It has been a crazy couple of weeks in college basketball. With the madness underway, it is just going to get more and more fun. Here are some of my favorite moments so far:
- Homecoming? Spoiled?: Today, Sunday, November 24th, the #24 Rutgers Scarlet Knights were taken down 79-77 by Kennesaw State at Kennesaw State. Although it is typically unusual for a team like Rutgers to play at Kennesaw State, in this case, it wasn’t. Instead, it was a homecoming from 5-star freshman Ace Bailey, who played high school ball in Georgia. Ace scored 17 points shooting 6-17 which was just a little lower than his season average before, 20.0 PPG. This was Rutgers’s first loss of the season as they now sit at 4-1.
- Kam the man: Marquette is off to one of the hottest starts in college basketball sitting at 6-0. This may be surprising after losing Tyler Kolek and Oso Ighodoro to the NBA. Taking down a strong 5-1 Maryland team at College Park, taking down #6 Purdue at home 76-58, and beating a tough Georgia Bulldogs team 80-69. But is this really surprising when you have Kam Jones? Kam has always been a great player for Marquette, averaging 17.2 as the second option behind Kolek last season. This year though, he has taken a significant leap in all aspects of this game. Disagree? Against Purdue, Kam statted the first triple-double in Marquette history since Dwayne Wade, where Kam scored 17 points, had 13 rebounds, and 10 assists as the point guard. On the season, he is averaging 20.5 points per game, 6.2 assists per game, and 4.8 rebounds per game. Kam is a must-see talent and should be on everyone’s bucket list to watch. He should also be on the national Player of the Year watch.
- What’s up with Baylor? If there is something that is confusing so far in this early college basketball season, it is the Baylor Bearcats. The #13 Bearcats sit at 4-2 with significant wins but also significant losses. First game of the season they went on the road and got blown out 101-63 at #3 Gonzaga. Next game they beat #20 Arkansas and John Calipari 72-67. Just on Thursday, they beat a very tough and gritty #18 St. Johns team 99-98 thanks to a down 18-point comeback and a buzzer-beater three from Duke transfer Jeremy Roach. Then the next day they go on to the championship at Baha-Mar and get blown out by #11 Tennessee 77-62 thanks to Chaz Lanier of Tennessee’s seven threes with 5 of them coming in the first half. The Bearcats play a very tough schedule but have some very good players like Jeremy Roach, Jayden Nunn, Vj Edgecombe, Norchad Omier, and freshman point guard off the bench, Robert Wright. Their season should be very interesting to see, especially with a big game coming up against #2 UConn at UConn.
- Feast week is off to a good start:
- #19 Wisconsin defeated Pittsburg in the Greenbrier Tip-off title 81-75 thanks to breakout star John Tonje’s 33 points
- Nebraska took down #14 Creighton in a nontournament game 74-63 on Friday. Ryan Kalkbrenner only scored 4 points for Creighton but Pop Isaacs the Texas Tech transfer scored 25.
- #12 Duke went to Arizona and defeated #17 Arizona behind Cooper Flaggs 24 points.
- Games to watch for Feast week
- Maui Invitational
- Memphis vs #2 UConn at 2:30 pm EST- Monday, November 25th
- Colorado vs Michigan State at 5 pm EST-Monday, November 25th
- #4 Auburn vs #5 Iowa State at 9 pm EST-Monday, November 25th
- #10 UNC vs Dayton at 11 pm EST- Monday, November 25th
Winners will play each other depending on the bracket. Should be the best tournament and a very competitive one. The Maui invitational is typically a very good indicator of how good teams are because of how good the competition is, especially this year.
- Fort Myers Tip-Off Beach
- Michigan vs Virginia Tech at 6 pm EST- Monday, November 25th
- South Carolina vs Xavier at 8:30 pm EST- Monday, November 25th
- Players Era Festival-New
- San Diego State vs #14 Creighton at 2 pm EST-Tuesday, November 26th
- Oregon vs #23 Texas A&M at 4:30 pm EST-Tuesday, November 26th
- #7 Houston vs #8 Alabama at 8 pm EST-Tuesday, November 26th
- #24 Rutgers vs Norte Dame at 10:30 pm EST-Tuesday, November 26th
- #23 Texas A&M vs #14 Creighton at 6:30 pm EST- Wednesday, November 27th
- #24 Rutgers vs #8 Alabama at 10 pm pm EST-Wednesday, November 27th
Winners will play a championship later in the week
- Other fun games
- #12 Duke vs #1 Kansas at 9 pm EST-Tuesday, November 26th
- #16 Indania vs Louisville in the Battle 4 Atlantis at 12 pm EST-Wednesday, November 27th
- #6 Purdue vs NC State at 3 pm EST- Thursday, November 28th (Final four rematch)
- #20 Arkansas vs #25 Illinois at 4 pm EST-Thursday, November 28th