By Aidan Joly
Last week was one of the best weeks of the regular season in college basketball: Feast Week.
During the week, there was much to keep track of with several tournaments happening at once. Some teams were thankful for their performances, some were not so thankful. Here’s some thoughts on it all as it wraps up.
Purdue solidifies itself as best team in the country
The Boilermakers certainly had a good week, winning the Maui Invitational and beating Gonzaga, Tennessee and Marquette to do so. Zach Edey averaged 25.3 PPG during the tournament, and Fletcher Loyer had a 27-point performance in the second game against Tennessee. Purdue certainly has the best resume in the country at this point and has not lost a game yet, and that may continue for a little while here. It certainly deserves its No. 1 ranking this week.
Marquette is still very, very good
Speaking of a team Purdue beat in Maui, the Golden Eagles went 2-1 in the tournament, which included a very convincing 73-59 win against Kansas. Marquette also beat UCLA in the tournament and came into it coming off a win against Illinois. It only lost to Purdue by three in the title game.
Kai Jones and Oso Ighodaro is becoming one of the best duos in the country, while Tyler Kolek may be even better after being last year’s Big East Player of the Year.
UConn has chance to repeat
This year’s UConn roster is objectively not as good as last year’s, but the Huskies will for sure have a chance to repeat as national champions when push comes to shove. Dan Hurley’s team picked up a 20-point win against Indiana at MSG on Saturday and followed it up with a 10-point win against Texas the next day.
Cam Spencer has been better than expected, putting up 16.2 PPG so far. Alex Karaban is taking that needed step up, while freshman Stephon Castle has been great a bit earlier than many thought he would. The Huskies are a real force once again.
Villanova bounces back
The Wildcats proved that an eyebrow-raising loss to Penn was a fluke. Villanova won the Battle 4 Atlantis, beating Texas Tech, North Carolina and Memphis along the way. The win in the title game against Memphis was the best one, running out to a 44-16 halftime lead and then winning by 16.
Justin Moore and Eric Dixon have been the leaders they have needed to be, while transfers TJ Bamba and Tyler Burton have fit in nicely. With a record of 6-1 and after a down year that resulted in missing the NCAA tournament, things will be different in year two of Kyle Neptune.
Memphis has a strong week
Another team that despite a loss, had a very good week. The Tigers should be very encouraged, going 2-1 in the Bahamas and going up to 5-1 on the season.
Even more impressive is that Memphis is doing it without two players who were expected to be a major part of the rotation. DeAndre Williams is done with Memphis after not getting a NCAA waiver, while it would be shocking to see Mikey Williams play this season, or ever. Jahvon Quinerly has really stepped up after being thrust into a larger role. David Jones had a 36-point, 10-14 shooting night against Arkansas on Thursday.
Penny Hardaway has a very experienced roster. The start to the season is encouraging, it will be on them to keep this up.
Arkansas’ struggles are real
The Razorbacks are 4-3 this season after losing twice in the Bahamas and needing double overtime to escape with an ugly win against Stanford. Arkansas was blown out by North Carolina as well.
Arkansas went into the tournament needing to bounce back after a loss to UNC Greensboro and did nothing to dispel those concerns. This team is clearly not as good as years’ past. El Ellis is not giving anywhere near the output he needed to, he only played 36 total minutes the entire tournament and did not score, going 0-10 from the field over the three days.
There’s still time to get it going before the start of SEC play, but it is very understandable to be fading Arkansas at this point.
Florida Atlantic rolls in Orlando, proves loss was a fluke
Some were ready to immediately hit the panic button on Florida Atlantic after a home loss to Bryant the Saturday before Thanksgiving, but the Owls proved that it was a fluke loss on a bad shooting night.
FAU won the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando, beating Butler, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech along the way. The Owls were on their way to running A&M out of the gym, but a late comeback made the final score closer than the game was, and then beat the Hokies by 34 in the title game, 84-50.
It’s great to see Aljiah Martin playing well after he struggled in the first three games, while Vladislav Goldin is taking that needed step up. Johnell Davis is playing well as well.
The Owls still have a top-50 KenPom team in Liberty on the non-conference schedule, a Charleston team that’s no slouch, top-25 Illinois and a game against Arizona, a national title contender. In short, we’re gonna find out.
Colorado State!
It was tough to see what Colorado State was going to be this season, but the Rams had a heck of week, most notably by blowing out Creighton after beating Boston College by double digits. This propelled Colorado State into the top 25.
Isaiah Stevens has turned into a star for Colorado State, while Joel Scott has also been very good.
This program was a NCAA tournament 6-seed two years ago, but took a step back after David Roddy left for the NBA. Now, Niko Medved’s team looks even better than that 2021-22 squad. They will be in contention to win the Mountain West, and if they don’t, the Rams should be in the at-large conversation.
AJ Hoops 