Week three of college basketball started, ended, and was filled with madness throughout the week. The seven days featured three MTEs: Maui Jim Maui Invitational, Battle 4 Atlantis, and the PK85. There were highly ranked teams that took losses, along with low-ranked and non-ranked teams who made a name for themselves. To recap it all, here is a college basketball week three in review.
Winner: Arizona
Runner Up: Creighton
Arizona cemented itself as a top five team in the country after winning three games in three days to capture the Maui Invitational title. Oumar Ballo won MVP after scoring 30 points in the title game vs. Creighton. The Bluejays, even though they took a loss, proved to be a top 10 team as well after a strong showing during the three days.
Arkansas and San Diego State were the other two semi-finalists, and Arkansas won their matchup to secure third place in the tournament. Ohio State beat Texas Tech in the fifth place game, and Cincinnati beat Louisville in the seventh place game. Louisville is 0-6 to start the season.
Winner: Tennessee
Runner Up: Kansas
After losing to Colorado earlier in the season, Tennessee got their first marquee win of the season beating Kansas in the B4A title game. They beat Butler and USC in the two games before. Kansas looked a little faulty in their two games against NC State and Wisconsin, but pulled them out before losing by 14 to the Vols. The reigning champs are still one of the best teams in the country, but definitely have some concerns.
Wisconsin beat USC in the third-place game by five to get to 5-1. It is a solid start for the Badgers thus far. NC State won the losers bracket to secure fifth place over Butler. Lastly, Dayton falls to 3-4 after going 0-3 in Atlantis. They lost to BYU in the seventh-place game. The Flyers were a preseason top 25 team.
Phil Knight Invitational
Winner: UConn
Runner Up: Iowa State
There were two teams in the PK85 that secured titles of top 10 teams. One of those is UConn. The Huskies mauled everyone in their path, including Iowa State who beat North Carolina just two days prior. The Huskies are now 8-0, the only team in the nation with that record, and are top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency according to KenPom. Iowa State is off to a shockingly good start again. Second-year coach TJ Otzelberger has his Cyclones rolling at 5-1 after losing Tyrese Hunter to the transfer portal in the off-season. In their massive win over No. 1 North Carolina, Caleb Grill went off for 31 points and went 7-11 from 3-point range. It was an insane performance by Grill and a great win for that program.
Alabama beat North Carolina 103-101 in four overtimes in an absolutely absurd game. Portland took Michigan State down to the wire in a 78-77 loss. Lastly, Oregon beat a Villanova team that is just not good at all so far this season. It has been rough for the Wildcats without Jay Wright.
Phil Knight Legacy
Winner: Purdue
Runner Up: Duke
Purdue is the other team that cemented itself as a top-10 team after the results of the PK85. Along with that, Zach Edey made himself a front-runner for player of the year, and Matt Painter made himself a front-runner for coach of the year. Purdue pounded all three opponents in the PKL, including Gonzaga and Duke, who were both top 10 teams at the time. After not much recognition in the preseason, Purdue has put everyone on notice and are now the favorite in the Big Ten.
As for Duke, Jeremy Roach and Kyle Filipowski cannot do everything for them every game. Dereck Lively II and Dariq Whitehead just returned from injury and they still need time to get their playing shoes back, but both have not been productive much at all since their return. Duke will be fine, but so far they have lost to both ranked teams they’ve played.
After getting stomped by Purdue, West Virginia beat Portland State and Florida by a combined 47 points. Oregon State went winless in Portland but only lost to Duke by three in the first game. Xavier went 1-2 in the PKL but should feel optimistic. They are without a doubt the best three-loss team in the country.
Arizona
Creighton
Purdue
Tennessee
UConn
Dayton
Louisville
North Carolina
Oregon State
Villanova
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