NCAA Basketball: 10 most shocking disappointments in 2022-23 season

4. Temple Owls – 6-7

This was supposed to be a big year for head coach Aaron McKie and Temple Basketball, having a healthy Khalif Battle ready to go for the season. But the first two weeks were one of the more bizarre sets of results this season, with wins over Rutgers and Villanova, along with overtime defeats to both Wagner and Vanderbilt. And to round out the non-con play, the Owls lost at home to Maryland-Eastern Shore, which is a devasting defeat to their potential resume.

Barring a shocking 14-4 run in AAC play that includes wins over Houston and Memphis, Temple has no at-large resume and that would make for another disappointing campaign for the program, despite clear talent. If the Owls aren’t going to be competitive this season, then when will they be?

3. Creighton Bluejays – 8-6 (2-1)

The easy cop-out for Creighton is that their best player, leading scorer/rebounder and former Co-Big East Defensive Player of the Year Ryan Kalkbrenner, missed several games due to injury. The problem is that the reason why this team had top-10 preseason hype and expectations had to do with the sophomore trio that was supposed to “break out”, as well as Summit League Player of the Year Baylor Scheierman joining the team.

All four of them are averaging double figures but they weren’t good enough to beat BYU, Nebraska, and Arizona State. Kalkbrenner is back and the team has home wins over DePaul and Butler to get back over .500 but right now, this team needs to make sure they’re even in the NCAA Tournament, let alone fighting for a top-tier seed.