NCAA Basketball: Why the “blue bloods” are struggling so far in 2020-21

So far in this NCAA Basketball season, the annual heavyweight programs aren’t looking like legit national title contenders.

A Blue Blood NCAA Basketball program is a member of a noble or prominent family, meaning you have to fit certain criteria, and that is winning. As of today, the blue blood programs are not doing that, nor do they look impressive. Ask yourself how many “one-and-done” guys do these teams have? Kentucky may have two or three in Brandon Boston, Isaiah Jackson, and Terrence Clarke, and Duke potentially have one in Jalen Johnson.

I get it, it’s early, and the majority of these teams are playing a bunch of freshmen and grad-transfers who didn’t have much practice time together, but let’s be honest, we expected more from these programs. Today, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, and Virginia are 13-7 as for last year they were 14-2 combined.

Duke Blue Devils

This is arguably the worst backcourt Coach K has in his tenure at Duke. In the past six years, the Blue Devils have had great PG play from the Jones brother (Tre and Tyus) and to a lesser degree Frank Jackson and Trevon Duval. Not to mention they had NBA ready level perimeter players, Brandon Ingram, Jayson Tatum, Justice Winslow, Gary Trent Jr, and Luke Kennard.

Right now, the Blue Devils have neither of these options. Between there four backcourt players DJ Steward, Jordan Goldwire, Wendell Moore, and Jeremy Roach they are shooting for a grand total of 11 for 38 from three (28.9 percent). Their backcourt doesn’t scare anybody, and it is hard for them to run good offense and get the ball to their better players in Matthew Hurt and Jalen Johnson.

Kentucky Wildcats

Coach Calipari lost everyone last year, only returned 7.6 percent of their minutes and six percent of their scoring from a year ago. However, the biggest issue the Wildcats have had since winning a National Championship in 2012 is shooting. They have a bunch of NBA talent, but they never have consistent shooting. Once again, like clockwork, they can’t shoot.

They are shooting 25.8 percent from three and haven’t found who ‘the guy’ is yet. Kentucky has now lost three games in a row to Richmond at home, Kansas, and Georgia Tech. What has kept them in games has been team defense, but it shocked me yesterday to see them get away from that.

Kansas Jayhawks

Since the NCAA and FBI are investigating the Jayhawks for paying players, they haven’t been able to recruit at a high-level like previous years. Yes, they brought in highly sought after recruit Bryce Thompson. Although he is talented, he isn’t as talented as Josh Jackson from a few years ago. Thompson so far doesn’t have the same impact on both ends as former lottery pick Jackson.

Also, some of their veteran players haven’t gotten better. Ochai Agbaji hasn’t gotten better since his freshmen year. As a freshman, he looked like a potential lottery pick going forward if he developed his shooting. Now he’s a junior and hasn’t developed like most assumed he would.

Agbaji does lead the Jayhawks in scoring, but if he would have developed properly, he wouldn’t still be in college. Also, David McCormack, a former Mcdonald’s All-American, hasn’t popped. It is tough to replace a physical presence like Udoka Azubuike, but he hasn’t lived up to expectations.

North Carolina Tar Heels

Since 2012, the Tar Heels have had three NBA lottery picks. A year ago, they were relying on grad-transfer to produce the majority of their perimeter scoring. What happened to the great Carolina wing players? What happened to the historic recruiting classes of yesteryear? The Tar Heels right now don’t impress me. Caleb Love doesn’t look like an NBA lottery pick like many hoped he would.

I am used to seeing a highly efficient Carolina team, right now they are the complete opposite. They are shooting 41.9 percent from the field and 27 percent from three. They don’t run good offense, and what keeps them in games in offensive rebounding, which is a Carolina staple. Other than that, this team will be going home on the first weekend in March.

Virginia Cavaliers

We know the Cavaliers as a tough defensive team, and when they won a National Championship in 2018, they were great defensively, but they could score. Deandre Hunter, Ty Jerome, and Kyle Guy are all NBA players. UVA doesn’t have anybody on their roster like that at the moment. I am a fan of Kihei Clark, but in late-game scenarios, he can’t get them into sets and turns the ball over a lot.

What scares me the most they are having a hard time getting to 70 PPG. You will not beat most teams if you can’t score 70 points. Despite having an easy schedule early, they haven’t looked good. Losing to San Francisco and struggling with Kent State should scare Cavs fans knowing ACC play is right around the corner.

It’s still early in the season, and these teams are going to get better. Many of these teams have several moving pieces from a year ago, but these are supposed to be upper-class programs of college basketball. Conference play is a little over a week away, hopefully, for these fan bases, they can turn it around soon, or there will be madness going on but before March.