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Midseason CBB Takeaways: Purdue on the cusp of a U.Va. redemption year?
By: William Smythe As we all likely expected, parity has dominated the college basketball landscape. The transfer portal and NIL has evolved – whether you like it or not – to even the playing field, especially in conferences such as the Big East and Big 12 (cannibalization inbound). It’s grown increasingly difficult to take road
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Why you should be excited about college basketball’s return
By: William Smythe Don’t get me wrong, college football is great. It’s hard to recreate the thrill of a fall Saturday once the season ends, and I often forget about “how good it truly was” in the post-NY6 era. However, college basketball is the key which unlocks arguably the greatest upcoming months for sports fans
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Top 25 CBB Preseason Rankings
By: P5P Staff TOP 25 P5P PRESEASON RANKINGS: 1. Michigan State G: Tyson Walker (14.8 ppg) G: A.J. Hoggard (12.9 ppg) G: Jaden Akins (9.8 ppg) F: Malik Hall (8.9 ppg) C: Xavier Booker Key Bench Players: C Mady Sissoko, G Jeremy Fears, F Jaxon Kohler, F Coen Carr, F Gehrig Normand Key Additions: Fr.
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Dan Hurley: The unrelenting pursuit of perfection
By: Spencer McCraw For his entire life, Dan Hurley has been chasing something, always overshadowed and overlooked. As the son of one of the greatest high school basketball coaches ever and the brother to a two-time national champion in Bobby, the littlest Hurley has always been hungry to create his own legacy. Now in his
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National Championship Preview: Who takes the cake in an unprecedented year
By: George Ahearn National Championship day is here, and whilst this day would feel more exciting if they weren’t tipping off past 9:00 PM on a Monday, the buzz is palpable in the college basketball world. Tonight, we have No. 4 seed UConn matching up against No. 5 seed San Diego State. UConn’s run to
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Programs with questions to answer in March, alarming trends to correct
By: William Smythe With the bulk of the 2023 NCAA Tournament in the rearview, it’s time to examine which programs might be on the verge of some serious “self-questioning” after early exits. We can potentially attribute the frequent upsets to one of the most chaotic seasons in history, yet there exist bona-fide programs which haven’t
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The Cinderella Story: Which Underdog(s) Will Dance to the Elite Eight
By: George Ahearn In our eight games that make up the Sweet 16, each one has a team considered the underdog. Whether it’s a 10-point underdog like Princeton against Creighton, or a 1.5 point underdog in Gonzaga against UCLA. Whatever the “line” is, there will be a team seen by most as the favorite to
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The path for each team: How we arrived at our Sweet 16
By: George Ahearn The first weekend of the NCAA tournament has concluded, and we can finally take a breath and settle ourselves before we are thrown back into the fray on Thursday when the Sweet 16 kicks off. Before the “tournament inside the tournament” commences, let’s revisit the chaos of the first two rounds and
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Matchups to watch in March: Analyzing the Round of 64
By: William Smythe It’s finally here. With one day of play-ins already in the rearview, the Big Dance is shaping up to surprise in arguably the most unpredictable year of CBB in recent history. No one-seed is invincible – despite overall no. 1 Alabama’s recent dominance – and the 12/13 line is one of the
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Previewing Friday’s slate: Another step towards Selection Sunday
By: William Smythe Surprisingly, nothing that shocking happened yesterday. St. John’s and DePaul squandered major opportunities to upset the first and second-seeded teams in the Big East – Marquette and Xavier, respectively – yet fell in the final minutes. Virginia put the nail in the coffin for North Carolina’s hopes to make the NCAA Tournament,
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Saturday preview: Drama in the ACC, a Big 12 road gauntlet and must-see TV in Westwood
By: William Smythe The last weekend of the regular season is upon us. Conference tournament seeding and regular season titles still hang in the balance – well, at least in the ACC – while several teams have already clinched their respective conferences. Kansas, Alabama, UCLA, Purdue and Marquette have already gained the regular season title
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Bubble Talk: Who will hear their name called come Selection Sunday
By: George Ahearn As conference tournament season kicks off, the notorious “bubble watch” intensifies. What makes bubble watch so intriguing is the mixed bag of teams that rest in this uneasy position. We have teams like North Carolina – who are threatening to become the first preseason no. 1 ranked team to not make the
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The unlikely candidates for the Big Dance: Who could save their season in the conference tournaments?
By: William Smythe The beautiful part of March lies in the chaos. We may think we know how the chips will fall, and we may count certain teams out of the Big Dance. Yet, even the likes of Georgetown, Louisville and Cal – a combined six conference wins across the three – have a chance
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Saturday’s spread: Gonzaga rolls in silence, Virginia struggles, Purdue falls and more
By: William Smythe Whew, what a day. Flipping through the channels, I landed on the last minutes of the Arizona-Arizona State matchup in Tucson – a classic, no doubt. After a late foul against the Wildcats extended the lead to 88-86, the Sun Devils’ Devan Cambridge took the inbound, put the ball on the deck
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Super Tuesday tune-up: Analysis, predictions and more
By: William Smythe You need not wait long after Saturday for blockbuster matchups. Now dubbed as “Super Tuesday,” the spread of tonight’s games will further pit top-25 teams against each other in a dash towards conference tournaments. It’s already been a wild post-weekend frenzy: No. 3 Kansas already picked up a massive 73-68 road win
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It’s never too early: Best betting odds for the March Madness crown
By: George Ahearn There are 13 total days until the calendar flips to March, meaning only one thing- it’s about the time where various Final Four combinations endlessly swirl around my head until the tournament unfolds. The turmoil we’ve seen within our AP top-ten has me hopeful for one of the more chaotic tournaments in
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Houston Cougars spotlight: A team hungry for March
By: George Ahearn The Houston Cougars have been knocking on the door of a national title appearance the last two years, and the knocks have only been getting louder.Two years ago, the Cougars traveled all the way to the Final Four, where they were defeated by eventual national champion Baylor. This squad was led by
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How to fix UNC: It starts with forgetting last year’s title run
By: George Ahearn The UNC Tar Heels had one of the greater underdog title runs in recent memory last year, as the No. 8 seed entering the tournament made a magical run that ended at the hands of Kansas in the national title game. In only Hubert Davis’ first year at the helm, he led
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Saturday’s spread: Analyzing Tennessee’s misery, Alabama’s dominance and controversy in Charlottesville
By: William Smythe So long for the Super Bowl hype. That’s right, America, this weekend belongs to the college basketball world. Once again, the thin security blanket that the top-five, top-ten teams in the nation hide under has been compromised – sorry Arizona and Tennessee. Conference play – largely in the Big 12, ACC and
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Making sense of this week’s AP Poll: The storylines that matter
By: George Ahearn As we bend the corner approaching conference tournament season, the AP rankings become more and more interesting to analyze. Who’s moving up, who’s moving down, who’s jumping who; all becomes important after weeks of relatively arbitrary rankings. This week provides us with multiple, varying discussions as we try and shape our mental image of who
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The Race to the Garden: Who will win the Big East?
By: Spencer McCraw It’s February now, and it’s starting to feel like every game is a must win as the top teams race to the top of the Big East. Right now Xavier and Marquette both sit atop the league with 11-2 in conference records, while Providence (9-3) and Creighton (9-3) are right on their
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The February look-ahead: Who’s making the Sweet 16?
By: George Ahearn It’s never too early to start making predictions for March, and this season – being especially keen to the upset – makes it all the more difficult, yet nonetheless entertaining. Florida’s upset of No. 2 Tennessee yesterday marks the 10th time this season a team ranked in the AP top-two has fallen
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The ‘Hoos are rolling, and Tony Bennett has his best team since 2019
By: George Ahearn The excitement from the ‘Hoos’ national title run in 2019 has worn off, yet fans in Charlottesville are eager for a Tony Bennett team to return to the illustrious Final Four, rightfully so. What truly satisfies college sports fans is not just one national title, but instead multiple titles – and quickly.
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Super Tuesday Preview: Headlined by Another B12 Slugfest
By: George Ahearn The infamous Super Tuesday has arrived again, and once again we are blessed with a beautiful slate of games. Today, the slate is headlined by a rematch of Kansas v Kansas State, a red-hot Indiana visiting a buzzing Maryland, and Iowa looking to slow down surprisingly unstoppable Northwestern, and a whole lot
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The Tide gets carried away, the Big 12 ascends and Creighton dominates
By: William Smythe We all just find ourselves waiting for Saturday. This past one was no different, with a particular interest in mind for college basketball viewers nationwide: the randomly-timed yet much-needed Big 12/SEC challenge. Instead of divvying up the games across a several day period – as other matchups such as the ACC/Big Ten
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Big East Player of the Year Predictions
By: Spencer McCraw There have been many great players this year in the Big East. The preseason choice for Player of the Year was Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, then UConn’s Adama Sanogo put his name in the conversation; now, Xavier’s Souley Boum is leading the charge. Let’s take a look at some of the players controlling
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Super Tuesday preview: What to watch out for
By: George Ahearn Tuesday college basketball – infamously donned “Super Tuesday” – brings joy to the middle of the week blues with a weekly-occurring deep slate of college basketball games. The satisfaction of flipping between games across varying ESPN channels from 7:00 to 11:00 brings limitless entertainment on a typically ordinary Tuesday. Whether it’s the
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Big East Update: Xavier reigns supreme
By: Spencer McCraw It’s been a wild year in the Big East. There have been six teams ranked in the top-25 and right now they have four – the second most of any league in the country. Let’s see how all of the teams stack up against each other. Tier 1: Xavier Is there a
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Alabama has earned the no. 1 spot, despite what the polls may say
By: William Smythe Take a long, hard look at the resumes of the nation’s top 25 and tell me there’s a better one than that of the Tide. We’ve been trained to believe that – regardless of talent in previous years – Alabama cannot, and will not, transition from a football to a basketball school
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Wednesday recap: Top teams in trouble again
By: Spencer McCraw If Tuesday night was any indication for what’s to come in college basketball, then Wednesday did nothing but prove to us how hectic these next two months will be. Out of the seven top-25 teams that played, only three (UVA, Marquette, and Auburn) held their ground against lower-ranked opponents. Let’s see what
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Quick roundup of Tuesday’s slate: Cyclones, Wildcats and Demon Deacons strike
By: William Smythe I can’t recall a Tuesday as hectic as what we experienced yesterday. With nine AP ranked teams in play, two top-ten teams fell while others climbed the continuously-changing ladder in the power rankings. Bedlam – outside of Houston’s consistency at no. 1 – defined what was largely a Big 12-dominated gameday. Disclaimer:
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The most lethal team in the nation: Jamie Dixon has TCU basketball firing on all cylinders
By: George Ahearn TCU fans are undoubtedly still recovering from their decimation in the national championship at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs, despite recording one of their best seasons in program history. However, I am here to provide TCU fans with some hope – even immediate hope – although it may seem bleak at
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11 AP-ranked teams fall on Saturday: Who lost (or won) big time?
By: William Smythe Nine AP ranked teams fell to unranked opponents Saturday. Some were understandable – San Diego St. losing to New Mexico, Florida upsetting Missouri, NC State defending PNC Arena – but some defy all logic – even college basketball’s. Which of the Goliaths fell the hardest? Kentucky on the right track after a
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The best home environments in ’22-23: Rupp Arena, step aside
By: William Smythe The usual suspects are out-of-play here. Well, somewhat. The Dukies have defended Cameron – yet less convincingly – and several other players have emerged from the fog in a season dominated by home-court advantage. Maybe someday we’ll analyze the worst basketball environments in ‘23 – has to be the KFC! Yum Center,
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The surprises of the year: Blue-bloods bracing, Big 12 rejoicing
By: William Smythe The preseason AP College Basketball poll is never a strong indicator of what the season will hold. Would many – including myself – have predicted Purdue’s dominance and North Carolina’s unprecedentedly brief stint in the top-25 after holding the no. 1 overall ranking? I thought not. Surprises galore have arisen in the
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Hey, the SEC is a basketball conference too
By: Spencer McCraw Over the last three years, the Southeastern Conference – a college football powerhouse – has risen to become one of the premier basketball conferences in the nation. Gone are the days of domination by Kentucky and Florida, though. This is a new breed of basketball that emphasizes physicality and electric home courts.
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What to make of the Big Ten: The cruelty of parity strikes again
By: Spencer McCraw Due to the state of college basketball today with NIL deals and the ease of the transfer portal, parity exists at a higher level than any year prior. This trend is no different in the Big Ten. Sure, Purdue is at the top of the conference, but it doesn’t really feel like
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Anarchy spreading throughout college basketball: ACC self-sabotaging, Providence holding court and more
By: William Smythe College football has cast a shadow over the anarchy spreading throughout the college ‘hoops landscape in recent days. We are often quick to assume that each year will bring a March Madness of heightened volatility, but, this season might just take the cake. Zero teams are now undefeated early into conference play,
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New Year’s Resolutions for Everyone: Watch more Big 12 hoops
By: Spencer McCraw I don’t think it’s an overreaction at all to say that this year’s national champion will come from the Big 12 – they could realistically get eight teams in the dance, so they’ll have a good shot! Now that they are in the full swing of conference play, let’s take a look
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Is Coach Cal on his way out? Panic rising in Lexington
By: Spencer McCraw What’s going on with Kentucky? Ever since Coach John Calipari took over this historic program in 2009, they have demanded a certain level of respect around the country. Those days – it seems – are fading fast. During the COVID year of 2020, the Wildcats saw their first losing season under Coach
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The Big East Breakdown: New Year’s Edition
By: Spencer McCraw The Good: The Musketeers Dethrone UConn It’s 2023, and Sean Miller is quickly returning to the top of the college basketball world. Miller’s teams in years past have been focused mainly on defense, and then the offense would work itself out. While sitting out for the entirety of last season, Miller studied
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College basketball’s mid-season superlatives: Edey keeps trucking
By: Spencer McCraw We’re almost halfway through the season, so let’s take a look at some mid-season superlatives. Player Of the Year Zach Edey This goes without saying, but Zach Edey is the clear favorite for Player of the Year. No one player has been as instrumental for their team’s success than the big man
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ACC Power Rankings, vol. 3
By: Luke Stone The past week of basketball has brought some upheaval to the ACC Power Rankings. No. 21 Virginia Tech and no. 22 Miami now own the conference’s two longest winning streaks, North Carolina seems to have figured things out again, and NC State looks ready to permanently join the upper echelon of a
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Big East Update: ‘Nova slowly climbing the ladder
By: Spencer McCraw With Big East play officially underway, let’s take a look at how the teams stack up thus far this season. Tier 1: UConn It’s no surprise to see UConn up here alone. There are not many in the country that are better than the team which Dan Hurley has assembled, and each
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Patience for Blue Devil, Cavalier fans after unexpected ACC defeats
By: William Smythe The ACC madness reared its ugly head on Tuesday night, with Wake Forest knocking off Duke in an emphatic fashion and Miami upending Virginia in a heavyweight, top-25 bout. The question marks are further surrounding the Atlantic Coast Conference: will Miami find its way into the top spot, and do either Duke
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The Good, Bad and Ugly from a CBB Saturday (and week) to remember
By: William Smythe With a slate that the basketball gods couldn’t even have dreamt of, eighteen top-25 teams took the court on Saturday in a jam-packed, wild day in the college landscape. The Good: Jarace Walker, Tar Heel magic, UConn’s versatility It’s nearly impossible to find three “goods” out of a pot of so many
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ACC Power Rankings, vol. 2
By: Luke Stone Despite winning the ACC/Big Ten challenge 8-6, ACC basketball didn’t feel like winners two weeks ago. On December 1, preseason no. 1 North Carolina was in the midst of a four-game losing streak, Duke was days removed from a 19-point drubbing at the hands of now no. 1 Purdue, and Louisville still
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Top takeaways from another busy week of CBB: ‘Bama steals victory away
By: William Smythe Here’s an instruction manual for this year’s college basketball season: when you win an emotionally-charged, ranked game, DON’T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN THE GAME AFTER! How many times have we seen this narrative emerge in 2022, especially after recent losses from no. 20 Iowa State, no. 17 Illinois and no. 13 Maryland.
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The Big East Breakdown: Week 4 Roundup
By: Spencer McCraw The Good: The debut of Cam Whitmore A recent NBA mock draft has Villanova freshman Cam Whitmore going sixth overall, and Saturday night was the forward’s first opportunity to prove to the world why he should be selected that high. After battling a thumb injury for the first seven games of the
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My Goodness, what has happened to UNC? The good, the bad and the ugly of CBB
By: William Smythe As I write this, North Carolina just dropped a road contest to Virginia Tech – who held as much as an eighteen-point advantage over the Heels – in what is their fourth consecutive loss of the season. By virtue of such a result, Carolina is automatically launched into the ugly category. Cassell
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Virginia basketball’s emergence: What’s worked and what’s to come?
By: William Smythe I think we’ve reached the point in the season where we can finally escape nightmares of the National Invitational Tournament. The Virginia men’s basketball program – having suffered through mediocrity all of last year – is returning to prominence in a big way after racing out to a 6-0 start and a
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CBB rapid-fire roundup: ACC and Drew Timme in trouble, Arizona ascending
By: William Smythe Are you not entertained? Are…you…not…entertained? Let’s dive into some of the recent storylines from a college basketball season already living up to expectations. Suffice it to say that the blue-bloods are down, the Big East may be up and Zach Edey might just be our National Player of the Year. ACC is,
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The Big East Breakdown: Week 3 Roundup
By: Spencer McCraw The Good: UConn wins the Phil Knight Invitational The Huskies came, they saw, and they conquered the entirety of the Phil Knight Invitational field this past week in Portland. In their first game they faced off against Oregon, and the game was never close for the Ducks, with the Huskies taking a
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No Jaden Ivey? No Problem. The Boilermakers are still rolling
By: Spencer McCraw If you’re reading this, it may be too late to get on the bandwagon for the Purdue Boilermakers. At the end of Feast Week, Matt Painter’s squad stands at 6-0 after impressive victories over no. 6 Gonzaga and no. 8 Duke en route to a Phil Knight Legacy Championship. Let’s get the
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Week 3 not-so-overreactions: Creighton will win the Natty
By: Spencer McCraw As “famed” college basketball insider Jon Rothstein loves to say on Twitter anytime the Creighton Bluejays take the court: Omaha, somewhere in Middle America. After three weeks of play, Creighton sits high atop the Big East and is lauded as one of the best teams in the nation. How did we get
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ACC Basketball power rankings, including Louisville’s abysmal start
By: Luke Stone The ACC basketball picture is starting to take shape, and it looks exactly as most pundits thought it would. North Carolina, Duke, and Virginia are among the best teams in college basketball, and Boston College and Pitt are among the worst. But in the middle are several surprises that merit further analysis.
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The Big East Breakdown: Week 2 Roundup
By: Spencer McCraw Creighton Since struggling in their opening game against St. Thomas (MN), the Bluejays have outscored opponents 190-126. In their most recent outing, they dominated Holy Cross 94-65. The points came in bunches for center Ryan Kalkbrenner, who dropped a cool 22 points in 20 minutes. Guard Ryan Nembhard was poetic in the
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Villanova’s return to national prominence isn’t unlikely, it’s inevitable
By: William Smythe When Jay Wright abandoned his beloved Villanova program, a part of Delaware County died. The heart and soul of a hugely successful, “Fortune 500” program, Wright made the questionable move to take his talents to the broadcasting booth after retiring from the coaching grind – how do we feel about that, ‘Nova
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CBB’s New AP Poll: Alterations and agreements
By: William Smythe 1. North Carolina Who should be here: Houston Shame on North Carolina for their cupcake schedule. In light of their four wins against mid-majors – nearly all of which entailed some serious stress – the Tar Heels have done nothing to convince America that they are worthy of the top spot. I
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‘Zags, Bears and Bruins take a tumble in another unpredictable week of CBB
By: William Smythe The AP Poll Committee has some serious decisions to make come Monday. Are we witnessing one of the most chaotic starts to a college basketball season in recent memory? Did three top-10 teams really just fall (in a big way) over the span of three days? Yes, and don’t scratch your eyes,
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Champions Classic recap: We are ALL witnesses
By: William Smythe The Champions Classic delivered, and then some. Aside from the Armed Forces Classic last week, we were finally able to witness the blue-bloods compete with each other on a national stage – sorry, North Carolina, I guess you guys don’t make the cut. The Michigan State-Kentucky affair made an early case for
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Champions Classic Preview: Is Kentucky in trouble?
By: William Smythe The annual blockbuster of the Champions Classic will reappear tonight in Indianapolis. Featuring the likes of Michigan State, Kentucky, Kansas and Duke, the stars will be out in what should be our first introduction to the “contenders” in some heavyweight non-conference matchups. Frankly speaking, this past week of college basketball has been
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Overreactions after Week 1: Could UConn win the Big East?
By: Spencer McCraw What is happening in Storrs, Connecticut? Since Dan Hurley took over as the head coach of UConn five years ago, the Huskies have been steadily improving. Hurley took over a middling basketball program that was still reveling in its two championships in four years – one coming in 2011 and the second
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The Big East Breakdown: Week 1 Roundup
By: Spencer McCraw Creighton High expectations have surrounded the Bluejays all summer, and Monday was their first opportunity to showcase why they deserve to be ranked inside the top 10. St. Thomas (MN) kept the game close for all of the first half and some of the second. It took a wakeup call of a
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CBB Week 1 Wrap-Up: Who’s in the middle of a dumpster fire, who will weather the storm and more
By: William Smythe As NCAA fans, it is almost impossible to wrap our heads around the glorious co-existence of the dawn of college basketball and the postseason buzz around college football. For schools reeling in the football arena – think Virginia, for all of the Cavalier fans out there – feel free to turn your
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Top Ten of CBB: What to think of the AP Poll
By: William Smythe College basketball is around the corner, baby! And now, as the great insider Jon Rothstein has often quipped, “We sleep in May.” There’s no time to cut corners from here on out. It’s time for the reign of college basketball – a great complement to what has been a very fun college
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