The college basketball season is now a couple weeks underway and already there has been all kinds of upsets. Only two weeks into the season and already four of the top 10 teams already have been upset. Florida, Connecticut, Memphis and even No. 1 North Carolina have all been upset. With all of these upsets, it has shown on any given night anything can happen. Despite all of these upsets, there have been a few teams that have avoided the upset bug and have gotten off to good starts.
Alabama – Last season, the Crimson Tide went 12-4 in conference play, but were still left out of the NCAA Tournament. The reason for that was that Alabama had a very weak non-conference schedule. With a ton of talent coming back, head coach Anthony Grant beefed up the non-conference schedule and so far the team has looked very impressive.
Between the play of point guard Trevor Releford, and the post duo of JaMychal Green and Tony Mitchell, Alabama is off to a 6-0 start with impressive victories over Wichita State and Purdue. With non-conference matchups with Georgetown, K-State and Oklahoma State, the opportunity is there for the Crimson Tide to get a few more key victories in the non-conference part of their schedule.
Alabama is off to a great start. They have the talent to play with anybody on any given night, and if they have the continue the success throughout the season that they have early in the season, not only will they make the tournament, but could also be a major force as well.
Missouri – With a new coach coming into the season, there were many people wondering if the Tigers would be able to continue to play their “40 minutes of Hell” style of defense. Then things got worse as their best post player, Laurence Bowers tore his ACL and is out for the season. However, with great play from veterans such as Kim English and Marcus Denmon, the Tigers have gotten off to an undefeated start, including a dominating performance at the CBE classic
Missouri first took on a decent team in Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish had just gotten their best player, Tim Abromaitis back. However, with great pressure on the defensive end, Notre Dame could never get into the game and Missouri went on to win the game by 29 points.
The next night, Missouri took on an even better team in No. 18 California, and once again, dominated from the beginning and won by 39 points.
Missouri is a team that can give any teams problems due to their frenetic pace. If this team can continue to get the great play from their guards and for their post to continue to improve, than this team should be able to continue their great start.
Kentucky – With such a young team, the Wildcats have been able to avoid a let-down and have defeated their opponents by an average of 30 points. Kentucky has talent at every postion, as they have five players averaging double digits in points.
What has been even more impressive is the defense that the Wildcats have played. Anthony Davis, a 6-foot-10 forward, leads Kentucky with more than four blocks a game, as the Wildcats average nearly 11 blocks a game. With all of the talent on the team, there was a never a question of if Kentucky would be able to score the ball, but the defensive execution has shown that this team is a definite title contender.
The Wildcats will be tested in their next game as they host North Carolina in Lexington next Saturday.
As good as the season has been, there are some big-time match-ups in the upcoming weeks. Besides the Kentucky-Carolina games, Duke and Kansas will both take on Ohio State, and Alabama will take on K-State in a game that will be a great opportunity for the Wildcats to gauge where they are right now.
College basketball is in full swing, and if the first two weeks are any indication of what kind of season it is going to be, then we are in for a treat.