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Teams to Watch During the 2020-21 College Basketball Season

College Basketball expert Jon Rothstein gives you five teams to keep your eyes on for the 2020-21 college basketball season.

Video Transcript

JOHN ROTHSTEIN: Hi, this is John Rothstein here for Yahoo Sports. And here are five teams to watch during the 2020-21 college basketball season.

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We start in Iowa City with the Iowa Hawkeyes. If Iowa returns All-American big man Luka Garza, the Hawkeyes will be a legitimate contender for the final four and the Big 10 regular season title.

The big thing to remember though, in addition of potentially returning Luka Garza for his next season of college basketball, Iowa can also return Jordan Bohannon, their eighth playmaker, who did not play after December this past year due to an injury. Remember, during the '19-20 college basketball season, Iowa didn't have its best shot maker in Jordan Bohannon. A year earlier in '18-19, he made more big shots than anybody in the Big 10.

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Another team to watch during the 2020-21 college basketball season, Tennessee with Rick Barnes. Yes, the Vols return obviously a strong nucleus up front with Yves Pons and John Fulkerson. But Barnes also brings in a high level recruiting class, headlined by Jaden Springer.

UCLA and Mick Cronin made a great late season turnaround this past year and were primed to do damage in the NCAA tournament if they got in the field of [INAUDIBLE] Selection Sunday. But the Bruins should be a national force in 2021, thanks to the infusion of talent with Daishen Nix, the top playmaking point guard in the 2020 class. Cronin also is set to return a strong nucleus from this past year's team, that came up just short from sharing the Pac 12 regular season title with the Oregon Ducks.

Another team to watch in 2021, the Creighton Blue Jays. Greg McDermott should have everyone back intact from last year's team, that was the number one seed in the Big East tournament, headlined by an elite perimeter of Marcus Zegarowski, Ty-Shon Alexander, and Mitch Ballock, who feels like he'll be returning for his eighth season of college basketball, because he's been in Creighton for that long.

And lastly, another team to keep an eye on in 2021, the Texas Longhorns. Texas made a late season surge towards the NCAA tournament under Shaka Smart and should return virtually everybody of significance, including a very seasoned perimeter with Matt Coleman, Andrew Jones, and Courtney Ramey.

But here's the kicker. According to many well embedded moles close to the situation, Texas is also in prime position to land a commitment in the next month from five star big man Greg Brown. If the Austin native commits to Texas and Shaka smart before next season, the Longhorns have the chops to go from a top 25 team to a top 15 team.

Those are five teams to keep your eye on for the 2020-21 college basketball season. I'm John Rothstein. This is Yahoo Sports.