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NCAA Basketball Roundtable: ACC/Big Ten Challenge, early surprises of 2020-21

By Tristan Freeman

Dec 3, 2020; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes center Luka Garza (55) and guard Joe Wieskamp (10) and guard CJ Fredrick (5) and guard Jordan Bohannon (3) come off the court during the second half against the Western Illinois Leathernecks at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 3, 2020; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes center Luka Garza (55) and guard Joe Wieskamp (10) and guard CJ Fredrick (5) and guard Jordan Bohannon (3) come off the court during the second half against the Western Illinois Leathernecks at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports /
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NCAA Basketball ACC-Big Ten Challenge logo (Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images) /

The first NCAA Basketball roundtable of the season will feature some early takes so far of 2020-21.

We’re a couple of weeks into the 2020-21 NCAA Basketball season and there’s already plenty to take away from. Between top teams falling all over the top-25 and surprise contenders coming into play, this already unique season looks to have many twists and turns.

Everyone, including our own writers here at Busting Brackets, have opinions and take, so I’m doing another roundtable series this season. I’ll come out every Tuesday, featuring various different contributors for Busting Brackets. Here’s a look at the five participants for this week’s edition, along with their Twitter handles;

Jason Burgess – @CollegeHoopsGuy

Benjamin Zacher – @beezacker

Andrew Tineo – @D_Tineo4

Chris Thedinga – @CThedinga

Jacob Zinkula – @1PerfectBracket

1. Which team in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge needs a win the most?

Burgess

The Big Ten is the deepest conference in the country, and because of that, I’m going to go a little off the radar with this and say Penn State. The Nittany Lions have begun the season 2-1 under interim head coach Jim Ferry. After beating VMI and VCU on a last-second shot, they fell to Seton Hall in overtime after leading by 17.

Sophomore Seth Lundy has been fantastic, averaging 22 points and four rebounds. With conference play beginning next week, a win over Virginia Tech in the challenge will help them build upon that momentum before beginning the gauntlet of league play.

Zacker

I was initially going to go with Penn State – a team searching for a new identity that could’ve used a resume-building win after an impressive start – but their loss to Seton Hall was less than ideal, so I’m going to go with Virginia.  They plummeted from a top-4 spot after losing to San Francisco and did not look good at all against a middle-of-the-pack Kent State team.

If the Wahoos hope to climb back into the national championship contender conversation, they need a season-defining win, and beating Michigan State – the team that has now taken their place at number four – would do loads in reviving those expectations.

Tineo

Although this might be more of an obvious one, the team that needs this win the worst is playing quite possibly the hardest team in the other conference. After falling to 1-8 against Texas under Roy Williams, North Carolina needs that signature win. A road trip to face red hot Luke Garza is not ideal and North Carolina needs to dig deep to win this.

Thedinga

Virginia Tech.  The Hokies beat Villanova and immediately catapulted into the top 20. They followed that up with a performance where they narrowly held on against the 250th ranked KenPom team, VMI. They need to beat Penn State to prove they belong in the top 25 conversation. Tech was ranked 11th (of 15) in the ACC Preseason Poll.

Zinkula

Virginia. The Cavaliers have had a tough start to the season, falling to San Francisco and needing overtime to beat Kent St. Tony Bennett’s squad struggled early on last year as well, but this season’s team was supposed to be of a higher caliber (No. 4 preseason). Virginia should be a slight favorite when it hosts Michigan State on Wednesday, providing the perfect opportunity for a momentum-shifting win.

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