My 5 Favorite Things In College Basketball This Week
We are FINALLY back
This is the first edition of the Sleepers Media college basketball newsletter. I love college basketball, and I struggle to think of things I love more than it. Maybe my parents, though if I was stranded on an island and food wasn’t an issue, I think I’d find more enjoyment out of college basketball than I would out of either of them. This is a very long winded way of saying that I like the sport and I’m going to highlight my favorite things about it.
#1 The entire Texas A&M vs. UCF game
This game was one of the more underrated games on the opening night slate, but I’ve been looking forward to watching this UCF team play ball all offseason. Do I like any of the players individually? Absolutely not. A good portion of them have… problems in their past. The roster is genuinely an incredible read. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t at least a little bit curious to watch how it would happen. My general opinion was that they were either going to make the tournament or finish last in the Big 12. And yes, it seems like an awful idea to get together a group of guys who are admittedly incredibly talented, just with an array of felonies, misdemeanors, and dismissals from other programs, but Johnny Dawkins is fighting for his job this year; he had to take a risk. So for their first game, they welcomed Buzz Williams and his 13th ranked Aggies to Orlando. Buzz Williams wears a tie and a vest every game. It would shock me if he even knows what a felony is. So what does Johnny Dawkins’ team (missing their star and sixth man) do? They beat Texas A&M, and immediately turn off the lights in the arena for the ensuing court storm. Seems like a good idea.
#2 Thad Matta’s boys are in a world of hurt
This year’s Butler team in college basketball’s answer to power couples Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift or Paul Skenes and Olivia Dunne. Patrick McCaffery is dating Caitlin Clark. His brother Connor is on the coaching staff. Thad Matta is iconic in his own right. Butler opened their season hosting a Missouri State team that’s coached by Cuonzo Martin. I bet you didn’t know he was coaching college basketball. Because I didn’t. Until I watched this game. The Bulldogs were missing their point guard, Finley Bizjack, for this one so it was reasonable to expect to struggle a little bit before putting Missouri State away. It was a nailbiter until the end, but they finally pulled out a W, and could exhale. Their next game was another, even easier buy game in Austin Peay. Now, reader, I’m unsure as to whether or not you’ve seen the final score of that game, but it wasn’t just a close game. Austin Peay State University beat Butler. In Indianapolis. Folks, DePaul might have a chance at a top 10 Big East finish with how Villanova and Butler have looked.
#3 North Florida is the best team in the country
Coming into this season, two of my unrelated but pretty strong takes were that I thought Damon Stoudemire would lead his Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to the NCAA Tournament, and that I thought Collin Murray-Boyles would be a lottery pick in the NBA Draft. One thing they did have in common was that in the first week of the season, they’d have to play North Florida. You might know North Florida as the team that Chaz Lanier played for before he went to Tennessee. Well, the Ospreys (sidenote: that’s one of the most fun nicknames in the sport) seem to have gotten better without Lanier, who might be a first round pick himself. North Florida played South Carolina on opening night, a game that the Gamecocks paid them to play, and beat them. UNF then played Charleston Southern, another win. Come Sunday, their third game of the season was a tilt at Georgia Tech, a team I liked even more than South Carolina. And they won handily. There was some serious margin at points in the game. It was only made closer during garbage time. Good on the Ospreys!
#4 Always fight on airplanes
We all heard about the Friday night Auburn fight on the team plane. The Tigers had beaten a solid Vermont team by a scary margin the night before, and had boarded the private jet they were slated to take to Texas for their weird off campus non-conference scheduling manipulation game against Houston. The plane took off, and had to be turned around, landing back in Alabama, not Texas. Apparently, some Auburn players (Jahki Howard and Ja’Heim Hudson) had gotten into a brawl on the plane. The team wrote it off as horseplay, but both players weren’t allowed to go on the trip, and one of them was (allegedly) bloodied in the skirmish. I don’t know what kind of horseplay turns around a plane with a bloodied human being, I certainly have never partaken in such violent games, though I also don’t watch football so it could just be a me thing. Anyway, Auburn then, undermanned, played an absolute dogfight with an incredibly skilled Houston team, and won. It was the game of the year (thus far), and was a joy to watch. We also got to see what might’ve been the funniest graphic, as ESPN aired one that said Howard and Hudson were missing because of the airplane brawl the day prior. This sport is always the best.
#5 Realignment is taking victims
I’ll say it right now, I dislike conference realignment. That’s why it did not bug me in the slightest that new Big Ten teams Washington and UCLA have already lost to Mountain West opponents Nevada and New Mexico, respectively, while USC was pushed to the brink by Idaho State. The Big Ten now spans across the entire country, and I can’t imagine what going from Los Angeles to Piscataway for one game is going to do to the sport. I think we’re going to be talking about home court advantage in a new way this year. The team at home actually got their eight hours the night before! The reaper has already arrived, and I’d imagine it’s coming for Oregon next.
More from around the Sleepers Media Youtube channel:
We have a new live show called Ball Up Top! Our collaboration with Burner Ball is live every Tuesday and Friday! Check out the first episode HERE.
Purdue’s newest giant Daniel Jacobsen is out for the year. How will this impact the Boilermakers? Greg Waddell and Carter Elliott break it down HERE.
Brian Rauf wonders whether it’s time to be concerned about USC. Find his feelings about the Trojans HERE.
Football previews and recaps are still here! Check out Max Millington and Bobby Howard’s thoughts on the top ranked Oregon Ducks HERE.
And of course, college basketball previews and recaps are back! Try on the Auburn - Houston recap for size HERE.