NCAA Basketball: 10 most shocking disappointments in 2022-23 season
2. North Carolina Tar Heels – 9-4 (1-1)
Being the preseason No. 1 team, there are a lot of expectations for the Tar Heels. And in fairness, they managed to make history, being the first No. 1 team to lose four straight games before January. They ended up being unranked before an overtime win over Ohio State brought them back to the top 25.
With All-American caliber players such as Armando Bacot, Caleb Love, and RJ Davis on the roster, UNC should be much better than they are currently. They have the chance to get back into form in ACC play and they should be able to avoid sweating it out on Selection Sunday. But considering how much preseason hype they had, just barely being in the top 25 is a massive disappointment for them.
1. Saint Louis Billikens – 8-5
This was arguably the best Billikens roster in the Travis Ford era, returning the nation’s leading passer Yuri Collins, along with getting back 16 ppg scoring guard Javonte Perkins after missing a year due to injury. Adding key transfers, Javon Pickett and Jake Forrester were supposed to make them top-25 caliber and a favorite in the Atlantic 10.
They still may be but Saint Louis hasn’t been anywhere near as good as originally expected. Defeats to both Iona and Boise State stung but they could’ve been able to withstand it. But the recent home upset loss to Southern Illinois-Edwardsville all but dashes their at-large hopes, as wins over Drake and Memphis, won’t cut it and there’s no one in the league the Billikens can beat that’ll be better in the next two months.
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Dayton has also struggled but at least they have the injury excuse to use. Saint Louis has been healthy and simply has too much offensive firepower to have been as bad as they’ve been. Collins is averaging over 10 apg and they still are average overall on that end. This is a team that’s going to look a lot different this offseason and at this point, needs a conference tournament title to make the Big Dance. Based on the expectations and how they’ve looked, the Billikens have been the biggest disappointment.