The Biggest Takeaways from the 2014-15 NCAA Basketball Season So Far

Now that college football is over until September, it's time to turn your focus to the college basketball season. Believe it or not, it's already halfway over with!

That's right—six weeks of nonconference play and a couple of weeks of conference action are already in the books, and it has been a wild and crazy ride. But have no fear, we're about to step back and take stock of what we have learned so far.

Of course, in college basketball the pendulum swings back and forth on a weekly basis, knocking hot take after hot take out as it goes, but there are a few things so far that really stand out among the shock upsets and inconsistent performances.

Here are the biggest takeaways from the college basketball season so far:

Kentucky Can Be Threatened

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Yes, as of this moment Kentucky is still undefeated, and the Wildcats are certainly the No. 1 team in the country. And, yes, at times this season, they have looked frighteningly good, particularly when they beat Kansas by 32 points.

However, with conference season underway, Kentucky has been rattled by some surprising foes. In one week, the pride of the SEC was taken to OT by Ole Miss and double OT by Texas A&M. John Calipari and his platoons bounced back with a 49-point win over Missouri on Tuesday, but still, there are reasons to be concerned. In both close calls, the Kentucky team was noticeably flat and scattered.

Of course, Calipari isn't too worried, as reported by ESPN.com: 

"

Every team right now has issues in the country. Every team. Every team's working through something. All I'll tell you is I'm happy I'm coaching this team. I believe I have the best team in the country with the best players. So we got some things to figure out.

"

Going forward, if Kentucky plays its best basketball, there is no team in the country that can beat it. However, basketball players are not robots, and as January has shown us, Kentucky will have down days. That will give the team's future opponents a jolt of confidence.

Virginia Is Elite

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Virginia was supposed to be a good team this year, but it wasn't supposed to be undefeated and leading the ACC on January 14. And yet, that's what has happened.

The Cavaliers are 16-0 (4-0 in the ACC). Fourteen of their wins have been by double digits. In the Week 10 AP Top 25 poll, Virginia was ranked No. 2 behind Kentucky and received two first-place votes. 

Justin Anderson has been the team leader and one of the best players in the country so far this season—the junior guard is averaging 14.9 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. However, Virginia has an incredibly deep team with no visible weaknesses on offense or defense, and its deliberate style of play rattles every team in its wake.

Now, you'd be unlikely to meet anyone who thinks that Virginia will go unbeaten this season, and with Duke, Louisville, and UNC all looming in ACC play, the path ahead doesn't get any easier. But Tony Bennett has his team playing at an elite level, and, barring a catastrophe, the Cavaliers will be in the conversation for a No. 1 seed come March. 

Jahlil Okafor Is Great, but Duke Might Not Be

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Jahlil Okafor has lived up to every bit of preseason hype and has been the best player in the country so far this year. He is averaging 18.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, and the 6'11" freshman has the ability to completely take over a game.

However, there are problems with this Duke team, highlighted by the back-to-back losses on the road against N.C. State and at home against Miami, two teams that were predicted to be in the bottom half of the ACC this season.

The young Blue Devils are struggling with chemistry and competitiveness—it often feels like they are all just going through the motions. While Okafor is a proficient scorer, he isn't yet enough of a leader to light a fire in his teammates.

It's a long season, and Duke's talented squad will certainly see brighter days, but starting the conference season 2-2 is not an ideal way to begin. If the Blue Devils want to win the ACC and get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, they need to turn things around sooner rather than later.

The Battle for the Best in the West Is a Thriller

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Basketball fans in the Mountain and Pacific time zones have been treated well so far this basketball season, with Arizona, Gonzaga and Utah all currently in the top 10 in the AP Top 25.

So, who is the best? Well, currently, Gonzaga holds that position, with a 15-1 record and a No. 3 spot in the rankings. Utah is next according to the AP, at 13-2 and at No. 8, while Arizona just suffered a shocking defeat to Oregon State and fell to No. 10.

But it's not as simple as one-two-three. Arizona defeated Gonzaga in OT earlier in the season, and while all three teams have at least one elite player, Utah's Deion Wright has been the superstar, taking over game after game with his stifling defense and all-court versatility.

Utah and Gonzaga won't play each other this season, but we'll know a lot more about who has west-coast bragging rights when Arizona and Utah face off for the first time in 2015 on Jan. 17.

If you're on the East Coast, don't forget to stay up late and get a look at these three teams over the next six weeks. Arizona and Utah will be battling it out for Pac-12 supremacy, while Gonzaga will once again be trying to take care of business in the West Coast Conference and establish itself as one of the elite teams in the nation.  

The Big Man Is Back

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This college basketball season is all about the big men.

Jahlil Okafor and Frank Kaminsky are the top two players in the country right now, and most pundits agree that the battle for the Player of the Year will come down to these two 6'11" forces. 

But this storyline goes beyond Okafor and Kaminsky. The 12-4 Texas Longhorns are living and dying with their big men, currently fourth in the country in rebounding, and Montrezl Harrell is a force for Louisville.

At UNC, Kennedy Meeks has been picking up the slack for a disappointing Marcus Paige, and Kentucky is filled with athletic big men, from Willie Cauley-Stein to Dakari Johnson to Karl-Anthony Towns.

With the pace of college basketball games slowing down and defense being more important than ever, the big men have taken over from the inside.

The Mid-Majors Still Aren't Getting a Lot of Respect

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Outside of Gonzaga and Wichita State—which yes, are very good again this year and are being ranked accordingly at No. 3 and No. 13, respectively—a lot of the mid-major schools are being overlooked once again this season.

Besides the two elites mentioned above, only VCU, Northern Iowa and Wyoming have found their way to the AP Top 25 this week, and there are a lot of great schools being overlooked, such as Dayton, Old Dominion and Green Bay.

Of those six schools who are competing for a spot in the NCAA tournament, Northern Iowa has looked particularly impressive this season with a 14-2 record and one of the best field-goal percentages in the country. However, since Wichita State is likely to win the MVC, Northern Iowa is trying to show enough splash to get an at-large bid, which it certainly looks like it will deserve, barring disaster. Currently, the Panthers are only ranked No. 23.

This is certainly something to pay attention to as we get closer to tourney time, as under-seeded mid-majors have wreaked havoc on the field of 68 before. 

The ACC and the Big 12 Are the Best Conferences

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There's an ongoing debate among college basketball writers and fans over whether the Big 12 or the ACC is the better conference, so I'm just going to settle this once and for all by saying that the answer is "both."

I know, I'm cheating, but it's because they're both great in different ways. The ACC is ridiculously top-heavy, with three teams—Duke, Louisville and Virginia—who could be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. North Carolina and Notre Dame have also been impressive this season, and both teams are currently ranked in the Top 15 in the AP Top 25.

And yet, the Big 12 is definitely the deepest conference in the country right now. Kansas is the top team at No. 9, but Baylor, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and West Virginia are all ranked in the Top 25 and nipping at the heels of the Jayhawks. The Big 12 also is the best conference based on RPI.

Both the ACC and the Big 12 have a great chance at getting seven bids into the NCAA tournament, and teams in both conferences are going to beat up on each other pretty badly over the next six weeks. So instead of arguing over which one is better, just sit back and enjoy the extremely competitive play they'll offer.

The Champions Won't Defend Their Title

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OK, so nobody expected UConn to repeat as national champions this year—nobody expected them to win last year, either, but that's another matter—but few believed the Huskies would struggle as much as they have. 

Kevin Ollie's team is 9-6 on the season. They're off to a 2-2 start in conference play, and a lackluster nonconference resume won't help them at all on Selection Sunday.

Chris Johnson of Sports Illustrated breaks down what's going wrong: 

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UConn’s most glaring deficiencies lie on offense. The Huskies, quite simply, are not scoring at a clip befitting a top-tier team. [Ryan] Boatright has stepped into the lead point-producer role vacated by Shabazz Napier, and as of Wednesday night, the senior was averaging 19.2 points while using a team-high 28.9 percent of available possessions.

Freshman and former top-20 recruit Daniel Hamilton is next on the usage ladder at 24.6 percent, but he’s posting an ugly 89.2 offensive rating, the lowest among teammates averaging at least 24 minutes per game.

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Of course, last season the Huskies didn't really look impressive until March, but this team doesn't have Napier or an ability to take over games the way it did last season. There's still hope for a bid to the NCAA tournament, but it's safe to say that a title defense isn't in the cards.

Maryland Is a Contender in the Big Ten

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There have been a lot of disappointing teams in the Big Ten this season, with Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Illinois all failing to live up to preseason expectations. But the new kids on the block are well on their way to establishing themselves as the No. 2 team in the conference—behind Wisconsin, of course.

Maryland is off to a 15-2 start and is currently 3-1 in Big Ten play and ranked No. 14 in the AP Top 25. Jake Layman has become a legitimate star and leader for the Terrapins, and the freshman class has stepped up big time to produce Maryland's best start since the 1996-97 season.

To say this is a surprise would be an understatement—last year the Terrapins were 17-15 and missed the NCAA tournament for the fourth straight year. Then, in the summer, five players from that team transferred. The Big Ten media picked Maryland to finish 10th in the conference according to an unofficial preseason poll conducted by the Columbus Dispatch.

But coach Mark Turgeon overhauled the system during the offseason and was able to bring in a fantastic recruiting class that melded well with the veterans on the team that stuck around. It's just one of those situations where all of the puzzle pieces have fallen into place at the right time.

There's a long way to go, but Maryland can definitely do damage in the weak Big Ten and set itself up to make some noise in March.