Thanksgiving Week always delivers the goods in college basketball, and the past week has given us a great look at many of the teams we expected to be contenders.
The action revved up with the Maui Invitational, which saw Creighton and Arkansas play the best game of the year to date. I cannot get over the level that the Jays and Razorbacks hit, with Creighton winning 90-87 behind a combined 66 points from Ryan Nembhard, Ryan Kalkbrenner and Baylor Scheierman. Arizona was king at the Lahaina Civic Center, though, showcasing that it has a frontcourt as strong as any in the country. More on the Wildcats below.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that not only is North Carolina not our No. 1 team, but the Tar Heels aren’t even playing like a top-15 squad right now. UNC lost twice in the PK 85 Invitational, capped off by the wildest game of the season to date, a 103-101 defeat to Alabama in quadruple overtime!
The issue with UNC? Late-game execution. North Carolina let Caleb Grill grill them in Iowa State’s semifinal win, and the Heels missed opportunities to put Alabama away. From playing hero ball to poor inbounding and everything in between, it was jarring to see a team that made the national title game a year ago struggle so much late in games.
Caleb Love and RJ Davis combined to take 60 shots and only made 21 of them against the Crimson Tide. As explosive as the veteran guard duo can be, things can turn quickly when they are taking bad shots. The added dimension is that Northwestern transfer Pete Nance has struggled to fill the void left by the departure of Brady Manek. There’s certainly time for the Tar Heels to figure things out, but at this moment, Virginia is the best team in the ACC.
Sunday’s action did not disappoint, as Purdue took down Duke in emphatic fashion, Gonzaga rallied to beat Xavier, and UConn showed the nation that the Huskies may be as dangerous as they’ve been since their last national championship season in 2014. More on all of that following our updated rankings.
1. Houston (6-0)
Last week: 1
The Cougars survived a scare from Kent State thanks to top-shelf defense and 19 points from one of the best guards in the country, Marcus Sasser.
2. Arizona (6-0)
Last week: 14
The powerhouse frontcourt duo of Oumar Ballo and Azuolas Tubelis are averaging a combined 38.3 points and 18.0 rebounds per game, and the Maui champion Wildcats are undefeated.
3. Purdue (6-0)
Last week:…
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