The first day of college basketball featured 126 games in which Division I teams played against each other, including all 25 AP Top 25 ranked teams. many How much information you process and how much information you collect from all of it. And in true college hoop fashion, there were of course some surprises.favorite Florida lose to stetson? 14 TCU narrowly avoid disaster Arkansas Pine Bluff? St. Thomas scares the number 9 more than expected clayton?
Well, it was one of those nights in college hoops as the season officially kicked off with a whole mountain of chaos.
What we’ve learned from day one of action may not be a hard and fast lesson to predict for the rest of the season – Clayton still definitely going to the final fourTCU Still Has Some Shine As A Perky Dark Horse In The Big 12 And Florida of course It will be better — but for now we have to work with a small sample size. So what can we pull beyond what we know for the season one day? ?
Here are six things I learned from that day.
kentucky Onyenso rules inside…
When Ugonna Onyenso promised to join Kentucky late in the Wildcats’ 2022 recruiting class on Aug. 1, it was easy to shrug off his addition as merely a long-term investment. After all, he’s been reclassified from his 2023 class and won’t be joining the Wildcats until after his four-exhibition summer trip to the Bahamas to build chemistry to play his game. I did. But Onienso, who made a strong debut on Monday, looks like he can help Britain this season if needed. With Oscar Ziebue recovering from knee surgery and 6-foot-9 sophomore Daimion Collins missing for personal reasons, Onienso scored 20 minutes and made a major defensive impact in Britain’s 95–63 victory. The 6-11-year-old Nigerian blocked 4 shots and made 3 of his 4 shots from the floor while making a few more changes.
While Tshiebwe’s return reduces Onyenso’s need to score critical times early in his career, it’s clear he brings an element of rim protection that Kentucky’s rotation may lack. Junior forward Lanceware is an excellent shot blocker, with Tzibwe last season he averaged 1.6 blocks per game, while the Wildcats last season he averaged more blocks per game than the SEC. He finished 11th. With a wingspan of he seven to five, Onienso could quickly help the British in that regard. Perhaps he’s a long-term project that will finally blossom after Tshiebwe leaves.
…and open it up for British shooters
Kentucky finished 297th nationally in 3-pointer successes per game last season as the Wildcats scored more points within the arc than any team played in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Early returns suggest this team will improve from the perimeter, thanks in large part to a pair of sharp shots, with Antonio Olives scoring 6 of 12 tries on his debut in England. He led the fourth-place Wildcats with his 22 points to win 95–63. howard. former Illinois The guard hit 39% of his attempts from the deep while playing in the Missouri Valley Conference last season. CJ Fredrick finished with 20 points while making 2 of 5 attempts from the Deep as Kentucky combined 11 of 24 attempts from the 3-point range.
After the Wildcats made 19 of 41 attempts from three-point range in their first two games last season, reality set in and the struggle on the outside began. So this team will have to prove they can keep up their outside shooting over the long haul as the schedule gets tighter and their opponents get better scouting reports on Britain’s strengths. was not on the floor promoting open looks and Tshiebwe was not on the floor, so it was a promising start.
in Gonzaga Tim will feast
Less than 24 hours into the new season, certain people should be very happy with the choice of NPOY’s Drew Timme.With Chet Holmgren and Andrew Nemhardt moving to the NBA, it’s expected he’ll be all for Gonzaga this season. north florida With 22 points in the game, the team won 104-63 with No. 1 Zag in good control by halftime. Julian Strother and Malachi Smith will be pivotal to the Bulldogs’ prospects, but this team will go as Tim goes – and he’s going to be a supernova this season.
Hall of Fame replacement teams get off to a hot start
Kyle Neptune and John Schaer are in the rather enviable position of being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Villanova (Jay Wright) and duke (Mike Krzyzewski), Neptune and Shire, respectively, can boast 100% win percentages in their new positions after a strong start to the season on Monday.Neptune’s 16th Nova Teamlet Lasalle It stayed on a little longer than it should have, but managed to win the season opener 81-68.Meanwhile, Shire and No.7 Duke dominate jacksonville — without five-star freshmen Derek Lively and Darik Whitehead — in a 71-44 victory.
If you’ve been avidly listening to the Eye on College Basketball podcast over the past few months, you’ve heard Gary Parrish raving about Michigan freshman Jett Howard. The 6-7 forward finished the recruiting cycle and was ranked 45th in the overall outlook by 247Sports, but Parrish was one of the nation’s top freshmen while Howard played under his father in the Big Ten. I affirm that it will be
Howard’s debut only adds to the buzz. He had 21 points and 5 assists on 8-of-15 shooting as the Wolverines handled Purdue-Fort Wayne 75–56. Purdue his fort Howard responded with his next eight points in the game to end the drama when he trailed 61-49 with less than seven minutes left in his Wayne. The Wolverines after Monday in Ann Arbor, Michigan, after a relatively underwhelming season from last year’s No. 3 recruiting class, where five-star prospects Caleb Hustan and Mousa Diabet made headlines. There should be hope that may have scooped a potential All-Conference, this time Howard’s freshman.
Two midmajors showed they could score points when James Madison defeated Division III opponents Valley Forge 123-38. A few hours later, Bryant outscored Thomas by an even bigger margin, beating Thomas 73–17 in the second half in a 147–39 inning. Bryant’s 147 is his most points in a single game since at least 2010, and his 39 is his lowest in a single game in the same period.
