It has been an absolutely wild stretch of College Basketball, with four of the top five ranked teams in the AP Poll recently falling to unranked opponents. This is the first time we have ever seen before, and it is only a reminder that anything can happen in this absolute crazy sport. One of those teams that went down was #2 ranked Kansas against Central Florida. Although this was a unique spot considering it was the first ever Big 12 Conference home game for UCF, this is not a game the Jayhawks should lose. Just a few days earlier Central Florida fell to Kansas State in blowout fashion 77-52. After leading by eight points at the half, Kansas was outscored 36-23 in the final 20 minutes and even cost themselves at the Free Throw Line, shooting 6-11.

This Kansas team is still 13-2 and should be right there at the top of the Big 12 when it’s all set and done. However, is this a vintage Kansas team that you should have Final 4 or bust expectations for? My answer would be no, as the Jayhawks have shown signs of vulnerability since the start of the season. The bottom line is, outside the top four guys of Hunter Dickinson, Kevin McCullar, DaJuan Harris and KJ Adams, there aren’t many guys you will be able to trust. These four players combined for 43 of the 60 Jayhawks points on Wednesday night in the loss. Bill Self flat out needs more from guys like Elmarko Jackson, Johnny Furphy and Nick Timberlake, if the Jayhawks want to get things turned around. They haven’t shown any signs yet they are capable of doing that. Kansas was also fortunate to get out of Saturday’s game against TCU, due to some questionable calls going in their favor down the stretch.

This weekend’s game against an Oklahoma team ranked in the Top 10, feels like a litmus test game for the Jayhawks and if they can really get back to where they want to be. There aren’t many programs in the country that could be 13-2 and ranked in the Top 5, that you would have this much panic for. However, since it is Bill Self and Kansas, anything short of competing for Championships is not good enough. Losing to Central Florida should be a wakeup call, that this Kansas team just isn’t on par with the teams that had won a combined 59 games in the last two seasons.

ACC – Clemson

After being one the first teams on the wrong end of the NCAA Tournament cut line a season ago, this was going to be a big season for Brad Brownell and the Tigers. Clemson returned six of their top nine leading scorers from last season’s team that won 23 games and went 14-6 in the ACC. Early on it looked like Clemson being selected fifth in the Preseason ACC Poll was too low. The Tigers won 11 of their first 12 games, including a signature road victory at

Alabama in the ACC / SEC Challenge. In addition, PJ Hall has been playing like the clear-cut ACC Player of the Year, with 29 points against Alcorn State and 27 points against UAB. In the last three games however, things have gone in the opposite direction. In the last seven days, Clemson has dropped games to Miami, North Carolina and Virginia Tech. It’s not like any of these games are bad losses per say, but at one point earlier this season, it looked like this could be the best Clemson team of the Brad Brownell era.

This is Brownell’s 14th season on the job, and one constant during that stretch is inconsistency. Playing at Cassell Coliseum is never an easy task for the visiting team, however coming off two straight disappointing losses, I expected a little more from this Clemson team. While just a week ago Clemson would have been labeled as one of the favorites to win the ACC, other teams like North Carolina, Duke and Wake Forest are just playing much better basketball right now.

One issue I have with Clemson at the moment, is the ball seems to be in Joe Girard’s hand’s way too often. Chase Hunter is a veteran player that has been in the program for five seasons now. He averaged 4.5 assists per game last season, but is playing much more off the ball recently which has cost Clemson. Girard is a score first player that can get a little too shot happy at times, that I think would be better off the ball.

Clemson has the talent to turn things around and will have a very manageable upcoming stretch, with home games against Boston College and Georgia Tech, then going to Florida State. That is before their biggest test of the season at Duke on January 24th.

Pac-12 – UCLA

Mick Cronin’s Bruins entered this season in a rather difficult spot, fresh off their third straight Sweet-16, but losing each of their top five leading scorers from last season. While that production was always going to be difficult to replace, Cronin took a little bit of a different approach, building this current version of the Bruins around some of the best international recruits out there. Despite UCLA being picked third in the Pac-12 Preseason Poll and most expecting this team to at a minimum get back to the big dance, saying this season has been a failure so far is an understatement. After opening up conference play with a road victory at Oregon State, UCLA has lost their last three consecutive games and six of their last seven, going back to non-conference play. That doesn’t even include an embarrassing home loss to Cal-State Northridge in December.

Dating back to when Cronin was hired prior to the start of the 2019-2020 season, I always had some questions about how his rugged coaching style would translate at a place known for getting some of the top recruits out of High School in the country. Mick’s teams at Cincinnati weren’t always the most talented, but he was always able to build a team that played the style of basketball he wanted and was always able to get the most out of them. While the first three years at UCLA couldn’t have gone better then they did, it is important to remember those were mostly with players Steve Alford brought to campus. This is the first roster that is filled with guys that Mick brought to campus and it couldn’t have gone worse up to this point.

While the on the court struggles are one thing, Mick’s actions after these frustrating results have been a bad look. The Bruins were just swept in their two game homestand against the Bay Area schools, and Mick refused to show up to his post game press conference following Saturday’s loss to California. Assistant Coach Rod Palmer spoke to the media, which is flat out the Head Coaches responsibility. In addition, Cronin has thrown multiple players under the bus following these losses, and flat out isn’t acting like a coach I’d want my kids to play for. Even as someone who expected UCLA to take a step back, this has been a season where everything that could have gone wrong has gone as worse as possible.

Big East – Seton Hall

There wasn’t a hire in the 2021-2022 Head Coach Cycle that made more sense than Shaheen Holloway going back to his alma mater Seton Hall. Holloway was fresh off leading #15 seeded Saint Peters on a miraculous run to the Elite 8, and former Pirates Head Coach Kevin Willard had just left for Maryland. While it was always going to take some time for Shaheen to really get things rolling, his first season and a half at Seton Hall wasn’t necessarily ideal. The Pirates went 17-17 overall and 10-10 in Big East Conference play last season, losing in disappointing fashion in the opening round of the Big East Tournament to DePaul and in the first round of the NIT to Colorado.

Things didn’t get much better to start this season during non-conference play. The Pirates entered their game against Missouri on December 17th 5-4 overall, and 0-4 against Power Conference teams. A flip seemed to switch that day in Kansas City, as the Pirates defeated the Tigers 93-87 and controlled things for the majority of the second half. Seton Hall has continued the momentum since that game, and have collected a trio of wins over ranked teams in UConn, Marquette and Providence. There isn’t a team in all of College Basketball that has a trio of wins in the last month more impressive than those three by the Pirates.

Senior Guards Kadary Richmond and Al-Amir Dawes have stepped up in a massive way over the course of the last four games, just finding ways to win at any cause. Dawes was phenomenal in Saturday’s victory over Marquette with 23 points, on an efficient 7-10 from the floor and 4-5 from deep. Richmond also scored 21 points in the victory and scored a season high 23 in the Pirates victory over UConn. With Coach Holloway also getting key contributions from younger players in Jaden Bediako and Isaiah Coleman, this Pirates team has been a nice story in the Big East. Especially coming off of their struggles in non-conference play.

SEC – Texas A&M

Expectations were high for the Aggies entering the season, being voted as the favorite to win the SEC in the preseason media poll. This was for good reason, as the Aggies expected to return eight of their top nine leading scorers from last season’s team that went 15-3 in the league and made the NCAA Tournament. This season however hasn’t gone as smoothly as expected, as Texas A&M has started SEC play 0-2 and have more questions than answers at the moment.

It should be noted that big man Julius Marble has not played a second of basketball so far this season, while going through a “university process.” We haven’t gotten much of an update on Marble and it is unknown if he will be returning to the team any time soon. Not having the big man in the middle who averaged 9 points and 4 rebounds in only 20.8 minutes per game last season definitely hurts.

In addition, veteran Guard Tyrece Radford has missed five games this season due to injuries as well. While the Aggies were competitive against a very good Auburn team on the road Tuesday Night, SEC play couldn’t have started in more disappointing fashion than the way it did on Saturday against LSU. Texas A&M was outscored 38-21 in the second half, letting the Tigers shoot 40% from the field for the game and were outrebounded 46-40. This is a concern due to the fact that the offensive glass is usually the Aggies best form of offense, plus as a team they shot 5-28 from three.

As a team this season, Texas A&M ranks 355th in the country in three-point shooting at 26%. Simply put, they will have to shoot the basketball significantly better if they want to turn things around. The schedule will not be getting any easier with Kentucky coming to town on Saturday and a road trip to Arkansas and LSU to follow.

Big Ten – Nebraska

Despite Nebraska being one of the toughest jobs in all of power conference basketball, Fred Hoiberg’s seat was somewhat hot entering this season. Nebraska showed signs of progress in Hoiberg’s fourth season on the job in 2023, but the program had still not won more than 16 games or sniffed an NCAA Tournament during his tenure.

After a relatively easy non-conference schedule, Nebraska needed to start building a resume in Big Ten Conference play in order to march towards a tournament bid. And that is exactly what they’ve done to this point. The Cornhuskers collected not only their biggest win in the Fred Hoiberg era, but one of the biggest victories in program history on Tuesday Night against Purdue. This was Nebraska’s first win over the AP #1 ranked team since1983, when they defeated #1 Michigan. The Huskers shot a ridiculous 61% from three, thanks to 19 points from Kesei Tominaga and 16 points from C.J. Wilcher to get the job done. Purdue big man and National Player of the Year favorite Zach Edey got into some foul trouble early in the first half and Nebraska never looked back. Tominaga is a guy that is built to play in the NCAA Tournament, as a career 37% three-point shooter.

Coach Hoiberg deserves credit for adding some under the radar Transfers from the portal in the offseason, including Rienk Mask from Bradley, Brice Williams from Charlotte and Josiah Allick from New Mexico, who have all been significant contributors. With wins over Purdue, Michigan State and Indiana, Nebraska has the NCAA Tournament in sight and should be hearing their names called on Selection Sunday if they can manage to win the games they’re supposed to in the Big Ten.

With teams like Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State, Rutgers, Iowa and Indiana, somewhat struggling relative to expectations, the opportunity is there for Nebraska to be one of the better teams in this conference. This is still a program looking for their first NCAA Tournament win ever, which will definitely be a storyline to monitor if the Huskers get into the dance for the first time since 2014.

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The Big East is a conference turned upside down right now. The league entered the week with three teams ranked inside the Top-12, and all three of them dropped their conference openers. While it’s only one game lost for each team, this was much needed for some of the other programs in the league. That is due to the fact that aside from UConn, Marquette and Creighton, no program had played consistent enough basketball during non-conference play to really make you feel good about their NCAA Tournament chances.  

One team that the narrative has definitely changed for is Providence. The Friars have a legitimate home court advantage, that was displayed on Tuesday night, when the Friars dominated #6 ranked Marquette 72-57. This was Providence’s second statement home win over a team currently ranked in the Top 25 this season, considering Providence did the same thing to Wisconsin in the Gavitt Games. The program is a ridiculous 47-3 straight up in their last 50 home games. Kim English’s team should hear their names called on Selection Sunday.  

Villanova picked up their biggest win of the season so far on Wednesday, coming back from a 14 point second half deficit to defeat Creighton. It has been an up and down second season so far for Kyle Neptune that has now featured wins over Creighton, Memphis, North Carolina and Texas Tech. At its surface that should be good enough for Villanova to make the big dance. However, they also have losses to the likes of St. Joes, Drexel and Pennsylvania. The key for the Wildcats will be to avoid those losses during conference play.  

The other team really in the mix is Rick Pitino’s St. John’s Red Storm. While it has been somewhat of a disappointing start for the Johnnies relative to expectations, they did start Big East Conference play off with a statement with a convincing victory over Xavier. Pitino’s team’s usually get better as the season goes on, and I expect the Johnnies to do enough to make the big dance. There are plenty of chances for quality wins in the Big East.  

The Big East has had six teams selected to the big dance twice since the realignment of the league prior to the 2013-2014 season. I can see the same thing happening this season, plus teams like Seton Hall and Butler are in the mix as well, which is not something I expected to say as recently as only two weeks ago.  

Big 12 – BYU Will Not Lose A Home Game During Conference Play

Prior to the start of the season, the Big 12 has been the best College Basketball Conference in the country for a while now. They only got better after conference realignment adding the likes of Houston, BYU, Cincinnati and Central Florida. While I did enter the season thinking BYU was somewhat underrated and Mark Pope is the perfect coach to go into the Big 12 with, these Cougars are even better than expected. BYU has started the season 10-1, with their only loss coming in a close one on the road to their rivals Utah.  

The Cougars have had some impressive efforts during non-conference play, including 74-65 home victory over the defending National Runners Up San Diego State. That game wasn’t even as close as the score indicated, and it gave me a thought. It is going to be very difficult for Big 12 Opponents to go into the Marriott Center during Conference play and win. Any West Coast Conference Basketball program will tell you just how difficult it is to go into that building and earn a win. Just ask Gonzaga.  

The Cougars have been one of the better three-point shooting teams in all of College Basketball this season, ranking second in the country with 12.4 made threes per game. BYU has four players playing consistent minutes, who are currently shooting over 40% from deep. While teams like Kansas and Houston are among the best in the country and will be fighting all season at the top of the conference, I do think BYU matches up pretty well against both teams. Especially if they are hitting shots from deep, which they have consistently done, especially in their home building. Kansas will not be coming to the Marriott Center this season, but the biggest test for the Cougs will come early in conference play on January 23rd against Houston.  

If BYU can find a way to win that game at home I’m confident they can secure a top four finish in the Big 12, in large part to one of the best home court advantages in all of College Basketball.  Mark Pope has a really good mix of older and younger players at his disposal, and people could even be talking about BYU as a second weekend team by the time we get to March.  

Pac-12 – Utah Is The Second Best Team In The Conference

Craig Smith didn’t enter his third season in Salt Lake City with a ton of expectations. The Runnin’ Utes only won a combined 28 games in his first two seasons, and were selected seventh in the preseason media poll. A combination of the Utes being much better than expected and the rest of the league outside of Arizona being pretty disappointing have gotten us here. Utah collected some quality wins during the non-conference portion of their schedule, including over #17 BYU, Wake Forest and a true road win at Saint Mary’s. In addition, their only losses are to two quality teams in Houston and St. John’s.  

Forward Brandon Carlson isn’t only one of the better players in the Pac-12, but is among the best big men in the entire country. The fifth year Senior is averaging 16.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game to lead the way for the Utes. This is a player that has scored over 1440 points in his career, but is still looking to play in his first NCAA Tournament game. That should be something that changes this March.  

Despite a somewhat disappointing first two years for Smith since he took over at Utah, many forget just how good of a coach he was at Utah State. Going into the 2018-2019 season, Utah State was in the midst of a seven season NCAA Tournament drought. They hadn’t finished in the top three of their conference since that 2011 season. That 18-19 season was Smith’s first season in Logan, and he immediately got them to the top of the conference and back in the NCAA Tournament. In addition, Utah State won the 2020 Mountain West Tournament and would have gone back dancing if it wasn’t for the COVID-19 Pandemic. Plus, they made it back again in 2021. Coach Smith led Utah State to a combined 74 wins from 2019-2021, and it was only a matter of time before he really started to get things up and running at Utah.  

This Utes team has a great combination of size led by Carlson, shooting led by Gabe Madsen (shooting 45.8% from three) and passing led by Rollie Worster (Third in the Pac-12 in Assists with 6.3 per game) They have great chemistry, and look as good as anyone in the conference not named Arizona right now.  

Utah will open Pac-12 Conference play with a pretty manageable first three games against the likes of the Washington schools at home and at Arizona State. Then they will head to Tucson on January 6th to play their biggest game in recent memory against Arizona. It is good to see Utah Basketball back on the map, as this program earned top five seeds in the NCAA Tournament in back to back years in 2015-2016, which isn’t that long ago. Coach Smith will also be right there for Pac-12 Coach of the Year, by the time the season ends.  

ACC – Wake Forest Will Win Their First NCAA Tournament Game Since 2010

There was only one high-major program in all of College Basketball who decided to make a coaching change during the 2020 offseason, in the midst of the pandemic. That was Wake Forest bringing in East Tennessee State Head Coach Steve Forbes. This was a great hire for a program with a ton of history, and it is only a matter of time until it starts getting even more recognition.  

Forbes is 58-42 overall at the halfway point of his fourth season in Winston Salem. He took home the 2022 ACC Coach of the Year Award, however that season ended in somewhat disappointing fashion with the metrics not loving Wake and keeping them out of the big dance. This is a program that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2017 and hasn’t won a game in the big dance since 2010. That is something I expect to change this season. There isn’t a program in all of College Basketball that has been better in the Transfer Portal then Wake. From Alondes Williams, to Tyree Appleby, to now Hunter Sallis and Boopie Miller, Forbes has made it a talent to get players from the portal and immediately gets them to their ceiling.  

After averaging 4.5 points per game last season at Gonzaga, Sallis has turned into one of the better players in the ACC, averaging 18.0 points per game. He also leads the conference in minutes per game, with 34.9 Wake has one of the better backcourts in the country led by Sallis, Miller and Cameron Hildreth.  

The scary part for the rest of the ACC is that Wake will be getting back sharpshooter Domari Monsanto, which will really help their overall depth and shooting. The Deacs have been playing really good basketball since another Gonzaga Transfer Efton Reid was ruled eligible, only adding to their overall quality personnel. In a wide-open ACC, this is a team that can make a ton of noise as a serious dark horse. 

Big Ten – Conference Will Have At Least Three Second Weekend Teams For The First Time Since 2019

It is no secret that the Big Ten as a Conference has been struggling in March recently. The conference has not won a National Title since Michigan State in 2000, and hasn’t even had a team in the Final 4 since Sparty in 2019. Since that 2019 season, the conference has had teams with really good regular seasons that have earned relatively high seeds in the NCAA Tournament. Just to have the walls come crashing in by the time we get to the month of March.  

For example, Illinois earned a #1 seed in the 2021 big dance and couldn’t make it out of the second weekend. That same season, Ohio State earned a #2 seed and was shocked in the first round by #15 seeded Oral Roberts. That’s not even mentioning Purdue’s historic loss as a number one seed to Fairleigh Dickinson last season, and the Boilers also falling to Saint peters the season prior. While it hasn’t been the smoothest of starts so far for the Big Ten, I do think the conference is better right now than most would realize.  

Purdue is the clear-cut number one team in the country after their monster win over Arizona this past weekend. Purdue also has wins over the likes of #6 Marquette, #8 Tennessee, and #15 Gonzaga to make up the best resume in the country. While they will have to prove it in the month of March, that resume is something that needs to be taken seriously. In addition, this looks like the best Illinois team since that one in 2021, led by one of the best wing duos in the country in Terranace Shannon Jr. and Marcus Domask. Brad Underwood coached teams have made the big dance in seven out of the last nine seasons and it’s only a matter of time until he breaks through to a second weekend.  

Teams like Wisconsin and Ohio State are also really well coached and have been better than most expected to start this season. Those are both teams I can see winning at least one game in the big dance if not more. Then there is Michigan State, who has been very disappointing relative to their Top-10 preseason expectations. However, the Spartans finally looked like the team we were expecting on Saturday against Baylor and I still trust Tom Izzo’s team to get things rolling in conference play.  

There will be at least three Big Ten teams in the second weekend of the big dance for the first time since 2019, and the conference is in much better shape than most realize right now.  

SEC – Kentucky & Auburn Will Also Both Make Second Weekends of the Tournament for The First Time Since 2019 

Looking around the landscape of SEC Basketball right now, there are two teams that clearly stick out the most. While the conference is currently in excellent shape and there is a good chance they can get as many as Nine NCAA Tournament teams, Kentucky and Auburn are the two teams that have the highest upside. It is understandable why Kentucky fans have been somewhat frustrated with John Calipari recently, as the Wildcats have only won a single game in the big dance in the last three seasons.  

With that being said this is the best team we’ve seen in Lexington since that 2019 Elite 8 squad, and I only expect them to get better. Kentucky’s Freshman class is living up to the lofty expectations and thensome, and they are only getting better as the season goes on. It was very impressive that Kentcky found themselves trailing 72-71 with 5:05 to go, after holding a comfortable lead for the majority of the game and still finding a way to win.  

Four different Freshman for the Wildcats scored in double figures, and while there is a large emphasis on age in today’s game of College Basketball, if anyone can win with younger players it’s John Calipari. Add in veterans like Antonio Reaves, Tre Mitchell and Adou Thiero and the pieces are there for a deep tournament run. 

The other SEC team that has really caught my attention recently is Auburn. Bruce Pearl had his Tigers ranked as the #1 team in the country as recently as two years ago, but things flamed out shortly after that. The season couldn’t even result in a second weekend appearance in the big dance. This Auburn team however, has the ceiling that team did not. That is in large part due to their Guard play and specifically Freshman Aiden Holloway. Holloway was sensational in Sunday’s statement victory with 15 points and 6 assists. 

It seems to me that scoring the ball offensively has just come way easier to this Auburn team, and he is a big reason why. The Freshman is also shooting 39.7% from three on the season. Fifth year Senior Jaylin Williams, has also been super valuable to the team, stuffing the stat sheet and making winning plays all over the court. With an SEC Player of the Year candidate in Johni Broome and an elite Coach in Pearl, this Auburn team is undoubtedly a threat to win the SEC.  

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Michigan State

There is zero doubt that Michigan State is at the top of the list in terms of the most disappointing teams in College Basketball so far this season. The Spartans entered the season as a top five team fresh off a Sweet 16 appearance in 2022-2023, and returned four of their five starters. A stunning opening night loss to James Madison however, got things going in the wrong direction and it’s been downhill since. Michigan State is currently sitting at 4-5 overall and 0-2 in Big Ten Conference play. While none of their losses have been seriously damaging to this point, Sparty just hasn’t played anywhere close to their full potential.

While there are a bevy of issues right now, the main problem with Michigan State is that star Guard Tyson Walker just hasn’t gotten enough help. The Senior has been one of the best players in the Big Ten so far this season, averaging 20.3 points per game. There is no one else close to that production on the team, with both AJ Hoggard and Malik Hall averaging 10.3 points per game, but playing rather inconsistent. In addition, since the start of the season the Spartans have had a clear hole at the five spot. Mady Sissoko is just not someone you can rely on and while having some moments, Carson Cooper is what he is, as a quality big man off the bench. The one guy that Michigan State needs to get going in the worst way is Jaden Akins, who was pegged for a breakout season, but just hasn’t been able to get going. The Junior is currently really struggling shooting the three ball at a 29% mark, which would be a career low by 8% margin.

While I certainly still think Tom Izzo can still succeed in today’s era of College Basketball, not adding a single transfer from the portal this offseason, is a decision that he will come to regret. Especially considering both of Sparty’s best two players last season were transfers in Walker from Northeastern and Joey Hasuer from Marquette. They miss Hauser’s shooting in a big way. Saturday against undefeated #6 Baylor will be needed for MSU to build their non-conference resume, and is one of the bigger regular season games for the program in recent memory.

Indiana

Next up is another Big Ten team, and that isn’t a coincidence. The Conference as a whole behind Purdue hasn’t done a tremendous job building their non-conference resumes. While teams like Illinois, Ohio State and Wisconsin seem to be in a pretty good position to make the big dance right now behind Purdue, there just hasn’t been very inspiring. Indiana is in a very interesting position, entering their game on Saturday against Kansas at Assembly Hall. This season has certainly been a struggle so far for the Hoosiers, considering it wasn’t easy at all for them to pick up victories against the likes of Florida Gulf Coast, Army and Louisville.

With that being said, barley winning those games is significantly better then not and they are still in solid position to hear their names called on Selection Sunday. The Hoosiers are currently 2-0 in Big Ten Conference play, including a massive road victory at Michigan last week. They also struggled mightily in their game on Saturday against Auburn. Indiana actually started the game off well, leading 16-6 five minutes into the game. Unfortunately for Indiana, Auburn was just a brutal matchup, outscoring the Hoosiers 98-60 in the final 35 minutes of action. This ended in a 104-76 blowout victory for Auburn.

I do think Indiana will come to play on Saturday at a rocking Assembly Hall against one of the best teams in the country coming to town. The Hoosiers are built in a unique way considering the size of their frontline, headlined by Kel’el Ware, Mackenzie Mgbako and Malik Reneau. Each of these players is at least 6’8”, and that NBA-like size in the frontcourt can definitely give the Jayhawks some trouble. While Indiana hasn’t necessarily done a ton to help or hurt their tournament resume either way, this game will say a lot about the direction and feelings of the team heading into the heart of conference play.

UCLA

Mick Cronin’s Bruins were one of the more intriguing teams in all of College Basketball heading into the season. This was due to the fact that over the course of the last three seasons prior to this one, UCLA had won a combined 80 games, while also making a Final 4 and two Sweet 16’s during that span. That success however came with a distinct core of Bruins that had been at UCLA since Cronin arrived featuring Tyger Campbell, Jaime Jaquez Jr, Johnny Juzang and others.

This would be the first time since Mick arrived with a team built around predominantly players that he brought into the program. A lot of them coming from the international basketball landscape with a ton of potential, but also who have never played Division I Basketball before. The trio of Berke Buyuktuncel, Aday Mara, and Jan Vide are currently averaging a combined 11.6 points per game. These are players that some were expecting to be the driving force of this Bruins team, with NBA potential. That experiment hasn’t gone anywhere near according to plan at this point. While UCLA has gotten more than expected from true Freshman Sebastian Mack, and Sophomore Adem Bona looks as good as ever, this isn’t an NCAA Tournament team right now.

The Bruins are 0-3 in their three biggest games of the season to this point, featuring losses to Marquette, Gonzaga and Villanova. If this is a team that wants to hear their names called on Selection Sunday, they will need to come through on Saturday against a very good Ohio State team in the CBS Sports Classic. The Bruins will have one more non-conference game against a Power Conference Opponent on December 22nd against Maryland. However, with the Terps being one of the more disappointing teams in College Basketball so far, that isn’t even a win that will move the needle in any way. The Bruins NCAA Tournament hopes may as well rely on their game this Saturday in Atlanta.

Memphis

Penny Hardaway’s Tigers have become one of the more intriguing teams in all of College Basketball so far this season. Memphis has built a nice resume of quality wins headlined by Sunday’s road victory in College Station, against Texas A&M. The Tigers also picked up two nice wins at the Battle 4 Atlantis against Michigan and Arkansas. It still doesn’t feel like however, that these Tigers are getting the respect they deserve.

They will have the opportunity to earn that respect on Saturday, when the undefeated #13 ranked Clemson Tigers head to the FedEx Forum. Clemson has been one of the bigger surprises in College Basketball this season, headlined by PJ Hall. The Senior Forward is averaging 20.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, while shooting over 40% from three. This can be a matchup problem for Memphis, however it will be interesting to see the status of Kansas State Transfer Nae’Qwan Tomlin. While nothing is official yet, Tomlin could make his Memphis debut on Saturday, which would give this Tigers team a massive boost. This is a player who averaged 10.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game last season, starting all 36 games for a Kansas State team that made the Elite 8.

In addition, St. John’s Transfer David Jones has been one of the better Transfers in all of College Basketball so far this season, leading Memphis in scoring with 20.1 points per game. The winner of this game on Saturday will be feeling great about themselves, with legitimate aspirations of earning a top four or five seed on Selection Sunday. Memphis however, can make a massive statement and really start to earn more respect, after still not being ranked in the Top 25.

Cincinnati

In their first season in the Big 12, Cincinnati is shaping up to be a team that will be squarely on the bubble come Selection Sunday. This is the third season for Head Coach Wes Miller, and making the tournament should be the ultimate goal. That is considering Cincinnati hasn’t made the big dance since Mike Cronin’s final season in 2018-2019. The Bearcats non-conference schedule has been relatively easy up to this point. This makes sense considering they will have plenty of opportunities for quality wins during the Big 12’s Conference slate. With that being said, Cincinnati suffered their first major hiccup so far this season against Xavier on Saturday.

While the Crosstown shootout is always one of the best rivalry games in all of College Basketball, Xavier has really struggled this season. With some brutal injuries dating back to the start of the season, Cincinnati’s rivals have already dropped games to Oakland and Delaware. This is what makes rivalry games so difficult however, as Xavier defeated Cincinnati on Saturday. This is a loss that might not age well for the Bearcats, and they need to respond on Saturday against Dayton. This will be a neutral court game, which is needed for both team’s NCAA Tournament Aspirations.

I would argue that it is more needed for Cincinnati, considering their best win right now is over a Georgia Tech team that is currently ranked 126th in KenPom. There is an argument to be made that considering the rivalry and stakes, this is the biggest game so far for Wes Miller since he arrived in town.

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Consistency was always going to be an issue for Villanova, after adding a handful of new players from the Transfer Portal this offseason. The Wildcats were coming off their worst season in the last decade, finishing 17-17 and missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012. The interesting thing however is that Villanova still had players coming back from each of the last few seasons including guys like Justin Moore, Eric Dixon and Jordan Longino. It was always interesting to me how those guys would feel with so many new players coming into the picture making big time NIL Money, while they haven’t done nearly as much as they did for the program. 

 After an early season loss to Penn that was pretty head scratching, it looked like the Wildcats had figured things out. Villanova collected a trio of wins over likely NCAA Tournament teams in the Bahamas including Texas Tech, Memphis and North Carolina. That featured a career game by Dixon, that featured him scoring a career high 33 points against North Carolina. That momentum couldn’t continue as Kyle Neptune’s team dropped their next two Big 5 games against the likes of Drexel and St. Joseph’s this week. Prior to his retirement in 2022, Jay Wright finished 33-1 in his final 34 Big 5 games at Villanova. The Wildcats finished 0-3 in those games this season.  

Just when things couldn’t get worse Villanova lost a very winnable game at Kansas State on Tuesday Night in Overtime. The Wildcats held a two-point lead in the final ten seconds, before Tylor Perry drained a three in the face of one of their many high-quality Transfer Lance Ware. In addition, Villanova couldn’t get a quality look at the end of regulation with the game tied, which sent the game to overtime. Despite their trio of quality wins in Atlantis, the Wildcats are far away from an NCAA Tournament lock and will have way more questions than answers heading into Big East Conference play.  

Big 12 – Oklahoma State

Although the preseason expectations were somewhat bleak in Stillwater with the Cowboys being selected 10th in the Preseason Poll, not many expected it to be this bad. Following Tuesday night’s loss at Southern Illinois Oklahoma State is now 3-5, with a lot more questions than answers. The Cowboys three wins this season have come against the likes of Sam Houston State, New Orleans and Houston Christian. Per KenPom Sam Houston State is the best out of those three victories being ranked at #143, leaving the Cowboys without a win over a top 140 team. This is now year #7 for Mike Boynton Jr. as Head Coach. While there have been some good moments including winning an NCAA Tournament game in 2021, the cupboard is looking pretty bare.  

It is also important to remember that Oklahoma State easily could have been a tournament team in 2021-2022, if not for the NCAA banning them from postseason play due to “players receiving improper benefits.” There was a much better way to punish them without ruining their postseason hopes, and the program has not been able to recover. Just last season, Oklahoma State entered the middle of February with legitimate postseason hopes, but faltered down the stretch dropping five of their six games to close out Big 12 conference play.  

The Cowboys have dropped games to Notre Dame and St. Bonaventure so far this season, which are the games you have to win if you have any hope of turning things around. In a loaded Big 12 Conference, featuring the likes of Kansas, Houston, Baylor, BYU, Oklahoma and others, things could get really ugly really quickly. The Cowboys currently rank tied for 193rd in the country in Points Per Game with 74.1, and tied for 220th for true shooting percentage at 53.9%. That is simply not good enough to get the job done.  

Pac-12 – Stanford

Similarly to Oklahoma State, this was always going to be a make or break season for Jerod Haase and his Cardinal. There aren’t many coaches in Division I College Basketball that have been at the same job for seven seasons without an NCAA Tournament bid, who are able to get to year number eight. A big reason for that is just how well Stanford has recruited lately, with talent being nowhere close to what the issue is right now on the farm. The Cardinal have brought in five-star prospects recently including Harrison Ingram, Zhaire Williams and Andrej Stojakovic. Plus, four-star recruits like Isa Silva, Kanaan Carlyle, and Brandon Angel.  

The issue is that getting this talent hasn’t resulted in enough victories, and that came to the forefront in Atlantis during FeastWeek. The Cardinal had a golden opportunity for their first signature win of the season against Arkansas in their opening game leading by two in the final seconds, but not being able to secure the victory. They followed that up by dropping two very winnable games against Michigan and Northern Iowa, finishing 0-3 on the trip. It was the game against Northern Iowa that was completely unacceptable, losing by 23 points and never being remotely competitive.  

There is too much talent on this roster to be this bad, and this is very sad to see for a once very proud program. This past summer, many Stanford Basketball alumni have spoken out on the current state of the program and it is hard to blame them watching this product on the floor right now. Changes need to be made and very soon.  

ACC – Duke

The Blue Devils entered this season as a consensus top three team and in some instances the #1 ranked team in many preseason polls. That is largely due to the fact that Duke finished last season playing tremendous basketball, going 9-0 in their final nine ACC games, which also included an ACC Tournament title. Despite the losses of NBA players in Dariq Whitehead and Dereck Lively II, Duke still returned a ton from last season’s team.  

The issue so far this season has been outside of Kyle Filipowski, that talent hasn’t necessarily been as good as we’ve expected. Sophomore Guard Tyrese Proctor found his way into the lottery in a handful of mock drafts this offseason, and was expected to take a major leap forward this season. Proctor has been fine, averaging 10.3 points and 4.5 assists per game. However, he just hasn’t taken the leap many expected to really put this Duke team over the top. He also left Saturday’s game against Georgia Tech early with a sprained ankle and it is unknown when he will return.  

Jon Scheyer also brought in the second ranked Freshman class in the country, and he just hasn’t been able to find trust with anyone just yet. Caleb Foster had a coming out party in the Champions Classic against Michigan State with 18 points, but hasn’t done much outside of that. The Blue Devils also have a clear hole at the five spot and are clearly lacking rim protection without Lively. While Freshman Sean Stewart can be that guy by season’s end, it’s clear that he just isn’t there yet.  

Duke has already dropped a trio of games to Arizona, Arkansas and Georgia Tech before we hit the mid-way point of December. The Blue Devils will have one more marquee game against a Baylor team ranked in the Top 10, before the start of ACC Conference play. While there is still plenty of time to figure things out, Duke hasn’t looked like anything close to the team that many expected had the most pure talent in College Basketball in the preseason.   

Big Ten – Michigan State

There were many different options on where to go here, but I landed on Tom Izzo’s team, who has started 4-4 on the season, after entering this season with National Title Aspirations. After an up and down 2022, Michigan State returned five of their top six leading scorers from last year’s team that made the Sweet 16. That included the trio of Tyson Walker, AJ Hoggard and Jaden Akins in the backcourt that combined to average 42.1 points per game.  

One thing that is very noticeable about Michigan State so far is that Tyson Walker just doesn’t have enough help around him. Despite being one of the best players in the Big Ten, it is hard to ask a smaller guard to do everything by himself. Hoggard has been inconsistent, and Akins has had a tough time getting going. The other major problem right now for Sparty is the Center position. Despite having a number of different options in Mady Sissoko, Carson Cooper and Five-Star Freshman Xavier Booker, Tom Izzo hasn’t found someone that can give them consistently productive minutes.  

The one key contributor that Michigan State lost from last season was Joey Hauser, who was probably much more valuable than everyone realized during his time in East Lansing. This was Michigan State’s best three-point shooter who could stretch the floor, and it’s been noticeable just how bad this team has been shooting the basketball. Michigan State is currently tied for 338th in the country in three-point shooting at a dreadful 27.5%. Those shooting issues really started the Spartan’s season trending in the wrong direction, when they shot 1/20 from deep in their shocking opening night loss to James Madison.  

SEC – Vanderbilt

The Commodores were picked 11th in the Preseason SEC poll, and somehow their start to this season has been significantly worse than those expectations. Considering Vanderbilt ended last season playing rather well, winning 10 of their final 12 SEC Conference games, it is somewhat surprising just how much they have struggled so far in 2023-2024. That end to the season a year ago, was by far and away the best basketball the ‘Dores have played in the Jerry Stackhouse era. Vandy returned both key members of their starting backcourt in Ezra Manjon and Tyrin Lawrence, who have combined to average 29.3 points per game so far.  

Unfortunately, that backcourt production hasn’t resulted in a ton of team success as Vandy already has a handful of head scratching losses to the likes of Presbyterian, Boston College and San Francisco. Throughout the first few years under Stackhouse losses like these were pretty common. However, the hope was after how well they played to end last season, that they would be over. That hasn’t been the case, and things aren’t going to get any easier with games against Texas Tech and Memphis before the start of SEC Conference play.  

Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse for Vandy, their former Head Coach Bryce Drew has Grand Canyon off to a 7-1 start and just earned their first ever victory over a ranked team in the reigning National Runners Up San Diego State.  

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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.  

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Tommy Lloyd’s first two seasons in Tucson have been nothing but impressive, winning a combined 61 games in his first two seasons. Despite earning a #1 and #2 seed in the NCAA Tournament in these two seasons, Arizona suffered a major setback, falling to #15 seeded Princeton in the opening round of the big dance last season. This loss was particularly frustrating not only because it was against a #15 seed, but also it was very clear that Arizona just did not take their opponent seriously.  

Arizona held a lead for the majority of that game, but it was clear Princeton was never going to give up and continue to fight. However, that didn’t concern Arizona one bit and it cost them. There were many times over the course of last season that Arizona just didn’t come out with enough energy and it cost them in the biggest moment. That was the total opposite of what happened Friday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium, when Arizona came to play from the beginning. The Wildcats went into the halftime locker room up by eight points following a Caleb Love three at the buzzer.  

Sophomore Point Guard Kyland Boswell showed just how reliable he really is with the ball in his hands, leading the way for Arizona with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. It is super impressive just how composed Boswell is especially in the biggest moments, considering came to Arizona a year early last season and should be a true Freshman right now at 18 years old. In addition, San Diego State Transfer Keshad Johnson just how much of an impact his size and length can have on the defensive side of the floor. The 6’11” Forward was a major piece of an elite Aztec defense that made it all the way to the National Title game a season ago.  

Even though Duke came out firing in the second half to make it a very close, competitive ballgame, Arizona found a way to leave Durham with a victory. This isn’t something I’m confident that the Wildcats would have done a season ago, which should bode really well for their National Championship aspirations.  

Michigan State’s Poor Start and Poor Shooting is a Headscratcher

On what looked like was going to be a lackluster opening night of the College Basketball season, #4 Michigan State dropped a stunner to James Madison at home in Overtime. To their credit James Madison is a very good team that was picked as the Preseason favorite in the Sun Belt Conference and climbed their way into the AP Top 25 this week. The thing that was really surprising about this game though, was just how poorly Michigan State shot the basketball. The Spartans shot 1/20 (5%) from three in the loss. It’s one game, though right? That number has to get better for a team that shot the ball great last season. Nope.  

Michigan State followed that performance up by shooting 1/11 (9%) from three in their victory over Southern Indiana on Friday. To make matters worse, Michigan State shot 2/13 (15%) from three in the first half against Duke on Tuesday night.  When you add the numbers up, Sparty started the season shooting 4/44 (9%). 

Although things did get a little better in the second half when Michigan State shot 4/6 from three, no one could have expected for the shooting to be this bad. Michigan State led the Big Ten in three-point shooting percentage last season at 39%, and brought back basically their entire team minus Joey Hauser. Although Hauser was an elite shooter, Michigan State should not be this poor of a shooting team.  

I entered this season thinking that this could be Tom Izzo’s best chance at winning a second National Title before ultimately calling it a career and I still think Michigan State can get there. However, they will need their Freshman of Jeremy Fears, Coen Carr and most importantly Xavier Booker to make an impact and raise this team’s ceiling.  

The Spartans have a clear problem at the five spots right now, without one guy to rely on consistently. Although Mady Sissoko is a former top 40 recruit and has had some solid moments throughout his college career, he is just not consistent enough for Izzo to fully trust him at the moment. They will need the youngster in Booker, who has only scored a combined 6 points in three games on the season to keep improving and ultimately earn Izzo’s trust. Until then, it will be Sophomore Carson Cooper, who should be taking on the majority of those minutes.  

Despite Tuesday night’s loss to Duke, Michigan State will still have plenty of nonconference opportunities against the likes of Arizona and Baylor, to show us they’re the team we thought they were entering the season.    

Kentucky Fans Should Be Feeling Good After Tuesday’s Loss to Kansas

If there is one place in College Basketball where moral victories don’t exist it is Lexington, Kentucky. Especially when John Calipari hasn’t made it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2019 and the Final 4 since 2015. However, there are plenty of positives for the Wildcats to come out of Tuesday’s loss to Kansas, and this could be the year for Kentucky to break through. Primarily, Kentucky did not enter this game healthy in the frontcourt. Both of the seven footers that John Calipari expected to rely on this season were not healthy going into this game in Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso. Freshman Zvonimir Ivisic has also still not been cleared by the NCAA.  

These injuries going into the game weren’t even the only thing that went wrong for Kentucky. Freshman DJ Wagner and Justin Edwards, who are both consensus Top 10 recruits in the High School class of 2023 combined to score 5 points on 1/18 from the field and 0/6 from three. In addition, Kentucky’s top returning scorer from last season Antonio Reeves shot 7/25 from the field and 3/17 from three-point range. With three of Kentucky’s players not being able to buy a shot, the Wildcats still went toe to toe with the #1 ranked team in the country.  

There were a couple of things coming out of this game that Kentucky fans should be really excited about. Freshman Guard Robert Dillingham had a number of questions about him entering the season, including if he was going to be ready and strong enough to make a major impact as a true Freshman. He was Kentucky’s best player last night with 18 points on 4/5 shooting from downtown. Another Freshman Guard Reed Sheppard also showed that he wasn’t afraid of the big stage at all, finishing with 13 points on 3/4 from three.  

We know that these are usually the type of teams that John Calipari thrives with, when he was relying on his Freshman. These young players tend to get better as the season goes on, and with a nice veteran presence featuring Reeves, Adou Thiero and Tre Mitchell. We saw a lot more fight out of Kentucky last night, then we’ve seen in the last handful of seasons, which is a great sign going forward.  

The Wildcats still have a handful of marquee games upcoming against the likes of Miami and North Carolina before starting SEC play and we will continue to learn more about them. However even in a loss, there are plenty of things for Big Blue Nation to come out of that game feeling excited about, and I have a feeling this season will be significantly better then how it’s been since 2019.  

Michigan Has Been The Biggest Surprise of the Season (So Far)

The overall vibes around the Michigan program weren’t particularly great this offseason. The Wolverines were fresh off missing their first NCAA Tournament since 2015, when they had two NBA first round picks and arguably the best player who entered the transfer portal on their roster last season. In addition, at one point in the offseason it looked like Michigan had landed North Carolina Transfer Caleb Love, however he never would actually make it to campus.  

One of the few returnees from last season, Dug McDaniel looks like he could be one of the best Point Guards in the country this season. The Sophomore who was unexpectedly thrown into a major role last season due to injuries, led the way for Michigan on Monday night scoring 26 points, with 7 assists and 6 rebounds in 38 minutes of action.   

Despite losing each of their top three scorers from a season ago, Michigan made some under the radar moves this offseason that definitely made their team better. Primarily, the addition of Alabama Transfer and former five-star recruit Nimari Burnett paid off in a big way on Monday night at Madison Square Garden. Burnett scored a career high 21 points, on 4/7 shooting from three. After spending time at Texas Tech and Alabama earlier in his career, this is Burnett’s best opportunity to showcase that he is still capable of being the guy he was in high school. In addition, Tennessee Transfer Oliver Nkamhoua looks like he could be another really good under the radar transfer portal addition, as he now has a clear-cut role of being an alpha scorer on this team.  

Michigan is also doing this without their Head Coach Juwan Howard, who should be back sooner rather than later, after undergoing heart surgery earlier this offseason. It helps to have a guy that has decades of Head Coaching experience under his belt in Phil Martelli as your top assistant. There aren’t many better ones in the country and he has done a phenomenal job so far. This Michigan program always seems to be at their best when their backs are against the wall, and we’ve seen nothing so far to expect this season will be any different after Michigan was picked 11th in the Big Ten Preseason Media Poll.  

The Big East Has Three Legitimate Top 10 Teams & Final 4 Contenders

There isn’t a conference in College Basketball right now with a top three better than Marquette, Creighton and UConn. Each of these teams can not only find themselves in Phoenix when it’s all set and done, but also could end up cutting down the nets.  

There haven’t been many wins so far more impressive than what #4 Marquette did at #23 Illinois on Tuesday Night. The Golden Eagles have played really well in the toughest road atmospheres under Shaka Smart, and that continued behind 24 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists from Tyler Kolek. There isn’t a Point Guard in College Basketball better right now than the 2023 Big East Player of the Year. Marquette returned just about everyone from last season’s team that won the Big East Regular Season and Conference Tournament Title. Despite Olivier Maxence- Prosper who was this team’s best on ball defender being the one guy, this team lost, Marquette’s offense is so good that they will be right there when it’s all set and done. 

In addition, Creighton’s offense has lived up to the hype so far, averaging 95.3 Points Per Game in their three games so far. Having three dynamic guards, who can all shoot the basketball, alongside an elite rim protector is a scary proposition. Although there were some concerns about the losses of Ryan Nembhard and Arthur Kaluma this offseason, they don’t seem to be missing them at all so far. Greg McDermott has won a combined 93 games over the course of the last four seasons, and there aren’t many coaches in the sport more underrated right now.  

Then there are the reigning National Champions, who have not necessarily played a marquee opponent just yet. However, they look like the team we all expected. The returning core of Donavan Clingan, Alex Karaban and Tristan Newton, look very capable of leading this team on another long NCAA Tournament run. In addition, Sampson Johnson, who missed the majority of last season due to injuries, has already made a major impact among returning. I expect Madison Square Garden to be rocking this weekend, when the Huskies are in action against Indiana, and possibly Texas in the following round.  

The Big East Conference has never been better since realignment in 2013, and that momentum will continue for years to come.  

The post Five Takeaways from The First Week and a Half of the College Basketball Season appeared first on Baltimore Sports and Life.

With that, it is very difficult to accurately judge these teams that have played cupcake games, because you just don’t know if what you saw will translate against better opponents. Luckily, there were a select handful of games featuring multiple Power 6 teams that we can definitely draw some conclusions from. Coming out of the first game of the season, fan bases usually feel either really excited or extremely worried, especially when their team played in a top-notch game against a quality opponent. Here are a few things that you should or shouldn’t overreact to from the teams that took place in marquee games this week.  

Auburn Should Be Worried After Blowing a Late 5 Point Lead to Baylor

Tuesday Night was a very frustrating loss for Auburn in South Dakota against the #20 ranked Baylor Bears. After a very close first 8 minutes, Auburn really looked like the better team from about the midway point in the first half until the final 4 minutes of the game. Auburn found themselves with a five-point lead with four minutes and twenty-seven seconds remaining in the game following a KD Johnson jump shot. Baylor then outscored them 11-5 from that point on to secure the victory. 

Standout Freshman Ja’Kobe Walter led the way for Baylor with 28 points in his first career college game. What made this performance from Walter particularly impressive was the fact that he was creating the majority of his shots by himself off the bounce. There was nothing really Auburn could do to stop it. The Tigers standout Freshman came to play in his own right, with Aden Holloway led Auburn in scoring with 19 points. Holloway didn’t even shoot the ball particularly great from three going 4/8, but showed that he is capable of hitting numerous tough shots off the bounce as well.  

That is something Auburn did not have last year, and the Tigers Guard play should be significantly better overall with Holloway running the show. In addition, SEC Player of the Year Candidate Johni Broome didn’t even play particularly great, shooting 4/10 from the field, and still ended the game with 16 points and 11 rebounds. This Auburn team will be a problem in the SEC going forward, and has enough depth and firepower to be a Final 4 Sleeper when it’s all set and done. 

Verdict: Overreaction

This Version of Baylor Will Be Better Than Last Season’s 

One of the concerns with Baylor going into 2023-2024 was that this was a team that would be losing four of their five starters from a team that won 23 games and earned a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament one year ago. Baylor isn’t returning any of their dynamic trio of Guards in Adam Flagler, LJ Cryer and Keyontae George, who averaged a combined 45.9 points per game a season ago.  

Despite only seeing this Bears team play one game against Auburn, I’m confident that this team has the chance to be just as good, if not better. Primarily, as great as that backcourt was scoring the basketball, there wasn’t a ton of size there and that really cost them on the defensive side of the floor. That is no longer the case with a heavy load of guys on the wing being very capable of guarding the opposing team’s best player. That revamped backcourt headlined by RayJ Dennis, Jayden Nunn, Ja’Kobe Walter and Langston Love provides this Baylor team with plenty of balance and size that should translate to victories this season.  

The other concern I had with Baylor was who would fill the void in the middle with the loss of Flo Thamba and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatoua, still not 100% after recovering from a major knee injury. Enter Freshman Yves Missi, who is a product of the NBA Global Academy, who was absolutely pivotal to the Bears in their victory over Auburn. The Freshman provided the Bears with 10 points in 18 minutes, including the dunk to put them in control for good which ultimately led to the victory.  

Between two Freshman leading the way in their first career games, and veteran Jalen Bridges continuing to do his thing shooting the basketball, this was a great way to start the season for the Bears. This Baylor team seems way more complete compared to a season ago, and their fans should be very excited about their team coming out of opening night. 

Verdict: Not an Overreaction

USC and Their Guards Are Built for the NCAA Tournament 

There aren’t many programs in College Basketball that have been more underrated over the course of the last half decade than Andy Enfield and USC. The Trojans have won a combined 95 games in the last four seasons, to average 23.75 wins per season during that span. USC made it to the Elite 8 in 2021, but unfortunately caught some tough breaks in the big dance in each of the last two seasons, getting knocked out in the opening round.  

I do not expect that to be the case this season thanks to the backcourt trio of Bogie Ellis, Isaiah Collier and Kobe Johnson and they showed us why on Monday Night. Ellis, the Preseason Pac-12 Player of the Year, decided to return for his fifth and final season of College Basketball, after averaging 17.7 points per game a season ago. Ellis has scored over 1500 points in his career, playing in 126 career games and will be a very valuable piece to this USC team in the Month of March. This USC Freshman class entered the season with a ton of hype in large part to Bronny James, and having a name that is big involved in the sport of College Basketball.  

The other big name in the class was consensus top five recruit, Isaiah Collier, who lived up to the hype in a big way against Kansas State on Monday. In his first career game Collier scored 18 points with 6 assists in 25 minutes of action, to help lead USC to a dominant 82-69 victory.  It was extremely noticeable from the beginning just how poised Collier was, and just how much he was able to control the game. This is extremely rare for a true Freshman put into that big of a role.  

Having these two Guards that are that dynamic alongside the perfect glue guy in Kobe Johnson is a perfect fit. Johnson is an experienced player in his own right, and one of the best on ball defenders in the country. Building your team around three Guards this good, bodes very well for USC’s long-term upside and the Trojans statement on Monday should be taken seriously by everyone following this sport.  

Verdict: Not an Overreaction

Kansas State Shouldn’t Be Worried After Their Loss Shorthanded vs USC

There weren’t many programs that came out of last season with more positive momentum than Jerome Tang’s Wildcats, after Kansas State made it all the way to the Elite 8 last season. This was when they entered last season as somewhat of an afterthought and were voted to finish last in the preseason poll. Despite the losses of top two leading scorers in Keyontae Johnson and Markquis Nowell to the NBA, there was plenty of reason for Wildcats fans to be very excited about their team entering 2023-2024. Kansas State added a handful of marquee players from the Transfer Portal in Arthur Kaluma from Creighton, Tylor Perry from North Texas, and Ques Glover from Samford. This is to go along with starters Nae’qwan Tomlin and Cam Carter, who returned to school for another go around.  

Just when the season was ready to start, Kansas State suspended Tomlin indefinitely, for not living up to the expectations Tang requires from his players. Kansas State’s Head Coach said that “If he comes back, it’s an added bonus.” This is very disappointing for Kansas State to lose their top returning player, rim protector and a guy who was supposed to be one of their leaders, right before the start of the season. It was extremely noticeable on Monday Night that USC had significantly more continuity and better chemistry than Kansas State, and the Wildcats looked like a team that had never played with each other before. 

Kaluma struggled mightily in his first game in a Wildcats uniform, shooting 1/11 from the field. The Wildcats as a team shot a dreadful 22/71 from the field and 8/33 from downtown. Considering we still have zero timetable for Tomlin’s return, Kansas State has plenty of reason for concern. This was never going to be the deepest team in the world, and not having each of your top three players from last season’s Elite 8 team is a massive hole. 

In addition, Glover is out six to eight weeks with a knee injury, which doesn’t help matters at all. Kansas State doesn’t have some guys right now that were expected to be major factors, and they could be in some serious trouble if they don’t come back quickly.  

Verdict: Overreaction

We Overrated Michigan State In The Preseason

We’re all still trying to find a solution to the problem of not having enough marquee College Basketball games at the start of the season. That was undoubtedly the case this past Monday, however the basketball gods did at least give us an all-time upset. Number four ranked Michigan State, fell to James Madison in Overtime on Monday Night, becoming the first AP Top 5 ranked team to lose their home opener to an unranked team since Kentucky against Western Kentucky in 2001. In addition, this was Sparty’s first home loss in November since 1986. Michigan State shot the ball in horrific fashion going 1/20 from downtown.  

Although it is a small sample size, this is somewhat puzzling considering the fact that Michigan State was one of the better three-point shooting teams in all of College Basketball a season ago. The only significant contributor from last season’s team that didn’t return this season was Joey Hauser, which could be a way bigger loss than most realized. Star Guard Tyson Walker came to play for the Spartans, leading the way with 35 points, however he shot the ball 26 times to get there. The next highest leading scorer for the Spartans was Freshman Coen Carr, playing in his first career college game.  

Michigan State’s other returning players AJ Hoggard, Jaden Akins and Malik Hall shot a combined 6/33 from the field. Although the ceiling for this Michigan State team could be raised by a very good recruiting class getting better throughout the course of the season, Tom Izzo’s team isn’t going to win much with those three returners playing that poorly.  

Many people thought entering this season that at 68 years old, this would be Tom Izzo’s best chance at winning a second National Title, before saying goodbye. It is also important to note that James Madison was picked to win the Sun Belt in the preseason and won 22 games a season ago. While I still think this Michigan State team will be fine long term, losing this game on opening night isn’t the best look. The bottom line is Hoggard, Akins and Hall need to play better and I think they will.  

Verdict: Overreaction

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Auburn

Bruce Pearl’s team has participated in each of the last four NCAA Tournaments they were eligible for and have become one of the most consistent programs in sport in the last five years. At this time in 2022, Auburn lost two players that were selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, having a ton of question marks entering the season. Auburn struggled at times last season, including going 2-6 in an eight-game starting in the middle of February during SEC Conference play.  

Without those two first round picks Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler, Auburn just didn’t have enough fire power offensively. The Tigers were about average in most of the offensive scoring statistics last season and the backcourt of Wendell Green and Zep Jasper was just too inconsistent scoring the basketball. It was clear many times last season that as well coached as Auburn was, the firepower for a deep tournament run just wasn’t there. Auburn’s personnel last season didn’t stand out like they have in years past, and yet Bruce Pearl was still able to get this team to the NCAA Tournament. Auburn was even able to beat Iowa in their opening round game and pushed #1 seeded Houston to the brink in the Round of 32.  

This season, they will return five of their top seven leading scorers from 2023. That includes Forward Johni Broome, who played his best basketball at the back end of last season and should be one of the premier players in the SEC this season. In addition, Auburn added Five Star Freshman Point Guard Aden Holloway who will be playing in the NBA sooner rather than later.  

With guys like Jaylin Williams, KD Johnson, Trey Donaldson and Dylan Cardwell all returning for bigger roles, Auburn’s personnel will be flat out better than last season. That is a scary sight for the rest of the SEC, as Bruce Pearl has averaged 23.4 wins per season in each of the last five years. Pearl is the only Head Coach in the history of Auburn Basketball to lead this program to the Final 4. We can see history repeating itself in 2024.  

Boise State 

The Mountain West Conference made history a season ago, getting one of their programs to the Final 4 for the first time ever. This was due to ultimately happen, considering this league has established itself as one of the best and most consistent conferences in Mid-Major Basketball. That won’t be changing this season as more than 50% of the league will enter this season with legitimate NCAA Tournament Aspirations. One of them is Boise State, who has qualified for each of the last two NCAA Tournaments and have qualified for the big dance four different times under Head Coach Leon Rice.  

The one thing that this Boise State program hasn’t accomplished yet however, is that illusive first NCAA Tournament victory. Boise State is 0-9 in the NCAA Tournament all time, including 0-4 under Rice. So why would that all of a sudden change this season? Primarily Boise State has won a combined 51 games in the last two seasons. That is the most wins in a two year stretch in program history. Boise State will also return three of their top four leading scorers from last season, and a handful of quality impact transfers.  

One of those returnees is Junior Tyson Degenhart, who established himself as one of the premier players in the Mountain West last season, averaging 14.1 points per game and shooting 32.8% from three. This Boise State team will be much improved on offense in general, with the addition of highly skilled Kansas Transfer Cam Martin, who can score with the best of them in the Mountain West and will have a featured role for this Boise team. With other guys like Max Rice, Chigbuzo Agbo, Omar Stanley and Roddie Anderson III in the mix, this is a team that is very well balanced that will win a ton of basketball games.  

The Broncos are well coached, experienced, and can shoot the ball from all over the court. They are more than due to win that first ever NCAA Tournament game in program history, and once you get that first, it will only get easier.  

Illinois

Since the start of the 2013-2014 season, there have been nine NCAA Tournaments that have taken place. Brad Underwood coached teams have qualified for seven of them, showing he is one of the most consistent coaches in the country. The one thing for Underwood to accomplish now however, is getting to the second weekend of the big dance and ultimately the Final 4. There aren’t many teams in College Basketball that will have a better 1-2 punch this season than Terrance Shannon Jr. and Coleman Hawkins.  

These two players combined to average 29.7 points per game last season, and have played a combined 205 College Basketball games in their career. The question is though what makes this Illinois team so different from last year’s team that clearly wasn’t on the same page? While it was only an exhibition game and there aren’t a ton of massive conclusions to take away from, the Illini looked much more poised against Kansas on Sunday afternoon. Last season it felt like if someone made a mistake they would let that affect them on the next possession. That in part had to do with certain players having prominent roles that they just weren’t necessarily ready for. In addition, this team feels much more balanced with a clear go-to scorer in Shannon, a great passer and shooter in Hawkins, plus really good role players including Ty Rogers, Marcus Domask and Quincy Guerrier.  

This is a team that fits together really well and it was pretty clear what everyone’s particular role was on Sunday against Kansas. This is noteworthy due to the fact that at times last season, it felt like everyone on offense just took turns getting their shots up instead of actually running anything.  

Despite everything that went wrong for this Illinois team last season, this team is ultra-talented and very well coached. If things go right the sky’s the limit for this Illini team, and they can compete with Purdue and Michigan State at the top of the Big Ten.  

Providence

There were a ton of questions in Providence, Rhode Island this offseason, when longtime Coach Ed Cooley decided to pack his bags and become the next Head Coach of Georgetown. Not only was it shocking to Friar fans to see their Head Coach leave, but for a job in conference? That was a gut punch to the entire fanbase and Cooley’s return to Friartown on January 27th will be must-see TV. Despite losing their Head Coach however, the new guy in town Kim English, had about as good of an offseason as you can ask for.  

Providence was able to retain two of their top three leading scorers from a season ago in Bryce Hopkins and Devin Carter. Hopkins will enter this season as one of the premier players in the Big East Conference, after having no issues as the clear-cut go to scorer for the Friars last season. 

In addition, Carter is one of the premier defenders in all of College Basketball and the culture that Ed Cooley built the last handful of seasons will still be intact in a big way. There are many instances in recent College Basketball memory where a Coach leaves similarly to the way Cooley did and his best players will follow. While that was certainly on the table this offseason, Hopkins and Carter decided to hold firm and return to school. In addition, English was able to retain promising young players like Jayden Pierre and Garwey Duwell.  

Pierre played sparingly as a Freshman last season for the Friars, averaging 2.5 points in only 11 minutes per game. While those numbers don’t necessarily pop out, anyone who watched this Providence team last season knows how promising of a player Pierre can be. If he had decided to transfer this offseason there would have been a ton of suitors from the high major ranks and he will play a much bigger role for the Friars this season.  

Dual committed to Providence thinking he’d be playing for Cooley, and decided to stay for the new coaching staff. The Four-Star Freshman has generated a ton of chatter in the NBA ranks with his appealing 6’5” size and athleticism. This Providence team and overall talent level is better than most realize and they will be right in the mix for a third consecutive NCAA Tournament bid.  

Texas Tech

Everything that could have gone wrong did end up going wrong a season ago in Lubbock. Texas Tech entered last season as the #25 ranked team in the country, expecting at minimum to get back to the NCAA Tournament. Instead, they started 0-8 in Big 12 Conference play and the season felt over before it even really got started. A lot of this had to do with the fact that Texas Tech was extremely active in the Transfer Portal last offseason and didn’t have the right mix of players. There weren’t many clear-cut roles for anyone, and every game it felt like we would be seeing a totally different team.  

That shouldn’t be the case this season, with first year Head Coach Grant McCasland in town. McCasland did historic things during his time at North Texas, including being the all-time wins leader in program history and leading the program to their first ever NCAA Tournament victory in 2021. McCasland’s first big move after arriving in Lubbock, was retaining Pop Pop Isaacs as the only primary returner from last season’s team. Issacs will enter this season with realistic Big 12 Player of the Year aspirations, after averaging 11.5 points per game as a true Freshman.  

The pieces that Coach McCasland brought in from the Transfer Portal should fit really well around Pop Pop including trustworthy experienced ball handlers in Devan Cambridge and Joe Toussaint, a true rim protector in Warren Washington. That isn’t even including the reigning Mountain West Freshman of the Year in Darrion Williams to provide some offense scoring punch.  

Although it’s rare for a first year Head Coach to get their program to the Final 4 in their first season at their new destination, it is possible. Hubert Davis and North Carolina went on a magical run in 2022, in North Carolina’s first season without Roy Williams roaming the sidelines. Despite everything that went wrong a season ago, the hiring of Grant McCasland should be one that ages well, and his Red Raiders will be really good right away in this year’s Big 12 Conference.  

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The reigning Big East Champions will be returning four of their five starters from last season’s team, and this time around they’ll be hoping to end things with a deep March run. The one starter that will not return is Power Forward Olivier-Maxence Prosper, who blew up in the months leading up to the NBA Draft and all of a sudden Marquette lost someone who many expected to be an important piece after a tremendous 2023. In his place comes David Joplin, who has been in the program every step of the Shaka Smart era and can help Marquette in a totally different way than Prosper.  

What made Prosper so intriguing to the NBA Draft scouts was his length, and ability to help stretch the floor, while also being able to Guard the other team’s best player. Joplin is the best pure shooter on this Marquette team, and with a really good defender in Stevie Mitchell already on the wing, that offensive help can be something that the Golden Eagles really need. As a Sophomore last year playing predominantly off the bench, Joplin averaged 9.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 39.9% from three.  

That included leading Marquette to a massive victory in the Big East Tournament over the eventual National Champions UConn, when he scored 17 points while shooting 4/5 from downtown. This game definitely gave the Marquette staff some confidence that Joplin can be a major contributor on a team with legitimate title aspirations heading into the season. With eight of the Golden Eagles top nine leading scorers returning from last season, there is a lot of continuity and a lot to like and Joplin is right in the middle of that conversation.  

Big 12 – Pop Pop Isaacs (Texas Tech)

It isn’t very often that a true Freshman averages over 11 points per game and shoots over 35% from three in the Big 12 Conference, and it goes under the radar. However, that is exactly what happened to Isaacs last season, and a lot of it had to do with Texas Tech’s struggles. The Red Raiders entered last season with a ton of high expectations, after adding a handful of what looked like quality transfers in the offseason.  

Things then got out of hand quickly however, when they lost each of their first eight games in Big 12 Conference play. The lone bright spot during that stretch was Isaacs, and he showed that he belongs in the best conference in College Basketball in a major way. The true Freshman led the Red Raiders in scoring in their first conference game against TCU with 17 points and followed that up with 23 points in Tech’s loss at Texas in mid-January. The issue was that Texas Tech’s season basically felt over before it even started and there were so many bad vibes around this program. So much so, that Isaac’s impressive Freshman season was completely off the radar.  

With an elite defensive mind now Coaching this team in Grant McCasland and a much more well-balanced organized roster, there is no doubt that Tech will be significantly more competitive this season. McCasland coached the Conference USA player of the Year last season in Tylor Perry, and I expect Pop-Pop’s season to be very similar. Keep in mind, that conference featured other really good teams including an FAU squad that got to the Final 4 and UAB, who will be one of the better teams in the American Athletic Conference this season. Issacs will be a major reason why and as the Red Raiders clear cut go to scorer, he will not only breakout but also become one of the premier players in the Big 12 Conference this season.  

Pac-12 – Kylan Boswell (Arizona)

In one of the most noticeable moves of the offseason, Arizona’s Starting Point Guard in each of the last two seasons, Kerr Kriisa decided to leave the program and transfer. Arizona had won a combined 61 games in each of the last two seasons, but after losing in the Round of 64 to Princeton in embarrassing fashion, a change needed to be made.  

The keys to the car will now be handed to former Top 50 recruit Kylan Boswell, who showed great flashes of potential towards the backend of last season. Coming to Tucson as a reclassified Freshman, Boswell wasn’t heavily involved early on in the season. However, he ended 2023 on a high note, including scoring 14 points in both of Arizona’s final two games of the season against USC and UCLA.  

It is very underestimated just how difficult it is for a reclassified Freshman to adjust to playing Division I College Basketball when they really should still be in high school. With a large amount of talent around him this season, including transfers Caleb Love from North Carolina, Jaden Bradley from Alabama, and Keshad Johnson from San Diego State. It is also important to remember that Kriisa was at Arizona dating back to prior to the arrival of Head Coach Tommy Lloyd, so Boswell will be the first starting Point Guard Coach Lloyd has brought in under his watch.  

There will be plenty of eyes on Boswell this season, with very high expectations and the fact that Arizona’s 2023 season ended in such disastrous fashion. Considering just how good he looked in the limited time and Tommy Lloyd’s confidence to hand over the reins of the starting Point Guard position to him, I will buy the hype on a breakout season in 2023-2024 for the youngster. 

ACC – Isaac McKneely (Virginia)

Over the course of the past decade, there have been plenty of very good players to come out of this Virginia program that haven’t necessarily made the biggest impact as Freshman. From Malcom Brogdon, to Kyle Guy, to Ty Jerome and others, you have to be able to get the system down and earn Tony Bennett’s trust if you want to get on the floor. I believe the next great player to fit that mold within this program is Isaac McKneely, who played sparingly as Freshman last season, while also showing tons of potential.  

The former Top 60 recruit out of High School, averaged 6.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 28.6% from three last season in only 21.5 minutes per game. However, McKneely had a handful of really impressive moments towards the backend of last season, including tying his career high 12 points in Virginia’s narrow NCAA Tournament loss to Furman. I remember watching this game and thinking that McKneely was Virginia’s scariest threat from behind the three-point line. I expect each of those numbers to increase in a big way this season with a much bigger role.  

With guys like Kihei Clark and Armaan Franklin no longer in the program, the door should be open for McKneely to have a much bigger role as a Sophomore. Virginia is one of the rare programs in today’s era of College Basketball that still doesn’t fully invest into the Transfer Portal and Coach Bennett still values the experience of developing and buying into his program over the course of multiple seasons.  

While it is unknown if that will continue to lead Virginia to as much success as they’ve experienced recently, McKneely is definitely capable of being one of the top players for a team that expects to get back to the NCAA Tournament. There aren’t many better pure three-point shooters in the ACC than McKneely, and that will be on full display in 2023-2024.  

SEC – Jahmai Mashack (Tennessee)

The Tennessee Basketball Program has won a combined 52 games over the course of the last two seasons. There haven’t been many programs in the sport who has won more during that span, however there aren’t enough postseason results for Rick Barnes to get the proper attention he deserved for what he’s done in the last two seasons.  

This should finally be the year he gets that credit, due to the fact that Tennessee should be the favorites in the SEC entering 2023-2024 and the personnel and this team fits better than at any time in the last two seasons. Mashack has a lot to do with that, as there aren’t many better on ball defenders in the entire country than the 6 ‘4’ Guard. Mashack only played in 18.1 minutes per game last season, but really saw his role increase as the games got more important.  

Mashack had four steals in Tennessee’s three NCAA Tournament games, and played 25.3 minutes per game in the big dance. Anyone who has watched this Tennessee team knows how good they’ve been on the defensive side of the ball, and now they have a clearcut, elite perimeter defender on the wing to help shut down the opposition’s best player. Mashack is also capable of shooting the basketball, with a 33.3% mark with not a ton of volume. This is a player that will be playing at least 30 minutes a game for this Tennessee team, that will be a major factor on both ends of the floor for one of the premier teams in College Basketball.  

Big Ten – Roddy Gayle (Ohio State)

While the 2022-2023 season will go down as one of the most disappointing seasons in the history of the Ohio State Basketball program, Buckeyes fans should enter this season with some optimism. Primarily, Ohio State finished last season on a high note, winning five of their final ten games and making it all the way to the Quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. This was after starting 3-14 in Big Ten Conference play.  

As the season went on Coach Chris Holtmann really started to embrace the idea of playing his younger players more, and really see what he had for this upcoming season. One of those freshmen that stepped up in a big way was Gayle, who is a former Top 50 recruit out of High School, played phenomenal down the stretch for the Buckeyes. Gayle scored 15 points in Ohio State’s Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals victory over Michigan State, and shot over 80% from three-point range throughout the Big Ten Tournament. That included scoring 20 points in Ohio State’s final game of the season in the Big Ten Tournament against Purdue, which gave Buckeye fans a flash of what to expect from Gayle this season.  

In a somewhat limited sample size of only playing 16.3 minutes per game last season, Gayle shot 42.9% from three. Gayle’s shooting ability will be on full display in 2023-2024, and with guys like Bruce Thornton running the point and Felix Okpara down low, Gayle should have plenty of good looks. I’m still a big believer in Chris Holtmann as a coach and trust him to get things turned around and Gayle is going to be a major reason why.  

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The 2022-2023 season marked the first time that Villanova has missed the NCAA Tournament since 2012 and if that happens again this season, the spotlight will really be bright on the most successful program in College Basketball over the past decade. The one thing that can directly be pointed towards Villanova’s struggles was last season marked the official start of the post Jay Wright era. The legendary Coach won two National Titles, and made four Final 4’s during his time at Villanova and his former Assistant Coach Kyle Neptune was brought in to fill his massive shoes.

Although Villanova caught some very bad breaks early on in the season, there was anyone who expected things to unravel as quickly as they did. The Wildcats started last season ranked as the #16 ranked team in the country, but lost five out of their first seven games to start non-conference play. Although injuries can be labeled as a reason why these struggles occurred without Justin Moore and Cam Whitmore, there was still plenty of talent at Neptune’s disposal to get off to a better start. Some of these losses included games Villanova should quite frankly never lose to, including against Portland and Temple.

This offseason, Neptune did bring in a ton of talent from the Transfer Portal, including Tyler Burton from Richmond, TJ Bamba from Washington State, and Hakim Hart from Maryland. While these players might give Villanova an upgrade in overall talent level, it is a massive change to all of a sudden go all in on transfers, when the Villanova system of developing players for multiple seasons was so successful under Wright. Villanova will return guys like Justin Moore, Eric Dixon, Mark Armstrong and Jordan Longino to go along with these transfers, however that is a lot of mouths to feed for Neptune.

To Villanova’s credit they did play better last season with a healthy Moore and Whitmore, ending the season winning 7 out of their last 10 games. One under discussed topic is that this team did lose some very important contributors over the course of the last few seasons, including Caleb Daniels, Brandon Slater and a first round NBA Draft pick in Whitmore. There is plenty of talent here for Villanova to be successful, however after how poorly things went last season I’ll have to see it before I believe it.

Big 12 – Baylor

Scott Drew put the exclamation point on the most successful rebuild in the history of College Basketball, when the Bears cut down the nets and won the program’s first ever National Title in 2021. A little less than three years later, there is only one remaining player from that team that played consistent minutes in Jonathan Tchamwa- Tchatchoua, and the Bears have lost four of their five starters from last season. The big man should be fully recovered from a devastating knee injury early in 2022, and ready for a full workload with Flo Thamba running out of eligibility.

Over the last two seasons since the National Title, Baylor has been successful earning a #1 and #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and winning a game in the big dance in each of the last two seasons. This season however, is the one where the losses might finally catch up to the Baylor program. The Bears will not return their trio of Guards from last season, including Adam Flagler, LJ Cryer and NBA First Round Pick Keyonte George.

These three players averaged a combined 45.6 points per game and made up arguably the best backcourt in all of College Basketball. Despite Jalen Bridges and Tchamwa-Tchatoua returning to school and some quality transfers, that is a ridiculous amount of production to replace. Transfers RayJ Dennis, and Jayden Nunn alongside Five-Star Freshman JaKobe Walter, should give Scott Drew plenty of options in the backcourt, but it is unreasonable to expect those guys to be anything close to the production that Baylor lost from last season.

The key to this Baylor team could be the health of Langston Love, who was also a part of that National Title team as someone who played sparingly off the bench. Love averaged 6.3 points in only 16.6 minutes per game, but suffered an eye injury in late February and missed some time at the end of the season. Now, the very skilled Guard should be fully healthy and his ability to stay on the court could be a massive component to this Baylor team’s season. With that being said in a very difficult Big 12 Conference, this Baylor team will take a slight step back and will really feel the effects of missing a backcourt trio as good as Flagler/ Cryer/ George.

Pac 12 – USC

Andy Enfield’s team will have the spotlight on them as soon as the season starts, with USC opening their season up in Las Vegas against Kansas State, as the biggest marquee game on College Basketball’s opening night slate. There are plenty of reasons to be excited about this Trojans team, arguably the best player in the Pac-12 back in Boogie Ellis, a top five Freshman in Isaiah Collier, and of course Bronny James. The Trojans have been one of the more underrated programs in the past half-decade, making it to each of the last three NCAA Tournaments and sending a handful of players to the NBA during that span.

While both of those things should continue this season, I don’t view USC as the clear-cut team to beat in the Pac-12 this season. The Trojans will lose some key pieces from last season’s team, including Drew Peterson, who provided USC with someone who can score the ball from anywhere on the court at any tie. In addition, Reece Dixon-Waters looked poised for a breakout following the end of his Freshman season, but after an up and down Sophomore season, decided to transfer to San Diego State.

The loss of Tre White to Louisville late in the offseason, was also a move that lowered the Trojans in my book. White was a player that looked ready to build off a promising Freshman season averaging 9 points and 5 rebounds per game as a Freshman.  Enfield’s best teams at USC have used their depth as a major advantage, usually having 8 or 9 different guys that can make a major impact whenever they step onto the floor and that is not a strength I see with this team.

The Trojans will return some key role players including Kobe Johnson, Joshua Morgan and Vincent Iwuchukwu, however depth is a concern behind the dynamic duo of Ellis and Collier. This USC team should be ranked entering the season and will most likely be in the NCAA Tournament. With that being said, I do think other teams in the Pac-12 like Arizona and Oregon can also be right in the mix with the Trojans competing at the top of the Pac-12.

ACC – North Carolina

There aren’t many teams that will enter this season with more pressure on them, than Hubert Davis’ North Carolina Tar Heels. This team made history last season, being the first team in the history of College Basketball to miss the NCAA Tournament, after entering the season as the #1 ranked team in the country. The one noticeable loss from North Carolina this offseason was polarizing scoring Guard Caleb Love, moving on from the program and transferring to Arizona. Many people think that this will fix North Carolina’s problems, not having someone who shot the basketball with very low efficiency and had a ton of ups and downs during his time at Chapel Hill. While it was probably best for both sides to move on, I don’t think that all of the Tar Heel’s problems will be fixed just because Love is no longer in the picture.

There aren’t many better duo’s returning to school in College Basketball this season than R.J. Davis and Armando Bacot. These two players have 233 career games at North Carolina, showing experience will definitely not be an issue for this team. My concern about North Carolina however, is since Hubert Davis took over for Roy Williams in the Spring of 2021, this program has had one great month and the rest has been very disappointing. It was clear from very early on last season that something was just off with this Tar Heels team and they were never able to get things figured out. This included losing both games to Duke, including at home with an NCAA Tournament berth basically on the line, dropping out of their last 10 games to close out ACC Regular Season Conference play, and getting blown out by Virginia in the ACC Tournament. Every time North Carolina looked like they had turned a corner last season, they would immediately take a step back.

The Transfer Additions of Cormac Ryan and Harrison Ingram should also provide nice experience, and there aren’t many teams in the ACC that have more top notch talent than this North Carolina team. With that being said, similarly to Villanova this is a situation where I’ll have to see it before I believe it and this is a team that needs to prove they can win and handle expectations more consistently.

SEC – Alabama

One of the more underrated storylines of the offseason was just how much talent Alabama lost from last season’s team that earned the number one overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and won both the SEC Regular Season and Conference Tournament Titles. The Crimson Tide will lose six out of their top 8 leading scorers from a season ago, which is a lot of production to replace. Included in those losses was the #3 overall pick in the NBA Draft Brandon Miller, alongside another First Round Draft Pick in Noah Clowney.

Losing those guys didn’t necessarily come as a surprise to anyone, however it was the loss of Center Charles Bediako, that not everyone who follows this program saw coming. Bediako established himself as one of the premiere rim protectors in the country last season, and had he returned would have been one of the top players in the SEC. Not having one of the best shot blockers in the country, will be something Alabama misses and with guys like Jahvon Quinnerly, Jaden Bradley and Nimari Burnett also not returning, Nate Oats will have almost a completely new roster at his disposal. The two prior times that Alabama had won the SEC under Oats they were an elite defensive team, and without Bediako I don’t see that being the case again this season.

Point Guard Mark Sears, will be the best returning player for the Crimson Tide and should be one of the top Point Guards in the SEC. In addition, Alabama added a highly touted transfer in Grant Nelson from North Dakota State, who was one of the late risers in the NBA Draft Process and should have a massive opportunity to showcase his skillset in Oat’s offense. My concern with Alabama however, is just how much they lost from last season’s team not only in terms of players but also the Assistant Coaches on Oats’ staff.

In unprecedented fashion, Alabama lost three of their former assistants to other Head Coaching Jobs around the country including Bryan Hodgson to Arkansas State, Antoine Petteway to Kennesaw State and Charlie Henry to Georgia Southern. These were three key pieces to Oats’ staff who will also be missed and in a loaded SEC, I think that will come back to bite this Crimson Tide team.

Big Ten – Indiana

While there is no denying just how good of a job Mike Woodson has done during his first two seasons in Bloomington, this season will be his second major test on the job. Woodson’s first big accomplishment when he arrived in the Spring of 2021, was getting guys like Trayce-Jackson Davis, Race Thompson, and some of the other players who came to Indiana to play for Archie Miller to come back to play for him.

That is exactly what the former NBA Coach did, and it directly led to the Hoosiers winning games in the NCAA Tournament in back to back years for the first time since 2012 and 2013. This will mark the first season for Woodson without Jackson-Davis, who established himself as one of the best Hoosiers in recent memory, scoring over 2200 points in his four year college career. Indiana also lost a first round NBA Draft pick in Jaden Hood-Schifino, who was one of the best Guards in the Big Ten a season ago, and was able to win games by himself at times in 2023.

Indiana will bring in two prominent players to help replace that production in Five Star Freshman Mackenzie Mgbako and former Five Star Freshman Kel’el Ware from Oregon. While both of these players’ potential are through the roof, there is no guarantee they will be able to come close to matching what Jackson-Davis and Hood-Schifino were able to do last season. Ware only averaged 6.6 points per game last season in limited playing time for the Ducks last season. In addition, Mgbako was originally supposed to be playing for Duke, but likely realized he wouldn’t have had the playing time he desired on a team with so many other players returning.

Although Indiana will have some guys like Xavier Johnson and Trey Galloway returning, I don’t love the mix of this Hoosiers team especially compared to the last two seasons under Woodson. Although Indiana should be an NCAA Tournament team, I think they are more likely to finish towards the middle of the Big Ten than the top, with so much talent lost from NCAA Tournament Hoosier teams in each of the last two seasons.

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