Author: Aidan Joly

By Aidan Joly

It was a very, very busy weekend in college hoops, highlighted by John Calipari returning to the building he spent 15 years coaching in, Duke blowing out North Carolina in the rivals’ first matchup of the season, and a massive road win for Texas Tech.

Let’s get into all of it.

Arkansas wins in Calipari’s return

In one of the most anticipated games of the season, John Calipari returned to Kentucky for the first time as an opposing head coach.

Calipari was booed when he came onto the floor, it was strong but not merciless, which was a big point of debate throughout the week.

Then, Calipari’s Arkansas Razorbacks, which have really struggled all season, played their best game of the season, beating Kentucky 89-79. It came behind a 21 point performance from Adou Thiero, who was also returning to Lexington as a player, 18 points from Johnell Davis and 17 from D.J. Wagner, who was also returning to Rupp Arena.

You could tell that this was a game that this program circled on the calendar and really wanted. It was subtle to see, but this has to be one of the most satisfying wins of Calipari’s coaching career, regardless of how the season is going.

Duke blows out North Carolina

The biggest rivalry in the sport somehow felt like an appetizer to Arkansas-Kentucky.

In the first of two meetings this season, Duke blew out North Carolina 87-70 at Cameron Indoor, and that game didn’t even feel that close. The Blue Devils led by 25-30 points for much of the contest.

The freshman duo of Kon Knueppel and Cooper Flagg combined for 43 points, 13 rebounds, 12 assists and five steals in a game where they were both on. Tyrese Proctor had 17, and Sion James also played well.

UNC falls to 13-10 overall and 6-5 in the ACC with its tournament hopes slipping by the game it seems like. They are an overtime win against Boston College away from a five-game losing streak.

Duke is a true national title contender. It improves to 11-0 in the ACC and 19-2 overall and it’s beginning to feel like a perfect 20-0 ACC record is in play. We will see.

Texas Tech beats Houston after early adversity

Texas Tech grabbed one of the best wins of the day, beating Houston 82-81 in overtime to hand the Cougars their first Big 12 loss this season.

It was all the more impressive considering leading scorer JT Toppin was ejected on an awful Flagrant 2 call less than four minutes into the game, which also led to a subsequent ejection of coach Grant McCasland. It was a truly awful call that shouldn’t have even been a common foul, much less one that forced the Red Raiders to be without Toppin and their coach for 36 minutes.

Still, Texas Tech won the game. Chance McMillan stepped up in a huge way, scoring 23 points while Elijah Hawkins had 17. The Red Raiders shot 40% from three along the way.

Texas Tech is now 8-2 in Big 12 play and 17-4 overall. It’s a team that should be making a very deep run in March.

St. John’s takes over first in the Big East

The St. John’s Red Storm have taken over sole possession of first place in the Big East.

On Saturday the Johnnies held off Providence at Madison Square Garden, winning 68-66 to improve to 10-1 in league play and 19-3 overall. It got some good fortune later in the day with Marquette losing to UConn to drop the Golden Eagles to 9-2 in Big East play.

Rick Pitino’s squad has taken care of business all season. It has only lost one time since Thanksgiving and is on an eight-game winning streak. The three losses have been by a combined five points.

This is a team that has gotten better as the season. RJ Luis Jr., Zuby Ejiofor and Kadary Richmond have been a fantastic trio, maybe the best in the league. St. John’s has a chance in the next few weeks to be the favorite to win the Big East and make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. It has two big ones coming up, facing Marquette at home on Tuesday and going to play at UConn on Friday.

Short-handed Tennessee blows out Florida

Tennessee, without two starters in Zakai Ziegler and Igor Milicic Jr., beat Florida by 20 in Knoxville, 64-44.

It was a quintessential Vols performance. The defense stepped up in a huge way when it knew it didn’t have the scoring it needed and hung their hat on it. Florida went 24.5% from the field and only made 13 field goals the entire game and shot 14.8% from three.

Only one Gator was in double figures, and that was 10 from Walter Clayton. Alijah Martin had six on 2/12 from the field, and Alex Condon had four on 1/6 shooting.

It was a much-needed performance from the Vols, who had lost three of four coming into the day.

Arizona rivalry gets ugly

Arizona went on the road and beat Arizona State 81-72 in the in-state rivalry, and it got ugly at the end.

Arizona’s Caleb Love and ASU’s BJ Freeman were both ejected with 30 seconds remaining after Freeman head-butted Love. During that exchange, Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley sent his entire bench to the locker room. As the buzzer sounded Hurley waved his players off the floor and skipped the postgame handshake line, dismissively waving off Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd in the process.

He then had some choice words for Love in the press conference, insinuating that he won’t vote for him as an all-conference selection.

After a 4-5 start Arizona is now 15-6 on the season, 9-1 in Big 12 play, tied for first.

The two teams will meet again in Tucson on March 4.

Missouri’s blowout win

Missouri quietly had one of the most impressive wins of the day, going on the road and beating Mississippi State by 27, 88-61.

Caleb Grill was terrific for the Tigers in the win, scoring 20 points and making six shots from behind the three-point line. As a whole, Mizzou made 15 threes.

After a great first season two years ago and a dreadful year two last season, there was a lot of wondering about what Dennis Gates’ third season at the helm in Columbia would look like. With the Tigers in third place in the SEC at 6-2 as part of 17-4 overall, it is looking much more like the first.

Mizzou will go on the road to face Tennessee on Wednesday before seeing Texas A&M at home on Saturday.

Kansas State stuns Iowa State

Kansas State went into Saturday’s game against Iowa State as 14.5 point underdogs, but that didn’t matter at all.

The Wildcats stormed into Ames and beat the Cyclones by 19 in an 80-61 victory. Dug McDaniel had 20 points on 8/17 shooting, Coleman Hawkins had 17 on 5/10 and hit all three of his attempts from behind the arc, and Brendan Hausen had 15, nine of which came from the free throw line.

Kansas State has now won three in a row to improve to 4-6 in the Big 12 and 10-11 overall. It killed any hopes of a bid with a horrid first half of the season, but it has played well the past few weeks.

It has been one of the most disappointing teams in the country. But it has played well the past few weeks. Imagine what this team could have done had it played up to expectations up until the past few weeks.

Kansas’ collapse highlights issues

Kansas blew a 21-point lead and lost to Baylor 81-70 in Waco. The Jayhawks were out-scored 60-30 in the second half alone.

This latest performance continues to highlight the issues that Kansas has had this season. It seems like the epitome of a good but not great team. It stands at 6-4 in the Big 12 and 15-6 overall. Coming into the season it was a great roster on paper and an early championship frontrunner, but this is the result.

The main issue here seems to be a lack of leadership. When Baylor was climbing back into the game, nobody stepped up to prevent that from happening. You would think guys like DaJuan Harris and Hunter Dickinson, guys who were playing in their 161st and 150th college basketball game on Saturday, could be those guys. They weren’t. Zeke Mayo played in his 121st college basketball game on Saturday. Not him either.

This is a team that lacks in a lot of areas, but they are far too experienced to have these kinds of leadership issues. At this point, it needs to fall on Bill Self to make fixes over the next month.

Vanderbilt’s collapse against Oklahoma

Kansas didn’t have the only really bad collapse on Saturday.

After leading by as many as 13 in the first half Vanderbilt had a really bad second half performance, giving up a 23-0 run and getting out-scored 61-27 in the second half to lose 97-67 to Oklahoma.

Vanderbilt has had a very good year, one of the biggest surprises in the sport and a year that has put first-year coach Mark Byington in the UNC conversation should it move on from Hubert Davis. However, this was a stinker of a 20 minutes.

It hurt Vanderbilt’s tournament chances too. Before the game it had a 65% chance of making the NCAA tournament, per Team Rankings, and now that number is down to 45% on Sunday. Losing to another bubble team could really hurt.

USC upsets Michigan State

USC handed Michigan State its first Big Ten loss of the season, winning 70-64 at Galen Center.

USC is out of the tournament conversation, but it’s a nice feel-good win for Eric Musselman in year one for a team we haven’t talked much about this season. Desmond Claude had 19 in the win, while Wesley Yates III had 15.

Michigan State is still in first in the Big Ten but is now just a half-game ahead of Purdue.

Nebraska gets second straight ranked win

Nebraska got a 77-71 win against Oregon in Eugene on Sunday night, marking the Cornhuskers’ second straight ranked victory after a 1-8 start in Big Ten play.

It’s another feel good win for the Huskers, who had lost seven straight before the two wins. Brice Williams had 28 points on 10/18 from the field in Sunday’s win, while Juwan Gary had 23 on 6/10 shooting.

As for Oregon, the Ducks have now lost four of five as it continues to slide and hurt their NCAA tournament resume. The next chance of getting back on track will be on the road Wednesday against Michigan.

By Aidan Joly

We are squarely in the back half of the college basketball fan, and it’s time to take a quick look at the hot seat for coaches.

Some of these guys are squarely on the hot seat and need to do some big things to keep their jobs, while some others are just starting to feel their seats getting warm.

So, let’s take a look at it.

Kyle Neptune, Villanova

It’s still a tournament or bust situation for Kyle Neptune after he missed the tournament in each of his first two seasons. Heading into this season there were already calls for Neptune’s head and they didn’t get quieter after losses to Columbia and St. Joseph’s during the non-conference season.

Neptune did temporarily quiet the critics a little bit by rattling off eight wins in nine games between Nov. 27 and Jan. 8 as part of starting 4-1 in Big East play, but the Wildcats have since dropped four of five to fall to 5-5 in the league and 12-9 overall.

Unless things really turn around in the last month-plus of the season and Villanova finds a way to get into the tournament, it will be tough to justify bringing back Neptune for a fourth season.

Mike Woodson, Indiana

Usually making the tournament in your first two seasons and just missing the cut in year three would mark you as safe, but this is Indiana.

There were calls for Mike Woodson to lose his job at the end of last season, especially considering the availability of Dusty May, but Indiana decided to keep the alum around for another year.

Things have gotten ugly this season. Indiana does sit at 14-7 overall, which looks solid on paper, but a 5-5 mark in the Big Ten doesn’t look as nice. The Hoosiers have lost four of the past five to slip into the bottom half of the league. Those losses included back-to-back no-shows against Iowa, where they lost by 25 on Jan. 11, and then three days later against Illinois, losing by 25 again. It also suffered a 28-point drubbing against Louisville and lost by 16 to Gonzaga in the non-conference.

Indiana finished lower than it started in KenPom in each of Woodson’s first three seasons and is poised to do the same again this season. This one feels like it’s an inevitability.

Hubert Davis, North Carolina

A third big-name program on the list.

Hubert Davis has an interesting resume. North Carolina had a remarkable run to the national championship game as a No. 8 seed in Davis’ first year on the job in 2022, missed the tournament in 2023, won a regular season title and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament (it went to the Sweet 16) and now has the Tar Heels probably on the outside looking in for the tournament this season.

The Tar Heels have stumbled to a 13-9 record this year that includes 6-4 in the ACC after a road loss to fellow bubble team Pitt on Tuesday night. UNC is just 1-7 in Quad 1 games this season and has a Quad 2 loss, which came to Stanford. It needed overtime to beat lowly Boston College on Saturday. Five of its wins have come by three points or fewer, so things could be flipped badly for them right now.

I’m not overly convinced Davis would lose his job with a tournament miss, but we will see. On one hand, it’s difficult to fire a guy who has gone to a national title game and won a regular season championship in four seasons, but missing the tournament for a second time in three years is tough to tolerate at a place like UNC. I’d expect some uncomfortable conversations to be had if the Tar Heels miss.

Ben Johnson, Minnesota

It’s difficult to say whether Ben Johnson is truly on the hot seat in Minnesota, but it sure feels like this is a program that can do better.

Recent wins over the likes of Iowa, Michigan and Oregon may have given him a little bit more of a leash, but the fact of the matter is that the Golden Gophers will miss the tournament for a fourth straight season, not having gone since Johnson arrived in 2021.

The Golden Gophers are 11-10 overall and 3-7 in the Big Ten. They have never finished with more than nine league wins in a single season during his tenure. Minnesota improved its standing in NIL, but the results are not even as good as they were last season, when the Gophers won 19 games and made the NIT.

You feel for Johnson, the issues are probably above him, but someone has to be a scapegoat.

Mike Young, Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech has gone to a pair of NCAA tournaments and even won an ACC title in 2022 during Young’s tenure.

The Hokies won 19 games in each of the past two seasons and went to the NIT. Had there been a similar team in Blacksburg this season Young probably avoids serious consideration, but this year’s squad has fallen off a cliff.

Virginia Tech is 8-12 overall and 3-6 in ACC play and has fallen all the way down to No. 175 in KenPom. It’s not as low as Boston College and Miami, but that’s little consolation. The Hokies barely beat Miami on Jan. 4, a Hurricanes team that hasn’t won an ACC game and is 4-16 overall.

An early disastrous loss to Jacksonville kind of sealed how this team would be. It’s easy to expect a change in Blacksburg in the coming weeks.

Bobby Hurley, Arizona State

This one is starting to feel like an annual tradition of whether this guy will keep his job or not.

Bobby Hurley has only gone to the NCAA tournament three times in nine tries at Arizona State and has been in one of the play-in games each time.

This season it feels unlikely that the Sun Devils will make the tournament, sitting at 3-6 in its first season in the Big 12 and 12-8 overall. Its struggles are even more heightened considering expectations went up after the additions of top prospects Jayden Quaintance and Joson Sanon.

For a few years it feels like Hurley has been dead in the water and keeps his job. Maybe this year will be more of the same, or maybe there will be a search in Tempe.

Matt McMahon, LSU

The SEC is the toughest league in the country this year, and McMahon is certainly feeling that in his third season in Baton Rouge.

The Tigers are 1-5 in SEC play and 12-7 overall, ranking as the second-worst team in the league in KenPom. Still, the Tigers are playing better than they did in McMahon’s first and second years. In the first year they went 2-16 in league play and upped it to 9-9 in year two.

I lean that McMahon gets a fourth year, but it would not be a massive surprise if they decide to move on.

Thad Matta, Butler

Matta’s second stint at Butler is certainly not going as well as his first.

After managing to bring back their legendary player, longtime assistant coach and one-time head coach, Butler has slogged to a 28-36 Big East record in the midst of his third season and the Bulldogs currently sit at 2-8 in league play.

Outside of a few the Bulldogs have avoided bad losses during his tenure, but just can’t get quality wins – it is 17-42 against KenPom top 100 teams (3-10 this year) since he took over in 2022.

Butler is struggling right now too – it has lost 10 of its past 12 and has only managed to beat the league’s two worst teams, Seton Hall and DePaul, in league play.

It feels like the Bulldogs will need to rally to some extent for Matta to keep his job, even if that does mean cutting things off after just three seasons. It was a hire I was skeptical about from the jump.

Retirement watch

Leonard Hamilton, Florida State: Hamilton is 76 and Florida State is likely to miss the NCAA tournament for a fourth straight season. The program has been mired in mediocre to poor play since 2021. He’s in the final season of his contract and saw his elder statesman contemporary Jim Larrañaga retire in December. He could be next.

Fran McCaffery, Iowa: Iowa made the NCAA tournament three years in a row from 2021-2023, but is likely to miss for a second year in a row. McCaffery has been in Iowa City for 15 years and is 65. The Hawkyes are 13-8 overall and 4-5 in the Big Ten.

Others to watch

Earl Grant, Boston College: Boston College played postseason basketball for the first time since 2018 last season but the Eagles have been dreadful this season, 1-8 in ACC play and 9-11 overall. That puts them out of the top 200 in KenPom. Grant is 58-64 overall and 24-45 in the ACC since he arrived in 2021.

Adrian Autry, Syracuse: It’s tough to see Syracuse making a move from Jim Boeheim’s right-hand man after just two seasons, but there’s a ton of discontent from the fanbase over the current state of the program. The Orange are 3-6 in the ACC and 9-11 overall after going 20-12 overall and 11-9 in the ACC last year. He might be someone who is squarely on the hot seat next year.

Craig Smith, Utah: Smith hasn’t done a bad job in four years at Utah. He is 62-58 overall, but is 27-42 in league play. In the program’s first season in the Big 12 the Utes have looked multiple steps behind the league’s top programs. They sit at 4-5 in league play and 12-8 overall. Utah has not made the tournament since 2016.

Interim tags

Ron Sanchez, Virginia: Sanchez took over for the retiring Tony Bennett in October, and the Cavaliers have looked really bad. I don’t expect Sanchez to be back in the full-time role.

Bill Courtney, Miami: Courtney took over on Dec. 26 upon the midseason retirement of Larrañaga. The Hurricanes have not won a game in eight tries since he took over.

By Aidan Joly

This writer attended both sides of the Backyard Brawl rivalry on Saturday.

On a busy day of hoops in the Allegheny Mountains, Clemson went on the road and held off Pitt in overtime after the Panthers mounted a comeback, with the Tigers winning 78-75. In the second game, West Virginia got a second signature win by beating No. 2 Iowa State 64-57 in Morgantown.

We’ll lead with the West Virginia upset.

The second game I saw on Saturday was one of the more physical games you’ll see. Iowa State usually benefits from these physical games and did hold lead for multiple parts of the second half after trailing by one at the break.

However, it was West Virginia’s Javon Small who took over. Small, who did not have Mountaineers second-leading scorer Tucker DeVries by his side, took over the final 90 seconds of the game. After Joseph Yesufu hit a layup to give the Mountaineers a 51-49 lead with 2:06 to go, West Virginia forced a stop, which led to a Small three-point play that put the Mountaineers up five.

He then made a pair of free throws with 1:19 to go after an Iowa State bucket. After another Iowa State score from Keshon Gilbert that cut it to five, Small hit a three with 42 seconds left that put the Mountaineers up eight and served as the dagger. A dunk with 21 seconds left was the exclamation point.

He ended up with 27 points, 20 of them in the second half and 10 in the final 1:39 of the game.

With the victory on Jerry West Day in Morgantown, West Virginia now has four ranked wins (the other three are Gonzaga, Arizona and Kansas), sits at 4-2 in the Big 12, with two of those wins coming against the best two of the best three teams in the league.

Under first year coach Darian DeVries, West Virginia is certainly among the top half of teams in the Big 12 and definitely sits on the right side of the NCAA tournament cut line after missing last season.

This team has a chance to stack some wins too. It will play Arizona State at home on Tuesday and then go on the road against Kansas State. That then sets up a potential ranked matchup between them and Houston on Jan. 29.

Now, moving on to the first game an hour and a half north on Saturday.

After surrendering a 14-point lead and the game going to overtime, Clemson made key shots in overtime to beat Pitt in overtime 78-75 as the Tigers improved to 7-1 in ACC play.

Clemson is having a very good year this year. It sits at 15-4 overall and has won six of seven. Chase Hunter made big shots, including the three to put Pitt away in overtime, as part of a 20 point performance. Ian Schieffelin had 15 points and 11 rebounds as well.

Clemson is starting to trend towards the 7-line. Its advanced stats probably leave a little more to be desired. It ranked No. 35 in the NET and No. 26 in KenPom coming into the day, both of which will certainly go up on Sunday. It only has one ranked win, that being against Kentucky on Dec. 3.

It currently only has one ranked game remaining on the schedule, that being Duke on Feb. 8. Clemson is certainly safe and will continue to be should the wheels not fall off. Whether it can get back to the second weekend certainly remains to be seen.

On the other side of this game, Pitt’s tournament hopes took a large ding. The Panthers are probably still in for now, but it is worth raising an eyebrow at. Pitt has now lost four games in a row and has dropped to 3-4 in the ACC after a 3-0 start. It got blown out at Duke, lost by 10 at home to Louisville, lost by 12 at Florida State and then Saturday’s OT loss.

There’s talent on this roster. Jaland Lowe and Ishmael Leggett are both very good players, and Cameron Corhen and Damian Dunn are both very capable double digit scorers. Guillermo Diaz Graham is getting better year by year and had a good game on Saturday.

Albeit, Pitt still has a chance to get things back on track. It will have a week to sit on this loss before traveling to Syracuse next Saturday, then hosts North Carolina on Jan. 28, then goes on the road against Wake Forest on Feb. 1. Wins in at least two of those games would be a help for this group.

All in all, between an upset of No. 2 in the country and an overtime game, couldn’t have asked for a much better doubleheader.

By Aidan Joly

It’s an age-old tale in sports. Teams spend a lot of money to make themselves very good on paper, and sometimes it doesn’t translate to success on the court or field.

Now, with teams having great NIL situations and players getting million-plus dollar NIL deals, some teams in those situations are struggling.

The most notable ones here are at three programs: Indiana, Kansas State and Arkansas. The three are believed to all be in the top five in the country in NIL spending this past off-season, but the results are just not there. Combined, the teams are 5-11 in conference play. All had high expectations. Each have had several things go wrong.

Let’s start with Indiana. Things have become much more pronounced in the past two games as the Hoosiers took an 85-60 loss to Iowa on Saturday and followed it up with a 94-69 home loss against Illinois. Indiana failed to look competitive in either game as it fell to 4-3 in Big Ten play. It is seeing its NCAA tournament hopes slip away by the game.

Over the summer, Indiana brought in Oumar Ballo, Myles Rice and Kanaan Carlyle, all expected to be massive contributors to a lot of Hoosier wins. All got good NIL deals, with Ballo’s believed to be one of the best in the sport. Ballo has played well, but not to the extent the Hoosiers wanted. Rice has been about the same as he was at Washington State. Carlyle has taken a step back.

These struggles have thrust coach Mike Woodson squarely on the hot seat. There were plenty of rumors about a potential departure last spring, but athletic director Scott Dolson stuck with the alumni who dates back to the Bobby Knight days.

Look at what the football program did this season with the resources it had. A historically dreadful Indiana football went 11-2, was ranked in the top 10 in the country and made the College Football Playoff under first year coach Curt Cignetti. Look what can be done with resources!

Moving onto Kansas State. The Wildcats brought in what was a massive add in Coleman Hawkins for a deal believed to be in the $2 million range, making him the most expensive player in the sport.

What they have gotten from Hawkins is a step back as the Wildcats are 1-4 in Big 12 play and 7-9 overall and have eliminated themselves from the NCAA tournament conversation by this point in the season, if not did so a few weeks ago.

Coach Jerome Tang also brought in Michigan’s Dug McDaniel, Cal State Fullerton’s Max Jones, Kentucky’s Ugonna Onyenso and Samford’s Achor Achor. None have been what they wanted them to be. Achor was actually dismissed from the program on Dec. 11 after just seven games as a Wildcat.

Kansas State is another team believed to have one of the best NIL situations in the sport, but it has not shown. It is hard to believe that this is a program that was in the Elite Eight just two seasons ago in Tang’s first year at the helm.

The thing that is a little bit ironic that Tang likely could have had the Arkansas job last spring if he wanted it, which leads us to…

Arkansas. The Razorbacks made the biggest splash of the coaching carousel season by hiring future hall of famer John Calipari away from Kentucky after he spent well over a decade in Lexington.

The deal was rumored to have gotten done from donors who both paid Calipari handsomely as well as giving him what is believed to be the largest NIL budget in the country. With that budget he brought in an entirely new team, including multiple guys who played for him at Kentucky, former Florida Atlantic star Johnell Davis, and former Tennessee star Jonas Aidoo.

On paper, it looked like a seriously talented roster. What has it done?

The Razorbacks are 0-4 in SEC play, giving Calipari his first 0-4 start to SEC play in his career. This team is 2-6 against power conference teams, and one of those was against 4-13 Miami who just had a coaching change a few weeks ago.

Davis has perhaps been the most disappointing. Expected to be a major part of the team and blossom onto the power conference scene, he is not averaging double figures and only makes 41.3% of his shots after he made them at a 47.5% clip last season at FAU. Aidoo isn’t getting the minutes we expected him to get. Adou Thiero and Boogie Fland have both been good, but Arkansas needs more.

All in all, this is something that teams will need to grapple with when they look at their NIL budget and decide how they are going to use it. Because this season, the teams that spend the most certainly do not have the most success.

By Aidan Joly

Michigan and Louisville continuing their remarkable turnaround this season, teams getting big wins in the SEC, and another SEC team struggling highlighted this weekend in college basketball.

Let’s get into the headlines from the weekend.

Louisville keeps it rolling

Louisville has won six games in a row after going on the road Saturday and beating Pitt 82-78.

It’s a fantastic turnaround under first year coach Pat Kelsey. With 12 wins on the season, the Cardinals have matched their win total from the past two seasons combined.

Outside of Duke, Louisville has been playing as well as anybody in the ACC. A great group of four guys in Reyne Smith, Chucky Hepburn, Terrence Edwards and J’Vonne Hadley has been a dangerous group. All finished with 13 or more points in the win against Pitt.

After two of the worst seasons in program history, Kelsey is quickly turning this program around. As long as they don’t collapse in the next two months, Louisville will dance for the first time since 2019.

Cooper Flagg is a superstar

Duke’s amazing freshman had his best game of the season on Saturday in an 86-78 win against Notre Dame. Flagg finished with 42 points on 11-14 from the field and went 16-17 from the free throw line. Oh yeah, and he added six rebounds and seven assists.

The performance set an ACC freshman record for points in a single game. He also came one point shy of tying the program’s single game record. It was just the fifth 40+ point performance in program history.

Duke is the best team in the ACC right now and one of the best in the country. Flagg is easily the best player and will be in the conversation for national player of the year. Saturday’s performance showed why.

Auburn holds its breath

Auburn held on for a 66-63 win against South Carolina on Saturday.

However, it suffered a major loss in Johni Broome, its best player, who went down with an ankle injury during the game. It was diagnosed as an ankle sprain and he will be out at least a week, perhaps longer.

Thankfully for the Tigers, the injury was not as bad as it initially looked, but Broome will miss time. Hopefully, it is not too long. Auburn can’t afford to miss him for too many games, especially so as it debuted at No. 1 in the nation in Monday’s AP poll.

The Tigers play Mississippi State at home on Tuesday, followed by a road game against newly ranked Georgia on Saturday. Then, a battle with former No. 1 Tennessee on Jan. 25. Auburn will need him back by then.

Ranked Georgia!

Speaking of Georgia, the Bulldogs are in the AP poll for the first time since 2011, debuting on Monday as No. 23 in the nation.

The Bulldogs are certainly benefitting from the SEC being as good as it is, but Georgia is a good team. It is 14-2 on the season and has gotten off to a 2-1 start in SEC play, coming off back-t0-back wins against Kentucky and Oklahoma.

Freshman Asa Newell has been as advertised, while Dakota Leffew, Silas Demary Jr. and De’Shayne Montgomery have become a very good core for Mike White’s team.

It will have the program’s biggest game in recent memory on Saturday when it hosts the aforementioned Auburn, but that is not before a road game against Tennessee on Wednesday. A win in either of those games would be just massive for its hopes.

This is a program that has not reached the NCAA tournament since 2015 and has fallen on very hard times. That can change this year.

Elsewhere in the SEC, Alabama and Kentucky both got big road wins against Texas A&M and Mississippi State. Both are very good teams and will be contenders for the SEC title.

Arkansas’ struggles

One team in the SEC that has not done as well as the others is Arkansas.

In its first year under John Calipari, the Razorbacks has limped to an 0-3 start in SEC play. It has not won a game since a win against Oakland on Dec. 30 and is 2-5 against high major opponents, and one of them was against lowly Miami in the ACC-SEC challenge.

Highly touted transfer Johnell Davis has been a major disappointment and is beginning to see his minutes dwindle. He did not score in Saturday’s loss to Florida and went 0-8 from the field. Adou Thiero has been inconsistent. D.J. Wagner has struggled.

Arkansas is still probably on the right side of the bubble right now, but things could unravel quickly if it doesn’t start winning some games. It goes on the road for its next two, playing LSU on Wednesday and Missouri on Saturday. It needs a couple wins.

Utah State is 16-1

How about Jerrod Calhoun’s Utah State Aggies, who are 16-1 and 6-0 in the Mountain West after a home win against Boise State on Saturday.

Calhoun has done wonders with the program in year one. The duo of Ian Martinez and Mason Falslev is perhaps the best in the Mountain West. The team’s only loss was a two-point loss to UC San Diego on Dec. 17.

Through the past few years Utah State has quietly been one of the best programs in the country. On Monday the Aggies debuted at No. 22 in the nation.

This is a team that will win a ton of games over the next few months and will have a great chance to make a deep run in March.

The best Big Ten teams

The best teams in the Big Ten are certainly beginning to separate themselves. That was apparent on Sunday especially, when Purdue kicked Nebraska in the teeth in a 104-68 win, Michigan State beat Northwestern 78-68 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated, and Michigan beat Washington 91-75. More on the Wolverines in a minute.

It feels like the top four group in the Big Ten right now is Purdue, Michigan State, Michigan and Illinois in whatever order you want to put them in. There is a fairly clear second tier too that is made up of Oregon, Wisconsin and Maryland.

It’s an interesting way to look at the new-look Big Ten, but that is what is happening so far.

Michigan is winning games

Speaking of the Wolverines, it has been a fantastic turnaround in year one under Dusty May.

Michigan is 5-0 in Big Ten play after the win against Washington, making them 13-3 overall. It is a very smart team that plays both offense and defense at a very high level, resembling May’s teams at Florida Atlantic.

The group of Vladislav Goldin, Danny Wolf, Tre Donaldson and Roddy Gayle has been great. The two big-man system with Goldin and Wolf has worked wonders.

Michigan is certainly on track to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2021. It will face Minnesota on Thursday in a game that should be a victory, followed by another winnable game against Northwestern on Sunday.

By Aidan Joly

We had a morning-after-Christmas surprise on Thursday morning, as it was announced that longtime Miami head coach Jim Larrañaga has stepped down and retired amid his 14th season with the team.

The time had clearly come for the 75-year-old Larrañaga. He made the Final Four with the Hurricanes in 2023 but struggled last season and has limped to a 4-8 record to start this season. It was clearly time for him to be done.

That slow last few years shouldn’t take away from his brilliant career. He went to the NCAA tournament 11 times, the second weekend of the tournament five times, two Final Four appearances – including one of the most improbable runs when he took George Mason to the national semifinal game in 2006 – and finished his career with 744 wins between Miami, George Mason, Bowling Green and American International. It’s a borderline Hall of Fame resume.

Taking a look at the Miami job. It’s a very good gig. The school has deep NIL pockets, a great brand recognition, it’s a very desirable place to live for both players and coaches, and the next coach will have an opportunity to win immediately.

That all being said, who are some early names? Let’s take a look.

Will Wade, McNeese head coach

Will Wade keeps pumping great teams out in McNeese, and for as long as he does so, his name will keep popping up with these types of jobs.

Since being fired at LSU for NCAA violations, Wade has been winning at the lower levels. He got McNeese to the NCAA tournament last season. The Cowboys are just 6-5 so far this season but have played a very difficult schedule and should run the table in league play.

Miami has very deep NIL pockets, something Wade would be able to thrive with. There’s baggage there – and he’s still under a show-cause penalty until June 2025 – but he may be an ideal candidate for the Hurricanes.

Richard Pitino, New Mexico head coach

Pitino, still only 42, has done a lot of great things as a head coach. He has South Florida connections; he got his first head coaching job at nearby FIU and spent time as an assistant under Billy Donovan at Florida.

After a lackluster tenure at Minnesota, he brought New Mexico to the NCAA tournament for the first time in a decade last March.

In 2023, Yahoo Sports reported that Pitino interviewed for the vacant job at South Florida and turned down an offer. Might he be interested in heading back to the Sunshine State? His dad loves it there too.

Anthony Grant, Dayton head coach

This is a name that was immediately thrown around as a potential replacement.

Grant, a Miami native, has done an amazing job at Dayton. He has won 159 games since he took over there in 2017 and had the Flyers as a national title contender in 2020 until you-know-what happened. He got Dayton to the second round of the tournament last year and has them on track to get back to the tournament this year.

Grant began his coaching career coaching high school ball in Miami and was a longtime assistant at Florida. Grant is a Dayton alumni, which might make things tough. Will this job entice him enough for him to come home?

Chris Caputo, George Washington head coach

Caputo doesn’t have a shiny win-loss record at George Washington (42-35), but he a direct member of the Larrañaga coaching tree and if Larrañaga has any sort of say in the search process, you would think Caputo’s name would come up.

He was an assistant with Larrañaga at George Mason from 2005-2011 and then followed him to Miami, where he remained until 2022 when he got the job at GW.

GW is off to an 11-2 start this season, but has a very, very low strength of schedule. He is admittedly in a lower tier than the three other guys mentioned, but if he can get to 10 or 12 wins in the Atlantic 10, he could play himself into contention.

Jim Crutchfield, Nova Southeastern head coach

Outside the box? Crutchfield is the head coach at Division II Nova Southeastern, just down the road from Miami.

Arriving in 2017, he has made Nova Southeastern into a Division II powerhouse with a 179-24 record since then, including winning the national title in 2023 with a spotless 36-0 record. The Sharks returned to the title game last spring but lost. As a head coach, he has a winning percentage of .864. Not bad.

It is certainly outside the box. But look at Ben McCollum and Drake. McCollum was a powerhouse Division II coach and has the Bulldogs at 11-0 in his first season in Division I (McCollum could be a candidate for this job as well but we will see).

Someone who has won at an extremely high level, and he’s right in your backyard. It’s at least worth a feeler.

Bill Courtney, interim head coach

It’s unlikely, but just about every time you have to throw the interim coach on the list.

Courtney will be the interim coach for the remainder of the season, it was announced Thursday. Courtney is a longtime Larrañaga assistant and came to Miami to work for him again in 2019.

Courtney has been a head coach before at Cornell from 2010 to 2016, but finished that tenure with a mark of 60-113, including an ugly 27-57 in the Ivy League.

Athletic director Dan Radakovic is expected to conduct a national search for a new coach. Courtney will be the first to audition for the job. Miami is 4-8 with losses to Charleston Southern and Mount St. Mary’s. If he can turn the season around then he should get a look for the full-time job, but that feels like a tall task.

Prediction: The allure of coming home is enough for Anthony Grant, and he lands the gig.

By Aidan Joly

Christmas week always provides a slow week on the college basketball schedule, giving a time to step back for a few days before conference play really ramps up.

Some of the contenders have separated themselves from the pretenders, while others have generated some good storylines so far this season.

With that being said, here are five teams I’m thinking about this holiday season.

Auburn

It’s a little cliché to be saying I’m thinking about the best team in the country, but the Tigers have separated themselves as head and shoulders above the field.

Auburn currently ranks N0. 1 in the country in KenPom, BPI, Bart Torvik, EvanMiya, strength of record, power index, NET and has the most Quad 1 wins (and somehow, AP has it at No. 2?).

Right now, the Tigers should be the favorite to not only win the SEC, but also win the national title. It feels like we are on a collision course to see Auburn cut down the nets in San Antonio.

Mississippi State

A second SEC team. Mississippi State is 11-1 on the season with its only loss coming to Butler, and is coming off of a nice win against Memphis on Saturday. Speaking of Memphis, I keep going back and forth on believing in them. Weird team.

Anyway, Chris Jans’ team is having a very good start, a start that has gotten them up to No. 19 in the country in both KenPom and the AP poll.

A great offense, led by Josh Hubbard and Keshawn Murphy, certainly has the pieces to compete in the top half of the SEC and be in the NCAA tournament.

It has one more non-conference game against Bethune-Cookman before starting league play on Jan. 4.

Georgetown

Do we believe in the Hoyas?

Georgetown has won its first two conference games for the first time since the 2015-16 season, part of a 10-2 start, the earliest the program has reached double digit wins since the 2013-14 season. Georgetown hasn’t even had a double digit win season since the 2020-21 season.

On the flip side, seven of the 10 wins have come against sub-200 KenPom teams, but it avoided the inexplicable loss to a low-major team that has plagued non-conference schedules for the past few years. The league wins came against a solid Creighton team and a bad Seton Hall team.

Jayden Epps has taken a much-needed step up, and Thomas Sorber has been fantastic as a freshman to the tune of 15.2 PPG. Micah Peavy has been a welcome addition.

Is Georgetown ready to take a step in year two of Ed Cooley at the helm? Maybe.

Maryland

It’s a somewhat similar story for Maryland. The Terrapins are off to a 10-2 start with its losses coming to Marquette and Purdue.

It is 1-1 in the Big Ten so far, with the win coming against Ohio State. It does have a win against Syracuse, but seven of its 10 wins have come against sub-200 teams.

However, these wins have the Terps all the way up to No. 11 in KenPom. Much-hyped freshman Deriq Queen has been as advertised, and Ja’Kobi Gillespie has played a big role.

Maryland missed the tournament last season, but has a shot at making its return this season.

Cincinnati

How about Wes Miller’s Cincinnati Bearcats?

Cincinnati is 10-1 on the season and has wins against Georgia Tech, Xavier and Dayton. The Dayton win last Friday was a huge one, since the Flyers are having a very, very good season.

Through its winning the Bearcats have quietly climbed up to No. 17 in the AP poll. It ranked as high as No. 14 in the nation a few weeks ago, the program’s highest ranking since the 2017-18 season.

Simas Lukosius has been the guy for the Bearcats. Jizzle James has taken a step up as a sophomore, and Dillon Mitchell has been a great add.

After back-to-back 22+ win seasons and trips to the NIT, it certainly seems like Cincinnati is taking the next step up in year three of Miller’s tenure.

By Aidan Joly

The SEC putting itself head and shoulders above the rest of the leagues in the country, buzzer beaters and the back-to-back defending champions exorcising some demons from last month highlighted what was the best Saturday of college hoops we have seen in a long, long time.

Let’s get into everything that happened around the country on Saturday.

The SEC is ridiculous

The SEC is the best league in the country and it is not close. We already knew it, but the weekend reinforced it.

The league went 13-1 on Saturday and picked up another win on Sunday (albeit it was just Texas beating Arkansas-Pine Bluff), but the league is now head and shoulders above the rest.

Thanks to some research done at ESPN, the league is 144-20 to start the season, is 18-7 against AP top 25 teams – the best of any league ever – is 55-17 against major conference teams, including 42-6 against the ACC and Big 12, and as of Monday, all 16 of its teams are ranked within the top 68 in KenPom.

It certainly has a shot of breaking the record of 11 teams from the same league making the tournament. Right now, you can fairly confidently say that 12 are deserving. It will be one of the major storylines the rest of the season.

High profile games coming up this week for the league include Florida playing North Carolina in Charlotte and South Carolina hosting Clemson, both on Tuesday, Oklahoma playing Michigan in Charlotte on Wednesday and Mississippi State going to Memphis, Auburn playing Purdue in Birmingham, Kentucky playing Ohio State at MSG, all on Saturday, and Missouri hosting Illinois on Sunday.

Auburn is best team in the country

If you are the best league, it’s only fair that you have the best team. Auburn beat the brakes off of Ohio State on Saturday in Atlanta 91-53.

Johni Broome, perhaps the best player in the country went for 21 points and 20 rebounds, while tacking on six assists, while Denver Jones had 14 points and Jakhi Howard had 11 off the bench.

Now 9-1 with wins over Houston, Iowa State, North Carolina and Ohio State and a close loss against Duke, Auburn should be the clear best team in the country. It is No. 2 in the AP rankings on Monday, but as soon as Tennessee loses, the Tigers should be the top dog. It’s a shame we have to wait over a month to see these two play each other (Jan. 25).

Texas A&M gets a nice win

Texas A&M was another SEC team that picked up a very good win, beating Purdue 70-66 in Indianapolis.

The Aggies dominated the rebounding battle in this game, winning it 29-19. On offense it was Pharrel Payne who came up big, scoring 16 points off the bench on 6-6 from the field and grabbed nine rebounds along the way. Zhuric Phelps had 16 as well, while Wade Taylor IV had 15 points and five assists. Taylor is becoming one of the most fun guards to watch in the country.

Texas A&M is now 9-2 and just picked up its best win of the season so far, and also has wins over Ohio State, Creighton, Rutgers, Wake Forest and Texas Tech. It has two tune-up games before beginning conference play on Jan. 4.

Florida continues unbeaten run

Staying in the SEC, Florida is now 10-0 for the first time since the 2005-06 season after an 83-66 win against Arizona State in Atlanta.

Coming into the season it was expected that the Gators would be taking a next step under coach Todd Golden, but Florida has exceeded expectations thus far by a wide margin.

Walter Clayton has developed into one of the most talented guards in the country to the tune of 19.1 points per game, Alijah Martin has come into his own and has 15.2 PPG, while Alex Condon and Will Richard have also become weapons for the Gators.

It has both one of the best offenses and defenses in the country, allowing it to wear down opponents on both sides of the ball. It also plays up-tempo, fun basketball. It has a real chance to win a ton of league games and go deep into March.

It will play a very tough litmus test game on Tuesday against North Carolina, then a pair of tune-up games, then goes to Kentucky on Jan. 4.

Tennessee beats Illinois at the buzzer

The No. 1 team was seriously on the ropes against Illinois in Champaign, but Jordan Gainey went coast-to-coast in the final seconds and dropped the ball in as the buzzer sounded to give the Volunteers a 66-64 win.

It put a cap on Gainey’s career day, where he scored 23 points on 6-14 from the field and made a trio of threes. It was far and away his best game of the season. Chaz Lanier had 17 points, and Igor Milicic Jr. had a bad shooting night with seven points on an ugly 2-13 from the field and an even uglier 0-8 from three, but he made up for it by grabbing 14 rebounds.

This Tennessee team is 10-0 and could stay undefeated for a while. It has the number one KenPom defense in the country, led by Lanier, Gainey and Milicic Jr. as well as Zakai Zeigler. Felix Okpara has become a good defensive center as well.

The Vols will win their next three games before conference play begins. A huge matchup with Florida in Gainesville on Jan. 7 looms in the coming weeks.

Memphis looks strong

After a really bad loss to Arkansas State on Dec. 8, Memphis bounced back in a big way, going to Clemson and beating the Tigers in overtime 87-82.

Memphis is 8-2 with wins against Missouri, UConn, Michigan State and now Clemson, securing one of its best resumes at this point in the season since Penny Hardaway took over the program in 2018.

PJ Haggerty has become one of the most important additions in the country. He has averaged 21.9 points per game and has shot 39% from three and also averages 6.0 rebounds per contest. Tyrese Hunter, Colby Rogers and Dain Dainja have also done well to create a very formidable group.

Memphis is back in the AP rankings this week at No. 16.

The theme the past few years has been a collapse at some point during conference play. This year, confidence is growing that that will not happen.

It has three more opportunities to boost its resume before conference play begins on Jan. 2. It plays Virginia on the road on Wednesday, Mississippi State at home on Saturday, and Ole Miss at home on Dec. 28. Lots of chances here for the Tigers to really get something going heading into AAC play.

Rutgers stuns Seton Hall at the buzzer

After losing four of five between Nov. 24 and Dec. 7, a stretch that included a three-game losing streak it seems like Rutgers is back on track.

It beat Penn State on Dec. 10, and then stunned Seton Hall at the buzzer in the in-state rivalry on Saturday, with Dylan Harper playing hero in making the game-winner.

The much anticipated duo of Harper and Ace Bailey has been terrific, but as with all freshmen there have been some growing pains. Remember, this is a team that has four losses, one of them to Kennesaw State. What Rutgers needs is a third option to make itself truly clear, whether that be Jordan Derkack, Jeremiah Williams or Lathan Sommerville, it needs to be someone. We will see if it can happen heading into Big Ten play.

Rutgers will face Princeton and Columbia in its final two non-conference games.

Dayton’s huge win

How about those Dayton Flyers! Dayton picked up the program’s biggest win since the Maui Invitational in 2019, beating No. 6 Marquette at home 71-63.

Dayton is now 9-2 with wins over UConn, Northwestern and now Marquette, and Saturday’s win was enough to get it into the top 25 for the first time this season, debuting at No. 22 in the rankings.

The Flyers can hurt teams. Enoch Cheeks has been one of the best mid-major players in the country, while Nate Santos and Zed Key fit in very nicely. Malachi Smith has been great as well after only making one appearance all of last season.

The Flyers are clearly the best team in the Atlantic 10. With its resume, it helps the league a lot. The most important part here is that this win helps in that if Dayton needs an at-large bid should it not win the Atlantic 10 tournament, it certainly has a very, very good shot at one.

Dayton will host UNLV on Tuesday and then travel for what is all of the sudden a ranked matchup against Cincinnati (nice win for the Bearcats in the Crosstown Shootout, by the way) on Friday. After that, A10 play begins on New Year’s Eve.

UConn has officially exorcised Maui demons

I have wrote about this before in recent weeks, but it’s fair to say that UConn has officially gotten rid of the Maui demons.

It is 4-0 since the Maui debacle, three of those wins against very good teams, and capped it off with a 77-71 win against Gonzaga in New York City on Saturday.

Liam McNeeley had the best game of his collegiate career so far, scoring a game-high 26 points on 7-13 from the field while adding eight rebounds. Tarris Reed Jr. had 12 points and Jalin Stewart had 10, both off the bench.

There were rightfully a lot of concerns about UConn after it went 0-3 Thanksgiving week, but those concerns have now gone away. Its defense is still slightly shaky at times, but for the most part it has done well. McNeeley is really beginning to find his way after not playing a huge role at times.

The Huskies have now finished the conference slate. It will open league play on Wednesday against Xavier.

Syracuse’s struggles

Much is being made of Syracuse losing to Georgetown in Central New York for the first time since 2016, dropping Saturday’s game 75-71.

Syracuse is 5-5 on the season and does not have a high-major win. Its best win so far is against Cornell on Nov. 27.

The Orange really struggle to make shots and don’t play particularly good defense. Leading scorer JJ Starling has missed the past four games and Syracuse has lost three of them. Freshman Donnie Freeman has been inconsistent, Chris Bell has taken a step back, as has Eddie Lampkin.

Albeit Syracuse did struggle in its final years under Jim Boeheim, things have not gone particularly well in Adrian Autry’s second season with the program. It’s very tough to be the guy after the guy. Kyle Neptune has struggled at Villanova. Hubert Davis has not truly taken the leap at North Carolina. Ron Sanchez has Virginia at just 6-4.

Autry isn’t on the hot seat yet, but it could be something to begin to monitor a little bit.

By Aidan Joly

A big comeback quasi-road win for Kentucky, Marquette solidifying itself as the best team in the Big East right now, and the preseason No. 1 team continuing its slide highlighted this weekend across the college hoops world.

Let’s get into some of the big headlines from the weekend.

Kentucky’s comeback

Kentucky rallied after it trailed by as many as 18 points to pick up a 90-89 overtime win against Gonzaga in Seattle last Saturday night.

It was great resolve from the Wildcats. They out-scored Gonzaga by 16 in the second half and a bucket from Jaxson Robinson in the closing seconds sealed the win for Kentucky. Robinson had 18 points, while Andrew Carr led the Wildcats with 19. Gonzaga’s Graham Ike was the best player on the floor though, finishing with 28 points and 11 rebounds in the loss.

A lot of people had questions about what this Kentucky team would be. A first-year coach in Mark Pope and a roster made up entirely of new players raised eyebrows. But so far, Kentucky is 8-1 after the win, and also has a win against Duke.

So far, Pope is getting results. These Wildcats are legit.

Marquette solidifies itself

After losing to Iowa State on Wednesday Marquette got a really good bounce-back win, beating Wisconsin at home 88-74.

The game was never really in doubt in the second half. The Golden Eagles came out with a vengeance after the break, turning a three-point deficit into a double digit lead in less than 10 minutes thanks to several key plays from Kam Jones and David Joplin. Jones had the best game of his season, finishing with 32 points, while Joplin had 13.

Marquette is 9-1 with wins over Maryland, Purdue, Georgia and Wisconsin. Its only loss was the aforementioned road loss to Iowa State. With so much of the Big East struggling, the Golden Eagles are really showing to be the best team in that league right now.

It will go on the road to face Dayton on Saturday in its final non-conference game.

Kansas continues slide

Kansas took its second straight loss on Sunday, losing to unranked Missouri in Columbia 76-67.

It is the second straight loss for the Jayhawks, who have been No. 1 in the country since the season started. Its run at the top of the rankings will come to an end on Monday after Sunday’s loss and a loss to Creighton on Wednesday.

Watching both of those games, the Jayhawks did not look even remotely like the best team in the country. On Wednesday, it struggled to hit shots consistently. On Sunday, it was turning the ball over 22 times that did the Jayhawks in.

At the end of the day, Kansas will be fine. It has too much talent to truly falter. But you can’t deny that it had a tough week.

UConn continues to get back on track

Much was made of UConn going 0-3 in the Maui Invitational, and for good reason. The Huskies were the favorite to win it, and they failed to win a single game.

This week it got back on track, beating Baylor on Wednesday night and then going to Austin and beating Texas 76-65 on Sunday.

Both are solid wins that will give the back-to-back national champions their confidence back. On Sunday it was Alex Karaban, who scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the win. Solo Ball had 16, while Tarris Reed had 12 off the bench as he becomes one of the more valuable bench players in the country.

It is one last big non-conference game for the Huskies before Big East play begins, a showdown with Gonzaga on Saturday in New York City.

St. John’s gets much-needed win

The Johnnies got a much-needed win both on the court wise as well as emotionally, beating Kansas State 88-71 in Queens in the program’s first game since the passing of legendary head coach Lou Carnesecca.

In a very cool gesture, current coach Rick Pitino wore a custom-made replica sweater in Carnesecca’s honor, getting a standing ovation from Red Storm fans before the game as he revealed it.

It was a good win for the Red Storm resume-wise too. It is now 2-2 against power conference teams, with the other win being a neutral site win against Virginia. It has losses to Baylor and Georgia, so it needed to beat a team with the talent Kansas State does.

At 7-2, St. John’s should be going into conference play on a three-game winning streak after going 1-2 in the Bahamas.

Concerning Memphis loss

Memphis took a very concerning loss on Sunday, losing to Arkansas State 85-72.

It came after only beating Louisiana Tech by 10 on Wednesday. That being said, it is a not good two-game stretch for the Tigers. It comes after it went 2-1 in Maui, a good week for sure.

It should noted that Arkansas State is one of the best mid-major teams out there and is the clear favorite to win the Sun Belt, but that is not the type of game Memphis should be losing. With how things go at Memphis sometimes, the hope needs to be that this week doesn’t lead to a spiral.

The Tigers will be idle until Saturday, when they play Clemson on the road.

Washington blown out by USC and another west coast Big Ten upset

Two interesting west coast Big Ten results over the weekend. Washington was blown out by USC on Saturday, losing 85-61 at home.

Things are off to a tough start in Danny Sprinkle’s first season at the helm. The Huskies are 6-3 and does not have a power conference win (although it did beat Colorado State), and also lost to Nevada.

There are growing pains happening right now in Seattle. Maybe, this will be a loss that wakes them up a little bit.

Elsewhere in the west coast faction of the Big Ten, UCLA pulled off an upset of Oregon on Sunday on a last-second shot from Dylan Andrews to earn a 73-71 win and hand the Ducks their first loss of the season. UCLA is off to a 8-1 start and has won its first two Big Ten games.

Rhode Island wins again

Rhode Island continues its great start, beating in-state rival Providence on Saturday 69-63 to win the annual matchup between the two schools for the first time since 2019.

The Rams are 9-0 and just got the program’s biggest win since Archie Miller took over the program last year. This team feels similar to Miller’s old teams at Dayton. He had a ton of success there before not doing well at Indiana.

Miller surely feels at home coaching in the Atlantic 10. I had expressed some doubts about the Rams since they had not played many good teams, but this is a convincing win. It feels like Rhode Island can do some real damage in the Atlantic 10.

By Aidan Joly

As of Thursday, there are nine undefeated teams remaining in college basketball. They range from some of the top teams in the nation, such as Tennessee, Oregon and Florida, some mid-major surprises, such as Rhode Island, and one of the top small teams on the west coast in UC Irvine.

What has been going right for each of these teams? But, when is the next time each will lose? After all, the sport hasn’t seen an undefeated regular season team since Gonzaga in 2020-21, and the most recent in a non-COVID season was Kentucky nearly a decade ago in 2014-15.

Let’s get into it.

Tennessee

The Volunteers are 8-0 on Thursday and are currently ranked No. 3 in the country behind Kansas and Auburn.

However, with both of those teams taking losses on Wednesday night, the Vols are in prime position to be the No. 1 team in the country for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

North Florida transfer Chaz Lanier has quickly blossomed to be one of the most important players in the nation, leading the team with 18.8 points per game and has showed no signs of being intimidated by the jump from the Atlantic Sun to the SEC. Igor Milicic Jr. has been great as well, while point guard Zakai Ziegler is one of the most sure-handed ball-handlers in the country.

The most impressive win was a 15-point win over Baylor on Nov. 22, and it also has wins over Louisville, Virginia and Syracuse. Its next game is against Miami on Dec. 10.

Predicting its first loss, let’s go with Dec. 14, when the Vols will travel to Champagne to face Illinois. But if they are able to win that one, you are realistically looking into SEC play before the Vols take a loss.

Oregon

Oregon was not ranked last week, but has jumped all the way up to the No. 12 spot in the country after winning the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, capping it off with a last-second win against Alabama on Saturday night.

The Ducks are 9-0 on the season. They have the aforementioned Alabama win, but also have wins over Texas A&M, San Diego State and opened Big Ten play with a win against USC on Wednesday night.

Oregon has five players: Nate Bittle, TJ Bamba, Jackson Shelstad, Keeshawn Barthelemy and Brandon Angel, averaging at least 9.9 points per game. However, nobody averages more than 13.6 per game. Bittle has been a fantastic big man, while Bamba has been one of the more underrated portal additions after coming to Oregon from Villanova.

Oregon will go on the road to face UCLA on Sunday. However, I am going to go with a game against Illinois again, who the Ducks will host on Jan. 2. It has a chance to get a ton of wins. It does not play at Purdue nor Indiana.

Florida

Coming into the season, many saw the Gators as a sleeper Final Four team.

So far, the Gators look the part. This squad is off to a 9-0 start and ranks No. 13 in the country this week. It has a win against in-state rival Florida State, as well as wins over Wake Forest, Wichita State and Virginia.

Todd Golden’s team has one of the best offenses in the country. It ranks fourth in the country in KenPom offensive efficiency and is 16th in the nation with 86.6 points per game as a team.

Walter Clayton has had a very good season for the Gators, averaging 18.4 points per game, while Florida Atlantic transfer Alijah Martin has 15.2 points per game. It makes for a terrific one-two punch that will be one of the best in the SEC moving forward.

Looking at the schedule, a neutral site game against North Carolina in Charlotte on Dec. 17 stands out as a first potential loss. If the Gators are able to get past that, you are looking at a road game against Kentucky on Jan. 4 as the potential first loss of the year.

Oklahoma

Porter Moser’s team has gotten off to an 8-0 start. It has done it on a consistent offense that ranks No. 43 in the country in KenPom, and a solid defense that ranks No. 41 in the country.

The Sooners won the Battle 4 Atlantis the week of Thanksgiving, beating Providence, Arizona and Louisville to get there. The win against Arizona is the most impressive of that trio. It also has a home win against Georgia Tech. Other than that, it has played four buy games against teams outside of the KenPom top 250 (three of them outside the top 330).

Jalon Moore has led this team with 18.0 PPG, while Jeremiah Fears has 17.0 PPG. Kobe Elvis and Duke Miles have also been solid scoring options.

The Sooners play a neutral site game against in-state rival Oklahoma State on Saturday, but the next game, a neutral site game against Michigan on Dec. 18, feels like it will be the first loss of the year.

Utah State

It has been a great start to Jerrod Calhoun’s first season with Utah State. The Aggies are 8-0 on the year, a mark that includes wins against Iowa, St. Bonaventure and North Texas, albeit all on a neutral floor.

The program has produced great head coaches. Craig Smith, Ryan Odom and Danny Sprinkle have all gotten new jobs following three seasons or less of coaching in Logan.

For Calhoun, who came from Youngstown State, it has been a solid offense that ranks 47th in the country, as well as being one of the best rebounding teams in the nation. Karson Templin leads that charge with 6.4 rebounds per game.

On offense, it is led by Ian Martinez, who averages 19.1 points per game, while Mason Falslev averages 17.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.

It plays three games over the next two weeks, but a true road game against Saint Mary’s on Dec. 22 looms. I’m predicting that as the first loss for the Aggies.

UC Irvine

How about Russell Turner’s Anteaters squad, which is off to an 8-0 start and is a top-60 team in KenPom on Thursday.

It has yet to play a top-100 team in KenPom, but its most impressive wins are a road win against Northern Iowa and a neutral site win against Kent State. It also has a win against Kennesaw State.

UC Irvine does it with defense. The Anteaters rank seventh in the country in that category, while limiting opponents to just a 42.1% effective field goal percentage, which ranks 11th in the nation. It also limits offensive rebounds to second in the nation.

Bent Leuchten and Devin Tillis are two of the best defenders in the country and both are the keys on offense. Leuchten leads the team with 15.4 points per game, while Tillis has 15.0 PPG.

A tough game against Oregon State on Saturday looms. This is a team that will win a ton of games in the Big West, and don’t be surprised to see UC Irvine making real noise in March.

Loyola Chicago

Loyola Chicago is 7-0 this season, but it really has not played anyone. The Ramblers have only played one game away from home, but that was a nice true road game win against Princeton on Nov. 15. The Tigers are one of the best mid-majors in the country and that went down as a Quad 2 win.

Drew Valentine’s team is better on defense (61st) than it is on offense (100th). Miles Rubin is a good defender, and Francis Nwaokorie is a good player in the frontcourt in limited minutes.

On offense, Jayden Dawson has been solid with 13.7 points per game, while Des Watson has 11.9 PPG.

It plays one more tough non-conference game, facing San Francisco on a neutral floor on Sunday. If it does win that, you are looking at its conference opener on Jan. 4 against VCU.

Drake

Things have gone very well in Ben McCollum’s first season at the helm. The Bulldogs are off to a 7-0 start.

It impressed by winning the Charleston Classic before Thanksgiving, beating Miami, Florida Atlantic (a game that I attended) and Vanderbilt on the way there.

It is a very good rebounding team, and a team that has several pieces that can do damage. Bennett Stirtz (17.7 PPG), Daniel Abreu (15.1 PPG), Mitch Mascari (14.1 PPG) and Cam Manyawu (9.3 PPG) are all good players. This is a team chalk-full of veteran players that know their roles and it shows. It is very well-coached.

It has a couple easy games coming up, but then plays Kansas State in what is technically a neutral site game – the game is in Kansas City – on Dec. 17. Drake will certainly have a shot to win that game, but I’m predicting that for the first loss.

Drake and Bradley will be the top dogs in the Missouri Valley this year. It will be fun to watch.

Rhode Island

A second team from the Atlantic 10, Rhode Island is in a similar position that Loyola Chicago is in in that it has not really played anyone. Its best win is a home win against Yale, a good team, but not a team ranked in the KenPom top 100.

Archie Miller, in his second season with the Rams, has a team that plays quick and does a good job of pushing the pace. On offense it is led by David Green, who is averaging 17.1 points per game. Sebastian Thomas has 16.4 points per game and also dishes out 7.7 assists per night.

It has a really interesting chance coming up as it hosts Providence on Saturday in the annual rivalry matchup. I’ll predict that as the first loss. Providence got Bryce Hopkins back this week and looked much better in a win against BYU on Tuesday.

If not, the Rams can go on a little run. A tough game comes on the road against Loyola Chicago on Jan. 15. Before that, it sees Temple on a neutral floor on Dec. 21.