LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- We are one week into the college basketball season, and I can't wait a second longer. It's already time for Five Wild Overreactions.
Plenty of candidates. Here are my selections.
1. Virginia Is Forever
A confession: I voted Virginia in the Top 10 in my preseason Top 25 ballot, but I wondered if I gave coach Tony Bennett and his unrelenting Pack Line defense too much credit.
No more Ty Jerome to make ridiculously tough jumpers late in the shot clock. No more Kyle Guy to make speeding up the Cavaliers mission impossible. No more DeAndre Hunter to do remarkable things late in the shot clock.
"Virginia will take a step back," one coach promised me at ACC Media Day last month. "They lost too many shooters."
Maybe Virginia did lose too many shooters. The Cavaliers have shot 16 percent from the three-point line -- 8 of 50.
But the Cavaliers have not lost their edge on defense.
In two games, Virginia has allowed 68 points -- 34 to Syracuse and 34 to James Madison.
Virginia didn't limit anybody to 34 points last season. The Cavaliers have allowed less than 80 points per 100 possessions, which should be illegal.
Their opponents have made 25 percent of their two-point attempts and 21.7 percent of their threes.
We should know if Virginia has a legitimate chance to defend its national title during the first week of December when the Cavaliers visit Purdue and then host North Carolina.
I think I already know the answer.
2. The Big Ten Has Issues
Ohio State and Minnesota have given the Big Ten something to brag about in football, but the first week of the hoops season was sprinkled with dead batteries and shattered headlights for Big Ten basketball.
Michigan State looked a cut below Kentucky in a 7-point loss at Madison Square Garden. When I watched the Spartans, I didn't see any sure first-round NBA Draft picks.
Purdue discovered the effects of not having Carsen Edwards and Ryan Cline when the Boilermakers were outscored 13-4 in the last three minutes of a 70-66 loss to NIT champion Texas at Mackey Arena.
Iowa, considered a likely NCAA Tournament team, was totally outclassed by DePaul in a 15-point loss in Iowa City. Fran McCaffery wasn't even stirred to get a technical foul.
Northwestern lost a home game to Merrimack, a school in its first full season of Division I basketball.
Nebraska flopped against UC-Riverside and Southern Utah, despite playing both games in Lincoln.
It's getting late early in the Big Ten.
3. Jordan Nwora Ready to Roll
Louisville forward Jordan Nwora made his share of preseason magazine covers. He was named ACC preseason player of the year. He was voted a first-team all-American by the Associated Press.
Nwora has come out firing like a guy who has not dwelled on his press clippings.
Nwora is ranked fourth, behind Cole Anthony of North Carolina, Markus Howard of Marquette and Mamadi Diakite of Virginia, in the national Player of the Year race by Ken Pomeroy.
He's made nearly 60 percent of his two-point attempts and half of his 10 shots from distance, while averaging close to a double-double, 22 points and 9 rebounds.
4. Fall in Love with Cole Anthony
Last season it was Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett from You Know Where. In 2018 it was Trae Young of Oklahoma. In 2017, Lonzo Ball, Markelle Fultz, Jayson Tatum and De'Aaron Fox were the freshmen putting on shows.
This season the early freshman Flavor of the Month is Cole Anthony of North Carolina.
Typically the Tar Heels don't go gaga over freshmen. Dean Smith never allowed it. They're going gaga over Anthony, the son of former UNLV guard and CBS college basketball analyst Greg Anthony. (Has anybody else wondered what former UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian would think about the son of one of his national championship players going 110 percent establishment and playing for the Tar Heels?)
They should go gaga. In two games, Anthony has averaged 27 points and grabbed 21 rebounds -- all on the defensive glass.
He is not a center or even a forward. Anthony is a point guard, barely 6 feet 3. He's converted 10 of 22 shots from distance.
Anthony, Memphis center James Wiseman and Tyrese Maxey of Kentucky have surged to the front row of the discussion.
5. Fun With Transitive Property
Even with only a week of games, it's not difficult to shake up the fan base in any conference. I made my case about the Big Ten.
How about the Southeastern Conference?
Florida was supposed to be a monster, adding transfer Kerry Blackshear of Virginia Tech to a solid collection of returning players.
The Gators did not look monstrous in Gainesville Sunday.
The Gators lost to Florida State, which lost to ACC also-ran Pittsburgh, which lost to Nicholls State, which started the season ranked No. 293 by Ken Pomeroy.
The ACC also has reason to blush. The Pitt loss was one. Wake Forest scrambling to beat Columbia, the fourth-best team in the Ivy League, was another. Danny Manning has reclaimed an early spot on the Hot Seat.
The SEC also burped against an Ivy League squad when Alabama stumbled against Penn.
Back to basketball -- and a search for more Wild Overreactions.
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