One of the great losses of the COVID-19-impacted 2020–21 season was the lack of high-profile nonconference games. While some big games were still played, several tournaments couldn’t go off as originally planned and other games that did make it onto the schedule (like Gonzaga vs. Baylor) were wiped away due to positive COVID-19 tests. Thankfully, the 2021–22 season should be far more “normal,” and with that normalcy come some outstanding nonconference showdowns between men’s college basketball’s best teams.
Here’s a look at the top 10 standalone games and five best multi-team events (MTEs) on tap for this season.