-Jim Root
Welcome to Root’s (Power) Rankings, a feature that will hopefully become a weekly tradition here at the Weave. The day of release may vary for a while, but I’ll aim for Tuesdays later in the season, once the schedule becomes more consistent in league play. For now, these bad boys surface on a Thursday, before a big weekend of hoops. A quick tip of the cap to power rankings authors emeritus Mark Titus and Luke Winn, whose columns – both humorous and analytical alike – are the spiritual predecessor of these Rankings.
1. Duke (my preseason rank: 3)
The Blue Devils have done basically everything you could ask them to do: knocked off a more experienced “elite” team (elite is highly debatable at this point) on a neutral floor in the season opener, absolutely trounced two inferior opponents at Cameron Indoor. Tre Jones got banged up against Central Arkansas, though, and Mike Krzyzewski smartly sat him “for precautionary reasons.” The Blue Devils need him desperately as a tone-setter on both ends, and every pundit who listed him as “Duke’s most important player” last season is finally correct.
2. Louisville (7)
The Cardinals’ outrageous dominance in building a 32-point lead at Miami (FL) in the season opener is going to stick with me. Trailing 16-12 in the first half, the Cards then proceeded to win the next 13ish minutes 37-10, a stunning feat on the road against an intelligent coach. Darius Perry has an assist rate of 40.6% so far, laughing in the faces of anyone who thought he couldn’t play point guard for an elite team (read: me). And while it must be quite nice to just toss it to Jordan Nwora and let him do his All-ACC thing, passes like this are no joke:
Perry’s play has helped soften the blow of David Johnson’s injury (and Lamarr Kimble’s inefficient start), and that portends huge things for Louisville this year.
3. Michigan St. (1)
Two huge news stories have emerged out of East Lansing, each of which has completely different tones. The first and most important is the tragic passing of Cassius Winston’s brother, Zach, and how it has impact Cassius, Tom Izzo and the team. I implore you to read Rob Dauster’s excellent piece on the heartbreaking situation, which treats an incredibly delicate topic far better than I could.
The second bit of news is more optimistic for the Spartans: swirling rumors that Marquette transfer Joey Hauser will be ruled eligible for the second semester. For a Spartan team that lacks shooting and a clear secondary scorer, inserting a 6’9 sophomore into the lineup who hit 42.5% of his threes and averaged 9.7ppg as a freshman in the Big East would be seismic, obviously. Still, I would have some questions about Hauser’s defense and how it will impact Sparty as a whole, because going from Steve Wojciechowski’s system to Tom Izzo’s is like taking a job in a metal foundry after working at a lemonade stand.
4. North Carolina (4)
Cole Anthony’s firestorm of a debut got plenty of headlines, but we at the Weave are more focused on his head: more specifically, his goggles. Number one picks almost always have a fun trait/quirk that stands out, like Anthony Davis’s unibrow, John Wall’s dancing, and Ben Simmons’ general disdain for playing college basketball. Unfortunately, Anthony got rid of them quickly, saying they affected his depth perception. Bring back the goggles, Cole!! Take out the lenses, if you must!
5. Kentucky (5)
Come March, I often joke about different “types” of NCAA profiles, one of which is the “big wins + bad losses” package of extremes. Well, Kentucky is off to a great start in building one of the all-time most severe instances of this, beating everyone’s preseason #1 Michigan State in Madison Square Garden, and then following it up with a home loss to Evansville as a 25-point favorite. EJ Montgomery’s injury is a straw man to hide behind, but the more glaring issue is Kentucky’s total lack of offensive firepower outside of the scintillating Tyrese Maxey. Nate Sestina has mysteriously vanished from the offense (12.4% usage rate) after strong performances in the preseason, and Coach Cal may need to more prominently feature the efficient graduate transfer in the future.
6. Kansas (2)
The Jayhawk offense better in its home debut against UNC Greensboro, most notably due to not turning the ball over approximately 178 times. That’s no small feat against the Spartan defense, either, as Wes Miller’s bunch has the SoCon’s last two Defensive Players of the Year in the lineup (James Dickey, Isaiah Miller) and thrives on pressuring opponents. Of course, there’s a difference between even a very good SoCon team and someone like Duke, and being back in Lawrence certainly helped, as well. But the return of Isaiah Moss from injury will be something to watch; he makes defenders think twice before leaving to double Devon Dotson or Udoka Azubuike, a major difference compared to Marcus Garrett:
Jalen Wilson’s broken ankle isn’t complete season-wrecker, but in my eyes, it does lower the Jayhawks’ ceiling by removing a versatile forward who gave Bill Self more lineup optionality.
7. Virginia (9)
Tony Bennett is a delight. Following a national championship – something many thought he could never win while playing his style – Bennett may now have the most Virginia Basketball: A Thing of Beauty (cc: Jon Rothstein) team he’s ever had. Virginia has yet to score 1.0 points per possession over a full game, has yet to allow an opponent to score 0.6 ppp in a game, and both Cavs contests featured less than 70 possessions.
Every annoying cliché thrown at Bennett over the years meant to tear him down (“they play too slow!”, “their offense sucks!”, “their defense makes the game boring!”) is now being trumpeted in the face of those haters, and they can’t say a damn word, because, as I said, Tony Bennett is a freakin’ delight.
8. Oregon (15)
For my money, no team has been more impressive through the season’s first nine days than Oregon (so if you wanted to rank them higher, you would be totally justified). The Ducks blasted two solid Mountain West foes, and then they dispatched national darling Memphis in Portland in a triumphant game for Memphis doubters/haters (the NCAA, us, etc.). A friend of mine pointed out how much fun it looks like the Ducks are having on the court together, and the longtime friendship of guards Payton Pritchard and Anthony Mathis is almost certainly playing a part in that.
Related - the Pac-12 as a whole looks tremendous so far (of the league’s three losses, one was to another Pac-12 team - Colorado over Arizona St.), and Oregon looks like the best of the bunch so far. Somewhere, Larry Scott is crushing a case of Keystone.
9. Ohio State (12)
The Buckeyes took a sledgehammer to the door of the “Top 10 Club” last night, thrashing Villanova in a game that was never competitive. Add the home win against Cincinnati in the opener, and the Buckeyes already have two wins that will (likely) carry weight into March. Ohio State won’t leave Columbus until December 4th for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge (@ UNC), and Chris Holtmann’s crew is a heavy favorite to enter that game 7-0. It’s just too bad Graham Couch can’t rank them until then…
10. Gonzaga (8)
Not much to say about the Zags at this point, as they’ve played three bad teams at home, winning by 31, 50, and 31 points against overmatched competition. The interior domination has been as advertised, even with Killian Tillie on the shelf: Gonzaga holds a 129-75 rebounding edge thus far, but that doesn’t really mean anything until we see them play an opponent who can actually put up some resistance. That may have to wait until the Battle 4 Atlantis, because Texas A&M’s Josh Nebo, the Aggies’ best paint presence, has been out with an injury and likely won’t be 100% even if he plays on Friday.
11. Arizona (23)
Our guy Nico Suave has already established himself as an All-American candidate, racking up 23 points, nine assists, and four boards in a nationally illegally streamed game against Illinois. Toiling in Pac 12 Network obscurity may continue until Thanksgiving, when the Wildcats kick off the Wooden Legacy against former Pac 12 foe Lorenzo Romar and Pepperdine on ESPN2 at 11 eastern, as most folks crack open one last nightcap while already eagerly anticipating Friday’s leftovers.
12. Florida (6)
You could make a pretty clean argument that the Gators do not belong here at all, having been smacked around by Florida State in Gainesville in what has become an annual early season tradition right next to the Champions Classic and me stupidly betting big road dogs. I’ll keep them on the fringes for now, largely because I just think FSU – with its arsenal of terrifying defensive wings – is a terrible matchup for Mike White’s system. Mostly, though, I wanted to include Leonard Hamilton dunking viciously on Mike White via Twitter, jabbing the Florida coach in a since-deleted post that featured this amazing photo:
The next 10: Maryland, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Washington, Baylor, Texas, Xavier, Providence, Auburn, Marquette
The Mid-Major Five (Most Impressive from One-bid Leagues)
1. Evansville
There’s no other answer here, really. The Purple Aces are 2-0 and “aced” an impossible exam at Kentucky, pulling out a win despite some late game execution that left me shaking my head:
2. Furman
Bob Richey is now 34-13-1 ATS (72.3%) as Furman’s head coach, starting this season with three emphatic victories over Gardner-Webb, Loyola-Chicago, and a 44-point destruction on the road at Charleston Southern. If you don’t like your team’s head coach, you should be hoping for Mr. Richey once next summer rolls around.
3. UTEP
Credit to Coach Rodney Terry: he knew he would take some serious lumps last year, waiting for four sit-out transfers to become eligible and starting three freshmen. It paid off in a 15-point win over (short-handed) archrival New Mexico State, though, and there’s a very real chance UTEP is the best team in Conference USA this season (apologies to WKU).
4. Vermont
I wouldn’t say the Catamounts have been ultra impressive (the 15.6% three-point shooting being a big reason for that), but they’re 3-0 with true road wins at two difficult places to play: St. Bonaventure and Bucknell. Those are potential Quadrant 2 games that could pay off hugely come March, but Vermont will need to steal a win (or two?) at St. John’s or Virginia over the next week to truly get the at-large train moving on the tracks.
5. Winthrop
Until Evansville gave Big Blue Nation the shock of the season, Winthrop might have had the country’s most impressive win, all things considered: on the road at St. Mary’s, less than 24 hours after taking Fresno State to the wire, as well. Division II transfers Chandler Vaudrin and Hunter Hale have both paid early dividends, senior leader Josh Ferguson continues to be a terrifying stretch five and although the Eagles now face another huge test at ETSU on Thursday (brutal travel stretch, sheesh), the Eagles may now be the Big South favorite.
HM: Delaware, Northern Iowa, WKU, Liberty, East Tennessee St., South Dakota