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It's been awhile, but the college basketball season finally starts today. I don't have hoards of links for you today, so let's get straight to the story of the day as a whole: the Division I college season finally starts!
Links
ESPN's Mechelle Voepel contemplates whether North Carolina can be an even more dangerous team in 2014-15 than last season - Diamond DeShields was UNC's leading scorer last year and left to Tennessee. But head coach Sylvia Hatchell is back and there still will be a lot of depth on the roster. Furthermore, they have the most energetic assistant coach out there by the name of Ivory Latta.
Mike Potter of the News-Observer has a breakdown on UNC, Duke, and NC State's teams - Check out his preview here.
WNBA President Laurel Richie spoke about branding when visiting St. Cloud State University in Minnesota the week before election day - Richie is a former CMO for the Girl Scouts of America, and worked over 20 years at the Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency. Link to a piece by SCTimes reporter Glenda Burgeson.
Sue Bird will be on ESPN as a women's college basketball analyst this year - This is the first year in quite some time where the Seattle Storm star will not be playing abroad. Link to our piece.
Top-25 Games (AP) schedule:
| TIME (ET) | MATCHUP | TV (if on ESPN network) |
| 11:00 AM | Mt. St. Mary's at (10) Maryland | |
| 12:00 PM | Loyola Marymount at (21) Oklahoma St | |
| 1:00 PM | (23) UCLA at James Madison | |
| 4:00 PM | Howard at (13) North Carolina | |
| 5:00 PM | (12) Louisville at IUPUI | |
| 6:00 PM | Massachusetts Lowell at (3) Notre Dame | |
| 7:00 PM | Pennsylvania at (4) Tennessee | SEC NETWORK + |
| 7:00 PM | Oral Roberts at (8) Baylor | |
| 7:00 PM | Appalachian St at (11) Kentucky | SEC NETWORK + |
| 7:00 PM | South Carolina Upstate at (19) Iowa | |
| 7:00 PM | Portland at (20) Oregon St | |
| 7:00 PM | Saint Joseph's at (24) Rutgers | |
| 7:30 PM | (5) Texas A&M at (18) Depaul | |
| 8:30 PM | Boston College at (6) Stanford | |
| 10:00 PM | (1) Connecticut at UC Davis | ESPN 3 |
| 10:00 PM | (22) Dayton at Washington St |
Game of the Day: #18 DePaul vs. #5 Texas A&M
This game will be a rematch of the Sweet 16 contest where the Aggies came out victorious, 84-65. It will be part of the Maggie Dixon Classic, which DePaul is hosting as part of a four-team tournament. The other two schools in the tournament are New Mexico and Texas-Pan American.
DePaul returns four of last year's five starters, and the Aggies return a lot of last year's team as well, and you can check out Jim Hu's preview at SB Nation's Good Bull Hunting for more on Texas A&M. Given that this is a road game for the Aggies, and that it's a rematch of an NCAA Tournament game from last season, you can bet that the Blue Demons are looking for some payback at their house Friday night.
You can stream this on the Big East Digital Network and the Fox Sports Go App.