The second week of the season brought us the start of the signature non-conference games across the country. The wins that start to build NCAA Tournament resume are now available, and for one unfortunate team in both the A-10 and ACC, the losses that destroy your season are as well. With that in mind, this week's Three category is three major storylines through the first 12 days of the season.
Atlantic Ten
Three Major Storylines:
-The A-10 is straying away from bad losses: The 2 home losses taken by A-10 teams so far have been absolutely horrifying (Fordham to NJIT, Loyola-Chicago to Mercyhurst), but that low total is a huge improvement. In each of the last 4 seasons, the conference members have combined for at least 4 home losses (with 7 in November 2021 and 6 in 2023) through the first week and a half, with none coming against power conference teams. However, the biggest games have been total disappointments thus far. In the three most significant opportunities for big wins (VCU vs Utah St, Dayton at Cincinnati and St. Joe's at Virginia Tech), the A-10 team was down by at least 15 in the second half and lost. At least George Washington (vs USF) and St. Bonaventure (vs Bradley) have picked up potential Q2 victories.
-Another disastrous Loyola start: This is the 3rd time in the Ramblers' 4 years as an A-10 member that they have had a 3 game losing streak in non-conference play, and the Mercyhurst defeat was Loyola's 9th non-con loss to a team outside of the top 100 in that span. They are the worst in the A-10 in defensive rebounding rate (typically a significant strength) and are losing the turnover battle (-5 on the season), despite Miles Rubin's continued elite shot blocking. Loyola's hopes of A-10 title contention may already be dashed, but the possibility a decent season still lies on the shoulders Rubin (with a much improved offensive game), versatile freshman Chuck Love and Justin Moore (once again top 50 nationally in assist rate).
-The year of the veteran transfer guard: Nearly half of the A-10 has turned their offense over to an upperclassmen transfer guard with terrific results thus far. Tyler Cochran may be the conference's best perimeter defender, while also taking on the top usage role for Rhode Island. Tarence Guinyard is Duquesne's next fantastic smaller guard, with the eilte combo of being top 100 nationally in assist rate and free throw rate. The player he replaced, Tre Dinkins, is coming off the bench for George Washington but leading the Revolutionaries in scoring (more below). Add in Buddy Simmons II (St. Bonaventure), DeJour Reaves (Fordham), plus a pair of surprises in Jaeden Marshall (La Salle) and Jahari Long (George Mason).
Game Of The Week: George Washington 99, South Florida 95
The Weekend Game To Watch in last week's edition absolutely lived up to its billing, as an endless shootout that GW survived despite Rafael Castro fouling out in 21 minutes and 22 Revolutionaries turnovers. The hero was Tre Dinkins, who scored 22 points off the bench, was the only player who could dribble the ball up the court in crunch time without getting trapped in the corner and hit back-to-back deep threes that extended the lead from 2 to 8 late.
Statline Of The Week: Tyler Cochran (Rhode Island): 16 points, 9 rebounds, 9 steals in win over Stonehill (80-57)
Weekend Game To Watch: Grand Canyon at Saint Louis, Saturday at 8:00 on ESPN+
The first major test for a Billikens team that has been absolutely demolishing bums so far, it's also a chance for revenge over the team that really derailed the program last season. SLU has been an elite two point offense early on (thanks to Amari McCottry and Kellan Thames), despite Robbie Avila taking on a lesser role in the early blowouts. It just so happens that Grand Canyon has been a top 50 two point defense in all 5 years under Bryce Drew.
Sickos Game To Watch: St Joe's at UNLV, Thursday at 10:00 on Mountain West Network (online/free)
A late night game on a spotty internet service between two programs whose fans are starting to get nervous! A game that was originally a "neutral site" in UNLV's arena arranged by the Player's Era to downgrade the Hawks, only to be cancelled when Billy Lange quit and re-scheduled as a standalone!! A potential momentum changing Q2 opportunity for the Hawks!!! This is as sicko (in a good way), as it gets. 5 stars.
This week's 3 Bid League podcast focuses on early season Cold Takes, ranking the freshman debuts and diving into the worst Epitome of Brutality losses since 2018.
ACC
Three Major Storylines:
-Five freshman superstars: The first year players across the country have been everyone's main talking point over the last few days, but the absolute best so far are concentrated in the ACC. North Carolina's Caleb Wilson is an evolutionary hybrid of his power forward predecessors, with Drake Powell's athleticism and an even better set of offensive skills than Harrison Ingram. Neoklis Avdalas of Virginia Tech is already the closest we've ever seen to a proper Luka Doncic impersonator. The big surprise is Stanford's Ebuka Okorie, a fearless point guard who's scored 76 points in his first 3 games, while also leading the Cardinal Cameron Boozer of Duke hasn't had his first big moment yet, but he's still probably the best of the groupAlthough, Mikel Brown Jr (Louisville) has really started to make his case.
-Everything is going a lot better than last year: The ACC powerhouses who struggled in the non-conference last season have already picked up some massive wins, led by Louisville's rivalry blowout of Kentucky and UNC's victory over Kansas. You can add in Virginia Tech (the worst ACC team in non-conference by metrics last season) getting an overtime win over Providence, for a full trio of major triumphs where the teams' aforementioned star freshman led the way in their second or third career college game. Overall, the pre-season top 12 in the conference is a combined 36-1, with the lone loss coming in overtime for Wake Forest against a ranked Michigan team
-NC State's offense: The Wolfpack have scored at least 94 points in all three games so far, showing off the elite offense that many expected to witness. Darrion Williams is a top 50 scorer in the country as predicted (although his 64.7% three point shooting will probably come down a bit) and Quadir Copeland is having a career best start on that end. But the biggest story is the breakout of Paul McNeil Jr, who impressed when finally getting minutes at the end of his first season when NC State was kneeling out the schedule ast season. This time around, McNeil is breaking the 20 point per game mark, and the former high school sniper has started at 46.4% from deep.
Game Of The Week: Louisville 96, Kentucky 88
Once again, all of the ACC's win were mostly devoid of drama, so I'll honor the best team performance. Louisville opened up a 20 point lead midway through the 2nd half before their bluegrass rival eventually cut it down to 4. From there it became a battle of the point guards, with Mikel Brown Jr (29 points) completely outplaying Jaland Lowe in the first meaningful game of his collegiate career, to give the Cardinals their first win in front of fans in the rivalry since 2016.
Statline Of The Week: Boopie Miller (SMU): 28 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals in win over Murray State (102-91)
Weekend Game To Watch: Clemson at Georgetown, Saturday at Noon on Peacock
Clemson is an absolute analytics darling after 3 blowout Q4 wins, rising to #20 in Kenpom and sitting at #10 in Barttorvik's rankings with pre-season data removed. At those ratings, the Tigers should have no trouble with a bottom half Big East team, even on the road. It's a first test for early season standout guards in transfer Jestin Porter and freshman Ace Buckner to face off with a Hoyas team centered around their seasoned backcourt.
Sickos Game To Watch: UT Martin at Florida State, Tuesday at 7:00 on ACCNX
UT Martin is the out of nowhere darling of the low major leagues in the early going, armed with impressive road victories over Bradley and UNLV. Now they travel to Tallahassee to face a Seminoles team fresh off an extremely impressive showing against their rival and defending national champion Florida that ended in heartbreak. This game has shocking letdown written all over it, and the Skyhawks may be good enough to take advantage.
Up The Coasts podcast was off this week, but will return with a new episode early next week.