NCAA Basketball: 10 biggest takeaways from opening day of 2020-21 season

7. Mississippi State may be really bad folks

When talking about the SEC bottom-tier, it usually is about either Vanderbilt and Georgia. But I’m not sure if many people realize how much production Mississippi State lost this offseason, along with not having much to replace it. Without Reggie Perry, Nick Weatherspoon, or Robert Woodard, the Bulldogs are asking a lot from sophomore DJ Stewart Jr. to be the star of the team this season.

Stewart Jr. had 12 points on 5/18 shooting but was still the best player on the team in their 53-42 loss to Clemson, a mid-tier ACC team. Mississippi State had just six players score and made just 30% of their overall shot attempts. Unfortunately, it’s hard to imagine how much better they can get without any depth or real star-power. The Bulldogs will have to fight to avoid the last place in the SEC standings.

8. Gonzaga may have an easier time in the WCC than expected

Gonzaga has a huge matchup with the Kansas Jayhawks today but regardless of the result, they’ll be fine in terms of making the NCAA Tournament with a high seed. BYU, the projected second-place team in the WCC, beat D-II Westminster, 108-59 in an expected result. Pepperdine had a solid 86-72 victory over UC-Irvine and will have a good matchup against UCLA.

Yet there was still plenty of bad within the conference. Saint Mary’s losing to Memphis was acceptable on paper but outside of a now-healthy Matthias Tass (15 points and 6 rebounds), they looked completely overmatched against any kind of athleticism. Their shooting woes (1/18 from deep) also is concerning.

San Francisco falling to UMass-Lowell earlier in the day also is a problem, since they’re projected as a top-4 team in the league as well. Outside of a road game at BYU, Gonzaga may not have a single-digit game in conference play.