a COVID-19 surge. This surge could prompt on the fly non-conference schedule changes. Changes that could leave a currently unforeseen impact on various tournament resumes. Programs and conferences have managed to navigate through the uncertainty so far. Mostly avoiding the chaos that defined college football’s off-season. Chaos that is carrying over into that sport’s ongoing regular season.

If local programs are able to navigate through potential pandemic related schedule changes. Plus, live up to or exceed their preseason expectations. Next March could be a successful month for local college basketball programs.