By Riley Saxon
The Good and the Bad of the Top Teams in College Basketball (so far)
If College Hoops Breakdown had an AP vote, our top 4 would look like this:
- Duke
- Purdue
- Gonzaga
- Baylor
Kansas, UCLA, Villanova, Texas, Arkansas and Kentucky would probably round out the top 10, but we’re just going to focus on those top 4 teams because they’ve set themselves apart so far.
Duke
The Good: The Blue Devils took down Gonzaga even as Paolo Banchero was in and out of the game down the stretch. They’ve been getting contributions from everyone, from veterans to one and dones to overlooked freshman phenoms. They took down the undisputed #1 team… and they didn’t even play all that well.
The Bad: Duke is only shooting at a 33% clip from three, and is at just under 75% from the charity stripe. They rank in the 70s for free throws, so it’s not a huge concern, but rank 202 in three point shooting. It won’t keep the Blue Devils from a top seed, but it is something to monitor moving forward, as is their penchant for getting into foul trouble.
Purdue
The Good: Purdue has looked incredible so far, with Jaden Ivey leading the way. They won the Hall of Fame Tip Off Championship, and will be knocking at the door of the top spot of the AP poll all year. After the 8 minute timeout in the Hall of Fame Tip Off championship game, Purdue only gave up two field goals to Villanova, both coming with under a minute left in the already-decided game.
The Bad: Against good competition, the Boilermakers have been prone to droughts on the offensive end. For the final three and half minutes of the first half and first minute plus of the second half against UNC, Purdude scored two points. Against Villanova, they scored zero points from the 15 minute mark to the 10 minute mark. Obviously they were able to win each game, but droughts like that will need to be erased.
Gonzaga
The Good: A loss to Duke removes some of the outside pressure on the Zags, and they are still one of, if not the, most talented team in the sport. Their week in Vegas allowed Andrew Nembhard to shine, and as the season goes on, they will only get better. Additionally, the WCC has been awesome during the non conference slate, which should bode well for the Zags moving forward.
The Bad: The loss is virtually meaningless long term: they’ll still a virtual lock for the #1 seed in the West and it does nothing other than change the number in front of their name. But, the way Gonzaga is more of a concern: Duke went toe-to-toe, and was able to deliver a
Baylor
The Good: The Bears have picked off where they left off, and even though the team seemingly lacks star power, they’ve taken care of business so far this season. They won the Battle 4 Atlantis, and they should be a force to be reckoned with moving forward.
The Bad: Much like Purdue, Baylor is prone to droughts, but their biggest droughts have come against inferior competition. Against VCU, Baylor spent the final five minutes of the first half stuck on 29 points. Like Duke, Baylor is shooting 33% from three, but their free throw woes are much worse: they are tied for 264th in free throw shooting. Again, it’s not going to keep Baylor out of the tournament, but seeing whether the stats are indicative of Baylor not being a good shooting team or just an anomaly to start the season is worth watching as the season progresses.
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College Hoops Breakdown appears twice a month through the summer at JoeTorosian.com
Riley Saxon can be reached at:
Email: rileymsaxon@gmail.com
Twitter: @CHoopsBreakdown …
