AJ Hoops

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.

By Aidan Joly

We are officially in the back half of Feast Week. The Maui Invitational wraps up early Thursday morning and the Battle 4 Atlantis began on Wednesday. The Fort Myers Tip-Off came to a close on Wednesday night.

Here are some thoughts on things that have happened throughout the week so far.

Auburn arrives as national title contender

Auburn won the Maui Invitational for the first time in program history, winning games against Iowa State, North Carolina and Memphis en route to doing so.

By winning Maui, the Tigers have solidified themselves as a true national title contender. The opening game against Iowa State was a two-point win, but neither of the other two games were ever truly in doubt. The 90-76 win against Memphis in the title game wasn’t even that close.

Johni Broome officially arrived as possibly the best player in the country. He averaged 21.6 points and 15 rebounds across the three games, the best performance we have seen in Maui in a long time. In Auburn’s 7-0 start, he is averaging 20.7 points and 12.3 rebounds per contest.

On top of that, Chad Baker-Mazara and Dylan Cardwell have proven themselves as great sidekicks, while other role guys such as Miles Kelly, Denver Jones and Tahaad Pettiford have proven themselves.

This is a team that can win a national title. Period.

Memphis’ very solid week

Despite losing in the Maui title game, Memphis raised a lot of eyebrows this week. It out-lasted UConn in an overtime game on Monday, beating the two-time defending national champions 99-97 before beating Michigan State 71-63 on Tuesday.

This feels like a team that a lot of us underestimated coming into the season, especially so after coach Penny Hardaway replaced his entire staff in September.

On the court, the backcourt of PJ Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter has quickly become one of the best guard combinations in the country. Colby Rogers has been better than expected, and Dain Dainja has been very productive as a forward for Memphis.

Memphis, who is now 6-1, should enter the AP rankings on Monday. It will certainly deserve it.

UConn’s tough stretch

Staying in Maui, UConn has yet to play its third game there as of writing, but figures to win the seventh-place game considering it plays the weakest team in the tournament in Dayton.

However, it’s a stunner that the Huskies are there in the first place. It lost to Memphis and Colorado by a combined three points on Monday and Tuesday. It is the first time UConn has lost back-to-back non-conference games since late 2017, when Kevin Ollie was still the head coach and the program was in the American Athletic.

Dan Hurley has gotten some negative attention in the past few days due to his sideline antics, something that earned him a technical foul during the overtime period in the Memphis game.

Foul troubles haunted the Huskies in both games and they have paid the price for it. Solo Ball, Samson Johnson and Tarris Reed fouled out against Memphis, while Liam McNeeley and Aidan Mahaney had four. Johnson and Reed fouled out again against Colorado.

The Huskies need to clean it up against Dayton. It’s a get-right game for sure.

Kansas wins while losing Dickinson

Elsewhere, Kansas picked up a gritty win, beating Duke 75-72 in Las Vegas on Tuesday night.

It played the final 10:26 of the game without its best player in Hunter Dickinson, who was ejected from the game on a Flagrant 2 for kicking Maliq Brown in the face while the two were tied up on the floor.

The Jayhawks had several different players combine to replace his production. Dajuan Harris, Zeke Mayo, Rylen Griffen and Flory Bidunga all came up with big baskets in the final moments of the game. Griffen stole the ball from Duke’s Kon Knueppel in the final seconds to secure the victory. Knueppel missed a potential game-tying shot at the buzzer.

Duke threw Cooper Flagg into the fire late again, and Kansas flustered him all game. He turned the ball over four times but did finish with 13 points on 5-9 from the field.

The Jayhawks should remain No. 1 in the nation on Monday.

Signature win for West Virginia

West Virginia and first year coach Darian DeVries picked up an early signature win on Wednesday, beating Gonzaga 86-78 in overtime in its first game in the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Wednesday’s win was the biggest win for the program in a long time and definitely the biggest in the post-Bob Huggins era.

Javon Small was the best player on the floor in the game, scoring 31 points on 9-18 from the field while making a trio of three-pointers. Amani Hansberry and Tucker DeVries both played great for the Mountaineers as well.

West Virginia will have plenty of chances to grab great wins in Big 12 play, but getting one as big as this in non-conference play certainly does not hurt.

Arizona bounces back after a few losses

Arizona went into its first game in the Battle 4 Atlantis coming off back-to-back losses to Wisconsin and Duke, and especially did not look great in the loss to Duke in Tucson.

The Wildcats did it in a big way on Wednesday night with a 104-71 beatdown of Davidson. Granted, Davidson is easily the weakest team in the tournament, but Arizona took care of business the exact way it needed to and looked great doing it.

After not scoring in just four minutes against Duke, Anthony Dell’Orso was great for Arizona, scoring a game-high 21 points in 18 minutes on 8-11 shooting, and did it all while coming off the bench. Caleb Love had 20 points on 7-13 from the field after only scoring 14 combined points in the two losses and going a combined 5-26 from the field. He bounced back well.

Arizona will play Oklahoma on Thursday in the semifinals, another great chance for it to pick up a win against a quality team. The Sooners are undefeated and beat Providence in the first round.

Indiana gets blown out, Mike Woodson’s seat gets warmer

Staying in the Bahamas, Indiana got the doors blown off by Louisville in the first game of the day 89-61.

I personally missed this game while doing Thanksgiving travel but by all accounts it was as bad as the stats show. The Hoosiers shot just 33.3% for the game and from what social media says, looked wildly uninterested throughout the day.

I had praised Indiana after its 3-0 start and a win over South Carolina on Nov. 16, but the Hoosiers came crashing down on Wednesday. It will lead to more speculation about the job status of coach Mike Woodson, who was already on somewhat thin ice coming into the season.

We will see how it does the rest of the week, with less than two weeks until the first game of Big Ten play.

By Aidan Joly

The second day of the Charleston Classic is in the books. It featured 10 hours of action, with lots to think about at the end of the day.

Here are my eight takeaways from the eight teams from Friday’s games.

Drake as a case study

Drake won for the second straight day on Friday with a 75-63 win against Florida Atlantic in the first game of the day that doubled as a semifinal game.

The Bulldogs are an interesting case study when it comes to Division II talent moving up to the Division I level. Four of the Bulldogs’ five starters – Isaiah Jackson, Bennett Stirtz, Mitch Mascari and Daniel Abreu – followed first-year coach Ben McCollum from Division II Northwest Missouri State in the off-season.

It is those guys who are the main contributors to the team. Stirtz (19.3 PPG), Abreu (17.8 PPG) and Mascari (11.8 PPG) are the top three scorers on this team as Drake gets off to a 5-0 start. In the win on Friday Abreu was limited to only five points, but Mascari led the game with 22 and Stirtz had 17. Jackson had nine points and 10 rebounds.

The aforementioned 5-0 start now includes wins against FAU and Miami. It’s a small sample size so far, but it goes to show that talent is talent and can translate to all levels.

Florida Atlantic is too fast for their own good

On the losing end of the first game of the day was FAU. There are definitely some things to like about this team. I was impressed with Matas Vokietaitis, who finished with 10 points on 5-7 from the field. It’s a guy who knows his role and does it well. The seven-footer was the largest player on the floor by far and the Owls played well when he was on the floor.

However, the guard play leaves something to be desired. The team almost plays too fast for its own good. Many plays looked discombobulated and the Owls turned the ball over 15 times. It’s surprising result due to the Owls ranking 20th in the nation in tempo and 14th in average possession length in KenPom.

It shot 5-16 from three, which is not bad, but not great.

FAU is now 4-3 on the season, but has some things to work on.

Oklahoma State has talent, needs to complete games

Oklahoma State beat Miami in the second game of the day 80-74. This was a game that Oklahoma State led by 16 at the half and looked like it could run away, but let Miami get back into the game in the second half and make it semi-interesting down the stretch.

It’s safe to say the Cowboys didn’t play a full 40 minutes in the game. Miami scored 31 points in the last 10 minutes of the game. If it did, this probably would have been a double digit win.

Steve Lutz’s team has some interesting pieces who have talent on paper. Bryce Thompson had 17 points in the win and Marchelus Avery had 15 off the bench. It also has pieces with plenty of experience, including Devo Davis, Abou Ousmane and Khalil Brantley.

It remains to be seen how it will compete in a stacked Big 12, but it has pieces to be competitive.

Concerns with Miami

Sure, Miami turned it around in the second half, but spent most of its game on Thursday against Drake and the first half of Friday’s game looking tired and uninterested.

It recovered nicely in the second half, but it dug itself too big of a hole. Miami is now staring down the barrel of 0-3 in this tournament, which would drop the Hurricanes to 3-3 overall. It plays VCU on Sunday.

The offensive statistics look good due to its first three games against Fairleigh Dickinson, Binghamton and Coppin State, but has only played one good half in four halves of basketball against more talented teams. It is certainly concerning.

Tyler Nickel may have found a home at Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt’s Tyler Nickel may have had the best performance of the entire day, finishing with 24 points on 8-16 from the field that included 6-13 from three as the Commodores blew out Seton Hall 76-6o in the other semifinal game.

Nickel began his career at North Carolina and played sparingly as a freshman and was not much more of a role player at Virginia Tech last year. Now, he has scored in the double digits four times in Vanderbilt’s six games and Friday’s 24 matched a career high.

Has he found a home where he can be a guy? Seems like it so far.

By the way, how about Mark Byington, who has Vanderbilt to 6-0 and will play in the title game on Sunday. The Commodores have wins against Seton Hall, Nevada and California in the 6-0 start. It is the first time Vandy has had that record since the 2007-08 season. Byington has a real chance to get this program back on track.

Seton Hall can’t win on physicality alone

It has been a tough start to the season for Seton Hall, who is now 3-3 after Friday’s loss. Before the tournament, it took losses to Hofstra and Fordham.

Much has been made about the physicality of this team, but it can’t win on its physicality alone.

The offense is not good. It has only scored 60+ points twice in six games this season, its season high being 69 in Thursday’s overtime win against VCU. It was gifted five points in the first half on Friday on an early technical foul committed by Vanderbilt’s Jaylen Carry, and three more on a mind-boggling foul committed by Vandy’s AJ Hoggard 65 feet away from the basket as the first half buzzer sounded. The offense ranks 278th in the country per KenPom.

Vanderbilt did a good job of matching the physicality and scored 76 points on a very good Pirate defense.

Seton Hall needs to find something on offense. Is it going to Isaiah Coleman? He had 20 points on 8-15 from the field. Nonetheless, the offense needs to get going.

Nevada has clutch shooters

The best game of the day ended up being saved for last, with Kobe Sanders banging in a three with five seconds left to give Nevada a 64-61 win against VCU in the nightcap.

It was a game of resolve for the Wolf Pack. VCU took the lead with 10:34 remaining in the first half and Nevada did not lead again until seven minutes left in the game, trailing by as many as 15 in the early parts of the second half.

Multiple guys on Nevada came up with big shots, including Sanders, Tre Coleman, who hit a three to tie the game with 54 seconds left, and Xavier DuSell, who ended up becoming a key cog in the win after early foul trouble. Nick Davidson had 11 points in the second half after just two in the first.

A big key was taking care of the ball. Nevada turned the ball over 10 times in the first half and then only once in the second half, a massive improvement.

This is a team that could have given up. It did not and it got a win for its efforts.

VCU’s defense was stifling, but faltered at the end

It is undeniable that VCU has one of the best defenses in the country. It ranked eighth in the country coming into the game and despite the loss only dropped to 12th.

It’s been two gut-wrenching losses for VCU in this tournament so far. It led most of the way against Seton Hall on Thursday before losing in overtime, and now it blew a 15-point lead and lost in the final seconds.

The defense stifled Nevada in the first half. The Wolf Pack scored just 23 points in the first half and really struggled, but things definitely changed in the second half.

VCU, who now probably needs to win the Atlantic 10 to make the NCAA tournament, will try to salvage a seventh-place finish in Charleston against Miami on Sunday.

By Aidan Joly

We are just over two weeks into the college basketball season and teams have played a few games and we are learning about who some of these teams are.

On Monday, I went through each of the power leagues (plus a couple more notables) to find who was the biggest riser in KenPom in each league.

Eight teams have jumped significantly since the start of the season. What has gone right for each of these teams that has contributed to their rise?

SEC: Kentucky

Start of season: 43

Now: 22

We didn’t really know what to make of the Wildcats heading into the season. It was a new head coach in Mark Pope who brought in an entirely new roster. Talent was there on paper, but we weren’t sure how it would translate on the court.

So far, it has gone swimmingly. The Wildcats are 3-0 (and beating Lipscomb as this is written). Kentucky scored 100+ points in each of its buy games, and passed its first notable game with a comeback 77-72 win against Duke in the Champions Classic.

It has been a quick, efficient offense, which has been the recipe for success so far this year. San Diego State transfer Lamont Butler has been a fantastic facilitator for the Wildcats, even when he is not the main scoring guard.

That is going to Otega Oweh and Koby Brea, who are both averaging 15.3 points per game right now.

Depth has also been key, with 10 guys playing consistent minutes every night.

Big 12: Utah

Start of season: 82

Now: 54

The Utes have had a fast rise. It is 3-1 on the season, albeit it has lost its only game against a power conference opponent at a neutral site against Mississippi State.

Utah has been one of the smartest shooting teams in the country, ranking 13th in the nation in KenPom effective field goal percentage. As a result, it is currently averaging 91.8 points per game, making it a top-20 team in the nation in that category.

Gabe Madsen leads this squad, averaging 21.3 points per game and shoots 48.3% from the field, a mark that includes 40% from three. Mason Madsen is shooting an absurd 55.2% from three as well. San Francisco transfer Mike Sharavjamts is shooting 44.4% from three.

A Craig Smith team will always play smart, and this Utah team does. The Utes should continue to take a step up as the year goes on.

Big Ten: Penn State

Start of season: 61

Now: 32

The Nittany Lions seem to be ready to take a step up in year two under Mike Rhoades.

Penn State is 4-0 on the young season and played very well in its first game against a power conference opponent, beating Virginia Tech 86-64 on a neutral floor last Friday.

It’s a similar recipe for success as Utah. Penn State takes smart shots, plays quick, and makes those shots. It is the third-fastest team in the country with an average possession length of 14.6 seconds, and is a top-25 team in the country in effective field goal percentage. On defense, it is one of the best teams in the nation at forcing turnovers.

Zach Hicks is great and leads the team with 15.5 points per game, but Ace Baldwin remains one of the best pass-first guards in the country and is one of 17 players in the country who averaging seven or more assists per game.

The Big Ten is a very deep league, one of the deepest in the country, but Penn State should be very competitive.

Big East: DePaul

Start of season: 163

Now: 112

How about the Blue Demons? DePaul was the worst power conference team in the nation last year, finishing 3-29 and failing to win a Big East game.

Under new head coach Chris Holtmann, DePaul has already surpassed its win total from last season. It got a little interesting in its first game of the season when Southern Indiana took them to overtime, but the Blue Demons have played better since then. Its best win so far is an 84-58 win against Duquesne, a program that was in the NCAA tournament last season.

A common theme developing, DePaul takes effective shots. It ranks 17th in the nation in effective field goal percentage. It has also defended the three-point line with the best in the nation. It only lets up 23.7% of three-point attempts, good for 12th in the country.

On an entirely new team of transfers, UIC transfer Isaiah Rivera and Coastal Carolina transfer Jacob Meyer have been the best of the group.

It will still be tough sledding for DePaul in the Big East. It still lags far behind many teams in the league. But it won’t be remotely close to the struggles of last season.

ACC: Stanford

Start of season: 99

Now: 66

Pitt is a team that has moved up 21 spots from the beginning of the season and is making themselves the third good team in the ACC, but Stanford has moved up more.

In the program’s first season in the ACC the Cardinal have yet to play a high-major opponent, but have played well in a 4-0 start. It has only played one opponent (UC Davis) that is ranked in the top 250 in KenPom.

Kyle Smith’s team does a very good job at slowing teams down and it has been effective so far. It has not allowed more than 65 points in any of their four games so far.

Maxime Raynaud is the best player on this team, averaging 21.3 points per game on 49.2% shooting, while Jaylen Blakes averages 15.0 PPG.

In what is a down ACC that doesn’t have a ton of true contending teams, if the Cardinal continue to play this way they will end up doing better than many expected.

Mountain West: Nevada

Start of season: 73

Now: 39

The Wolf Pack are 4-0 and have a high-major win against Washington, plus a win against a WCC team in Santa Clara.

Nevada has scored 85+ points in three of its four games so far this season, including in the Santa Clara win.

Nevada is also a great shooting team. It is second in the nation in three-point percentage, making 48.6% of its attempts from beyond the arc. Nick Davidson has been absurd so far this season and has made nine of his 11 attempts from three. If you’re keeping track at home, that is an 81.5% clip. He leads the team with 18.0 PPG.

Meanwhile, Kobe Sanders is averaging 16.8 PPG and has made six of his 10 attempts so far. Xavier DuSell takes the most on this team and still makes them at a 45.5% clip.

Nevada ranks 16th in the nation in effective field goal percentage.

Overall, this is a team that has showed some serious chops so far. It can certainly compete in a very good Mountain West.

Atlantic 10: La Salle

Start of season: 169

Now: 119

The Explorers have enjoyed not only the largest jump in the Atlantic 10, but its 50 spots represents one of the largest jumps in the country since the beginning of the season.

La Salle is 4-0 on the season, including nice wins against Ivy League power Cornell and crosstown rival Drexel.

Overall, Fran Dunphy’s team hasn’t really done anything truly special and there’s nothing eye-popping on its KenPom report card. It has just been able to take care of business when some other Atlantic 10 teams have struggled to do so.

Rider transfer Corey McKeithan has been a revelation, leading the team with 18.0 PPG. Jahlil White, who came over from another Philadelphia team in Temple, has 14.0 PPG.

It still ranks in the middle of the pack in the Atlantic 10, but for a team that hasn’t played .500 ball in the league since 2016-17 and has not gone above .500 since 2012-13, that’s a welcome improvement.

American: Tulane

Start of season: 191

Now: 159

Tulane is 3-1 and does not have a win against a top-325 KenPom team, and lost to Furman, but the Green Wave have not done anything poorly.

It is a top-40 three-point shooting team in the nation behind the likes of junior Kaleb Banks, freshman Mari Jordan and sophomore Rowan Brumbaugh, who are making them at clips of 57.9%, 53.8% and 43.5% respectively. All are averaging more than 10.5 points per game, led by Banks’ 16.0 PPG.

It also defends from inside the arc well, allowing only 37.8% of attempts from inside the arc going in. That is good for eighth in the nation. It is also 24th in the country in opponent effective field goal percentage.

Ron Hunter has a reputation as a good “bad job” coach. Tulane fits that bill, having not made the tournament since 1995. He has had two seasons of at least 10 league wins in the last three years. Tulane will certainly hope he can get back to success.

By Aidan Joly

What felt like the first big wire-to-wire weekend of college basketball is in the books as we wrap up the second week of the season.

The weekend was highlighted by some great wins from a pair of Big Ten teams and other squads maybe beginning to separate themselves from some others.

Let’s get into what happened over the weekend.

Trey Kaufman-Renn’s arrival highlights Purdue’s win against Alabama

We had wondered a little bit about who would be the go-to guy at Purdue following Zach Edey’s depature.

Wonder no longer.

It was sophomore Trey Kaufman-Renn, who averaged 6.5 points per game last season for the Boilermakers, filling up the stat sheet. He scored 26 points on 12-23 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds as Purdue took down No. 2 Alabama at Mackey Arena 87-78.

Kaufman-Renn was the best player on the floor for all 40 minutes, making himself seen on every play he was on the court. The other guys who needed to step up this year did just that, with Fletcher Loyer scoring 17 points on 5-9 from the field (3-5 from three) and Braden Smith scoring 17 points and dishing out 10 assists. C.J. Cox had 11 off the bench.

Kaufman-Renn has scored at least 14 points in each of Purdue’s first four games of the season. If he is the go-to guy and he continues to put up performances like that, the Boilermakers will be just fine. The Boilermakers moved up seven spots into No. 6 in the nation on Monday.

Wisconsin’s signature win

Wisconsin picked up an absolutely massive early-season win, beating No. 9 Arizona 103-88 in Madison Friday night.

The Badgers had a points output that it has not had in decades. It was just the third time in the KenPom era (since 1996-97) that Wisconsin scored 100 or more points and the first time it was against a power conference opponent (it scored 105 in the season opener last year against Arkansas State and 101 against Savannah State on Dec. 13, 2018).

John Tonje put up maybe the best performance of the night anywhere in the country, scoring 41 points in the win. John Blackwell had 14 and Max Klesmit had 13.

It’s rare that what we consider a signature win happens this early in the year, but that is certainly what it seems like it will be for Wisconsin. The Badgers moved into the top 25 for the first time this year on Monday, debuting at No. 19.

Pittsburgh has case for ACC’s third team

Pittsburgh put on a dominant performance on Friday night, clobbering West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl 86-62.

Damian Dunn was the best player on the floor for the Panthers, finishing the night with 23 points on 7-12 from the field. Ishmael Leggett had 15 points, Cameron Corhen had 14 and Guillermo Diaz Graham had 10.

Pitt is off to a 4-0 start to the season and all of those wins have come by at least 15 points. West Virginia was the first real opponent it faced (Radford, Murray State, Gardner-Webb), but the performances have been impressive nonetheless.

In the ACC we have been kind of looking for that third team to separate themselves from the rest of the league outside of Duke and North Carolina. Clemson and Miami remain the other two top candidates, but it certainly looks like Pitt could be the pick here.

Concerns about Wake Forest

Things were looking up for Wake Forest at the start of the year. It just missed the NCAA tournament last year, but had lots of talent on the roster this year.

The Demon Deacons have not looked great so far this season. It struggled mightily in a 75-60 loss to Xavier on Saturday.

That is the second straight game in which Wake did not play well. It had to sweat out a five-point win against USC Upstate on Wednesday, but that did come after a nice win against Michigan last weekend.

Its offense has not been anything special. Thankfully, it still can reside in the middle of the pack in the ACC, although that may not be good enough to feel safe about being in the NCAA tournament.

Indiana looks to be better than expected

Many were concerned about Indiana heading into the season, with a bad campaign possibly marking the end of Mike Woodson’s run in Bloomington.

So far the Hoosiers have probably performed better than expected, most recently in a convincing 87-71 win against South Carolina on Saturday to get off to a 3-0 start.

Myles Rice was great in the win, scoring 23 points on 7-10 from the field, while Mackenzie Mgbako had 17 points, Malik Reneau had 13 points and Kanaan Carlyle had 12.

There is a lot of talent on the roster on Indiana, on paper. So far it has gelled well and the Hoosiers have improved their position on KenPom 10 spots since the beginning of the season. It stayed at No. 16 in the country in this week’s rankings.

Rick wins the Pitino vs. Pitino battle

Dad won the family affair on Sunday, with Rick Pitino’s St. John’s beating Richard Pitino’s New Mexico 85-71 at Madison Square Garden.

The Johnnies survived their first real test of the season, with all five starters finishing in double figures, led by 21 points on 8-18 shooting and 11 rebounds from RJ Luis Jr. Deivon Smith had 15 points on 7-13 from the field.

And it came with a nice laugh at the end, with some St. John’s fans serenating the younger Pitino with chants of “who’s your daddy?”

Rick Pitino has now won three of the four matchups against his son.

A new star at Saint Mary’s

Saint Mary’s is off to a 4-0 start to the season following a 77-74 neutral site win against Nebraska on Sunday.

A big part of the hot start? Paulius Murauskus, who scored 16 points in the win. He has scored at least 14 points in all of the Gaels’ four wins this season, with a high of 23 in an 86-74 win against Chattanooga.

Saint Mary’s now has four players – Murauskus, Mikey Lewis, Augustus Marciulionis and Luke Barrett – averaging at least 12 points per game through the first four. Murauskus is the leader of that group with 17.5 per game.

It will be interesting to see how he does the rest of the year, but he looks to be owning the part so far.

By Aidan Joly

It is not every year that the first weekend of the college basketball season gives us three games that were of the quality of the second weekend of the tournament, but that’s what happened.

Games between Kansas and North Carolina, Baylor and Arkansas, and Auburn and Houston all were thrillers that featured some of the best the sport has to offer.

On Friday night, Kansas led by as many as 20 points early in the first half but was able to hold on after squandering it, beating North Carolina 92-89 at Allen Fieldhouse.

Much was made going into the game about how the Tar Heels would defend Jayhawk big man Hunter Dickinson. In turn, a similar conversation was had about how the Jayhawks would defend the Tar Heel backcourt of Elliot Cadeau and RJ Davis, which is possibly the best in the country.

In the end it was Dickinson who won out. He finished with 20 points on 7-15 from the field, including a key layup with 1:15 to go that gave Kansas the lead for good.

Cadeau ended up getting the final shot for the Tar Heels, with the Jayhawk defense keeping the ball out of Davis’ hands, and Cadeau missed a shot to potentially send the game into overtime.

The two went a combined 6-26 from the field, which included 1-10 from three. Kansas defended the pair well.

Kansas did a lot to alleviate concerns from last season about its depth, something that plagued the team down the stretch when injuries happened. Kansas had seven players score and five of them in double figures, and neither of those numbers include David Coit, who did not score in 19 minutes. That likely won’t happen to Coit many times during the year. Zeke Mayo actually led Kansas with 21, while AJ Storr had 13 and Flory Bidunga had eight points and eight rebounds.

The Jayhawks looked the part of the number one team in the country, and that is where it stays for the week. It sees Michigan State in the Champions Classic on Tuesday night. UNC will play its next notable games in Maui during Thanksgiving week. A strong performance is to be expected.

Switching to the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, it was all about Baylor bouncing back nicely from a blowout loss against Gonzaga on Monday night, beating Arkansas 72-67 in Dallas.

It certainly felt like the Gonzaga game was more about the Zags winning and not Baylor losing and the Bears were still very capable. They were, with Jayden Nunn’s 16 points and Norchad Omier’s 15 and 12 on 7-10 from the field, Jeremy Roach had a solid 13 and VJ Edgecombe had a solid game after struggling in his debut, finishing with 11 points, eight rebounds and five assists. This is a team that will need multiple great players to be one of the best teams in the Big 12, and showed it. It looks like it has four.

Arkansas’ Adou Thiero was the best player on the floor though, finishing with 24 points on 10-15 from the field. He picked up the slack from Johnell Davis and Zvonimir Ivisic, who shot a combined 2-12 from the field and both looked lost during the game. That is a tad concerning for a team that needs Davis’ scoring and Ivisic’s interior presence in order to do the things it wants to do. Ivisic in particular seemed far away from being able to compete night in and night out.

Baylor will consider it a good bounce-back win after the brutal loss in the season opener. They will play two notable games at the Baha Mar, starting with St. John’s on Nov. 21 and then either Tennessee or Virginia the next day. Arkansas has four buy games to get right before playing Illinois on Thanksgiving Day.

Saturday’s nightcap was arguably the best of the three. Houston and Auburn gave a game maybe worthy of Final Four quality, with Auburn beating Houston 74-69 in what was a semi-home game for Houston.

The story of the game was the coming out party for freshman Tahaad Pettiford, who had 21 points on 7-12 from the field, including five three-pointers, willing his way to a Tiger victory. He played like a senior in his second collegiate game, and did it after not even scoring in 19 minutes in the team’s first game against Vermont (a game Auburn scored 94 points in). Johni Broome had 20 points and nine rebounds.

Houston has had a top-10 KenPom defensive rating in each of the past four seasons and currently ranks No. 1 in defense, even after this game. A freshman being able to do that kind of damage against Kelvin Sampson’s defense is wildly impressive. It would be tough for Pettiford to have that type of impact every night, but Auburn could be even more of an SEC threat if he is great.

The win also came after the team had to ground its flight on the way to the game on Friday night after it was reported that two players got into a fight shortly after takeoff.

Houston will be a good team as long as the defense holds up, which even with the loss there’s no indication to say it won’t. It will play meaningful games next in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas the week of Thanksgiving.

The takeaway here with Auburn is that the size and perimeter shooting will make it tough for anybody to beat this team. And if it has repeat performances from Pettiford, that’s a weapon that many didn’t expect them to have.

Auburn, like North Carolina, is also headed to Maui. It will play its first game against Iowa State on Nov. 25.

To me, calling games, especially early in the season, NCAA tournament or second weekend level games is a little bit of a cliché, but these three games it was true. All six of these teams should be making deep runs in March, and could be seeing each other again.

By Aidan Joly

The preseason talk is over, the season is underway.

The 2024-25 season for college basketball officially got underway on Monday night, with lots to talk about the next day.

Here are nine of my takeaways from the first night of the season.

Gonzaga’s beatdown of Baylor

No. 6 Gonzaga fired on all cylinders on opening night, beating No. 8 Baylor in a 101-63 drubbing in Spokane.

The Zags led the game by 19 at halftime thanks to great three-point shooting. Gonzaga had five players in double figures, led by 17 from Nolan Hickman and 15 from Graham Ike.

Off the bench Gonzaga got huge lifts from two sophomores in Braden Huff, who had 14 points in 16 minutes on 7-11 from the field, and Dusty Stromer, who scored 11 points on 4-6 shooting, including 3-5 from three. If the Zags can get sophomore leaps from even one of those players, they will be even more dangerous that originally thought.

On the other side of the ball, it limited Jeremy Roach to nine points on 2-9 from the field, and highly touted freshman VJ Edgecombe had just four points on 2-11 from the field in his collegiate debut.

According to ESPN stats and info, the 38-point win was the largest margin of victory in a season-opening game between top-10 opponents.

Ohio State may be better than we thought

Ohio State picked off No. 19 Texas with an 80-72 win in Las Vegas.

It was a wire-to-wire win, and an impressive one at that. Bruce Thornton was great for the Buckeyes, finishing with 20 points on 7-10 from the field and made three from behind the arc, while Micah Parrish had 17 points. OSU also got lifts off the bench from Devin Royal, who had 16 points in 24 minutes, and John Mobley Jr., who had 14 points in 13 minutes.

You would have liked to see more from South Carolina transfer Meechie Johnson, who had just six points on 2-11 from the field, but he is far too talented to have many more games like that.

There was some skepticism around Ohio State heading into the year and how well they would do after taking the interim tag off of Jake Diebler before last season even ended. But if they keep playing like this, it can compete in the Big Ten.

On the other side, shoutout to Tre Johnson, who had 29 points in a terrific college debut.

Memphis gets important win

It’s rare that you say that a season-opening win is an important one, but that’s how it felt for Memphis, who beat Missouri 83-75.

With all of the noise surrounding the program heading into the season and Penny Hardaway’s job status, it must have felt like a big weight off the shoulders for now to play well and win a game. It’ll probably end up being a Quad 2 win.

Tulsa transfer PJ Haggerty had 25 points in the win and played very well. Tyrese Hunter had to shake off the cobwebs a bit, but still finished with 14.

Now, Memphis needs to keep the momentum from this going and avoid a stretch of a bunch of losses in a short period of time. Monday was a good start.

Will Riley is the real deal

Illinois freshman Will Riley was amazing in his college debut, scoring a team-high 31 points on 10-13 shooting, made five three-pointers and grabbed seven rebounds in a 112-67 win against Eastern Illinois.

Oh yeah, and he did it in just 25 minutes off the bench.

The freshman totally stuffed the stat sheet and seemed like a guy who can be a star for the Illini all season. Out of all the top prospects making their debuts last night, he had the best one.

Cooper Flagg strong in debut, Kon Knueppel even better

Speaking of debuts, how about the one for the number one prospect in the sport? Cooper Flagg was strong in his debut for Duke, finishing with 18 points and seven rebounds in a 96-62 win against Maine. He went just 6-15 from the field, so there were some growing pains during the night, but that is acceptable for a debut.

However, it was fellow freshman Kon Knueppel who really stole the show, finishing with 22 points on 8-14 from the field and became the Blue Devils’ number one option on offense.

This is a loaded Duke team with lots of scoring options. Monday night showed that Flagg doesn’t always have to be the top option if he isn’t having this great shooting night. Jon Scheyer’s team has a ton of options.

Other strong debuts

Some other freshmen had strong nights in wins.

Maryland freshman Derik Queen, the No. 8 prospect in the ESPN top 100, had 22 points and an astounding 20 rebounds in the Terrapins’ 79-49 win against Manhattan. The seven-footer could be Maryland’s best freshman in a very long time.

Georgia’s Asa Newell, the No. 13 prospect, had 26 points and 11 rebounds in the Bulldogs’ 83-78 win against Tennessee Tech. Georgia doesn’t have a ton of talent around him, so he may have to be the main guy from the get-go.

Finally, Syracuse’s Donnie Freeman, the No. 6 prospect, had a solid night with 10 points in 11 rebounds as the Orange struggled but snuck away with an 86-82 win against Le Moyne.

UCF stuns Texas A&M

What’s opening night without a big upset? UCF stunned No. 13 Texas A&M in Orlando, beating the Aggies 64-61.

Darius Johnson had 24 points in the win, while UTSA transfer Jordan Ivy-Curry had 16 points and made a key free throw late. JJ Taylor was important in the final few minutes as well.

UCF struggled last season in its first year in the Big 12, going 7-11 and finishing 12th in the league. If the Knights can take a step in year two in the new league, it can be a team that raises some eyebrows as the year goes on.

Florida is loaded offensively

Staying in the state, No. 21 Florida scored 98 points in a win against South Florida in a neutral site game in Jacksonville.

The Gators showed that they are loaded on offense. Walter Clayton Jr. had 29 points on 10-15 from the field, Will Richard had 25 points on 10-17 shooting, Alijah Martin had 13 points in his debut with the Gators, and Alex Condon added 13 of his own.

Florida entered the season ranked and is a real team to take note of in the SEC. It made positive strides last year and showed promise, and now it feels ready to take that next step up and be one of the best teams in the SEC and a team that is nationally relevant.

It was a spirited effort from South Florida, who played with heavy hearts in its first game since the passing of coach Amir Abdur-Rahim on Oct. 24. The college basketball world is surely rooting for the Bulls this season.

Big East struggles

The Big East did go 8-0, but at one point during the night was staring down the barrel of multiple Quad 4 losses.

In the end though, Villanova beat Lafayette 75-63 after trailing at one point in the second half, Seton Hall beat Saint Peter’s 57-53 after being down by four with under eight minutes left, Providence beat Central Connecticut 59-55 after trailing by as many as seven in the second half, and DePaul needed overtime to beat Southern Indiana 80-78 after the Blue Demons tied the game on a Jacob Meyer three with two seconds left in regulation.

Yes, it did win all of the games, but it is surely something to monitor across the league over the next few weeks.

By Aidan Joly

The West Coast Conference has long been known as being dominated by Gonzaga. The Zags had earned at least a share of the regular season championship in 11 straight seasons.

That came to an end in 2024, with Saint Mary’s earning a sweep of both the regular season and conference tournament.

This year the league gets deeper, with the additions of Washington State and Oregon State as affiliate members for the next two seasons. Let’s take a look at each of the 11 teams making up the WCC in 2024-25.

Saint Mary’s Gaels

2023-24: 26-8 (15-1 WCC), lost in NCAA first round

The defending WCC champs, Saint Mary’s and coach Randy Bennett have long had a history of being a four-year program for guys, but that changed this year with the transfer portal losses of Aidan Mahaney and Joshua Jefferson.

It will have to find guys to replace that production. Augustas Marciulionis is a candidate to take an even larger step up and be the guy after he averaged 12.4 points per game this past season. Also returning is Mitchell Saxen, who had 11.8 points and 7.6 rebounds per game last season and won WCC defensive player of the year. Role players Luke Barrett, Harry Wessels, Rory Hawke and Jordan Ross all return, with Ross being a strong candidate to break out.

The portal add of Paulius Murauskas (Arizona) is a good one and he should see impact minutes.

Mikey Lewis is a top-100 freshman who should see playing time from the start. Liam Campbell is also a solid top-100 guy.

Gonzaga Bulldogs

2023-24: 27-8 (14-2 WCC), lost in Sweet 16

A lot of people talked about Gonzaga having a “down” year last year, but it still resulted in the program’s ninth straight appearance in the second weekend of the tournament.

The Zags will be a borderline top five team in the country entering this season. Losing Anton Watson is a tough blow, but Gonzaga brings back a ton of talent. That starts with Graham Ike, who averaged 16.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. He may end up being the best player in the conference this year. Nolan Hickman and Ryan Nembhard are both double digit scorers who are back, while Braden Huff, Ben Gregg and Dusty Stromer are all ready to take on larger roles.

Steele Venters will miss a second straight season after suffering an Achilles injury in August.

Coach Mark Few added two impact transfers in Michael Ajayi, who averaged 17.2 PPG at Pepperdine, as well as Khalif Battle, who had 14.8 PPG at Arkansas.

This team has the talent and depth to be the clear favorite to win the league, and will once again be in the conversation to win its first national title.

Washington State Cougars

2023-24: 25-10 (14-6 Pac-12), lost in NCAA second round

Washington State was one of the feel-good stories of the 2023-24 season, getting as high as No. 18 in the country, getting to the tournament for the first time since 2008, and winning a tournament game.

However, gone is coach Kyle Smith, who left for Stanford. Taking his place is David Riley, who has spent the last three seasons as head coach at Eastern Washington.

Riley is given a clean slate for the 2024-25 season. The only returner is Isaiah Watts, who had 3.7 PPG last season.

Riley brought four players from Eastern Washington with him. That includes Cedric Coward, who averaged 15.4 PPG on his way to being named Big Sky freshman of the year. Ethan Price (12.2 PPG), Dane Erikstrup (10.8 PPG) and LeJuan Watts (9.4 PPG) also all come in from EWU. Riley also got two power conference transfers in Nate Calmese (Washington) and ND Okafor (California).

There are five freshmen on the roster. One is them is Tomas Thrastarson, who hails from Iceland.

Washington State may not be a true contender at the top of the league, but they will compete and be a tough out in March.

San Francisco Dons

2024-25: 23-11 (11-5 WCC), lost in NIT first round

Things went well in Chris Gerlufson’s second season at the helm at San Francisco, securing his first postseason bid.

It lost leading scorer Jonathan Mogbo to the NBA, but returns good talent. The leader of that will be Marcus Williams, who had 14.0 PPG for the Dons last season. Malik Thomas, who had 12.4 PPG, is back, as well as Ndewedo Newbury, who had 9.4 PPG. Role player Ryan Beasley (7.8 PPG) is also back and should get promoted to the starting lineup.

Three notable transfers adds were made. That is led by Carlton Linguard Jr., who had 9.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game at UTSA. Jason Rivera-Torres had 6.4 PPG at Vanderbilt and Isa Silva had 2.4 PPG at Long Beach State.

Tyrone Riley, a four-star talent, is an impact freshman who should see big minutes from the start.

This is a solid team with solid pieces that will win games, but likely won’t be at the top of the league.

Santa Clara Broncos

2023-24: 20-13 (10-6 WCC), no postseason

Santa Clara had a good season, its third straight 20-win second and third straight with double digit league wins.

The Broncos will return five of the top six scorers from last year’s team. The biggest returner is Adama Bal, who is back after testing the NBA waters after he averaged 14.4 PPG last season. Johnny O’Neil, Christoph Tilly, Tyree Bryan and Camaron Tongue all return for Herb Sendek’s squad.

Carlos Stewart (LSU) is a solid transfer add with SEC experience, while Elijah Mahi was a stud in JUCO and the Broncos will hope he does well from the jump.

Stewart is the only players on the roster under six-foot-four, giving the Broncos the size to compete in this league night in and night out. With a strong non-conference schedule that includes Arizona State, Nevada, TCU and McNeese, Santa Clara could very well be in contention for the program’s first NCAA bid since 1996.

San Diego Toreros

2023-24: 18-15 (7-9 WCC), no postseason

Coach Steve Lavin lost a bunch of its top talent in Deuce Turner, Wayne McKinney, PJ Hayes and Kevin Patton, and failed to replace it.

Steven Jamerson is the most notable returner after he averaged 8.3 PPG last season. He will probably have to be the go-to guy. Dragos Lungu, who had 5.1 PPG last year, is also back. From there, not much going on. Lungu is promising and is a candidate for a large role, but other guys will have to step up. Keyon Kensie and Dominic Muncey are probably the best candidates there, as is Santiago Trouet.

JUCO standout KJay Bradley will be a positive scoring player. The only Division I transfer is Colby Brooks, who walked on at Gonzaga.

It’s tough to see the Toreros winning many games with this lack of talent. It may be a long year at Jenny Craig Pavilion.

Portland Pilots

2023-24: 12-21 (5-11 WCC), no postseason

Portland and coach Shantay Legens are investing in the future this season as the rebuild continues.

It will be a young Portland team in 2024-25. However, one veteran leader will be Vukasin Masic, who comes back after he averaged 12.5 PPG for the Pilots last season. Chris Austin and his 6.8 PPG are back, as well as Bol Dengit, an intriguing big man who had 6.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game as a freshman last season.

Two sold mid-major transfers arrived in Max Mackinnon, who had 12.1 PPG at Elon last season, as well as Jermaine Ballisager Webb, who had 7.4 PPG at American.

Top-100 prospect, a four-star forward in Todd Jones, should play meaningful minutes from the beginning. Jinup Dobuol is a three-star prospect.

Portland will be at the bottom of the standings, but it invests in the future. It has not appeared in the NCAA tournament since 1996.

Loyola Marymount Lions

2023-24: 12-19 (5-11 WCC), no postseason

Looking at this roster on paper, LMU could be a sneaky sleeper team in the WCC this season.

The Lions return their two leading scorers in Alex Merkviladze, who had 12.1 points and 7.2 rebounds per game last season, and Will Johnston, who had 11.1 PPG. However, besides that, nobody who had more than 2 PPG is back.

Coach Stan Johnson did a solid job in the portal. He picked up MJ Amey Jr., who had 15.7 PPG at San Jose State last season and may end up being the team’s leading scorer, as well as Jevon Porter, who had 16.2 PPG at Pepperdine. Caleb Stone-Carrawell, who had 11.7 PPG at Utah Valley, also comes in. Jan Vide (UCLA) and Matar Diop (Nebraska) bring high major experience.

However, these are all mostly offensive-minded players, so defense may be an issue for the Lions. Still, it is a sneaky good roster on paper, so LMU should be expected to win some games and may be a factor in the middle of the league.

Pepperdine Waves

2023-24: 13-20 (5-11 WCC), no postseason

Last season was a disappointing one for Pepperdine and resulted in the firing of coach Lorenzo Romar after six seasons.

Replacing him is Ed Schilling, who had spent the past four seasons as an assistant at Grand Canyon.

It will be an entirely new roster for Schilling and one that has a ton of question marks. No new addition averaged in double figures last season, the most being Moe Odum, who had 8.7 PPG at Pacific. Alonso Faure had 7.8 PPG at Loyola (MD) and Javon Cooley had 7.5 PPG at Marist. Aaron Clark played in seven games at Wake Forest last year.

This is not a team that is set up for success, but will look for silver linings in year one with Schilling.

Oregon State Beavers

2023-24: 13-19 (5-15 Pac-12), no postseason

Oregon State is in its first year in the WCC after being a Pac-12 castoff.

Coach Wayne Tinkle will have plenty of production in need of replacing, losing four of his top five scorers. The only one back from that group is Michael Rataj, who averaged 8.3 PPG.

Tinkle added some mid-major transfers in Damarco Minor, who averaged 15.5 PPG at SIU Edwardsville last year and Parsa Fallah, who had 13.2 PPG at Southern Utah. Matthew Marsh (Wake Forest) played sparingly but has power conference experience.

Ja’Quavis Williford is a three-star forward from Los Angeles who has potential to have a large role in his freshman season. He is one of five freshmen on the roster this year. Liutauras Lelevicius played professionally in Lithuania and has loads of potential.

Pacific Tigers

2023-24: 6-26 (0-16 WCC), no postseason

It was an ugly season for Pacific, the program’s worst season in over three decades. It capped it off by losing by 59 points in the first round of the conference tournament.

The campaign resulted in the dismissal of Leonard Perry after three seasons. Replacing him is Dave Smart, who won a staggering 13 Canadian national championships at Carleton between 2003 and 2019, going 591-48 in that time. He spent last season as an assistant at Texas Tech.

He brought on a good number of high-major transfers. That group is led by Elijah Fisher, who averaged 10.2 PPG at DePaul last season. Petar Krivokavic was productive at FIU last season, averaging 7.2 PPG. He also brings in high-major transfers in Jefferson Koulibali (SMU), Lamar Washington (Texas Tech) and Kris Keinys (Minnesota). Seven-footer Jazz Gardner (Nevada) also arrives. Seth Jones and Donyae May are solid JUCO adds.

The only notable returner is Burke Smith, who had 4.2 PPG last season.

Pacific may not get enough conference wins to seriously compete, but it can’t get worse than it did last season. The Tigers will be improved.