A new men’s college basketball season has finally arrived. With it comes inevitable questions, both obvious and arcane, about players, teams and, most importantly, what will happen 5½ months from now. Below are just some of what your intrepid ESPN Bracketologist will be watching in the 19 weeks between now and Selection Sunday.

The first in-season projections of the 2026 March Madness field of 68 will release Nov. 11.

1. Who will secure the four No. 1 seeds on March 15?

Our season-opening projection lists Houston, Purdue, Florida and Duke on the top line of the bracket. History suggests we’ll be only half right, so I’m nominating Purdue and Florida as most likely to deceive. The reasons are that the Big Ten (in Purdue’s case) and the SEC (in Florida’s) have more contenders to chase the respective league favorites. Ultimately, Bracketology is a prisoner of probability, and it’s simply more likely that Houston and Duke ride the wave of their respective conferences to a No. 1 seed.

2. Who do we like in the emerging UConn–St. John’s rivalry?

The Big East has needed a grudge match like this since the end of Villanova’s hegemony in the conference. Both the Huskies and Johnnies are No. 2 seeds on our board to open the season, but we like the former to win the regular-season crown and the latter to cut down the nets at the Big East tournament. The major difference comes later in March, when Rick Pitino leads St. John’s to the Elite Eight and UConn falls in the second round in its chase for Dan Hurley’s third NCAA title.

3. Can the Big Ten really end a quarter-century of NCAA tournament frustration?

Yes. But I don’t think it will be preseason favorite Purdue that takes the conference’s first national championship since 2000. I’ve pushed my chips to the center of the table on Michigan.

4. Are there practical considerations already determining the 2026 NCAA bracket?

More than usual. Houston stepping back as host of the South regional means the Cougars can play in their home town in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight. Count on this after an opening weekend assignment in Oklahoma City. Another Big 12 entry, BYU, seems fairly locked on a West region placement and even more certain to open NCAA play in Portland (a Thursday-Saturday site) because of the school’s ban on Sunday competition.

On the other side of the country, UConn and St. John’s figure to have easy bus rides (to Philadelphia) when the bracket is revealed. Villanova could also play in Philly, having only three regular-season games scheduled for Xfinity Mobile Arena, but would be happy to see its name anywhere after three straight NCAA misses.

Other schools whose fans should be comfortable booking opening-round hotels: Florida (Tampa), Duke (Greenville, South Carolina), UCLA (San Diego) and Gonzaga (Portland). These and other travel tips are available for no extra charge for longtime Bracketology readers.

5. Which power conference gets the most bids …

The SEC should once again lead the way with the highest number of NCAA bids, although the Big Ten will be within striking distance. What the SEC will not do is match its record bid total (14) from last season. A dozen bids seems like a more realistic number this time around, as it took a perfect storm of metrics and mediocre teams in other multibid conferences for the SEC to hit the mother lode eight months ago.

6. … and which gets the fewest?

Once again, the ACC is listed for this dishonorable mention. The conference’s multiyear decline should be a thing of the past, however, with a healthy number of potential bubble teams that could raise the league’s bid number well above the half-dozen projected at this point, in a push toward double figures.

7. What are the other multibid conferences?

Last season, only the Mountain West (New Mexico, Utah State, San Diego State, Colorado State) and WCC (Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s) snagged extra bids outside the Power 4-Big East cluster. The American and Atlantic 10 sunk to one-bid status mostly as a result of poor nonconference results. This season, the American’s best hope is for a team other than Memphis to win its automatic bid. In the A-10, multiple teams — VCU, Saint Louis, Dayton, Loyola Chicago and sleeper George Washington — have put together rosters good enough to be in the at-large conversation.

8. If ESPN put me in charge of programming, what would the “College GameDay” schedule look like?

With the caveat that this is not actually the “College GameDay” schedule.

Jan. 24: Houston at Texas Tech

Could very well be the game of the year in the Big 12, and also double the population of Lubbock for the weekend.

Jan. 31: Kentucky at Arkansas

This is a no-brainer in Year 2 of the post-John Calipari era at Kentucky. Remember, the Razorbacks pulled the upset at Rupp Arena a year ago.

Feb. 7: Boise State at New Mexico

Let’s branch out a bit and go to The Pit in Albuquerque for the first time in forever.

Feb. 14: UCLA at Michigan

If my hunch on the Wolverines is a good one, this would be a colossal showdown of old-school vs. new-school Big Ten.

Feb. 21: Tennessee at Vanderbilt

Let’s turn the set 90 degrees at Memorial Gym and look at Rece & Co. sideways (might not be a bad thing …). Also, there haven’t been enough seasons in which the Vols and ‘Dores have been this good at the same time.

Feb. 28: Gonzaga at Saint Mary’s

The end of the best and longest rivalry in the history of the West Coast Conference.

March 7: North Carolina at Duke

I have to make Cameron Indoor the season’s final stop.

Wrexham chief executive Michael Williamson has said that Christian Eriksen initially rejected their summer approach because the former Manchester United star did not want to appear in the club’s award-winning documentary series.

Eriksen, whose heart stopped beating after he suffered cardiac arrest playing for Denmark at Euro 2020, was a free agent following his departure from Old Trafford when Wrexham, newly promoted to the Championship, made their bold move.

The club’s rise from the National League under Hollywood owners Rob Mac and Ryan Reynolds has has been told in the Welcome to Wrexham series, which has won multiple Emmy awards and other industry honours.

Speaking to That Wrexham Podcast, Williamson, who was on the Inter Milan board when Eriksen played for the Serie A club from 2020-21, said: “I reached out to the agent and what was really interesting in the first call is the reaction was, ‘We don’t want his story to be in a documentary, because we’ve had plenty of opportunities for a documentary for his story.’

“He thought we were calling not because of his footballing capabilities, but because we wanted a documentary story.

“I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. I didn’t even think about that’. Obviously, I’m aware of it, but that wasn’t the reason we were calling.

“We were calling because he could potentially be an interesting footballer, we’re looking for players that could play for us in the Championship. Difference makers that could help us be competitive on the pitch.

“After I explained what our actual objectives were, trying to build a competitive squad and that I wasn’t even thinking about it from a documentary perspective, we had a great conversation.”

Williamson said the idea of signing Eriksen was “kicked around,” but the midfielder wanted to continue playing for a “first-tier club.”

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The 33-year-old eventually joined Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg in September, but Williamson said Wrexham’s transfer business benefited from their interest in Eriksen being made public.

“I wasn’t expecting the agent to come out and say what he said because I typically expect those conversations to be confidential,” Williamson said.

“But what it did was it sent a signal around the players’ market, if you will. That we were serious about being competitive.

“I think that was important because a lot of people were just saying, ‘OK, what’s Wrexham doing? You know, they’ve been a little bit quiet at the start of the market, but now they want to be competitive.’

“It opened up doors and conversations to bring in players like Kieffer [Moore], Josh [Windass], [Liberato] Cacace, Lewis O’Brien, Conor Coady.”

Wrexham subsequently broke their transfer record three times, spending a reported £10 million ($13m) on Wales striker Nathan Broadhead and £33m in total.

The Welsh club are 16th in a congested Championship table, five points from the playoffs.

“It’s going to take a few windows to really build a squad that is pushing for promotion. But it’s only going to get better and that’s what I’m excited about,” Williamson said.