NCAA Notables: Weekend Recap

Some stuff you should care about from college basketball's first weekend.

SATURDAY

#15 Missouri's new frontcourt (83-69 win vs SIU-Edwardsville)
The Missouri Tigers had to go uber-small last year, often playing four guards at once, thanks to a preseason knee injury suffered by skilled forward Laurence Bowers. He's healthy now, and in his first game, he put up 20 points to lead the Tigers to an easy victory. Also back from the dead: Alex Oriakhi, who won a championship with UConn two years ago and has transferred to Missouri for his senior season. He added eight points and 15 rebounds. Looks like Mizzou actually has a real frontcourt this year.

The usual from #22 Notre Dame (58-49 win vs Evansville)
Notre Dame doing Notre Dame things: playing good defense, getting to the free throw line, controlling the pace. The Irish will rarely blow anyone out, but they'll usually be competitive no matter the opponent.

SUNDAY

The fresh faces of #9 Syracuse (62-49 win vs #19 San Diego State)
Easily the most significant game of the young season (and it just so happened to be played on the USS Midway in San Diego). The Orange hardly missed a beat despite losing most of last season's core players, holding SDSU to just 27% shooting. They did however get away with committing too many fouls, because the Aztecs made just 14 of their 33 free throw attempts. With a lot of inexperience in the lineup, Syracuse is going to have its fair share of off nights.

#19 Baylor not missing a beat (78-47 win vs Jackson State)
While Syracuse might suffer from all of its defections to the NBA, Baylor looks as strong as ever despite losing its entire frontcourt to the draft. Pierre Jackson is starting his campaign to be recognized as one of the best point guards in the country by dropping 25 points and seven assists. Baylor's 7-foot-1 freshman center Isaiah Austin didn't even play in this game after spraining his ankle in a 22-point effort in the opener. The Bears are dangerous.

#2 Louisville borrowing its gameplan from the Chicago Bears (79-51 win vs Manhattan)
Louisville is all about the defense. The Cardinals held Manhattan to 36% shooting, forced 26 turnovers, and cobbled together enough points to win. They only hit eight of their 30 three-point attempts, but also took 20 more shots than their opponent. Quantity over quality.

#23 Wisconsin just doing its thing (87-47 domination of SE Louisiana)
Different personnel, same system, same result for the Wisconsin Badgers. They'll always play stifling defense, control the boards, and wear down opponents on the offensive end. Which is exactly what they did here, collecting a whopping 47 rebounds (including 18 on offense), only turning the ball over eight times, and scoring at a 53% clip compared to their opponents' 35% mark. They were like Louisville with offense. Which is scary.

#4 Ohio State finding a new identity (82-60 win vs Albany)
The Buckeyes' big question is who replaces the scoring punch once provided by Jared Sullinger and William Buford. For one game at least, that question was answered: point guard Aaron Craft unleashed a three-point barrage to put up 20 points, Deshaun Thomas scored 19, and Lenzelle Smith Jr. put up 18. That trio will be vital to Ohio State's success. Until we know more about them, it's tough to consider the Buckeyes as the fourth-best team in the country.

#11 North Carolina's one-man show (80-56 win vs Florida Atlantic)
If the first two games are any indication, Carolina forward James Michael McAdoo is in store for a monster season. Without many other weapons to turn to, the Tar Heels are leaning heavily on McAdoo and he responded again, this time with 19 points and 11 rebounds. He took 17 shots; no other teammate had double-digit attempts. This is McAdoo's team.

#12 Arizona failing to inspire much confidence (82-73 squeaker over Charleston Southern)
Everyone else in the top 15 is pretty much pounding inferior competition right out of the gym. Arizona, on the other hand, had a little bit more trouble handling a team from the Big South Conference than you'd like to see. Not exactly good news for the prospects of a rebound season from the miserable Pac-12.

Kenny Boynton steps up for #10 Florida (84-35 win vs Alabama State)
Okay, these results have to be taken with many grains of salt, because Alabama State was good enough to score exactly nine points in the first half. But Florida was without its starting point guard due to suspension. So the notoriously trigger-happy Kenny Boynton was asked to run the point, which is like asking Josh Hamilton to draw walks. Except Boynton was great, scoring 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-4 from three-point range. Florida's tide will often rise and fall with Boynton's shot.

The quiet success of #24 Cincinnati (80-57 win vs Tennessee-Martin)
Cincinnati is criminally underrated. Despite a hard-earned Sweet Sixteen berth last year, the Bearcats have been shunned to the bottom of the Coaches Poll thanks to the graduation of Yancy Gates. But this team already proved last year that they can win without Gates while he was serving a suspension. Cincy's three upperclassmen guards--Cashmere Wright, Sean Kilpatrick, and JaQuon Parker--are a formidable trio; they combined for 38 points on efficient shooting in limited minutes to create this blowout. With the Big East so wide open after Louisville, the Bearcats have just as good a shot as anybody to win the league.