Week one is in the books, and we've already seen a top-five team lose, a triple-double, a 30-point game, and a lot of fantastic freshmen showing out, in what may be one of the best freshman classes the game has seen in a while.
Although there were many positive developments, there were also numerous adverse events. Some teams lost to Division II schools, long home winning streaks ended, and low mid-majors beat contenders in their leagues. Some would call these the Bad Beats of the week.
It’s the first week of the season, and the teams on the Bad Beats for this week can still recover, but it is going to be a huge uphill climb. Teams often change from November to December, but a few of these teams will not have the opportunity to secure any resume-boosting wins that can compensate for those losses. There were five extremely Bad Beats in week one.
No. 5- The Kansas Jayhawks are the same team they were last year
Heading into the season, the Kansas Jayhawks were expected to be improved and eventually resemble the Jayhawks of old. They were finally able to get another lottery pick on campus in Darryn Peterson. Peterson is a player that many experts think is in the running for the overall number 1 pick in the NBA. That is all well and good, but what most of us underestimated was the quality of the rest of the Jayhawks' roster.
Sure, it's been two games, but Kansas doesn’t look a whole lot better than they were last season. Last season, there were chemistry problems, and this year it seems like talent problems. At least, it's the second game of the season, and they can improve. However, it appears that Peterson is going to have to score close to 30 points every night for Kansas to be successful with their schedule. He is capable of doing that, but this Kansas team was supposed to be different.
No. 4 - Loyola-Chicago Ramblers lose at home to a KenPom-ranked 350 team.
The Atlantic 10 is a lot better this year, top to bottom, than it has been in the past seasons. The Ramblers were a team that was supposed to factor into the Atlantic 10 race, and still might, but losing a game to KenPom-ranked 350 Mercyhurst from the NEC doesn’t instill a lot of confidence that Loyola-Chicago will turn it around. Especially since the Ramblers lost again at home to North Texas on Sunday afternoon, blowing the chance at a quad two win to help offset the dreadful quad four loss.
Mercyhurst is in its second season in Division 1 and is not expected to do anything in the NEC this year. The Lakers came into the Ramblers' building on the night they were honoring Sister Jean, and beat the Ramblers in every facet of the game. Mercyhurst led the game by 17 points at one point before winning the game by 8 points. Loyola-Chicago can take a little solace in knowing they were not the team that supplied the biggest upset of the week.
No. 3 - TCU Horned Frogs lose at home on opening night to New Orleans Privateers
There is something wrong with the TCU program, and it is likely related to NIL. It is difficult to speculate without knowing the details, but given how far the program has fallen after making the NCAA Tournament for three straight seasons, it is worthy of ESPN's 30 for 30. Head coach Jamie Dixon doesn’t seem to have the answers either, and it resulted in the Horned Frogs losing to the New Orleans Privateers, a team from the Southland that won 4 games last season. The loss to the Privateers will go down as one of the worst losses at the power level.
New Orleans may have only won four games last year, but they are taking all the proper steps to improve this year. The school hired Master P as the General Manager, and he is providing some of the NIL money; however, even with that, the talent isn’t anywhere close to TCU. The Horned Frogs had a terrible offensive night, which led to a poor defense, allowing New Orleans to shoot 50% from the floor. The good news for the Horned Frogs is that opportunity awaits in the Big 12 to offset this awful loss.
No. 2 - Drake Bulldogs lost to Robert Morris, snapping their 49-game non-conference home winning streak
It was hard to expect Drake to be as good as they were last season under Ben McCollum, but even if they were not a Sweet 16 team, the Bulldogs were still going to be a favorite in the Missouri Valley. On November 6th, Drake showed how different they might be this year without their coach, Darien DeVries, and Ben McCollum. The Bulldogs lost to Robert Morris in overtime, ending their 49-game home winning streak against non-conference opponents.
Drake started their season off with a win in the Field of 68 Opening Day Marathon, but they struggled to beat Northern Arizona. The Bulldogs followed that up with the loss to Robert Morris, who were fresh off getting pounded by Iowa two nights earlier. It was a bad loss and one that was easily avoidable by Drake had they been able to rebound, hit a three, or play defense.
No. 1 - Boise State lost to Division II bottom-feeder Hawaii Pacific
Boise State entered the season as one of the favorites in the Mountain West, just like they do every year, and many thought they were going to make the NCAA Tournament with ease. Then came the opening night debacle when the Broncos got dominated at home by Hawaii Pacific. That game has the potential to be one of the biggest upsets of the next couple of years.
Boise State is a power in the Mountain West, and Hawaii Pacific should never have beaten them. The school is located in a former strip mall in Honolulu, and it doesn’t win many awards in its division. Somehow, the Sea Warriors overcame being out-rebounded by 13 and giving up 10 threes, yet still managed to pull off the biggest upset in college basketball this year. The Broncos put that one behind them quickly when they beat Utah State on Saturday, but they will need to secure some better wins than that for this game not to matter truly.
Some other Division II schools also won games this week. Northwood beat Western Michigan, and Wilmington beat Delaware. Those are still upsets, but Western Michigan and Delaware are not teams that factor into the tournament picture in preseason, and are not expected to be very good. See you next week for some more Bad Beats.