NCAA Basketball: Smart’s hot seat, Duke’s weakness and more takeaways
By Brian Rauf
The SEC/Big 12 Challenge highlighted the past exciting week of NCAA Basketball. Here are all the biggest takeaways from the week’s action.
The NCAA Basketball season is heating up as the calendar will flip to February in a couple of days and, with Selection Sunday just around the corner, every game carries just a bit more meaning.
We saw that come to fruition over the past few days as several teams picked up resume-boosting wins.
This weekend’s light slate was highlighted by the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, which the Big 12 won for the first time since the 2015-16 season. However, it was the SEC that came out on top in the two most notable games from the event.
Kentucky continued their hot streak with a convincing win over Kansas in a game that showed the strengths and weaknesses for both teams. The Wildcats excelled in transition, on defense, and down low as they abuse KU with their size, while the Jayhawks also struggled offensively when they couldn’t get Dedric Lawson the ball.
It also showcased something I’ve been saying for several weeks now – this Kansas team simply isn’t great outside of Allen Fieldhouse. We’ve seen The Phog work its magic as recently as Monday when they came back to beat Iowa State. However, the Jayhawks have now lost four of their last five games away from home, including defeats at the hands of Arizona State and West Virginia.
They were not equipped to handle the loss of Udoka Azubuike. Lawson has been stellar and is every bit of the National Player of the Year contender he was hyped as coming into the season, but the rest of the team simply isn’t playing at the typical level we’ve come to expect from Kansas.
The biggest upset in the challenge came in Athens as Georgia handed Texas a double-digit loss. It’s the latest in a string of disappointing defeats for the Longhorns, raising questions about head coach Shaka Smart’s future at Texas.
We start this week’s Rauf Report with the latest from Austin, why Smart’s job is on the line and more takeaways from the past week of action.