College basketball is two weeks in, and with that, we are all starting to get a clearer picture of the top teams. However, some other things are also coming into focus. This is something that is likely said every year, but there have been many mid-major schools that have been highly competitive with power schools that they shouldn’t be competing with.
That is one of the few potential anomalies with the season so far. This season may have the best freshman class we have seen in a long time. There are rebuilding teams that look much better than expected, and there are also crazy individual performances, just like every year. That's good, but what about the bad? The Bad Beats, the teams that had ugly weeks?
Five teams found themselves on the side of a terrible loss or on the wrong side of a news story. Teams are going to have a chance to bounce back from a Bad Beat this early in the season, just look at the feature of last week, the Boise State Broncos, who lost to Hawaii Pacific on Opening Night, but have dominated everyone they have played since then. That game was a huge wake up call for the Broncos. Hopefully these teams will turn it around as the season rolls on.
No. 5 UNLV loses to Montana in Vegas
The Rebels are coached by Josh Pastner who vowed to bring the Runnin’ back to the Rebels name when he was hired. UNLV is averaging 92 points per game this season, offense isn’t the problem. The problem is the inability for UNLV to play any defense and that coupled with the amount of injuries that the Rebels have endured you have a team who is struggling to find an identity and losing games at home to teams they should beat going away.
Not taking anything away from the Grizzlies, who are a great program, but they are not as talented as this current version of the Rebels and UNLV should not have let that game happen. It was the second such loss the Rebels have taken this year as they lost to UT Martin on opening night. It is going to be a tough year for the Rebels if they don’t get it figured out on the defensive end of the floor, and even though they looked better on Sunday is a blowout win over Memphis. I am still not convinced the Rebels won’t appear on this list again.
No. 4 UAB loses to Alabama State in Birmingham
This has the potential to be one of the biggest upsets of the year. The Blazers have a lot of talent and are going to be one of the better teams in the American, and they just blew out High Point, who many consider one of the better mid-major teams in the country. Its a nice way to get the taste out of your mouth from losing a game at home to a SWAC team. Again, nothing against the SWAC or the Hornets but they should not have marched into Birmingham and beat UAB. Alabama State needed a perfect storm to get the win, and that is what they got.
Yes, the Hornets made the NCAA Tournament last season, but most of that roster is gone either to graduation of the transfer portal. Tony Madlock is a great coach but can only do so much with minimal NIL and a talent discrepancy. The Blazers flat out didn’t play well and it cost them. The Blazers shot 2-20 from deep, only had 10 assists, and lost the turnover battle. All of those things combined led to them losing to a team that is good enough to beat you if you sleepwalk. Good thing UAB got it figured out by blowing out a fantastic High Point team.
No. 3 Boston College loses to NEC favorite Central Connecticut State
No one, and I mean No one should be surprised that Boston College dropped this game. The Eagles are a mess of a program and are not getting any better under current head coach Earl Grant. It is the second time in coach Grant’s tenure that Boston College has lost to low-major. They lost to New Hampshire a few seasons ago and surprisingly that moment likely didn’t rank as the lowest point in the program history.
This loss may not even be the lowest point in the program's history, as I believe that will come later this year after the ACC season concludes. Central Connecticut is from the NEC, and even though the Blue Devils are the best team in the NEC, they were still ranked 334 in KenPom heading into that game. The NEC is the lowest-rated conference in the country, has zero NIL, and is currently expected to win one other non-conference game. Central Connecticut still won’t get a quad one win out of the deal, which is more of an indication of where the Eagles are as a program, rather than the Blue Devils.
No. 2 DePaul lost to Buffalo in Chicago
“Sounds like the same old DePaul to me,” and ordinarily, I would agree with you, but the program has shown signs of life under current head coach Chris Holtmann. The Blue Demons are still not winning games in the Big East, but building a program is a challenging endeavor. DePaul upgraded its roster using the transfer portal this year and, as a result, upgraded its schedule, hoping to take the rebuild to the next level.
The loss to Buffalo takes the rebuild two steps back. DePaul can still show noticeable signs of improvement, as they did on Friday when they lost to Northwestern by two points. However, the Buffalo game was rough. DePaul lost by 13 points, shooting 33% from the field and struggling all night long. The Blue Demons are another team that will appear on this list multiple times this year.
No. 1 Seth Trimble breaks his arm.
This is a bad beat that isn’t about a team losing to another lesser team, but about a key cog and team leader suffering a serious injury outside of a basketball game. Those of you unfamiliar with the story, North Carolina senior guard broke his arm in the weight room after some weight equipment, which wasn’t bolted down, fell on him. Trimble needed to have surgery and will be out for a while.
The loss is a big one for the Tar Heels, as it takes their senior leader off the floor and, to a lesser extent, he was averaging 15 points per game through three games. The loss hasn’t been felt on the floor yet, but there will be a game this year, and probably in the near future, when North Carolina will need their leader. This is on the Bad Beats, because how do you let that happen? It's pure negligence on the part of the Tar Heels' athletic department that this happened. Of course, it was an accident, but an entirely avoidable one.