College basketball has officially kicked back into action. With a thrilling March Madness bringing last season to a close, there is a lot of excitement and high expectations for this year. The Kansas Jayhawks won the 2022 National Title, so it is a mystery who will be in the running this March.

There are several strong, competitive teams ranked in the AP Top 25 this year. The AP Top 25 is when each elected committee member votes on who they think are the top teams in the country based on their personnel and records last year. If they vote for a team as the best, they receive 25 points. If they vote for a team as the second best, they receive 24 points. This goes on until they get one point. Once the votes are tallied, the top 25 teams are posted for that week.

Some notable teams in the AP Top 25 to start off the year are No. 1 North Carolina, No. 2 Gonzaga, Kansas at No. 6 and Duke at No. 7. These rankings do not last long since they are updated weekly depending on wins and losses. It also depends on who they play; if a team is ranked 25th and beats an unranked team, they are not likely to move up a substantial amount. If a team is unranked and beats a higher-ranked team, they are more likely to move up in the rankings by a few spots.

In “The biggest questions in men’s college basketball entering the 2022-23 season,” Jeff Borzello discusses how North Carolina is the best in the country and why they are going to be successful in each aspect of the game. The Tar Heels bring back four starters from a team that reached the national championship game before falling to Kansas. They appear to be a strong contender for this year’s national championship.

Purdue, Michigan State, UConn and Texas A&M missed the cut for the Top 25. It is always a team’s goal to be ranked as much and as high as possible during the season, giving teams motivation to succeed and climb the rankings ladder.

There is a large fanbase for college basketball, and each individual likes to represent a certain team. Some fans choose to support their local team, typically alumni from a school root for their alma mater and some people like to say they are a fan of the best team at the time.

Antioch Community High School English teacher Samantha Kanya is known for the numerous college pennants in her room.

“My favorite college basketball team is Syracuse,” Kanya said. “I like them because my sister went there.”

Oftentimes, fans like to make early predictions on who they think will win March Madness. March Madness is still a few months away, but some are already debating over who they think will perform well this year. For junior sports enthusiast Jamie Healy, he knows who he thinks is going to win it all this year.

“It’s wide open. As of right now, I would probably go with Houston,” Healy said. “They’ve been the most complete team. Kelvin Sampson is a great defensive minded coach.”

No one knows for sure who is the best until April 3, so for now, fans will have to wait and watch teams fight it out for the top spot. There are numerous teams to look out for this year in college basketball. Be ready for some surprise upsets big wins and updates to come from Sequoit Media.