PC's CBB Corner 3 24-25: Week 2

Dude…

College Hoops is cruising right along. The 4 teams fought it out in Madison Square Garden. We had ranked matchups on Friday. Finally, we had some major upsets. College hoops is always a whirlwind, and a roller coaster of a ride. Even if we are still on the incline to the top part of the big hill of the College basketball roller coaster, these games could give teams advantages or disadvantages for teams seeding or non seeding placement in the NCAA Tournament in March.

Mark Pope’s Era Starts Off Strong- Yes, I would normally talk about the Jayhawks but the game against Michigan State wasn’t one to remember. KU won thanks to Hunter Dickinson who had 25 points. Michigan State stayed in the game, but Dickinson was too much for them to handle. The real game to remember was Duke vs. Kentucky. Talent vs. experience. 5 stars vs. seniors. Most people would think the more talented team would win. They were wrong as Kentucky won 77-72. Duke was ahead for the majority of the game until about 5 minutes left in the game. The team effort got Mark Pope’s first big win as the coach at Big Blue. Cooper Flagg still had a terrific game with 29 points and 11 rebounds. However, 2 costly late turnovers put the nail in the coffin on the Blue Devils. Duke will be fine, this loss doesn’t say a lot other than the team is young. They’ll gain experience throughout this year, watch out for Duke when March hits. Kentucky’s win says way more. That the experienced Mark Pope’s team is here and is ready to compete. Good win for the Wildcats.

No Edey, No Problem- The Boilermakers may not have back-to-back National Player of the Year anymore in Zach Edey, but that doesn’t mean Purdue is in a rebuilding phase. They hosted #2 Alabama and came out with an impressive 87-78 win. Trey Kauffman–Renn scored 28 points and was flawless for Purdue. Braden Smith is the most valuable player for Matt Painter’s team, as he had 17 points and 10 assists. Fletcher Loyar had 17 as well. Mark Sears for Alabama had an ok game with 15 points, but didn’t take over like he normally would. Former KU commit turned Alabama player Labaron Philon had 18, but fouled out with 2 minutes left. Nate Oat’s Crimson Tide will be fine as they learned a lot playing a tough team in an insane environment. The Crimson Tide are still championship contenders even with this loss. Matt Painter’s squad just jumped into the National Championship contender spot after a great win.

UPSETTSSSS- There was only one key upset this week as #9 Arizona falls to Wisconsin 103-88 in a free throw competition. Now, they did play the game. However, there was a combined 87 free throws shot by both teams. Wisconsin’s leading scorer, John Tonje had 42 points, but went 21-22 from the free throw line. Tonje only averaged 2.5 points per game for the Missouri Tigers. This massive increase has been a huge bump for the Badgers The Badgers looked good in a very ugly game. Tommy Lloyd’s team did not play well, Caleb Love only had 6 points on 2-13 shooting. Arizona needs to play a lot better if they want to compete in the Big 12.