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I'm a bit of a college basketball addict. I certainly don't watch every game, but I try to watch a game or two most nights. So I've seen most of the top teams play ... though certainly not all their games. Here are the best performances I have seen this season:
Gonzaga vs. Iowa -- The score on this one (99-88) is a bit misleading. Gonzaga led by 14 at Halftime and was never less than 90% to win with 4:00 left in the First Half. Just a domination of a team with the likely Player of the Year and ranked #4 in KenPom heading into the game. Jalen Suggs just imposed his will on the Iowa guards and the rest was history.
Florida State vs. Virginia -- This game happened earlier this week. I had never seen a Tony Bennett team so thoroughly dominated. Florida State is just loaded with big, physical athletes who can really shoot. Leonard Hamilton has managed to put together a top flight college basketball roster virtually every year since 2016. It's impressive; the dude is 72 years old and he's just now peaking. What's so scary about the Seminoles is not just that you have grown-men athletes like Raiquan Gray, MJ Walker, Anthony Polite, Malik Osborne and Sardaar Calhoun, who can seemingly score from anywhere on the court, nor just that Scottie Barnes is a likely lottery pick, but that the team is just so deep. Nine different guys have played more than 200 minutes in just 15 games.
Michigan vs. Wisconsin -- There had been a lot of skepticism about Michigan's undefeated record through the New Year. The Wolverines' schedule had been light and Juwan Howard had struggled in Big Ten play his first season with a 10-10 conference record. Then came this game against the #5 team in KenPom, the Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers kept it close for 10 minutes, but by the end of the First Half, the outcome was no longer in question. By the three-quarters mark of the game, Wisconsin was taking an absolute pounding, having surrendered 69 points in only 30 minutes, while scoring only 29! And it was a complete team effort by the Wolverines, which had 4 of 5 starters in double figures when they were pulled with 10 minutes to go in the game.
Gonzaga vs. Virginia -- Repeat entries for both Gonzaga and Virginia on this list; Gonzaga on the winning side, Virginia on the losing. The Zags two All-Americans -- Corey Kispert and Drew Timme -- just dominated here, combining for 61 points; Kispert hit nine 3s; Timme hit 9 FGs in 28 minutes. The Zags had essentially put the game out of reach by the end of a Half, and then pounded the Cavs for the first ten minutes of the Second Half. The Zags had 74 points within the first 29 1/2 minutes of game play.
Alabama vs. LSU -- The Baton Rouge Tigers are by no means a powerhouse this season, bit Will Wade keeps that rosters stacked (ahem) to the point where LSU is 36-12 in SEC games (a .750 winning percentage) the last three seasons. Plus, LSU had only one conference loss at the Maravich Center since February 20, 2019. Meanwhile, Alabama entered the game with Nate Oats looking like an ascendant program in the SEC; the Tide came out of the game as a conference powerhouse. This was an epic level blowout, with Alabama scoring 60 points in the First Half! Oh, and the Tide didn't let up to start the 2nd Half, reaching a remarkably 89 points nine minutes into the Second Half. Three different Tide players hit six or more 3-pointers! Together with a blowout in the prior game against Arkansas, this road blowout marked Alabama's announcement that they were a national power to be taken seriously.
USC vs. Arizona State -- A bit of an odd inclusion this list given SC has a couple blowout wins against better teams in BYU, Arizona and UCLA. The difference here is that Arizona State shot lights out, including an All-American performance from their senior star point Remy Martin, and yet SC was able to turn the otherwise close game into a blowout down the stretch -- outscoring ASU 11-2 over a near-four-minute stretch starting at 6:18 left in the 2nd Half and running to the 2:24 mark. One of the more remarkable stats for the game was that during the 91 offensive/defensive possessions both Tahj Eaddy and Evan Mobley were on the court together, USC outscored ASU by 27 points; in the 45 possessions where they weren't on the court together, ASU outscored USC by 9 points.
Gonzaga vs. Iowa -- The score on this one (99-88) is a bit misleading. Gonzaga led by 14 at Halftime and was never less than 90% to win with 4:00 left in the First Half. Just a domination of a team with the likely Player of the Year and ranked #4 in KenPom heading into the game. Jalen Suggs just imposed his will on the Iowa guards and the rest was history.
Florida State vs. Virginia -- This game happened earlier this week. I had never seen a Tony Bennett team so thoroughly dominated. Florida State is just loaded with big, physical athletes who can really shoot. Leonard Hamilton has managed to put together a top flight college basketball roster virtually every year since 2016. It's impressive; the dude is 72 years old and he's just now peaking. What's so scary about the Seminoles is not just that you have grown-men athletes like Raiquan Gray, MJ Walker, Anthony Polite, Malik Osborne and Sardaar Calhoun, who can seemingly score from anywhere on the court, nor just that Scottie Barnes is a likely lottery pick, but that the team is just so deep. Nine different guys have played more than 200 minutes in just 15 games.
Michigan vs. Wisconsin -- There had been a lot of skepticism about Michigan's undefeated record through the New Year. The Wolverines' schedule had been light and Juwan Howard had struggled in Big Ten play his first season with a 10-10 conference record. Then came this game against the #5 team in KenPom, the Wisconsin Badgers. The Badgers kept it close for 10 minutes, but by the end of the First Half, the outcome was no longer in question. By the three-quarters mark of the game, Wisconsin was taking an absolute pounding, having surrendered 69 points in only 30 minutes, while scoring only 29! And it was a complete team effort by the Wolverines, which had 4 of 5 starters in double figures when they were pulled with 10 minutes to go in the game.
Gonzaga vs. Virginia -- Repeat entries for both Gonzaga and Virginia on this list; Gonzaga on the winning side, Virginia on the losing. The Zags two All-Americans -- Corey Kispert and Drew Timme -- just dominated here, combining for 61 points; Kispert hit nine 3s; Timme hit 9 FGs in 28 minutes. The Zags had essentially put the game out of reach by the end of a Half, and then pounded the Cavs for the first ten minutes of the Second Half. The Zags had 74 points within the first 29 1/2 minutes of game play.
Alabama vs. LSU -- The Baton Rouge Tigers are by no means a powerhouse this season, bit Will Wade keeps that rosters stacked (ahem) to the point where LSU is 36-12 in SEC games (a .750 winning percentage) the last three seasons. Plus, LSU had only one conference loss at the Maravich Center since February 20, 2019. Meanwhile, Alabama entered the game with Nate Oats looking like an ascendant program in the SEC; the Tide came out of the game as a conference powerhouse. This was an epic level blowout, with Alabama scoring 60 points in the First Half! Oh, and the Tide didn't let up to start the 2nd Half, reaching a remarkably 89 points nine minutes into the Second Half. Three different Tide players hit six or more 3-pointers! Together with a blowout in the prior game against Arkansas, this road blowout marked Alabama's announcement that they were a national power to be taken seriously.
USC vs. Arizona State -- A bit of an odd inclusion this list given SC has a couple blowout wins against better teams in BYU, Arizona and UCLA. The difference here is that Arizona State shot lights out, including an All-American performance from their senior star point Remy Martin, and yet SC was able to turn the otherwise close game into a blowout down the stretch -- outscoring ASU 11-2 over a near-four-minute stretch starting at 6:18 left in the 2nd Half and running to the 2:24 mark. One of the more remarkable stats for the game was that during the 91 offensive/defensive possessions both Tahj Eaddy and Evan Mobley were on the court together, USC outscored ASU by 27 points; in the 45 possessions where they weren't on the court together, ASU outscored USC by 9 points.
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