One of the most storied teams in college basketball will play their season opener on the first day of the college basketball season when the 6^th-ranked and reigning National Champion, UConn Huskies, host the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks in Storrs, Connecticut with the game being played at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion and tip-off scheduled for 6:30 PM ET on Monday evening and the game airing on Fox Sports 1.

Northern Arizona has had a losing season in each of the previous three seasons and has not finished higher than 9^th in the Big Sky Conference which happened last season after finishing with a record of 12-23 and a Big Sky Conference record of 5-13. Despite having a poor regular season showing in conference play, the Lumberjacks nearly made the NCAA tournament as they played for the Big Sky Tournament Championship after defeating the Idaho Vandals in the 1^st round by a score of 87-76, the Eastern Washington Eagles in the Quarterfinals by a score of 81-80, and the Montana Grizzlies in the Semifinals by a score of 83-71 before losing to the Montana State Bobcats in the Big Sky Championship game by a score of 78-85. 

Shane Burcar will be entering his 5^th season as the head coach for the Arizona Lumberjacks and will be looking for his first winning season in four yards, however, things won’t be easy as they start the season playing one of the top-ranked teams entering the season when they travel to face the UConn Huskies.

The UConn Huskies enter the season ranked 6^th in the AP Poll and 5^th in the Coaches Poll after finishing last season with a record of 31-8 and are the reigning National Champions after winning the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since the 2014 season. The Huskies finished the regular season in 4^th place in the Big East Conference behind the Marquette Golden Eagles, Xavier Musketeers, and the Creighton Jays. 

UConn was eliminated in the Big East Tournament semifinals against the Marquette Golden Eagles by a score of 68-70, however, that would be their final loss of the season as they defeated the Iona Gaels in the 1^st round of the NCAA tournament by a score of 87-63, the Saint Mary’s Gaels in the 2^nd round by a score of 70-55, the Arkansas Razorbacks by a score of 88-65 in the Sweet 16, the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the Elite 8 by a score of 82-54 and the Miami Hurricanes in the Final Four by a score of 72-59 before winning the National Championship game against the San Diego State Aztecs by a score of 76-59 making the Huskies only the 5^th team in college basketball history to win all of their NCAA Tournament games by at least 10 points. 

UConn is projected to be the best team this season in the Big East as they are +250 to win the conference and have the 6^th best odds to win the National Championship as they are +1600 to win back-to-back National Championships.

BookMaker has the UConn Huskies listed as 25.5-point favorites at home against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Monday evening. This will be the first time in the history of these two programs that they will play each other in college basketball.

UConn will be unveiling their National Championship banner on Monday evening when they host the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks, so the fans at the Harry A. Gampel Pavilion will be amped up for this game. 

The Lumberjacks have been one of the worst teams in college basketball over the last three seasons while the Huskies are coming off a National Championship season, I look for the talent of the Huskies to be too much for the Lumberjacks to handle which is why I am buying the .5 point and laying the points with the Huskies on Monday evening.