NCAA Basketball: What we learned from opening days of 2019-20 season

What have we learned through the first few days of the new NCAA Basketball season? Here are the biggest takeaways in a new Rauf Report.

Yes, we’re only a few days into the new NCAA basketball season, but thanks to volume-heavy slates early in the week, every team in the country as played their opener by now.

The Champions Classic somewhat delivered on its opening night promise. Despite sloppy play from all four teams involved (supposedly the top four teams in the country) it did give us two close games and a new star in Kentucky’s Tyrese Maxey. We have already taken a look at the biggest takeaways from the event – what have we learned elsewhere?

The main story from the opening week as unfortunately centered on Memphis and star freshman big man James Wiseman, who was declared ineligible by the NCAA after head coach Penny Hardaway – then a high school coach – helped finance Wiseman’s move from Nashville to Memphis. They are fighting the NCAA on this as they claimed he was cleared in this matter back in May, and they’re playing him in the meantime. I go deeper into the situation here and take a look at what the Tigers may look like if Wiseman does have to miss any amount of time.

In terms of on-court matters, sloppy play was a trend across the country as more teams scheduled high-profile games for opening night. Without tune-ups against lesser competition, turnovers were largely up while shooting percentages were down. It didn’t result in any major upset, but it did serve as yet another reminder that everyone will look vastly different in March compared to how they look in November.

Many of those big games occurred in the ACC with their slate of conference games on Tuesday and Wednesday, designed to debut their new 20-game conference schedule and feature the new ESPN-backed ACC Network.

It was strange to see conference foes going after each other so early in the season (with smaller-than-normal crowds for most) and the games lacked the intensity we’re used to seeing. The epidemic of sloppy play certainly had a role in that, yet that doesn’t mean teams didn’t show us glimpses of who they truly are, both positively and negatively.

For Louisville, a dominant 13-point road win over Miami validated much of the preseason hype surrounding this group. For Syracuse, well, fans are wondering if they should hit the panic button right now.

This Rauf Report starts with the Orange and what we learned from their 48-34 loss to Virginia.