NCAA Basketball: Duke Blue Devils and USC Trojans lead Sunday Mailbag

Which team is the most surprising so far? – Brandon Carlson @BrandoTr3y

This is my favorite question for the week because it really made me think about what I have watched unfold over the last two weeks of the season. There are two teams that come to mind when talking about the most surprising, one is surprising for being a lot better than many thought they would be and the second one is a team who is surprisingly bad.

The team who has been a tremendous surprise because they are winning games that not many thought they would are the Winthrop Eagles. Winthrop was the overwhelming favorite to win the Big South this season again for the second straight year and they have one of the best mid-major rosters in college basketball. The point guard Chandler Vaudrin has been tremendous in both games the Eagles have played and he is one of the sole reasons Winthrop is 2-0.

Okay, 2-0 and they were the favorite to win the Big South… so what is so surprising about that?  Well, Winthrop has beaten two of the best mid-major teams in the country and both of them on the road. The Eagles went on the road and beat UNC Greensboro and Little Rock. Now Little Rock and Greensboro could be two teams who don’t to be very good, but they likely will be.

Those wins by the Eagles are two of the better early-season wins for any non-power five and with Winthrop now going straight into conference play they have put themselves in a good position to get a potential at large if they run through the Big South as many expect them to.

The team on the opposite end of the spectrum who has been surprisingly bad is the Washington Huskies. Washington finished dead last in the Pac 12 last year. Their season was frustrating last year considering they had two lottery picks on their roster a season ago. This year’s roster had some more experience and given the bottom half of the league, I figured Washington would be a little bit better this year.

The Huskies were never a team that was going to make the tournament this year but now they look like they may be one of the worst teams in the entire country. Through three games the team lacks an identity and they are having a tremendous time stopping anyone or putting the ball in the basket. It doesn’t appear to be getting any easier for head coach Mike Hopkins as the team’s best player Naz Carter was suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules to start the season.

Carter recently announced that he was going to withdraw from Washington and start his pro career. It was a huge blow to a season that was already spiraling out of control. Coach Hopkins has a huge buy out so it is going to be a few more seasons in Seattle before they can find another coach but it seems Washington may have hit rock bottom.

Washington has good talent and they are capable of making a run but it doesn’t look like that is going to happen this year. Washington just needs to hope they are not one of the worst teams in the country this year.