Oct 31, 2023 By Ap 3 min read

NEW YORK (AP) — Defending national champion UConn will play at least five games at Madison Square Garden this season, highlighting the 2023-24 college basketball schedule at “The World’s Most Famous Arena.” Duke, North Carolina, Texas, Baylor, Illinois and Indiana are among the other high-profile programs set to make a stop in Midtown Manhattan. In all, 10 teams ranked in the AP Top 25 preseason poll are on the docket at MSG. No. 10 Florida Atlantic returns to The Garden, where coach Dusty May and the surprising Owls won the East Regional in March to advance to their first Final Four. St. John’s, playing its first season under Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino, has doubled its number of regular-season Garden appearances to eight — including six Big East home games.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — There is renewed reason for No. 1 Georgia to have confidence in its offense as it prepares to face No. 14 Missouri. Georgia played without its top receiver, tight end Brock Bowers, and still rolled to a 43-20 win over Florida last week. There was reason for the Bulldogs to worry how their offense would fare without Bowers in one of their biggest Southeastern Conference rivalry games against Florida. Instead, quarterback Carson Beck threw two touchdown passes, Daijun Edwards ran for two scores and the offense compiled 486 yards while scoring 36 unanswered points after trailing 7-0.

UNDATED (AP) — Alabama and LSU enter their annual SEC West showdown having both emerged from some stumbles. The eighth-ranked Crimson Tide host the 13th-ranked Tigers on Saturday night with both having ambitions that begin with division titles. The winner of this game has gone on to play in the SEC Championship game in 10 of the past 12 seasons. LSU has had some defensive struggles, while Alabama’s biggest problems have come on offense.

UNDATED (AP) — The College Football Playoff rankings will be released for the first time this season on Tuesday night and one unbeaten team is guaranteed to be left out. No. 23 James Madison is ineligible for postseason play as it completes an NCAA-required transition period into the highest level of Division I football. School officials are hoping the NCAA will make an exeception for the Dukes. The most likely road to a bowl will be as a replacement team in a lower-level postseason game. As for the CFP, the Dukes aren’t even in the discussion.

UNDATED (AP) — This time of the season, those head-to-head results can become challenging for voters in The Associated Press college football poll. Oklahoma slipped to No. 10 after losing to a good Kansas, that jumped into the rankings at No. 23. That put Oklahoma behind Texas, which landed at No. 7. Just a few weeks ago, the Sooners knocked off the Longhorns in a Red River Rivalry thriller. That’s Texas’ only loss of the season. No. 5 Washington stayed ahead of No. 6 Oregon, with the Pac-12 teams’ rankings matching the head-to-head result.