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NCAA Basketball Roundtable: Champions Classic recap, upsets, and mid-majors

By Tristan Freeman

Nov 12, 2021; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self reacts to a call against the Tarleton State Texans during the first half at Allen Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 12, 2021; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; Kansas Jayhawks head coach Bill Self reacts to a call against the Tarleton State Texans during the first half at Allen Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /
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NCAA Basketball Paolo Banchero Duke Blue Devils (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) /

It’s been a great opening week of the 2021-22 NCAA Basketball season. We’ve had a trio of top-10 matchups going on, along with a number of quality games that went down to the wire. There also was a bunch of upsets that involved mid-major programs overcoming power conference opponents.

To help sort out everything that happened, I’ve created a roundtable of sorts including four talented writers and contributors for Busting Brackets, who all answered some easy questions. Check out the participants for this week’s roundtable and what they had to say.

Cooper Watson – @coopertwatson

Matt Melton – @matt_melton20

Benjamin Zacher – @beezacher

Lauren Rosenberg – @lrosenberg101

1. What was your biggest takeaway from the Champions Classic matchups?

Watson

Seeing Duke and Kentucky playing a legitimately high-level basketball game was oddly refreshing after seeing them both struggle last season. College basketball is at its best when the Blue Bloods are relevant.

Melton

While Duke got most of the shine from their win over Kentucky, the performance of Oscar Tshiebwe is my biggest takeaway. Dropping 17/20, this was only a glimpse of how the West Virginia transfer can take over a game for the Wildcats, and will not be the last double-double that Tshiebwe collects this season.

Zacher

Duke and Kentucky are back.  Like, these weren’t just two struggling blue-blood programs beating up on each other – there is some genuine, proven talent on these two rosters.  Paolo Banchero is living up to expectations, and Wendell Moore finally looks as if he has taken the next step to be a reliable weapon for the Blue Devils.  Kentucky, meanwhile, despite losing, is thriving with its influx of transfers – which feels unusual to say compared to the usual one-and-dones – and Oscar Tshiebwe is playing the best basketball of his life.

It’s hard to properly grasp just how good Kansas really is, with Jalen Wilson out, but considering the Jayhawks still topped Michigan State by 13, then I think it’s fair to say that all three blue-bloods are in good shape to be legitimate contenders.  I’m not sure I’m convinced that Duke and Kentucky are on the same level as Kansas yet, but this was an incredibly optimistic showing for both.

Rosenberg

My biggest takeaway from the Champions Classic matchups was how tightly contested both of the games were. I expected Duke and Kentucky to have everyone on the edge of their seats. That’s the exact opposite of what I thought of the Kansas-Michigan State matchup. MSU had me thinking that they’d pull the upset over KU. Nevertheless, the Jayhawks avoided the upset to secure the win.

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