A year ago, John Calipari was coaching at Kentucky, Chaz Lanier was playing at North Florida, Dylan Harper had just announced his commitment to Rutgers, the Pac-12 hadn’t yet dissolved and Hoops HQ hadn’t yet launched. Needless to say, 2024 was a year of much change in the college basketball world. It was also a year of much drama, from the emergence of new stars to the usual abundance of unforgettable performances and upsets.

As 2025 nears, let’s take a look back at the biggest stories and moments from the past twelve months.

10. An epic Saturday

As Hoops HQ’s Editor-in-Chief Seth Davis wrote about in a recent edition of Hoop Thoughts, we were treated to an incredible non-conference schedule this year. The slate on Saturday, Dec. 14 was especially memorable. The action started at 11:00 a.m. ET with Memphis at No. 16 Clemson and didn’t slow down for more than 12 hours. We got No. 17 Texas A&M at No. 11 Purdue, Ohio State at No. 2 Auburn, Xavier at No. 22 Cincinnati, No. 24 UCLA at Arizona, Louisville at No. 5 Kentucky, No. 1 Tennessee at Illinois, No. 6 Marquette at Dayton, No. 8 Gonzaga at. No. 18 UConn and more. There were monster performances, overtime thrillers, surprising upsets and a sensational game-winner from Tennessee guard Jordan Gainey. It was, as Seth said, “one of the best NonCon days in recent memory.”

9. The dominance of the SEC

No one is questioning which conference is the best in college basketball anymore. That title undeniably belongs to the SEC, with the league sitting at an absurd 171-23 as of this writing. The real question is, could this season’s SEC be the sport’s strongest conference… ever? There are currently 10 SEC schools in the AP Top 25, including four of the top six (Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama and Florida), and all 16 of the conference’s teams are in the top 68 in KenPom. Getting 12 or 13 teams from this league into the NCAA Tournament is not only possible, but increasingly likely.

8. An extremely active, sport-shifting transfer portal

With NIL in full swing, more than 2,000 players entered the 2024 transfer portal. Big names such as Great Osobor (Utah State to Washington) and Coleman Hawkins (Illinois to Kansas State) signed new deals worth a reported $2 million. Teams like Kentucky and Memphis completely restructured their rosters through the portal. Some of the most impactful transfers so far include Lamont Butler (San Diego State to Kentucky), PJ Haggerty (Tulsa to Memphis), Chaz Lanier (North Florida to Tennessee), John Tonje (Missouri to Wisconsin), JT Toppin (New Mexico to Texas Tech), Danny Wolf (Yale to Michigan) and Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State to Kansas).

7. Tony Bennett retires

Just a few weeks before the ‘24-25 season tipped off, Virginia head coach Tony Bennett suddenly announced his retirement, sending shockwaves through the sports world. Bennett, a three-time national coach of the year, amassed a 433-169 overall record in 18 seasons (three with Washington State and 15 with Virginia). He guided the Cavaliers to six ACC regular season titles and the 2019 national title. At his retirement press conference on October 18, Bennett cited the current state of college basketball as the primary reason for his departure. “The hardest thing to say is when I looked at myself and I realized I’m no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment,” Bennett said. “If you’re going to do it, you gotta be all-in. If you do it half-hearted, it’s not fair to the university and those young men. So in looking at it, that’s what made me step down.”

6. The Lakers’ pursuit of Dan Hurley

Hurley remained in the news long after the 2023-24 season ended, as he emerged as a top candidate for the Lakers head coaching job. Ultimately, he rejected a six-year, $70 million offer, opting to stay with the Huskies and chase a three-peat. In an exclusive interview with Hoops HQ, Hurley discussed just how close he came to accepting the Lakers’ deal. “You look at the enormity of the Laker brand, it’s one of the best sports brands in the world,” he said. “We would never have gotten involved in the process in such a public way unless we were really into it.”

After Andy Enfield jumped from USC to SMU and Eric Musselman left Arkansas to take his place, the floodgates opened. The ensuing off-season was full of high-profile coaching changes with major implications. John Calipari to Arkansas, Mark Pope to Kentucky, Kevin Young to BYU, Pat Kelsey to Louisville, Dusty May to Michigan, Mark Byington to Vanderbilt, Ben McCollum to Drake — the list goes on and on. Longtime television and radio broadcaster Doug Gottlieb also accepted his first college coaching job at Green Bay. Gottlieb is writing a recurring journal for Hoops HQ during the 2024-25 season.

4. The Jack Gohlke Game

In the opening round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, the 14th-seeded Golden Grizzlies of Oakland beat the third-seeded Kentucky Wildcats, 80-76, behind a  heroic performance from Gohlke. The graduate transfer from Division II Hillsdale College became a social media sensation after hitting 10 three-pointers (one shy of the NCAA Tournament record held by Jeff Fryer) and scoring a career-high 32 points to help Oakland pull off the shocking upset.

3. DJ Burns Jr. leads NC State on an improbable run to the Final Four

Big man DJ Burns Jr. stole the national spotlight in March, leading eleventh-seeded NC State to its first Final Four since 1983. A 6-foot-9, 260-pound forward, Burns was the driving force behind the Wolfpack’s magical run, averaging 16.2 points, 4.2 assists and 3.6 rebounds. His most memorable performance came against fourth-seeded Duke in the Elite Eight, when he carried his team to a 76-64 win with 29 points (21 in the second half) on 13 of 19 shooting.

2. The greatness of Zach Edey

His team may have fallen just short of a national title, but Edey accomplished just about everything else in his last season in West Lafayette. From January through Purdue’s national final loss to UConn, the 7-foot-4 center averaged 26.2 points and 13.2 rebounds per game. He scored 177 total points in the NCAA Tournament, the third most in history, while shooting 64 percent from the field. In mid-April, he became the first player in five decades to win unanimous national player of the year accolades in consecutive seasons.

1. UConn wins its second consecutive national title

It was the most dominant performance by a team in NCAA Tournament history. Not only did UConn become the first repeat champion since Florida in 2006 and 2007, it won its six games en route to the title by a combined 140 points, beating out the previous high of 125 (North Carolina in 2009). The Huskies capped their remarkable run with a 75-60 victory over Zach Edey and the Boilermakers in the final. Tristen Newton, the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, led the way with 20 points, seven assists and five rebounds.