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NCAA Basketball Roundtable: Is Villanova still the best team in Big East?

By Tristan Freeman

Dec 12, 2021; Waco, Texas, USA; Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright reacts to a call against the Baylor Bears during the second half at Ferrell Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 12, 2021; Waco, Texas, USA; Villanova Wildcats head coach Jay Wright reacts to a call against the Baylor Bears during the second half at Ferrell Center. Mandatory Credit: Chris Jones-USA TODAY Sports /
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Florida State Seminoles forward Malik Osborne NCAA Basketball Fsu V Syracuse Mens Basketball163
Florida State Seminoles forward Malik Osborne NCAA Basketball Fsu V Syracuse Mens Basketball163 /

Another week, another NCAA Basketball team has been crowned No. 1 overall in the AP Poll. The reigning national champion Baylor Bears climbed up quickly in the rankings and benefitted from Purdue falling to Rutgers on a buzzer-beater to claim the top spot. Their dominant victory over Villanova drew praise for them, as well as concern for the Wildcats as well.

This week’s NCAA Basketball roundtable talks about that, along with some of the biggest surprises and disappointments of the 2021-22 season after one month. Here are this week’s participants, as well as their answers to the following five questions.

Bryan Mauro – @threecolorbeard

Jason Burgess – @Collegehoopsguy

Matt Melton – @matt_melton20

Karl Heiser – @karlheiser17

Benjamin Zacher -@beezacher

1. Which ACC team has been the most surprisingly disappointing so far this season?

Mauro

Since all of them is not an acceptable answer, Florida State is the easy choice here.  This is the first time in a long time that the Seminoles have struggled this bad under Leonard Hamilton.  It is strange because they are built the same way.

They have a ton of height as always and a ton of skill in the backcourt.  The players just have not performed up to snuff and if they don’t get it together soon they are not going to make the NCAA tournament.

Burgess

Is the entire league outside of Duke an option? I will say Florida State, the Seminoles got dismantled by Florida and got steamrolled by Purdue, and followed that up by losing to Syracuse and South Carolina. I was expecting a better showing in the games they lost.

Melton

Florida State. The Seminoles are 5-4, and while the loss to Purdue makes sense, they dropped games to Florida, Syracuse, and South Carolina which you could argue are all games they should’ve won, while wins over Tulane and Boston were also struggles for the Seminoles.

Heiser

I have to go with Florida State here. Most expected the Seminoles to easily finish within the upper tier of the ACC and even contend for a conference title. So far, they are 5-4 with zero wins against teams in the KenPom top 100. Their best win is against No. 117 Loyola Marymount. Just 1-4 against Power Six opponents, Leonard Hamilton’s squad needs to pick it up entering ACC play.

Zacher

This is extremely difficult because there have been more disappointing teams in the ACC than good ones – and it’s been overwhelming, for that matter. Virginia, Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, and Syracuse are just a handful of the most notable, but Florida State may be the most egregious disappointment of the year.

The Seminoles return only 34.3% of their offensive production from last season, and those are big, big losses they suffered in RaiQuan Gray, M.J. Walker, Scottie Barnes, and Balsa Koprivica. Contrarily, however, Caleb Mills – the former preseason AAC Player of the Year at Houston – was now on board, as well as Kentucky transfer Cam’Ron Fletcher and a five-star recruit in Matthew Cleveland.

And what does Florida State have to show for it? A 5-4 record, a three-game losing streak, a loss to South Carolina, an overtime home win over Boston University, and the Seminoles’ best win… is over Loyola Marymount. That’s not great, to say the least.

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