For those of us who don’t live in the United States of America, it is difficult to comprehend just how much college sports means to people, and how widely supported these non-professional teams are. Sure, in other countries certain universities will have sports teams that people will show up to, or follow their results, but in America, it is a completely different kettle of fish. For example, Wembley is England’s national stadium, where the England soccer team play their home games, usually to crowds of 60,000- 80,000, depending on how important the game is. This might seem like a lot, but it really isn’t when you compare it to the biggest college stadiums in the US.

The largest can be found in the state of Michigan, in the city of Ann Arbor, home of the Michigan Wolverines. The originally named Michigan Stadium can hold over 107,000 people, tens of thousands more than Wembley can. No wonder it has the nickname of “The Big House”. On the basketball court, Hunter Dickinson and Eli Brooks returns to a stacked Michigan team.

Looking down the list, there are a further seven stadiums (that are used just for college sports) that have a capacity of over 100,000 people, in places such as Columbus, Ohio, Knoxville, Tennessee and Austin, Texas. This is staggering, not only for the size of these arenas but for the fact that these players are not even getting paid. In fact, large numbers of them won’t even make it to the NFL, given how competitive it is and how many players get drafted each year.

This level of competition to make it as a professional can also be seen in the world of college basketball. While it isn’t quite as popular as football, basketball is still closely followed by fans all across the country and beyond, who will be not only supporting their local college side but seeing if they can spot a future NBA star in the making. Not only that, but due to the ongoing popularity of online sports betting, fans will be searching for their betting apps for the best NCAA basketball picks, to try and win some money by betting on (or possibly against) their team.

Fans of rival teams will always have discussions or arguments with each other, about which current NCAA basketball side can seriously claim to be the best. With the start of the season only a few months away, we thought it would be a good idea to look at the current power rankings, to see which teams have the best shot at glory in the upcoming 2021-22 NCAA basketball season.

Gonzaga and Illinois are the teams to beat

For the past 25 years, the Gonzaga Bulldogs have established themselves as one of the top basketball teams that compete within the NCAA. Representing Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, the Bulldogs compete in the West Coast Conference in Division 1. Some of the numbers show what a major force they’ve been since the mid-90s would be that they’ve been to every NCAA Tournament since 1999, they have appeared in all but one WCC conference title game since 1995, and every conference title game since 1998, winning 16 of them.

Last season saw them advance to the national championship game, where they were unfortunate to lose to the Baylor Bears. The Bulldogs record up to that point had been 31-0, which is truly remarkable. While they might not have such a long winning streak again, they certainly are top of the power rankings for this campaign.

Not far behind them in the standings are the Illinois Fighting Illini, who represents the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Last season saw them end with a 24-7 overall record, 13-7 in their conference and ended 4th in the Big Ten. The team has produced a number of former and current NBA players and coaches and certainly will be one to watch once the season starts again in November.

Best of the rest

Given that the Baylor Bears were the only side to defeat Gonzaga last year, we expect them to be a force to reckon with yet again in the 2021/22 campaign, as they themselves finished with an impressive overall record of 28-2 last year.

The Alabama Crimson Tide are more known as an era-defining college football team, but their basketball team isn’t half bad either. They managed a 26-7 overall record last year in the Southeastern Conference, which is very impressive given the quality of opposition they face. Big things are expected from Head coach Nate Oats in his 2nd season in charge.

Also near the top of the power rankings are the Houston Cougars, the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Texas Longhorns. We expect to see all these sides with very positive overall records, and can’t wait for the season to begin in a few short weeks.