The Five Most Impressive Teams Of Feast Week

Feast Week is a great time to be a College Basketball fan, as it is the closest thing to the NCAA Tournament before we get to the month of March. From Monday Morning to the following Sunday night, there is non-stop action and we get the opportunity to learn a ton about these teams. This will be the only time before the start of conference tournament season that teams will play on back to back days. With not a lot of these teams being tested yet, the big picture shape of College Basketball looks much different now opposed to just last week. Here were the five most impressive performances coming out of Feast Week.  

Florida Atlantic

There was a little bit of panic in Boca Raton last week, when the Owls dropped an inexcusable home game to Bryant. This is a team that returned eight of their top nine scorers from last year’s team that went all the way to the Final 4 and was ranked in the Preseason Top 10. One concern that began to arise heading into the season however, was the status of star Guard Alijah Martin. Martin didn’t participate in FAU’s exhibition games leading up to the season due to a leg injury. It was also clear that Martin wasn’t healthy to start the season for the Owls, as he only scored 7 points in 27 minutes in the loss to Bryant.  

One thing we learned this weekend in the ESPN Events Invitational however, was that the Owls are a different team with a healthy Martin. This weekend, Martin averaged 18.3 points per game, while shooting 10-25 from three. This is the same guy who dropped 26 points in the Owl’s heartbreaking Final 4 loss to San Diego State. FAU also didn’t have their best defender on the court this weekend in Nick Boyd due to a leg injury. They were still able to win the event rather easily, collecting a trio of wins against Power 6 Competition in Butler, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech. We will continue to see just how good this Owls team is over the course of the next few weeks with Arizona and Illinois still on their non-conference schedule.  

Villanova

In their first season following the retirement of legendary Head Coach Jay Wright, Villanova missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012 last season. While they caught some bad breaks due to injuries and a very tough non-conference schedule, there were still questions about Kyle Neptune heading into his second season. Those questions only magnified following the Wildcats shocking loss to Penn at the Palestra on November 13th. There weren’t many teams that entered Feast Week this more at stake than the Wildcats, and they answered them in a big way. Villanova collected wins over three teams that should be in the NCAA Tournament in Texas Tech, North Carolina and Memphis.  

Villanova has a very unique mix of key returning players from last season and one of the best Transfer Classes in the country. One of those returnees took centerstage this weekend in Eric Dixon, scoring 34 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the victory over North Carolina on Thursday. Adding three resume building victories so early on in the season, will definitely take some pressure off of Neptune. Villanova’s overall talent level was something that really stood out this weekend, and it could be even better than I imagined heading into the season. It is important to remember that in Neptune’s one and only season as the Head Coach of Fordham, he led them to their most victories in seven years with a 16-16 record back in 2021-2022.  

Marquette

Despite losing in the Maui Invitational Finals to Purdue, Shaka Smart’s team showed why everyone who hyped them up in the preseason was 100% right to do so. There isn’t a better top 3 in all of College Basketball right now than Tyler Kolek, Kam Jones and Oso Ighodaro. Having an elite ball handling Point Guard, scoring/shooting wing, and rim protecting big man, provides this Golden Eagles team with a ton of balance. Despite the late and somewhat unexpected loss of Olivier- Maxence Prosper to the NBA, sharp shooter David Joplin has done a very nice job moving into the starting lineup so far. That includes scoring 19 points in the Golden Eagles first round victory over UCLA.  

This is a Marquette team that won both the Big East Regular Season and Conference Tournament Title a season ago, and there is a chance that this team can be even better than last seasons. The Golden Eagles most impressive victory over the Shaka Smart era, came in the Semifinals of Maui when they dominated from start to finish over Kansas. A big reason for that was the performance of Sophomore Guard Sean Jones, who scored a season high 9 points and made a tremendous impact on the defensive end. The ceiling of this Golden Eagles team might come down to how well their bench ultimately plays. With younger players including Jones, Chase Ross and Ben Gold all having massive potential. The question will be just how consistent can they be? 

Colorado State

Niko Medved’s team collected their best win in the five plus years since he got to Fort Collins, dominating Creighton from start to finish in Kansas City. Despite Colorado State being picked fifth in the Preseason Mountain West Poll, Medved is one of those coaches that you can never count out. Point Guard Isaiah Stevens proved he is still among the best Point Guards in the country, scoring 20 points in the Rams statement victory. Stevens is the only main contributor still with the Rams, from their team in 2021-2022 that made the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013. 

 Creighton has one of the best and most dynamic offenses in the country. The fact that these Rams were able to force them to shoot just 28% from the field and 21% from three, holding them to just 48 points in the process is very impressive. The Blue Jays will not have a worst offensive scoring output for the remainder of the season. With three more opportunities to pick up quality wins before the start of Mountain West Conference play against Colorado, Washington and St. Mary’s, the Rams can be in an excellent position to earn an at-large bid on Selection Sunday. Three of the Rams top five scorers are shooting over 50% from three, and the Rams as a team are shooting 39.1% from downtown. That ranks tied for 33rd in the Country. Any Power 6 program looking for a new Head Coach this offseason should look very closely at Medved, and the way he has turned around this program. 

Utah State

We will throw a second Mountain West team into the fire here, and that is Utah State. The Aggies are led by first year Head Coach Danny Sprinkle, who won a combined 52 games at Montana State in each of the last two seasons. Both of those seasons resulted in NCAA Tournament bids, and Coach Sprink hasn’t slowed down to start this season. The Aggies have started off this season 50-1, including a trio of victories over Marshall, Akron and Stephen F. Austin to take home the Cayman Islands Classic Championship.  

When you take over at a new program, it is always important to start momentum rolling by at least giving yourself a chance with a talented roster. While Sprinkle did a great job in the Transfer Portal, bringing in multiple former players that played at the Power 6 level, it is the guy he brought with him from Montana State that has made the biggest difference so far. Great Osobor is currently averaging 20.0 points per game, ranking second in the Mountain west behind only Jaedon LeDee of San Diego State. Osobor scored a career high 31 points in the Aggies victory over Southern Utah prior to the trip to the Cayman Islands.  

Utah State is a very proud basketball program, making three of the last four NCAA Tournaments, under two different coaches. I wouldn’t expect that to change under Sprinkle who is a proven winner, and will turn out to be a Home Run hire.