Although the college basketball season splits the Gregorian calendar, you know how this goes. It’s the holiday season and the content gods mandate a best-of list to end the year no matter the source material. Albums, movies, photos, podcasts, TV shows, memes, etc.
Nonconference season is almost entirely in the rearview and league play is set to start in earnest. Christmas induces a lull on the calendar, which opens an opportunity for a look back over the previous 12 months to reflect on the great and bad, good and sad, remarkable and regrettable. I’ve developed a motif here in recent years by aligning the number of notable stories with the year on the calendar. So, there you have it: It’ll be the 23 biggest stories of 2023 in men’s college basketball.
In parentheses below, I’ve linked stories associated with the headlines, so you can click thru and read even more if you’d like. I had about 30 candidates, and here were the 23 most significant stories in ’23.
23. Juwan Howard returns to coach Michigan after heart surgery, internal investigation (December): Howard is one of college sports’ more famous coaches and Michigan is one of the 20 best jobs in college basketball. U-M’s surprise September announcement regarding Howard’s heart surgery was a big enough headline unto itself. When speculation arises about job status? That’s a national story. (Howard’s temper almost costing him his job in 2022 was my No. 7 item a year ago). Earlier this month there was uncertainty whether Howard would return following a verbal altercation in team practice with Michigan’s strength coach. He was cleared and has resumed his normal duties as head coach, but Michigan has lost momentum. A situation to monitor in 2024, for sure.
22. Jim Nantz’s final Final Four (April 3): When a person entwined with a sporting event for decades moves on, that’s a sizable story. Few in sports broadcasting history can match the…
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