NCAA Basketball: Duke’s problems, Big 12/SEC Challenge among key questions

The upcoming Big 12/SEC Challenge along with a discussion of two of the top mid-major conferences are among the top topics for this week’s roundtable. Here are the contributing writers and their answers;

Jacob Zinkula – @1Perfectbracket

Andrew Tineo – @D_Tineo4

Karl Heiser – @karlheiser17

Anthony Brown – @ABrownSports 

Benjamin Zacher – @beezacher

1. Which team has bigger questions; Kansas or Tennessee?

Zinkula

The Jayhawks feel like a solid but flawed squad that will be a top 15-20 team all season long. The Volunteers are much harder to get a handle on. Tennessee has Final Four level-talent, but its lackluster performances against Florida and Missouri are definitely concerning.

While the Volunteers should be fine defensively going forward, its mid-range heavy offense (10th in SEC play) has been difficult to trust. John Fulkerson is the team’s leading scorer at 11.8 points per game, and while a balanced attack has its benefits, it’s unclear whether Tennessee has enough top-end offensive firepower.

Tineo

Both teams have glaring weaknesses and the two will matchup on Saturday. However, Kansas is in rare territory and has much more questions than answers. The Jayhawks have dropped three straight conference games for the first time since 2012-2013. There isn’t a consistent scorer on the team and the inside presence of Udoka Azubuike is being missed drastically.

Saturday’s game is a perfect example of how this Jayhawks team is different from all the others. Bill Self is among one of the best coaches in the country at finishing games on the road. Over the years, whether it has been Lubbock or Waco, Kansas teams finish games strong on the road.

There was never a sense of Kansas winning the game in Norman. Oklahoma controlled the game throughout and never trailed after a few minutes into the second half. There is not a consistent elite scorer and the defense near the rim is not nearly as good as last season.

Tennessee has had a bad week but has been more consistent over the season. They get a chance to bounce back against 9-7 Mississippi State. However, I’d say that game is more winnable than Kansas’s game over TCU.

Brown

Kansas has more questions because more is expected of Kansas as a top-tier team in the Big 12. They’ve lost three in a row, and from what I’ve seen in their last six games, it’s not like they can’t keep up with teams. They have the scorers to do so.

Not only that, but they have work to do when it comes to closing out on perimeter shooters, but I like how well they play off the ball. They have guys on the roster who make quick cuts to the basket. Forwards Jalen Wilson and David McCormick will be pivotal parts of their rise in the conference and the AP Poll.

Marcus Garrett is the glue guy for this team. He was a defensive force last year, and although he has battled through injuries recently, he’s still averaging 10 points, five rebounds, and four assists.

They have a five-game stretch that will be telling in terms of their potential moving forward. They have TCU, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State at home and No. 18 Tennessee and No. 11 West Virginia on the road. Oklahoma State, Tennessee, and West Virginia are must-win games. They are resume builders now as we head into the latter part of the season.

Heiser

I’d say Tennessee has the bigger questions. Kansas feels like much more of a known quantity because they’ve played a greater number of games against quality opponents (nine against the KenPom top 50). I’d say at this point we have a good sense of what the Jayhawks’ strengths and weaknesses are.

Tennessee, however, has only played six games against the KenPom top 50, going 3-3 in those games. The SEC isn’t giving them as much quality competition as the Big 12 is giving Kansas, and it almost feels like the Volunteers were just a placeholder at No. 6 in the polls until the voters figured out who actually belonged there. Tennessee is really solid defensively, but is their offense good enough to not be a major hindrance come March? It became apparent how damaging their lack of firepower could be when they lost by 26 points to Florida.

I just don’t feel like I have an accurate understanding of Tennessee at this point in the season. They could be the best team in the SEC, or they could be the fourth-best team in the SEC. It’s up in the air to me.

Zacher

Tennessee.  Kansas legitimately is not bad – but I don’t think they are a Final Four caliber team, either.  None of their losses are bad, outside of the effort against Texas – and they own solid wins over Creighton, Texas Tech, and West Virginia.  They have the talent to reach the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament – but people also need to realize that this is not necessarily as good of a Kansas team as we are accustomed to.  That can be chalked up to the lack of top-100 caliber recruits as a result of the FBI investigation.

Tennessee, though, is in big trouble.  Whatever switch flipped between the 2020 and 2021 calendar years has not been kind to the Volunteers.  In their six games so far this calendar year, they are averaging just 0.88 points per possession – and their highly touted defense is holding teams to a barely-better mark of 0.87 points.  That mark offensively is less than ideal – especially considering, in their last two games, that offensive points per possession number is 0.70.

The other issue that plagues Tennessee is the fact that they don’t have a go-to guy.  They have players who can score – they have three players who average double-digits, after all – but no one has shown they have the ability to take a game over.  In Tennessee’s 13 games this season, they have only had players score 20 points or more three times.  That’s insane.

Kansas warrants a little bit of leeway, too, considering just how good and deep the Big 12 actually is.  They’ll finish within the 4-6 range and it would be completely understandable.  But in the SEC, outside of Alabama, the league appears wide open.  Tennessee has already beaten Missouri, Florida has been up and down, and I don’t think anyone knows with LSU after their blowout at Kentucky.  The Vols have a perfect opportunity to compete for an SEC title – but the fact that they are now getting decimated by fellow conference schools is greatly concerning.