There is one thing that made the 2020-2021 College Basketball Season so unique, and it was the fact that throughout the season Baylor and Gonzaga clearly established themselves as the two best teams in the country throughout the season, so it was only fitting to see them matchup in the National Championship Game. Fans will have different opinions whether parody for the sport at the top is better than one or two great teams but one thing remains clear. Unlike last year, when you look at the top of College Basketball at the moment there are a handful of teams that have a reason to believe they could be at the top of the sport this season.
This week, College Basketball history was made as the Purdue Boilermakers were voted as the #1 team in the AP Poll for the first time in their program’s history. Matt Painter’s squad has popped off of the TV screen to start the season and have a little bit of everything. The size of Zach Edey and Trevion Williams, Jaden Ivey’s dynamic athleticism, Sasha Stefanovic’s shooting have all contributed to the Boilers 8-0 start. The hype around this Purdue team to get to their First Final 4 since 1980 is present and they are without a doubt one of the best teams in College Basketball. However, by no means is Purdue unbeatable. They easily could have lost to Villanova after being down at least 5 for most of the second half until Villanova’s lack of depth cost them for the second time this year and they clearly ran out of gas. Purdue also barely hung on against an Iowa team without star Keegan Murry and even though they did blow out Florida State, the Seminoles season hasn’t got off to a very good start as they just lost to Syracuse at home. Does Purdue have an argument of being the #1 team in the country right now? Yes, however they are more than capable of losing some games in a tough Big Ten conference and the level of separation between Purdue and some of the other top teams aren’t that big.
Baylor is the team that I ranked #1 in my weekly Top 25 Poll and not many people felt the same way. However, everytime this Bears team takes the floor it is must-see TV. The defending National Champions have started off the season with an 8-0 and on average are beating their opponents by 27.3 points per game. The Bears have already picked up victories over Michigan State, Arizona State, Stanford and VCU plus will have some more good competition coming up with games against Villanova and Oregon upcoming. What makes this Baylor team so intriguing is even though they are coming off a Title run last year they don’t seem to be getting the respect that they deserve. They are ranked #2 in the AP Poll behind Purdue, but no one has spoken about this Baylor team as highly as Purdue, or Duke or Gonzaga and others. This could be for many different reasons including the fact that Baylor just isn’t a historically great basketball school and may not have the same history as some of the other great teams. However, with the country getting a front row seat to just how good of a job Coach Scott Drew has done turning around this program around it might just be that they did lose 3 NBA caliber players. This is what has been so remarkable about this Baylor team’s start. James Akinjo, Adam Flagler, LJ Cryer and Kendall Brown make up what is currently the best backcourt in all of College Basketball. Plus, Matthew Mayer and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua return from last year’s team to provide championship experience. Watch out for Baylor because they are not going anywhere.
Duke and Gonzaga matched up in Las Vegas only 10 games ago in a game that’s quality of play was so high, that it really did feel like a war between two of, if not the best two teams in the country. Duke came away with the victory that night and combined with their opening night victory against Kentucky, the Blue Devils looked to be the team to beat but only 4 days later dropped their first and only true road game of the non-conference slate in a loss to Ohio State. In the loss, Duke was up by 13 points at half but was not able to close the game out and the Buckeyes got the win by a score of 71-66.
Gonzaga, who had opened the season at the top of the AP poll, couldn’t have started off any better, as they blew out 2 Top 10 teams in Texas and UCLA. Following these two games there were plenty of people asking themselves if this year’s Gonzaga team was better than last year’s historically great Zags team that finished the season with a 31-1 record and made it all the way to the National Championship game. Since that UCLA game, Gonzaga has not only lost to Duke but they were outplayed by Alabama in Seattle on Saturday Night as The Crimson Tide were able to maintain a comfortable lead throughout the second half.
Duke and Gonzaga are both talented enough, that I would not be surprised at all if either of them end the year as the best team in the country. With that being said, the narrative that either one of them was ever unbeatable or the clear best team in the sport was false. They each have weaknesses and there are some other really good teams throughout the sport where the gap between your “best” teams to many isn’t very large. Duke’s depth needs to improve by the time we get to March or that is something that could cost them big time. 5 star freshman AJ Griffin is back in the lineup but clearly not 100% as he is currently recovering from a Knee Injury suffered in October. Freshman Trevor Keels, who was key in Duke’s win on the offensive end over Kentucky has not been the same player and also needs to produce. Gonzaga lost Jalen Suggs, Corey Kispert and Joel Ayayi. 3 NBA caliber guys that did so much for this team a year ago and even though guys like Julian Strawter and Anton Watson are coming onto the scene and only getting better, that is still a lot of production to replace. Gonzaga is really good but also has their weaknesses.
Teams like Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, Texas and more are all good enough to find their ways back to the top of the best teams in College Basketball List. What makes this year so exciting is with the extra year the NCAA granted to athletes due to COVID-19 and the new NIL rules in place so many guys who in years past would have left college early to go to the NBA Draft have returned to school. So many teams have the combination of depth and experience which a lot of times have ended in success. There are many teams that can turn dreams into reality this season in College Basketball.
Zac Krull has covered College Basketball for the last 2 years while working with Aaron Torres of Aaron Torres Media and recording his own Zac Krull Sports Podcast. Currently, Zac is writing as a contributor for Aaron Torres online with weekly articles and working as a producer for the BETQL Network. Zac graduated from SUNY Cortland in 2021 with a degree in Sports Studies.