Most of the top 25 teams in action won handily in home games against mid-majors last night, but the marquee matchup ended with the Buffalo Bulls continuing their impressive start by knocking off Syracuse 71-59 in the Carrier Dome. There were a couple of other intriguing games involving Big East teams that might find themselves on the wrong side of the bubble as both Xavier and Creighton failed to capitalize on key chances to pick up power five road wins in losing to Missouri and Oklahoma respectively. Here's some random takes/observations from what I was able to watch.
- Buffalo Stays Undefeated: It's time for fans, whether casual or obsessed to take notice of what's going on in Buffalo. The Bulls are now 11-0 after handling a struggling Syracuse team by double-digits. This team isn't going anywhere, with five seniors among its top seven in minutes played. CJ Massinburg and Nick Perkins both can exploit certain matchups, and should become household names as this team continues to roll. Buffalo has one more chance to big up another gigantic road win Friday when it heads to Marquette. With a win there, the chances of an undefeated regular season will intensify.
- Problems in the Big East: As I mentioned earlier, the Big East had a chance to pick up a couple of quality-to-decent road wins last night, but went 0-2. Xavier was supposed to fall off a bit with the loss of Coach Chris Mack to Louisville, and the graduation of Trevon Bluiett and JP Macura. Things might be worse than imagined however with the Musketeers now sitting at 7-5 and with only one top-100 KenPom win over an Illinois team that might be the worst team in the Big Ten. NCAA Tournament hopes seem pretty bleak at this point. Meanwhile, things aren't as dire for Creighton, but one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country shouldn't start out a game only making one three in the first half in it wants to win on the road. The Blue Jays ceiling is a little higher, and losing to an Oklahoma team that's stock is on the rise won't kill them long-term. But neither of these teams will have nearly as many opportunities as in past seasons to enhance their postseason resumes in conference play with Marquette as the only team currently ranked.
- Oklahoma "Ewing Theory": I'll spare anyone the explanation of what this means, (just check the link to get the gist of it) but it covers the phenomenon of a team inexplicitly getting better when it loses it's best player. Trae Young went to the NBA after a polarizing season that had him go from the next Steph Curry, to a black hole that shot too much and didn't involve his teammates. His teammates had to essentially listen to how garbage they were all season as the Sooners flamed out rapidly by March. Well now most of that supporting cast is back, and what's followed is a 10-1 start. Christian James has become the best player on the team after playing in the shadows with Buddy Hield as a freshman, and Young last year. The Sooners boast the 10th best defense in the land according to KenPom, and are doing it with a bunch of lengthy, tough wings, and with the help of two graduate transfer guards combining to serve as the primary playmakers. I would have thought Oklahoma would be at or near the bottom of the Big 12, but now this seems like a 5 or 6 seed come March.
- Player of the Night: Jeremiah Tilmon was just part of Missouri's standout freshman class last season, but definitely took a backseat to the hype around the brothers' Porter. Now Michael Porter Jr is in the NBA, and Jontay Porter is out for the season. With this being the first time I've seen Mizzou play this season, it's evident that Tilmon looks like a different player. He seemed much more poised, and was able to throw up a 23-point, 10-rebound effort against a Xavier team that has a couple of decent interior defenders (shout out Zach Hankins). Tilmon looks like he's gotten a lot better, and Missouri could end up finishing a bit higher in the SEC than I expected.
- Takes?!?: Is it time for Jim Boeheim to hang it up? As a high schooler, would you want to play for Syracuse? If you do, you're always going to have to answer questions at the next level about your defensive abilities because you're playing in a zone your whole college career. You're not necessarily going to have much support if you want to go to next level early, with Boeheim one of the most vocal coaches I remember criticizing former players like Tyler Ennis and Malachi Richardson leaving early (not that they're exactly killing it at the next level, but I digress). They've had success in the NCAA Tournament, but they really haven't had a great regular season since 2014 when they were a three seed. This season was supposed to be more promising with all five starters returning, but Cuse is now 7-4 with an offense that lacks outside shooting and a reliable post-option.
(Rich Barnes, Getty Images)
- Bonus Content: I didn't catch any of these games, but the Pac 12 is kind of garbage right now. USC lost to Santa Clara at home, and Stanford lost to San Jose State. This is after the lone ranked team in the conference lost to Vanderbilt on Monday night. This could be the rare power conference that only gets 2-3 bids on Selection Sunday, or maybe worse.
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