RADIO
January, at least for me, always marks the dead of winter. Snow is finally beginning to fall in all the usual places across America. The days continue to become ever so slightly longer, which means college basketball junkies like myself can get more of a fix on a weekly basis.
This past week was fairly tame across the sport, with Clemson, Providence, JMU, and FAU the only top-25 teams to lose unranked matchups. The Owls continue to make absolutely zero sense. They have a team that could either win a national championship or lose in the first round of the NIT. Auburn experienced the greatest bump with a nine-spot increase, with San Diego State and FAU both seeing opposite movement of seven spots a piece.
It's time for the next article of a year-long series: Overrated and Underrated College Basketball Teams after the release of the weekly Associated Press Poll. All rankings listed are based on the Week 10 AP Poll.
Overrated College Basketball Teams For Week 10
Memphis Tigers: #15 to #13
Don't perceive my inclusion of the Tigers here to mean that Memphis is not a good basketball team. That could not be further from the truth. Penny Hardaway's team has FOUR top-25 wins already this season, taking down #20 Arkansas, #21 Texas A&M, #13 Clemson, and #22 Virginia all before Christmas. However, three of those four are no longer in the national rankings and don't even appear amongst the 23 teams receiving top-25 votes.
How their wins age is obviously out of the Tigers control, and they have taken care of business for the most part this season, only losing to Villanova (KenPom #25) and an Ole Miss team who was undefeated up until this past weekend.
The reason I'm not a believer in the Tigers is they seem to be punching slightly above their weight class at the moment. I think the improvement of forward David Jones, who went from 13 points per night at St. John's last season to leading the AAC in scoring at over 20 per game, has been the primary reason why they have been able to pull off a lot of these wins. He scored 36 in the five-point Arkansas win when the next leading scorer had 12 points. Against Virginia, he put up 28 with the next closest scorer at 11.
Now Jones has shown he can be consistent, having hit double figures in every game and 22+ throughout the month of December (with the exception of one where he had 19). Jahvon Quinerly is quickly becoming the next Perry Ellis of men's college basketball but is a formidable second scoring option. He's actually hit two game-winning threes in back-to-back games. Other than these two, there are some red flags with the roster. It's the scraping by and lack of depth that concerns me with Memphis and makes me believe they are more in the 20-25 range than a top-15 team.
Five-star freshman Mikey Williams has also finally decided to transfer after not having played a single game for the Tigers due to his multiple felonies. I have a feeling that after the seasons ends in a probable first or second round tourney loss, Memphis fans will be stuck with the dreaded "what if" feeling regarding Williams' time with the program.
Utah State Aggies: Unranked to #20
First-year head coach Danny Sprinkle has done quite an admirable job leading his new program thus far. He returned ZERO scoring from a season ago, and his team is 15-1 with the only loss coming in overtime. I don't want to bash on the early accomplishments of this Aggies team, but I do I think this is more a product of scheduling than Utah State being a top-25 team in the country.
This kind of thing happens every year. A mid-major will go on a winning streak during the beginning to middle of the season. Power Five teams will beat up on each other and drop a few games, which allows said mid-major to steal a spot in the national rankings. Enter Utah State.
Perhaps what will go down as their most impressive win of the season came against #13 Colorado State at home this past Saturday. The Aggies also only hit 5-18 from downtown, which isn't a strength of theirs whatsoever (#324 in 3-point percentage), but to beat a team of that caliber while only shooting 27% from deep is difficult.
Although, this was the only top-50 KenPom team they have played so far this season. The Aggies' next most impressive wins are vs. #94 Akron, #76 UC Irvine, and #57 San Francisco. None of those games were on the road. In fact, this team has only played four road games the entire season, and one of those resulted in their only loss -- at#106 Bradley in OT.
The Mountain West is its usual scrappy self with seven teams ranked at #101 or higher in KenPom at the moment, so it'll be interesting to see how they fare in some of these hostile road environments. Mark your calendars for February 3 when Danny Sprinkle and Co. travel to No. 19 San Diego State. There we will see the likely top-two contenders for Conference Player of the Year go head to head in Great Osobor (18.6 points, 9.4 rebounds) and Jaedon LeeDee (22 points, 8.8 rebounds).
Underrated College Basketball Teams For Week 10
Seton Hall Pirates: Unranked (Ninth in Others' Receiving Votes)
Head coach Shaheen Holloway is figuring some things out in his second year with his alma mater. After a rocky 5-4 start, albeit underdogs in all four losses, the 'Hall is 7-1 in their last eight with three standout wins over #5 UConn, #7 Marquette, and #23 Providence. They did take a 20-point loss to Xavier back on Festivus, but that seemed to light a fire under them because this team has been a juggernaut ever since.
The Pirates are currently first in what is likely the second-best conference in America with a 4-1 record. Their three-headed backcourt monster of Kadary Richmond, Al-Amir Dawes, and Dre Davis can match up with most other trios in the conference. Especially Richmond, who has had a good-not-great college career, which started as a highly-touted Brooklyn recruit who began at Syracuse.
He's blossomed into a surefire All-Conference player and potential Big East Player of the Year contender with 15.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per night. Richmond also absolutely dominated the game against UConn, who is notoriously hard to plan for. The senior had maybe the best game of his career with 23 points, six rebounds, five assists, and EIGHT steals.
Their four early losses and blowout to Xavier kept them from entering the rankings this week, which is understandable. There isn't a single five-loss team in the top 25 at the moment.
The Pirates have proven themselves in the early part of conference play, but have a gauntlet coming up with Butler on the road, St. John's, Creighton, and Providence at home, and ending with a trip to Marquette. If Holloway can lead this gritty squad to a 4-1 or 3-2 mark in that stretch, then I will buy the Pirates as a league contender, but anything below that and they likely won't be taken seriously.
Creighton Bluejays: Unranked to #22
The past few years have been been eerily similar for Creighton fans, and I bet this year won't be much different. That's not to say they have been poor by any stretch of the imagination, but I know the fans are getting hungrier for their first Final Four in school history. Just take a look at their start vs. where they ended up since 2021.
2021-22: Preseason #11, started 10-5, ended with a narrow second round tournament loss to eventual National Champion, Kansas.
2022-23: Preseason #9, started 9-8, ended with a one-point Sweet Sixteen loss to eventual National Runner-Up, San Diego State.
2023-24: Preseason #8, Started 10-4 with some questionable losses (blown out by Colorado State, double digits to UNLV, OT at home to Villanova). 2024 will probably end with a Sweet Sixteen loss to a Tennessee-type team.
They are what we think they are until proven otherwise. A team with a talented but short roster that will usually have the potential to make a Final Four run because of their offensive and defensive chops (top-20 in both metrics), but will probably fall short.
Do I still think this is a team that is better than their #22 ranking suggests? Of course. Creighton is one of the few teams in the country that can go into any arena and win without shocking a soul. The trio of Baylor Scheierman, Trey Alexander, and Ryan Kalkbrenner may be the most complete in college basketball. It rivals the Harris-McCullar-Dickinson of Kansas, Smith-Loyer-Edey of Purdue, or Newton-Spencer-Clingan of UConn. This is a top-15 team in the country and I think they will prove that in conference play.
