7 Takeaways from the First Week of College Basketball

1)We Need a Better Slate of Games to Kick Off The Season

Opening Night in not only College Basketball but all sports, should be among the most exciting nights of the season. This past Monday, there were over 100 games on TV, with some of the highest ranked teams in action……but there was one problem. None of them were actually playing in a game anyone wanted to watch. There wasn’t a single game featuring two opponents from the Power 6 Conferences.

The only games that had even a little buzz from a fan’s perspective was Memphis-Vanderbilt and Auburn-George Mason. Those coaches do deserve credit for scheduling their teams to play a challenging game on opening night. However, it is a major problem for the sport, when there aren’t any games worth watching on your premier night. There are a ton of coaches with unlimited job security that could have afforded to take part in a massive game on Opening Night.

Although, there ended up being some solid games to watch based on mid-major teams pulling off shocking upsets, this doesn’t change the point that there needed to be better games on Opening Night. In years past the Champions Classic featuring Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and Michigan State was played on Opening Night, which always gave the fans something to look forward to. Unfortunately, that couldn’t happen this season with Election Day falling last Tuesday.

Even with a circumstance like that, there needed to be at least a few games featuring two programs that most College Basketball fans are familiar with. Especially when you are competing with some of the other sports during this time of year.

2) Louisville’s Struggles Were the Biggest Storyline to come out of Opening Week

It was only three years ago, that the Cardinals were the #1 ranked team in the country under Chris Mack, and were on top of the world. That hasn’t lasted long, as only three years later the Louisville Basketball Program could be facing unchartered territory. As badly as the 2022 season went for Louisville, it was apparent that Chris Mack wasn’t getting the job done in the recruiting ranks. For a program as big as Louisville, it was unacceptable that their starting Point Guard was a transfer from Marshall, and they were also relying on multiple former JUCO players to get the job done.

Although Chris Mack’s failures were stunning considering how quickly everything happened, Kenny Payne seemed like the perfect guy to bring in. Payne was known as the recruiter, who would be able to bring in much better players. Especially in today’s new version of College Basketball, when every player has a chance to transfer and immediately play right away at least once.

Payne didn’t bring in any significant difference makers in the first offseason on the job, adding Brandon Huntley-Hatfield from Tennessee as their only transfer from the Power 6 ranks. This lack of talent has translated onto the floor to kick off the 2022 season, as Louisville has lost both of their first two games to Bellarmine and Wright State. Just when you thought that it was impossible for things to get worse than they were under Mack, the start of the Kenny Payne era has been exactly that.

3) The Pac 12 Continues to Hurt Itself in Non-Conference Play

Although UCLA and USC’s move to the Big Ten were predominantly based on money and the football sides of things, from a big picture perspective, we have already seen why the Pac 12 Conference has been so behind the ball in recent years. In just over a week of play, the Pac 12 Conference has already lost five games, the conference has zero business losing. This has been a trend the last few years, as there have been a handful of Pac 12 teams that have eliminated themselves from NCAA Tournament contention before conference play even starts, due to poor performances against lower level competition.

Arizona State, who has been a consistent member in that category, fell to Texas Southern on Sunday. In addition, Oregon, who was ranked in the Top 25, lost by 13 at home to UC Irvine and it wasn’t even that close. Even USC, who has been one of the conference’s consistent really good teams, got run off their home floor by Andy Enfield’s former program, Florida Gulf Coast.

Despite Arizona and UCLA regaining their normal form and getting back to the top of College Basketball, that still isn’t good enough to save this Pac 12 Conference. Teams like Stanford, Washington, California and others, who used to consistently get to the NCAA Tournament have fallen and haven’t been able to recover.

Even Colorado, who collected the Pac 12’s best victory of the season so far on Sunday over Tennessee, lost an unacceptable game to Grambling State on Friday Night. The Conference even had two opportunities to gain some momentum back, but Washington State fell to Boise State and Stanford fell to Wisconsin. Even in the last few years with UCLA and USC present, this league continues to get in their own way and prevents any success.

4) Gonzaga Was Overrated by Many Heading into The Season

Mark Few had turned Gonzaga into one of the elite programs in College Basketball and there hasn’t been a better program in each of the last two years than the Zags. With that being said, if Gonzaga wasn’t capable of winning a National Title in each of the last two seasons, then this team will not be capable either. The amount of talent Gonzaga has lost after each of the last two seasons is something that hasn’t been spoken about enough.

Gonzaga has lost four players that went in the first round of the NBA Draft during that span in Jalen Suggs, Chet Holmgren, Corey Kispert and Andrew Nembhard. In addition, they also lost Joel Ayayi who is currently playing in the NBA G-League. That is a ton of talent lost, that is very difficult to replace.

Drew Timme is one of the premier players in the entire sport, and without his 22 points and 13 rebounds, Gonzaga would have lost to Michigan State on Friday Night. However, if Gonzaga’s Guard play isn’t elite, then it is hard to envision this team as a real National Championship Contender.

Big things were expected from Sophomore Nolan Hickman at Point Guard, but we haven’t seen that so far this season or anytime so far during his college career. Hickman was benched in the second half of Friday’s game and finished with 10 points on 4/11 shooting from the field. Chattanooga Transfer Malachi Smith, who was also expected to contribute in the backcourt finished with 0 assists and three turnovers. Gonzaga is going to need better Guard play if they want to be considered as a legitimate National Championship Contender and I’m not sure they have that after Friday Night’s game.

5) The Same Thing Can Be Said for Florida

Unlike Gonzaga, Florida wasn’t ranked in the Top 5 or considered a realistic National Championship Contender, but it was unreasonable to think Todd Golden was coming directly into Gainesville and succeeding, especially right away. Although he is a clear upgrade for Mike White and this Florida team does have some talent, having the best players is always going to beat analytics. Analytics have, and always will be, about trimming the margins and using numbers to take advantage of the smallest inefficiencies. These inefficiencies aren’t going to make up for gaps in talent.

That wasn’t even Florida’s problem on Monday Night, when they lost at home to Florida Atlantic for the first time in program history. This loss isn’t the end of the world for the Gators, but for a team that was labeled as an SEC and Final 4 sleeper, to lose to Florida Atlantic is a bad start. Things don’t get easier for the Gators either, as they will travel to Tallahassee to take on a desperate Florida State team, before competing in the PK85.

There was also a legitimate case to be made that Golden’s San Francisco team shouldn’t have been an NCAA Tournament team last season. Their main argument for them getting in was based on the advanced numbers, but their wins didn’t necessarily come over a ton of teams that played in the big dance. As a matter of fact, the only two teams that San Francisco beat last season which made the NCAA Tournament were Davidson and UAB. Both of these teams lost in their opening games, and UAB only wouldn’t have gotten selected if they didn’t win their conference tournament.

Many people were very high on this Florida team heading into the season, and there is still plenty of time for them to turn it around. However, it is no guarantee that they do because this was one of the more overhyped teams in College Basketball heading into the season.

6) Tennessee Needs to be More Consistent Offensively, or else it Will Cost Them

I was someone that was very high on this Tennessee team heading into the season, despite another heartbreaking early NCAA Tournament loss in 2022. The Vols did return a majority of their team from last season including Santiago Vescovi, Joshiah Jordan-James, Zakai Ziegler and more. The one key guy they didn’t bring back was former McDonald’s All American and current Memphis Grizzly Kennedy Chandler. Even though Chandler was a very talented player, the hope was that Zakai Zigler would be able to fill his shoes, while the other guys surrounding him would make up for the scoring lost.