So ... early season college basketball offers a fair amount of struggles - but also teams that look they are rising. These early games sometimes say something about a team's direction - but unfortunately for those of us (myself included) who like to analyze and read into things, there is a lot of noise ... and in this day of portal turnover, no one can know what ANY of these early games actually mean.
That said ... one GOAL for teams as they develop is to SURVIVE those early season games and potential hiccups. Sure, early season struggles can highlight areas of concern (like for RU - rebounding). But when areas of concern are highlighted, sometimes they can be repaired, as well.
Also, remember that in college in particular, and college hoops even more so, scores are NOT transitive - each match up and game are so distinct that if RU beat St. Peters by 10 and SHU by 4, that does not mean RU is 6 points better than SHU. It just does not work that way.
So ... RU struggled against St. Peters (see bac2therac's and Degas' excellent post game reviews - no post mortem from me for that game - the time for that has passed). BUT ... RU survived, ended up winning by 10 (in the end no one other than RU fans will remember RU trailed by 1 with 4 minutes left), found a way to WIN ... and importantly, found a way to AVOID THE BAD LOSS. I will add that in my opinion, RU LOSES that St. Peter's game with last season's team.
Other examples of avoiding the bad loss in the Big Ten, for example, in the last few games:
a) USC found a way to avoid the loss to UT-Arlington (won 98-95, but won).
b) Illinois found a way to beat Oakland, 66-54.
c) Washington was down 11 at the half to Seattle Pacific, but pulled way away in the 2nd half, avoiding the bad loss.
d) Northwestern struggled in the 1st half vs UIC (of the MVC) but pulled away for a win
e) Penn State up 8=7 at half vs a bad St. Francis team killed it in the 2nd half.
f) Oregon forced to OT vs Portland, won in OT
g) Iowa up just 6 at half time pulled away big time from South Dakota.
h) Purdue did control the whole game vs Yale, but only won by 8 in the end.
Contrast this to the bad losses a couple of Big Ten teams had: UCLA losing at home to New Mexico (now not necessarily a really bad loss - New Mexico has been quite good often - but it hurts UCLA. And ... last night: Minnesota losing to North Texas ... I think we can read into this Minnesota may not be a good team (when you also factor in a near loss to Omaha).
Other games of note the last few days - games I saw, at least:
1) Michigan lost a close game Sunday to Wake Forest ... I still have no idea what to make of Michigan ... They do like to shoot the ball, though. And they have talent. Though a loss, a quality loss, and not a bad showing. I am sure UM fans are bummed, as the game was there for the taking.
2) Michigan State battled and played Kansas well. MSU shot awfully from 3 - but no surprise, can they play defense. Izzo made the deliberate decision to never double Dickinson, who scored 28 points ... Kansas still had too much for MSU. MSU does have the look, as Izzo usually achieves, of a potential NCAA team.
3) Not a Big Ten game, but I watched the Duke vs Kentucky game. Fascinating storylines if you are a college basketball fan. The fabulous 3 freshmen Duke has versus Kentucky's entire team not having ONE player who played for them last year. Kentucky won in a barn-burner. Flagg was terrific - but down the stretch, the last 2 minutes, when Duke literally put the ball in his hands to trigger, make plays, etc., he could not and did not convert. Perhaps a lesson in why you sometimes need veterans at times?
4) Last night, St. John's vs Wagner - remember, scores are not transitive. I cite this game mainly because RU played St. Johns in the exhibition, and just played Wagner, as well. St. Johns ended up winning by 20, a nice, in the end easy win. But they had to fight tooth and nail in the 1st half, as Wagner was scrappy as hell. Wagner also looked like a better team vs St. Johns than they did against RU. Of note to me, though, was not the score, but instead the St. John's line-up. Pitino did NOT START Richmond or Ejiafor - though both ended up with starter's minutes. He is obviously still trying to find the best line-ups and rotations, and obviously has not yet done so.
The above situation with St. Johns I think is and will be typical for teams in this portal transfer era. I point this out for those RU fans (including myself) who obsess over minutes and who should start, versus who finishes games, vs which 5 players are in the floor at different times: Coaches are still really hunting for the right combos more than ever before in this transfer portal era.
