Predicting the Best 10 Games Early in the 2015-16 College Basketball Season

Finding intriguing college basketball games early in the season requires planning. 

High-profile teams often load their early schedule with overmatched opponents to pad their record before conference play begins. However, nearly every top team plays at least one significant game against a worthy opponent to spark interest.

Sometimes it is the quality of the teams in the matchup that makes the game appealing. In other cases, the attraction is the presence of a ballyhooed freshman, like Duke's slender Brandon Ingram (pictured above).

We picked 10 games to be played between now and Christmas that should be of interest, with no team listed more than once. We present the games in ascending order, with the top early-season game listed last.

All game times are Eastern time.

10. Connecticut vs. Michigan

Tony Ding/Associated Press

Where: Paradise Island, Bahamas

When: Nov. 25, 9:30 p.m. ET

TV: AXS 

These two teams are near the bottom of the Associated Press preseason Top 25 rankings, but both have reason to believe they could finish much higher. Their game in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas may show whether either team is as good as it thinks it is.

No team this season has benefited more from the graduate transfer rule than Connecticut. The addition of Sterling Gibbs, a transfer from Seton Hall, and Shonn Miller, a transfer from Cornell, gives UConn a chance to win the American Athletic Conference title despite finishing tied for fifth a year ago. Those two combined for 37 points on 14-of-20 shooting in the season-opening rout of Maine.

The Wolverines are coming off a disappointing, injury-plagued 16-16 season. But they have Caris LeVert back after he missed the final 14 games last season with a broken foot. LeVert (pictured above) is ranked the 16th best player in the country by ESPN.com and makes a difference. 

9. LSU vs. Marquette

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

Where: Brooklyn, New York

When: Nov. 23, 7 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN2

This matchup made the list for one reason: LSU freshman forward Ben Simmons (pictured above). This might not be a great game, because Marquette is not as strong as it usually is. But the Tigers may not face any ranked teams in nonconference play, and the Golden Eagles could be the best early-season test for the ballyhooed Simmons.

Simmons is rated the nation's top freshman prospect by ESPN.com and ranked the best college player in the country this season by ESPN.com. You better take every opportunity to see the multitalented Simmons this season, because he figures to be in the NBA next season. ESPN.com's 2016 NBA mock draft projects Simmons to be the No. 1 overall pick.

He had 11 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and two blocks in 29 minutes in LSU's season-opening win against McNeese State.

The game against Marquette is being played at the Barclays Center for a reason, and it's not because Steve Wojciechowski is the Golden Eagles' coach.

8. Kansas vs. Michigan State

Orlin Wagner/Associated Press

Where: Chicago 

When: Nov. 17, 10 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

The second game of the State Farm Champions Classic doubleheader is not quite as tantalizing as the opener between Duke and Kentucky. But it is almost impossible to match Kansas and Michigan State and not get a well-played game between teams likely to be around late in the NCAA tournament.

Kansas is a Final Four-caliber team that is ranked No. 4 in the Associated Press poll. Senior forward Perry Ellis does not get much publicity but he is the star for the consistently successful Jayhawks, who have captured 11 straight regular-season conference titles. The addition of freshman power forward Cheick Diallo, rated the nation's No. 7 prospect by ESPN.com, should give the Jayhawks a formidable frontcourt. 

Michigan State typically plays its best at the end of the season, but it will always play hard, physical basketball. Its star is guard Darnell Valentine, who is rated the third-best player in the country by ESPN.com, and was a major reason why the Spartans reached the Final Four again last April. His duel with with Kansas guards Frank Mason III and Wayne Selden Jr. could be telling.

Kansas could play Indiana in the Maui Invitational in late November in a critical game, but that matchup would be dependent on both teams getting to the finals, eliminating it from our consideration. 

7. Indiana vs. Notre Dame

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Where: Indianapolis

When: Dec. 19, 2 p.m. ET

TV:  ESPN2

The battle for supremacy in the basketball-crazed state of Indiana should be on the line when Indiana, ranked No. 15 in the latest Associated Press poll, and Notre Dame, No. 18, meet at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in the Crossroads Classic.

We will know a lot more about these teams before they face off in mid-December. However, we already know Indiana needs wins against ranked teams like Notre Dame to take some pressure off coach Tom Crean, who tops USA Today's list of coaches on the hot seat.

With Yogi Ferrell and James Blackmon Jr., the Hoosiers have a backcourt capable of matching up against anyone. Their duel against the Irish backcourt could be revealing because Notre Dame boasts guard Demetrius Jackson, who is pictured above and is rated the 13th-best player in the country by ESPN.com.

If Indiana gets a big season out of freshman Thomas Bryant, it could do better than its preseason ranking. His progress is worth watching.

6. Oklahoma vs. Villanova

Nick Lisi/Associated Press

Where: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

When: Dec. 7, 7 p.m. ET

TV: FS1 

This game was arranged in honor of the 74-year anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but that's not the entire reason this contest is worth watching. Two 2015 players of the year from major conferences will be competing in this battle of evenly matched teams.

The main attraction is Oklahoma senior guard Buddy Hield, last season's Big 12 player of the year and an Associated Press preseason All-American this time around. Hield can score from inside or outside and is an excellent defender, making him the best Sooners player since Blake Griffin. With Hield leading the team on the court and Lon Kruger calling the shots from the bench, the No. 8-ranked Sooners have the goods to be a Final Four team.

Villanova will test those assumptions, however. The Wildcats lost several starters from last season's squad, which earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. However, they still have guard Ryan Arcidiacono, the co-Big East player of the year last season and one reason the Wildcats are ranked No. 11 by AP. The Wildcats' hopes for repeating as Big East champs rest with the development of freshman guard Jalen Brunson, rated the 16th-best prospect in the class by ESPN.com. The Brunson-Arcidiacono backcourt committed zero turnovers in the season-opening rout of Fairleigh Dickinson.

5. Wichita State vs. Utah

Nati Harnik/Associated Press

Where: Wichita, Kansas

When: Dec. 12, 3:30 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN2 

Utah beat Wichita State in overtime last season in Salt Lake City to end the Shockers' 35-game regular-season winning streak. But this game is in Wichita. It will not be played at the Shockers' regular home court, Charles Koch Arena, but at the larger downtown arena completed in 2010, Intrust Bank Arena. The Shockers are 5-0 at that venue, and drew more than 15,000 people for last year's game at Intrust, a victory over St. Louis.

You can argue whether Ron Baker, ranked as the country's eighth-best player by ESPN.com, or Fred VanVleet, the 2014 Missouri Valley Conference player of the year, is the Shockers best player. But there is little argument that they form one of the best backcourts in the country.

The No. 16 Utes had a breakthrough season in 2014-15. Do-everything guard Delon Wright is gone, but that might clear the way for the emergence of 7'0" sophomore forward Jakob Poeltl, who is ranked the 10th-best player in the nation by ESPN.com.

The stars of both teams may be their coaches, Larry Krystkowiak at Utah and Gregg Marshall at Wichita State.

4. California vs. Virginia

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Where: Charlottesville, Virginia

When: Dec. 22, 9 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN2

It's not just the fact that Virginia is ranked No. 6 and Cal No. 14 in the latest Associated Press poll that makes this a juicy holiday-period matchup. The chief selling point is the matchup of Cal's highly touted freshmen against the Cavaliers' tough-as-nails defense.

The Bears finished tied for eighth in the Pac-12 last season, but zoomed into the Top 15 of the preseason rankings this year based on a freshman class that was ranked as the third-best in the country by Scout.com and No. 5 by ESPN.com. Two of those first-year players, forwards Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb, are both ranked among the top eight freshman prospects in the nation by Scout.com and ESPN.com. Add the fact that Brown is projected by ESPN.com to be the fifth overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft and you have a recipe for excitement.

Virginia has made a habit of shutting down talented opponents, though. The Cavaliers led the nation in scoring defense last season. Look for defensive ace Malcolm Brogdon, a fifth-year senior, to try to put the clamps on Brown.

3. Gonzaga vs. Arizona

Lance King/Getty Images

Where: Spokane, Washington

When: Dec. 5, 3:15 p.m. ET 

TV: ESPN

The two kingpins of West Coast basketball clash in this Saturday afternoon affair, and again both teams are ranked in the AP Top 15, with Arizona at No. 12 and Gonzaga No. 9.

Last season, when Arizona was ranked No. 3 and Gonzaga No. 9, the Bulldogs took Arizona to overtime before the Wildcats prevailed 66-63. That game was at the McKale Center in Tucson, where the Wildcats have now won 39 straight games. This season's contest will be at Gonzaga's cozy 6,000-seat McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, one of the toughest venues for visiting teams. The Bulldogs had a 41-game home winning streak there until BYU ended it in the final regular-season game last season.

This will be the most significant nonconference test for the Wildcats, whose top player is newcomer Ryan Anderson, a transfer who played his first three college seasons at Boston College. Anderson might be matched up against Gonzaga forward Kyle Wiltjer, who was the leading vote-getter for the Associated Press preseason All-American team.

2. Maryland-North Carolina

Patrick Semansky/Associated Press

Where: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

When: Dec. 1, 9:30 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

When teams ranked No. 1 (North Carolina) and No. 3 (Maryland) in the Associated Press poll meet this early in the season, it has to create a buzz. And the commotion will grow if star Tar Heel guard Marcus Paige makes his season debut that night.

A broken hand suffered near the end of preseason training camp put Paige out for three to four weeks. But if his recovery proceeds on schedule, Paige’s first game back could be against the Terps, according to Gene Wang of the Washington Post. That would create an outstanding point guard matchup between Paige, the preseason ACC co-player of the year, and Maryland sophomore Melo Trimble, the preseason Big Ten player of the year (pictured above).

The schools were longtime rivals when the Terrapins played in the ACC before joining the Big Ten last season. Now this game is part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, which has created some exciting early-season matchups. This one will present the preseason favorites in two of the nations's best basketball conferences, the Big Ten and the ACC. The Big Ten does not conduct a preseason poll of the teams' predicted order of finish, but, as the Quad-City Times noted, there was no need.

1. Kentucky vs. Duke

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Where: Chicago

When: Nov. 17, 7:30 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN 

The two masters of the one-and-done era, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and Kentucky's John Calipari, meet to showcase their latest batch of freshman stars in the first game of the State Farms Champions Classic doubleheader.

Even though Kentucky lost its top seven scorers from last season's team, which went through the regular-season unbeaten and ranked No. 1, the Wildcats were still ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press preseason poll, because it welcomed a recruiting class ranked No. 2 in the country by ESPN.com.

The three standout freshmen from Duke's 2015 national championship squad were taken in the first round of the NBA draft, but the Blue Devils were still No. 5 in the preseason AP poll, thanks to a recruiting class ranked No. 1 by ESPN.com.

Amid the two teams' collection of first-year talent are two players who could be immediate stars. Kentucky freshman center Skal Labissiere is projected by ESPN.com to be the second overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft, while Duke's first-year small forward, rail-thin Brandon Ingram, is currently expected to go No. 4.

Labissiere (pictured above) did not score in the first half of his debut against Albany on Nov. 13, but wound up with nine points. Ingram had 15 points in Duke's rout of Siena.