Duke/Belmont Thriller And Vanderbilt Upset Highlight College Basketball’s Return

After seven long months of nothingness, having a steady stream of college hoops scores and updates flowing all weekend could not have felt more satisfying. And now we’re blessed with the tip-off marathon, perhaps the most stacked Maui Invitational field ever, and a flood of other preseason tournaments. It’s a great time to love college basketball.

But before you can move forward with anything, you have to take a long, hard, extensive look back at the past. Yes, you do. Well I’m smarter than your therapist.

Here’s what went down on the first week of the season.

HOW THE TOP 25 FARED:

1. North Carolina (2-0) beat Michigan State 67-55; beat UNC Asheville 91-75.
2. Kentucky (1-0) beat Marist 108-58.
3. Ohio State (1-0) beat Wright State 73-42.
4. UConn (1-0) beat Columbia 70-57.
5. Syracuse (1-0) beat Fordham 78-53.
6. Duke (2-0) beat Belmont 77-76; beat Presbyterian 96-55.
7. Vanderbilt (1-1) beat Oregon 78-64; lost to Cleveland State 71-58.
8. Florida (1-0) beat Jackson State 99-59.
9. Louisville (2-0) beat UT-Martin 83-48; beat Lamar 68-48.
10. Pittsburgh (2-0) beat Albany (NY) 89-56; beat Rider 86-78.
11. Memphis (0-0) did not play.
12. Baylor (2-0) beat Texas Southern 77-57; beat Jackson State 92-59.
13. Kansas (1-0) beat Towson 100-54.
14. Xavier (1-0) beat Morgan State 74-63.
15. Wisconsin (1-0) beat Kennesaw State 85-31.
16. Arizona (3-0) beat Valparaiso 73-64; beat Duquesne 67-59; beat Ball State 73-63.
17. UCLA (0-1) lost to Loyola Marymount 69-58.
18. Michigan (1-0) beat Ferris State 59-33.
19. Alabama (1-0) beat North Florida 64-44.
20. Texas A&M (2-0) beat Liberty 81-59; beat Southern U. 83-58
21. Cincinnati (1-0) beat Alabama State 65-40.
22. Marquette (1-0) beat Mount St. Mary’s (Md.) 91-37.
23. Gonzaga (1-0) beat Eastern Washington 77-69.
24. California (2-0) beat UC Irvine 77-56; beat George Washington 81-54.
25. Missouri (1-0) beat Southeast Missouri State 83-68.

GAME OF THE WEEK: No. 6 Duke 77, Belmont 76

While North Carolina and Michigan State playing on an aircraft carrier in front of the President certainly provided the weekend’s biggest spectacle, the highest quality of play was found a couple of hours later in Duke’s one-point win over Belmont.

The win was the Blue Devils’ 87th consecutive non-ACC home victory, but the level of competitiveness raised the predictable question of whether Duke is overrated or Belmont is underrated. The fact that the Bruins return the nucleus of a team that went 30-5 last season would seem to tip the scales in the latter direction, but Duke-haters are not an easily deterred bunch.

Any pronounced judgment in November is going to be a rushed one, but after watching that game at Cameron and juxtaposing it with the rest of the week one action, it would certainly seem as if both Duke and Belmont are going to be teams capable of playing into the second weekend of the tournament.

UPSET OF THE WEEK: Cleveland State 71, No. 7 Vanderbilt 58

It’s not that Cleveland State isn’t good - the Vikings return four starters from a squad that won 27 games and the Horizon League last year - it’s just that they shouldn’t be manhandling Vandy for 40 minutes on the Commodores’ home floor.

Bad losses in November happen, especially when key players are sidelined, but Vandy did nothing to separate itself from the overrated criticism that followed it around all summer.

RUNNER UP-SET OF THE WEEK: Loyola Marymount 69, No. 17 UCLA 58

If you didn’t see any of the game, here’s all you need to know: UCLA can’t shoot, they can’t defend anyone off the dribble, and they don’t belong anywhere near the top 25 right now.

Josh Smith took the loss well, though.

At least the re-done LA Sports Arena looked good on TV.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Travon Woodall, Pittsburgh

While Ashton Gibbs is Pitt’s unquestioned star, Woodall is the guy Jamie Dixon needs to step up the most in order for the Panthers to have a shot at a Big East title or trip to the Final Four. The senior point guard has certainly answered the bell so far, posting back-to-back double-doubles with a 25-point, 10-assist performance in the season-opener against Albany and then a 17-point, 10-assist performance in a Sunday win over Rider. Woodall has never shot better than 30% from beyond the arc for a season, but he’s connected on 9 of his first 17 three-point attempts this year.

ALL-WEEK ONE TEAM

Travon Woodall, Pittsburgh - See above.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK:

Jeremy, thoughts?

Well all right.

NUMBER OF THE WEEK: 902

As you’ve probably heard by now, Duke’s blowout win over Presbyterian on Sunday was Mike Krzyzewski’s 902nd as a head coach, tying Bobby Knight’s Division-I record. Coach K will look to claim the record as his own when the Blue Devils face Michigan State at Madison Square Garden in the opening game of the Champions Classic on Tuesday.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK:

Arizona’s Kevin Parrom shares a moment with head coach Sean Miller after playing in a game for the first time since being shot in the right leg and dealing with the deaths of his mother and grandmother all in the span of three weeks.

“He’s more than a coach to me,” Parrom said of Miller. “The hug was just great.”

--Texas A&M’s Billy Kennedy returned to the bench on Sunday to coach his first game since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease late last month. Kennedy appeared physically drained at various points throughout the game, but he still led the No. 20 Aggies to an 83-58 throttling of Southern.

--Only one top 25 team (No. 11 Memphis) has yet to tip off its season. The Tigers elected not to schedule a warm-up game before their first round Maui Invitational tilt against Belmont Tuesday morning.

--Two-time defending national runner-up Butler was dealt a controversial loss at Evansville on Saturday when officials wiped off what appeared to be a game-winning lay-up by the Bulldogs at the end of regulation. The referees stated that Andrew Smith was fouled with 0.2 seconds left, but that the shot he made after the foul did not leave his hand before time expired. Smith subsequently clanked both free-throws and Butler lost in overtime.

Still, head coach Brad Stevens was optimistic after the game, stating that the only thing he learned was that he is “going to have a very good basketball team.”

--A clock issue very likely cost Vermont an upset win at South Florida, and Unranked America East is none too pleased.

Let us pause here to introduce what cost the Catamounts the game: technology. Since USF is temporarily using the Division II University of Tampa’s gymnasium while their new gym gets built, the officials had no ability to review a replay. Let’s get this straight: this game was not broadcast online like most UVM games -- there apparently wasn’t a single camera recording the game. There were no live stats available, making me wonder if this gym even has wireless internet. How is this possible, you might ask? I have no idea. Is this gymnasium off-the-grid? Is Tampa a third world country? Are Division II schools forever stuck with technology from the 1970s?

In any case, the officials conferenced and added a whole .3 seconds to the clock. So with 4.3 seconds, the Catamounts inbounded the ball to Four McGlynn. He drove, missed a contested two pointer, but it was tipped in by Matt Glass. So we headed to overtime, right?! Nope. The officials waved off the bucket. Of course, normally this is a play that would be reviewed, but apparently the game was being played in a remote Siberian village where things like video cameras have yet to be introduced. Also, if the refs had reviewed how much time was left on the clock, the tip from Glass would gone through the net as time expired. According to Villani, the tip still might have been in time. He talked to several fans from both sides who thought the basket should have counted, as well as some people who thought it might have been just a little late. Regardless, everyone seemed to admit that it was very close and would have been worth reviewing -- you know, if this weren’t a game being played in a building more outdated than Madison Square Garden.

--A handful of players who missed most or all of last season because of injuries looked stellar in their return performances. Perhaps most notably, Purdue’s Robbie Hummel scored 21 points in 20 minutes of action during the Boilermakers Friday beatdown of Northern Illinois. Washington’s Abdul Gaddy netted 15 points and dished out six assists in a win over Florida Atlantic. And Virginia’s Mike Scott snatched 15 rebounds in a victory over South Carolina State.

--Rhode Island’s Jamal Wilson is your current single-game scoring champ after netting 38 in a thrilling 92-90 loss to George Mason on Friday. Maybe the most remarkable aspect of the performance was that Wilson scored 38 despite making just one three-pointer.

--And finally, a wag of the finger to the UNC-Asheville fans who busted out the “overrated” chant during the Bulldogs’ 91-75 loss to No. 1 North Carolina on Sunday. The fans opted to start the worst chant in sports despite the fact that UNC was obviously sluggish after flying more than 2,300 miles cross country to play a second road game in 48 hours...and was leading by 17 points at the time.