Mid-Day Rumble: Rafael Maia has a thumb injury, Tony Bradley Jr. commits to UNC

Today in the Mid-Day Rumble, Rafael Maia has a serious injury, Tony Bradley Jr. is headed to UNC and Gonzaga releases it's non-conference schedule.

This is not good news for the Pittsburgh Panthers as Rafael Maia, a transfer from Brown, has a right thumb injury and is out indefinitely. He is expected to be re-evaluated in two weeks, but with important practices approaching it's necessary that he's on the floor in order to develop chemistry with the rest of the team.

Maia averaged 9.9 points and 8.7 rebounds per game last season with the Bears while leading the Ivy League in rebounding and field goal percentage.

Four-star prospect, Tony Bradley Jr., committed to Roy Williams and North Carolina on Wednesday. Bradley is a four-star power forward from Florida who is ranked 26th in ESPN's top 100 list for the class of 2016. The 6'10" big man has a strong frame, has very good hands and can score around the basket effectively.

One of the most intriguing teams year after year during the non-conference portion of the college basketball season is Gonzaga. The Bulldogs play in a mid-major conference (WCC) but they normally play high quality major programs in the early months of the year.

In 2015-16, Mark Few's squad will face SMU, Arizona and UCLA while they will also play in a difficult Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.

With a front line that features Kyle Wiltjer, Przemek Karnowski and Domontas Sabonis, expect Gonzaga to be very competitive and fight for a top four seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Are you looking for underrated teams capable of doing damage during this upcoming season? Bleacher Report has you covered and there are two Big East teams on the list (hint: one is a really young team with great potential in it's recruiting class and another has a future lottery pick).

There is a lot of talk about Ben Simmons and how he has the capability to be a first team All-American in his first year at LSU. But there will be other freshman competing for the right to be the best first year player in the NCAA including Jaylen Brown from Cal, Skal Labissiere, who is headed to Kentucky and Malik Newman, who can score with the best of them.

Then there's Brandon Ingram, Diamond Stone and the Big East's very own Henry Ellenson.

Sports Illustrated has the ten best freshman players for the 2015-16 season.

Andy Katz wrote a very interesting article for ESPN.com earlier this week talking about Cost of Attendance and how it could have a big impact on recruiting.

One hypothetical question in the piece is: "Where will non-football schools be 10-15 years from now?"