By Aidan Joly
One of the slowest weeks of college basketball is here, Christmas week. The blog went dark last week as I dealt with an illness that turned out to be a case of mono, but here are five college basketball teams I’m thinking about as the holidays hit.
Miami
The Hurricanes are 12-1 on the season (3-0 ACC) after picking up its biggest win of the season on Tuesday night, a 66-64 home win against No. 6 Virginia to hand the Cavaliers their second loss in as many games. Isaiah Wong is now a star for a top-25 team and had 24 points, six rebounds and five assists in Tuesday’s win. The Canes have done it through good perimeter shooting and its plethora of experience. Miami certainly looks like an NCAA tournament lock as of now and will be a dark horse in the ACC as January and February roll on.
Wisconsin
The Badgers are this year’s Providence. Similar to last year’s Friars, Wisconsin plays a lot of close games but wins most of them as it sits at 8-2 so far and 2-0 in Big Ten play. It also has nonconference wins against USC and Marquette. Because of those close wins, the advanced metrics aren’t a huge fan of this group – despite being No. 17 in the country in the AP poll, it sits 35th in KenPom on Wednesday. However, this is a Badgers group that knows how to get it done and will certainly go through plenty of tests in the ringer that is the Big Ten.
Alabama
It’s probably fair to say that there is no reason that the Tide should have been this good this quickly. The idea of winning in college basketball is getting old and staying old through the transfer portal, but Alabama has won young this season. Freshman Brandon Miller is one of the most underrated players in the country and has led Nate Oats’ group to a 10-2 start, good for No. 9 in the country at this point. Another pair of freshmen in Noah Clowney and Jaden Bradley have both had big roles, while sophomore Nimari Burnett has been great as well. This is a young team that will have a lot of success in the SEC and in March.
Marquette
Despite a fairly pedestrian 9-4 start, there’s a lot to like about this Golden Eagles team. Marquette is 1-1 in Big East play after a win against a shorthanded Creighton team and a double overtime 103-98 loss to Providence on Tuesday night. Kam Jones has taken a huge jump in year two to be the team’s leading scorer, while Olivier-Maxence Prosper and Oso Ighodaro have also made jumps to become key pieces in the rotation. Tyler Kolek has shown potential to have huge games too. Don’t forget, this is a team that hammered Baylor by 26 a few weeks ago. The Big East might have the best team in the country in UConn, but Shaka Smart’s squad could certainly make themselves the second-best in that league.
TCU
Believe it or not, the Horned Frogs are a one-point inexplicable loss to Northwestern State over a month ago now from being undefeated and being a top 10-15 team in the country. TCU doesn’t really have that resume win yet – its best wins are against Iowa and Providence, but it has gone out and do what it has to do since the Northwestern State loss. It is ranked No. 41 in KenPom as of Wednesday afternoon and ceiling seems high for this group.
AJ Hoops 