The 2024-25 college basketball season will kick off with a duel between Scott Drew and John Calipari.
According to college basketball analyst Jeff Goodman of The Field of 68, the Baylor University men’s basketball team will face the Arkansas Razorbacks and their new head coach John Calipari to kick off the college basketball season on November 9 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Opening their season against a tough SEC opponent is nothing new for the Bears. Last year, they started the season with a neutral-site game against Auburn.
On April 10, 2024, Arkansas announced that John Calipari would take over as head coach of the Razorbacks, following a domino effect in a series of coaching departures that saw Eric Musselman leave Arkansas to become head coach at USC and USC head coach Andy Enfield take over at SMU.
Baylor’s non-conference schedule is starting to fill up, as they are scheduled to compete in the Baha Mar Hoops Bahamas Championship in late November, which includes Tennessee, St. John’s and Virginia. They will also visit two-time college basketball champion UConn in Storrs on Dec. 4 as part of the Big 12-Big East Battle.
After losing both McKinney’s Ja’Kobe Walter and center Yves Missi in the NBA Draft, the Bears will look to lean on some of their newly acquired players, such as five-star freshman VJ Edgecombe and Duke transfer Jeremy Roach.
The Bears ended the 2023–24 season with a second-round exit from the NCAA Tournament to Clemson, which then advanced to the Elite Eight.
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