The first day of the 2021-22 NCAA basketball season is upon us with upsets and impressive performances abound. As always, there’s room for some early overreactions as Power 5 teams were upset and mid-major made their presence felt on Day 1. Here’s a look at some early overreactions.
Duke & Kansas basketball early winners from the 2021 Champions Classic
Ochai Agbaji set the early tone for Kansas basketball, the favorite to win it all in the Big 12 Conference. He finished the Jayhawks victory with a bang, scoring a career-high 29 points along with two rebounds and two steals.
Agbaji put to rest a lot of talk surrounding Remy Martin’s addition to the rotation with a strong performance, going 9-of-17 from the floor, 3-of-6 from 3-point range and 8-for-8 from the free-throw line as the Jayhawks defeated the Spartans 87-74. Martin did finish with 15 points, six rebounds, and two assists in his debut, though he was overshadowed by Agbaji’s big game.
Trevor Keels put the entire world on notice that Paolo Banchero isn’t the only freshman to keep an eye on in the Duke basketball rotation. Keels put up a game-high 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the field along with three steals and two assists to show why the Duke coaching staff added him to the rotation in their 2021 recruiting class.
While Paolo Banchero was spectacular, Trevor Keels was definitely the story of the night in the Champions Classic. Emerged as Duke's primary creator and made great decisions operating out of ball screens all night. Will be in lottery conversations if this is the case all season. pic.twitter.com/tcPPvPmsAR
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) November 10, 2021
Keels certainly put the NCAA basketball world on notice of what he can do on the floor and took the pressure off the veterans in the process. He’s set to make quite a name for himself as a member of the Duke basketball program.