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Well, believe it or not, the last time a No. 1 team in the college basketball polls was replaced without losing a game was in 1983 during the Reagan Administration when North Carolina was passed over by Kentucky. After pre-season No. 1 Kansas beat 10th ranked Michigan State, 92-87, in impressive fashion in its season opener, the Jayhawks were surprisingly replaced by No. 4 Duke. The Blue Devils blew out No. 2 and overrated Kentucky, 118-84, to start the season. Kansas was sitting at No. 2 for a while and was even leapfrogged once again when No. 3 Gonzaga knocked off top-ranked Duke right before Thanksgiving to claim the top spot. Meanwhile, that same weekend, No. 2 Kansas beat 5th ranked Tennessee, which a few weeks later knocked off No. 1 Gonzaga to help Kansas regain No. 1.
If all this sounds a little crazy, consider this simple notion — all this could have been avoided if Kansas had stayed in the No. 1 spot all along like it belonged. Since when do you
Not that being No. 1 is all that fun anyway. One of the beauties of college basketball these days is the incredible parity that exists, and holding onto the top spot is a little bit like playing Russian Roulette. The wrong end of the chamber found Duke and Gonzaga within a matter of weeks. Once again, Coach Bill Self’s Jayhawks are in possession of the deadly weapon, and this weekend, a wounded Villanova came stumbling into Allen Fieldhouse hoping to knock off No. 1. Earlier in the week, the defending national champs were upset by Penn, 78-75, ending the Wildcats’ 25 game winning streak over Philly Big 5 (others are Temple, St. Joseph’s and LaSalle) schools.
With rapidly improving center Udoka Azubuike sidelined with a bad ankle sprain, the Jayhawks were vulnerable against a hungry Villanova team that had beaten Kansas by 16 in last year’s national semifinals. The Jayhawks’ vulnerability meter inched even higher when starters Quentin Grimes and Devon Dotson missed most of the first half with foul trouble. Still, Kansas led, 33-31, at intermission and held on for a 74-71 victory mostly due to the stellar play of Dedric Lawson and Lagerald Vick.
Lawson, who is quietly emerging as one of the best players in college basketball, had 28 points and 12 rebounds. It was the sixth consecutive game the transfer from Memphis has scored more than 20 points. Lawson is nowhere near the athlete of somebody like Duke’s Zion Williamson, or many others for the matter, but there is an unassuming efficiency about his game that is a joy to watch. His skill level is off the charts for a big man and he really understands the game. Add a more few inches to the 6-9 Lawson and you have a player that reminds me of NBA legend Tim Duncan. Of course, those few inches matter quite a bit when chasing a comparison to the 6-11 Duncan, which is why Lawson is projected as a low first-round NBA draft pick instead of a lottery selection. Not to mention, Lawson’s jump shot has a ways to go before it is nearly as deadly as Duncan’s. But let’s forget about NBA draft boards for now and focus on the present — Kansas opponents will surely have their hands full trying to put the shackles on Lawson the rest of this season.
As for Vick, there is hardly a shot he will not take, which is usually a source of frustration for just about any coach. But Vick makes difficult shots with the best in college basketball, so there was no reason for Self to worry when the rangy 6-5 guard was taking and making
Finally, let’s give some credit to Villanova for hanging around in this one. Last season, with all five starters having the unique combined ability to both pass and shoot 3-pointers, the Wildcats were an offensive juggernaut while leading the nation in scoring at nearly 87 points per game. Coach Jay Wright could just sit back and put the controls on autopilot. Now, after four Wildcat underclassmen exited for the NBA and were picked in the top 33 selections, Wright must fiddle with all the instruments. In the unfriendly confines of Allen Fieldhouse, Wright performed that task remarkably well. The Wildcats controlled the tempo from start to finish, keeping the score down and quieting the crowd in the process. In a high scoring affair, the Wildcats would have been burnt toast.
Villanova will not contend for a national championship this season but there were some promising signs this week that show the Wildcats could still be a force to be reckoned with, come March Madness. Villanova’s leading scorer Eric Paschall has been struggling to find the help he needs on the offensive end, but this past week, guards Phil Booth and Collin Gillespie, stepped up. Booth scored a team-high 29 points, including an electrifying one-handed dunk in traffic as the Wildcats made their run in the second half. Last season, Booth took a back seat to the Wildcats’ prolific scorers, attempting 10 or more shots only 10 times in Villanova’s magical 36-4 season. Not that Booth is incapable of getting the job done offensively. In Villanova’s national championship victory over North Carolina in 2016, Booth scored a career-high 20 points.
Then there’s the rapidly improving offensive play of Gillespie, which like his teammate Booth, isn’t all that surprising. Gillespie was a star at nearby Archbishop Wood High School, and was a ESPN Top 100 Recruit (No. 75) coming out of the prep ranks. Gillespie helped Villanova stay around in the Penn game with a career-high 21 points and followed with 15 points in the Kansas loss despite just 1-of-7 shooting (all good looks) from 3-point range.
If Gillespie had found his mark, we might have been looking at Kansas surrendering the No. 1 spot once again to either unbeaten Virginia or Michigan in this crazy early season scramble for the top spot in college basketball.