College Basketball- One Month In

We are officially over a month in and as tradition all of my opinions are either spot on or dead wrong, and it’s about a 50/50 split. I thought UCONN would be the cream of the crop and it was a matter of when not if they would be the number 1 team in the country, so that aged poorly. I figured everyone up in Columbus was crazy saying that a Missouri team that went winless in the SEC team would be a real contender and they just obliterated Kansas. Michigan State trying to play basketball with little to no outside shooting was a problem, and that still feels right. UCF is a sleeper pick as Dawkins has a athletic and talented squad down in Orlando and I am still dying on that hill. Lets take a look at each major conference and highlight what else we have learned a month into this season.

SEC

It is time for SEC fans to come to grip with reality, they are having a basketball conference now. The SEC currently owns half of the top 10 spots in the AP pole and what some are saying is a bottom team in their conference Missouri just took the former number one team in the nation Kansas behind the woodshed. Tennessee and Auburn looked awesome performing at a high level to start the year and Alabama has shown that even with some injuries occurring they are deep at all positions. Those teams were known commodities, but the biggest surprises have been the dominance of teams like Mississippi State and Ole Miss as they are both ranked in the top 25 showing the depth of this conference. Also not to fly under the radar but Mark Pope just took his Kentucky team into Seattle and overcame an 18-point deficit to beat a very talented Gonzaga team. This conference is must watch TV and as we get deeper into conference play, we will see who a real contender is and who can’t hang.

BIG 10

The BIG 10 has become a confusing conference to bet on as there are teams that are good, average, bad, and horrendous. The problem is that any team can fall into that category at any given point. Ohio State is the best example of this as they were considered a top 25 team after one week, shooting the leather off the ball and playing excellent basketball. Fast forward to las week and they were down almost 50 to Maryland. Michigan State has excellent wins against UNC and Colorada and boosts a 2-0 conference record while simultaneously struggling against Bowling Green for 35 minutes. Purdue no longer has their foul merchant, and the guard play leaves more to be desired and lets not forget Oregon and UCLA are now in this conference! The BIG 10 is a log jam at the top with Michigan having a resurgence and Wisconsin playing an entirely new (and fun) brand of basketball making any futures placed on this conference an absolute toss-up.

BIG 12

 I do not want to take a victory lap this early in the year, but my loudest and proudest pre-season take was Kansas is not good and Hunter Dickenson is a liability on defense. Yes he is dominate for a 30 year old playing against 18 year olds (I may have embellished his age) but he is about as fast as smell and hurts the team defensively. Kansas is no longer the top team to look at in the conference as Iowa State is the top team in the conference with a win over Marquette and a close loss to Auburn.  Cincinnati has shown to be a threat in these early weeks as they have quietly collected a 7-1 record and a top 25 ranking. Houston has played a gauntlet of a schedule and while they are 5-3 this team is still incredibly talented and not to be taken for granted in a conference that is very winnable. The biggest take-away is my sleeper team of the year as UCF started the season with a great win against Texas A&M but sputtered a little against a good Wisconsin team. The Knights have rallied back and are currently sitting at 7-2 headed into conference play now so if you want to sprinkle a couple dollars on them now is the time to do it.

ACC

The ACC is the Kool-Aid man of conferences as it is incredibly top heavy with little to no bottom. The Duke’s, UNC’s (Kinda), Clemson’s, Pitt’s, and SMUs are good but aside from that there is no real threat to pull an NC State and upend the conference.  Cooper Flag is as good as advertised as he awesome in Duke’s win over Auburn and while there have been freshman moments he has consistently performed. Clemson is continuing to perform at a high level even with some people predicting a fall-off from last year and Pitt is still very talented looking to avenge what happened last year. SMU might be good but have not played any real team aside from their close loss to Mississippi State and a BAD loss to Butler. UNC is resting on their laurels and have struggled out of the gate, but they have the pieces and there is no reason to give up on them yet. Teams that I grew up thinking were good (Syracuse) continually cost me money as I refuse to forget how good they were 15 years ago. The biggest takeaway from the ACC is that collectively as a conference they are not good, but boy do they have a couple of good teams.

Big East

Boy did Dan Hurleys shtick get old quick in Maui. After traveling to Hawaii to play their first real games of the season the Huskies go 0-3 and Hurley has meltdown after meltdown before returning home and having his final fit saying that they will never play a 3 day MTE again. Uconn responds by beating a Baylor team at home and then beating a Texas team (I don’t think they are good) so I might agree with Hurley on no longer playing these MTEs. Marquette continues to dominate as the number 6 team in the nation with a massive win over Wisconsin showing they are a real contender poised to unseat Uconn as the top team coming out of the Big East. Creighton has righted the ship after losing three straight with a win over Kansas, Notre Dame, and UNLV but even with a majority of the teams in the conference holding a winning record the Big East is a four team league at best with Saint John’s rounding out the group.