NCAA Basketball: 10 hot takes after 1st week of 2024-25 season

Gonzaga has their most athletic team in the last 10 years

It’s only been a week, I know that, but this Gonzaga team is built differently than in the previous decade. They have a mobile big man who can shoot the ball with high efficiency from deep. They have big, athletic men with positional flexibility all over the court, and the guards are quick and extremely athletic. It isn’t just the starters, either. The team is deep and athletic; every guy can play multiple positions. Positional Flexibility is not something that coach Mark Few has had very much over the last decade. Their athleticism makes them very dangerous again, and this team looks like it could be just as good as the Jalen Suggs-led National Runner-Up.

UCF has ultimate sleeper potential

The Knights are not going to play pretty basketball and they are never going to light the nets on fire, but they are still one of the biggest power five sleepers in the country because of their ability to defend and protect the rim. It is almost impossible to score on them at times, especially at home. UCF has a lot of experience, and they have two elite scorers who also happen to be great perimeter defenders. When teams do get inside, big man Moustapha Thiam is the best shot blocker in the country to erase almost anything. UCF will win some games against teams they are not supposed to and could really throw a wrench into the Big 12 standings. UCF will make the tournament.