PC and How6rd's CBB Corner

Dude…

College basketball is finally back! Each week How6rd and I will recap our favorite games of the week! Today we start off with week one. Where we had some astonishing games and some unbelievable upsets!!

PC’s CBB Corner

Mighty Duke falls to Arizona: This was the best matchup to start the 2023-2024 opening weekend. #2 Duke took on #12 Arizona. The game was supposed to be a Kyle Filipowski vs. Caleb Love juggernaut of a matchup. However, 2 new faces for the Wildcats pushed them over the edge. Sophomore guard, Kylan Boswell had 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists. Even though his stat line wasn’t insane, the impact he had while on the floor was. It seemed like everytime the Wildcats needed a big shot, they threw the ball over to him and let him create. He showed flashes of being an elite guard in the sport for the rest of the season. Another huge impact was Montiejus Krivis. A 7’2 freshman who came off the bench. He played impactful minutes and snagged offensive rebound after offensive rebound.  He only ended up with 6 points and 6 rebounds but only played 12 minutes. If Tommy Lloyd can have someone like that come off their bench and have a major impact. This team is going to be more than scary, they’ll be almost unbeatable if everyone is on. The Duke Blue Devils find their first loss coming from the hands of Caleb Love’s team.  Kyle Filipowski had 25 points, but other than that it seems like the rest of the team didn’t show up. Jeremy Roach scored 15 but was pretty inconsistent. It also seemed like the ball wasn’t getting to Filipowski enough. For the majority of the game, the offense did run through him. However, when it came down to crunch time, it never went through him. If the Blue Devils want to avoid going 1-2 (they have a massive game against Michigan State on Tuesday) it may lead to some questions. I still think it’s early and they’ll be more than fine. It just sucks for them taking a loss this early in the year.

Year of the Freshman: The college basketball game used to be all about freshmen. Now, with the transfer portal, it's turned into an older league. This last week we saw some freshmen really step up for their teams. The #1 overall recruit in Isiah Collier, went off for the USC Trojans against the K-State Wildcats. Collier had 18 points, 3 rebounds, and 6 assists. Sure, Boogie Ellis took over this game. However, Collier showed out. USC may have the best backcourt in the league if Collier plays like this. Aden Holloway for the Auburn Tigers and Ja’Kobe Walter for the Baylor Bears put an absolute clinic on Tuesday night.  Holloway led the way for the Tigers with 19 points and 6 assists. Ja’Kobe Walter had 28 points and 6 rebounds. Both Freshman led the way for their teams and absolutely balled out!!! The transfers may be important, however, the freshmen are showing they belong here as well.

Matches to Watch: This week we have the Gavitt Games and the Champions Classic. Make sure to tune into St. Johns vs. Michigan and Purdue vs. Xavier tonight! Make sure to tune in Tuesday to see Duke take on Michigan State and Kansas vs. Kentucky! All 4 teams are ranked and should put on a hell of a show!! 

How6rd’s Mid-Major Roundup

James Madison University, a powerhouse: Now watching this team a year ago and seeing their expectations for this season it wasn’t a surprise that this team would be good for the mid-major level, but this team sent HUGE shockwaves in their damn season opener against top 5 Michigan State beating one of the most hyped up teams in overtime…WHAT?! Then in their next game they went to a double overtime after scoring 5 points in less than 4 seconds of game time at the end of regulation to tie it and beat my personal MAC favorites in Kent State on the road. Their first home game of the season was a complete blowout on a solid Howard team who are favorites in the MEAC, so they ended up 3-0 in a stretch many people thought they’d only win one game from it. The Sun Belt is always a conference that’s tough to predict as it seems any team can win it no matter the regular season performance, but this JMU Dukes squad has multiple players who can take over a game and are backed by a coach who has completely flipped this program around in Mark Byington. Although not the way Michigan State wanted to start their season, the most important thing is the team they lost too is actually just very solid and this could be only the start of a long season (in a great way) for the Dukes that could end with them making a huge run in March.

Weber State might have the best player out of the Power 6 in Dillon Jones: The Weber State Wildcats had an easy season opener in beating Division III school Benedictine University Mesa and Dillon Jones had 26 points and 14 rebounds in an impressive season debut. Why is this give him any credit you ask. Well, he did it again…against last season’s 5th best returning defensive unit in Saint Mary’s getting 29 points and 10 rebounds to complete a 14-point second half comeback over the #23 ranked Gaels. Being a redshirt Junior who had an invite to the NBA combine, Dillon Jones has already had a storied career at Weber State and this season could somehow even outdo his past two by a wide margin. After a huge upset Weber State now looks to be easily the favorite coming out of the Big Sky Conference, which also gives Saint Mary’s many questions such as if Aidan Mahaney can replicate the late-game clutch factor that Logan Johnson gave them last season or if they have a “closer” problem.

Last season was crazy, but this season looks CHAOTIC: I truthfully wasn’t expecting to give mid-major programs this much praise this early into the season, but there have been MANY Power 6 upsets in just week 1 of this season (and no I’m not even only counting the teams that should be lower mid-major like Depaul and Louisville). Just this past week teams like Princeton, James Madison, Nicholls State, Presbyterian, Davidson, and UAB all beat teams that were favored over them in big conferences and even Western Carolina who dog walked a team that has to play ACC basketball this year in Notre Dame. After seeing last year’s March Madness tournament it was clear that the teams outside the Power 6 conference stole the show and headlines aside from the National Championship and this year looks no different even potentially crazier. In years past before last season this was a group of schools that were fun teams going into the NCAA Tournament to see who was going to reach the Sweet 16 (outside of Gonzaga I guess), but now the mid-major conferences host multiple teams who could make a run at something even bigger and can’t be taken lightly. Just as James Madison beating a school many people think can make at least a Final Four appearance in Michigan State this could be just the start of a year where we see many Power 6 schools tested against many schools that the mainstream media aren’t paying too much attention to just yet.