10 Biggest Surprises from the Opening Week of the 2015-16 CBB Season

We've been speculating, previewing and guessing since early April. That was great.

This is better. Games have been played.

And, yes, there were surprises—a solid 10 of them—as we got through the first week of action, including ESPN's "Tip-off Marathon." We should have figured there would be some curves in the road, right?

Consider this a launching point, but it also sure looked like a breakdown spot already for a couple of blue bloods.

Heck, in the state of Virginia alone there are a pair of schools that caught us off-guard with their problems.

There's one team that seemed to be a sure thing for a title last year but may look even more dominant this year.

But then we look at other situations, too, like the health of college basketball and one dominant team's sudden angst out west.

So follow along. Maybe you'll even be surprised by what you learn.

Buzz Williams Has Been a Complete Buzz-Kill at Virginia Tech

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

If that's head coach Buzz Williams in late October showing off his vision for Virginia Tech basketball at ACC media day, well, it sure could use some strong bifocals right now.

The Hokies lost to Alabama State, 85-82, in their season opener. It might've been bad enough had they lost to Alabama, but we looked it up—there really is an Alabama State. The SWAC team jumped from 303 (out of 351 teams) to 261 in the KenPom rankings.

Alabama State had never beaten an ACC team until now (was 0-7).

Six players suited up for Va. Tech for the first time, and this doesn't look like any better of a group than the last four, which all finished last in the league.

Wasn't Williams supposed to change that? He even went 14-17 as a 34-year-old coach at New Orleans, then soon found his way to Marquette and went to a pair of Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight.

Va. Tech went 11-22 last year, and the second year seems to have even less Buzz. We expected more from his high energy and past success. Any more of this, and we're going to have to downgrade to calling him Brent or Brent Langdon.

When Williams took the Virginia Tech job, it looked like he was fleeing for a safer zone with a solid paycheck and minimal expectations (competing against the likes of Duke, North Carolina and all), but who could've expected this many problems?

Maybe we should've learned from history, which came to the forefront in the loss.

For starters, the Richmond Times-Dispatch's Mike Barber pointed out "junior forward Zach LeDay became the first Virginia Tech basketball player to score 20 points or more in his debut game for the Hokies since Deron Washington in 2004."

That's a long time to not have a 20-point debut guy in this day and age of transfers, stud freshman, etc.

Barber also notes LeDay (a South Florida transfer) was the first Tech player to get a double-double debut  since Dorian Finney-Smith in 2012.

Finney-Smith is now at Florida.

You wonder if Buzz misses Marquette.

Kansas Is the Same Team as Last Year

Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press

While Kansas head coach Bill Self was presumably screaming at his team in the second half, ESPN's Dick Vitale used a moment during the Michigan State-Kansas game to cajole the NCAA to "Free Diallo."

Those are the buzzwords for Kansas, which otherwise doesn't seem much for March unless freshman forward Cheick Diallo gains eligibility. The Jayhawks faithful are left to hope the old-man commentator has some pull.

The surprise, sans the freshman forward: The Jayhawks don't really seem to be any more skilled or cohesive of a team despite all of their returning experience, plus the successful summertime trip to South Korea.

Apparently Michigan State is a little tougher than the competition during the World University Games.

Prior to Tuesday night, the Lawrence Journal-World's Gary Bedore pointed out, it had been 36 years since a player recorded a triple-double against KU.

We could say that makes it a surprise that Sparty's Denzel Valentine produced 29 points, 12 rebounds, and 12 assists in a 79-73 victory.

B/R's own C.J. Moore hit on it splendidly in his postgame report:

"

Valentine's triple-double (29 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists)carried the Spartans to a 79-73 win over fourth-ranked Kansas in a game they had no business winning. Kansas had the better talent. The Jayhawks even had more experience. But they had no idea where to go or what to do with the ball in crunch time.

The Jayhawks were lost on a country road with no signal. Valentine had a built-in GPS and the ball on a string.

"

Kansas, like last year, still can't finish at the rim consistently. Self would call it "clutching." Wayne Selden reverted to his old ways, instead of building on the confident WUG run.

The final nine minutes, 25 seconds is scary for the Jayhawks to consider.

Kansas had built an 11-point lead. But Frank Mason and Devonte' Graham failed to handle the tempo the rest of the way, and Kansas took scattered shot after scattered shot.

Diallo would be a huge benefit inside. It would take some pressure of the guards, for sure. New forward Carlton Bragg had some moments—including a couple silky jump shots—but Kansas would probably say it's caught off-guard to not be at a better starting point.

Perhaps it wouldn't beat Tom Izzo and Co. in March anyway—we know how Izzo thrives in that setting—but it should've been more than good enough in the second game of the season.

Utah Isn't a One-Man Show

Rick Bowmer/Associated Press

Sometimes a coach's best work isn't shown in recruiting, it's unveiled in re-recruiting.

There's no question Jakob Poeltl would've been a first-round NBA draft pick after his freshman year on promise alone. But coach Larry Krystkowiak—a former NBA player and coach—convinced him that another year of college-level seasoning would be of benefit.

Poeltl bought it, he's bought in and here's the real kicker: He's not going to have to do this alone. The Utes are somehow an even better scoring team all-around, even as do-everything guard Delon Wright actually did go off to the next level (he was a senior).

"It's been a concerted effort with him slowing down and relying on some power moves," Krystkowiak told the Salt Lake Tribune's Kyle Goon of Poeltl's development. "A couple simple moves: a jump hook, a counter. A couple of great moves where he got guys lifted. He's not afraid to be fouled now."

Poeltl produced 41 points and 23 rebounds in his first two games. As Goon pointed out in the aforementioned story, Utah otherwise had no true center on its bench. So if Poeltl felt Utah's coach was just using him—and instead he went for the easy pro money—no one's sitting here today talking about the Utes' improvement.

The added bonus of Poeltl's advancing game is he's a 61 percent foul shooter. That may not seem like much, but he was at 44 last year, and so far is shooting about seven more attempts per game.

Against San Diego State—when Poeltl had a double-double—his teammates came through too. Nothing against Wright, who was fantastic last year, but the Utes have moved on.

Lorenzo Bonam hit a late stay-ahead three (off a Poeltl pass). Brekkott Chapman and Brandon Taylor are connecting on the perimeter. Kyle Kuzma is growing up fast, too.

This appears to be every bit the Sweet 16 team as last year. Poeltl doesn't show a sign of slumping, and it turns out Wright can be replaced.

That's heady stuff for a program that in 2011-12 (Krystkowiak's first year with a total rebuild starting) won just six games.

Kentucky May Be an Even Surer Thing for a Title This Year

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

There is no "platoon" talk this year.

Kentucky will not come at teams in waves. Coach John Calipari pointed out to reporters, including B/R's Jason King, that the Wildcats won't even really come at teams exclusively with massive height.

But there's plenty of heart, a deft three-guard lineup and a team that looked every bit like a national championship winner Tuesday against Duke in Chicago.

"It's amazing," Calipari said after the 74-63 win. "Last year we had 7'0" (Karl-Anthony Towns), 7'0" (Willie Cauley-Stein) and 6'10" (Trey Lyles). This year we're 5'9" (Tyler Ulis), 6'2" (Isaiah Briscoe) and 6'5" (Jamal Murray)."

Most teams would certainly take it, including the 76ers. The trio posted 46 points, 12 assists and eight steals. Sure, it's a revamped Duke team, too, but we're left to be a little surprised by UK's domination—could this really be a better bet to win the NCAA tournament than last year's NBA lottery pick-soaked roster?

Think about it. UK may have the right combination of young talent, plus the experience of Ulis and forward Alex Poythress. Poythress wasn't even particularly good (3-of-10 shooting), but he's coming off injury. We know he won't need to be the MVP of this team, but he was a standout on last year's pair of five-player rotations before getting hurt.

And who's going to stop the Wildcats? You can argue they're not as good as last year's version. But the rest of the field also probably doesn't have a Wisconsin among it. Experienced Oklahoma looked shaky at Memphis. Kansas and Iowa State bring back a lot of experience but aren't foolproof picks. Plus they don't match up in sheer talent. No one does.

There aren't many teams that can stop Kentucky on any given night. Didn't we think we were done saying that last year?

Memphis Isn't That Bad

Brandon Dill/Associated Press

Believe it or not, that picture above isn't Memphis coach Josh Pastner waving to a Tiger who decided to transfer during the Oklahoma game.

It just seems like that was possible, because of all of the defections in recent years, including the late decision of Austin Nichols.

As B/R's Kerry Miller pointed out after Nichols' July decision, since becoming the head coach of Memphis before the 2009-10 season, Pastner has signed 17 scholarship freshmen (excluding the class of 2015)—10 left early and hardly to just test NBA waters. 

So we figured Memphis—with another roster overhaul—would look like a hot mess (even at home) against silky-smooth Oklahoma. Only it didn't turn out quite like that, losing just 84-78. The Tigers even had a three free-throw situation in the closing seconds that could've really caused some drama. But Dedric Lawson (who barely missed on a three-pointer while getting fouled and a four-point play would've tied it) then somehow missed all the free throws.

But he'll be better for the experience. And he showed off his potential with 22 points, 15 rebounds, three blocks, two steals and two assists.

Memphis isn't known for playing well against big-name teams early in the season. That's Pastner's other unfortunate calling card, besides the transfers.

Markel Craword and Avery Woodson played well, however, and there was a lot of energy at the FedExForum and not a lot of negative tones pointed toward Pastner, as the Commercial Appeal's Geoff Calkins noted afterward.

Memphis is in a tough spot in history. It doesn't want to honor John Calipari's past work, but it also wants better than the 148-58 record and very limited NCAA tournament success Pastner's had in his first six years.

But maybe this year is different. A loss isn't a loss if it leads to some community goodwill and better results. And some guys sticking around to grow.

We'll keep an eye on it, but we'll call it a surprise because we're curious.

We Miscalculated Virginia's Challenge

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

Sometimes you've got to look back more than a week to catch a team's drift.

That's the case with Virginia. We generally saw the ocean—the Cavaliers were going to face some challenges this year—but we didn't quite see the right boat.

Justin Anderson not returning hurt, but losing Darion Atkins is something that's going to take head coach Tony Bennett and Co. some time to handle. He was the ACC defensive player of the year who went off for 10 points and 14 rebounds is his final game, against Michigan State, in the NCAA tournament.

A program built on defense obviously lost its keystone, as NBCSports.com's Rob Dauster recognized after UVa's loss at George Washington.

 “Atkins was their anchor,” one coach told Dauster. “He was so good at the little things that people don’t notice. Curl protecting. Showing on the screen and giving the guard an extra second to get back. He’s so active, talkative. It was like they had six men on the court. And he protected the rim.”
“That dude … that dude was special.”

We learned that George Washington could be an A-10 front-runner, especially as Dayton and Rhode Island face some player issues. Atkins didn't set the KenPom world on fire, but he counted. He quietly made others, and his team, better.

That means Virginia's going to have to work a little harder to get back to Final Four caliber. Anderson is in the NBA (with the Dallas Mavericks), but it's the D-League member Atkins who UVa could really use back.

Sometimes we see the finished product, but we don't give proper respect to the glue.

The Rules Seem to Really Be Working

Lenny Ignelzi/Associated Press

Unless you're really into bathroom breaks or advertising—or an aficionado of commercials—then you probably weren't happy with the evolution of TV timeouts.

The game is giving us back some time through its pace-of-play edict.

We've mostly talked about the shot clock going from 35 to 30 seconds (the first change since it went from a what now seems like a crazy-long 45 seconds to 35 in 1993-94).

Teams get one fewer timeout in the second half, and coaches can't save a scramble from the sidelines, forcing players to initiate the timeout. There are other seemingly ticky-tack measures to clean up the game.

But the adjusted media-timeout procedure is a plus. If a timeout is called within 30 seconds of an anticipated break (every four minutes), it becomes the media timeout.

Call us surprised and pleased. It seems like it'll make a difference in the viewing experience.

So we won't be stuck with that timeout at (for example) the long timeout at the 8:04 mark—called by a team—then another at (say) 7:54 demanded by television.

It's a good thing for everyone, except the concessions-stand employees.

Now, if only we can wrap our heads around the lack of physical play. Are the new commands of refs going to hold up?

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo—the king of inspiring toughness and physical play—sure has to hope not. We're still up in the air about all the early whistles.

But not having as many breaks—we'll take it, for sure.

A Court Can Be Stormed in November

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

It's not often a coach can beat a team, then also proclaim he wants to "kiss" the opposing coach.

Mike Lonergan struck the right tone earlier this week, however, when George Washington upset Virginia and he thanked Tony Bennett for bringing his team to the nation's capital.

“I just said, ‘Listen, I appreciate you playing us, I really do,'” Lonergan said Tuesday during an interview with the Sports Junkies on 106.7 The Fan. “I said, ‘Hopefully we’ll do what we’re supposed to do this year and it’ll be a good game for both of our RPIs.’ Because if you lose on the road to a really good team, it doesn’t hurt you at all. That’s the way the system is built, so we want to make sure we win a lot of games, so maybe we can continue the series. I wanted to kiss him, because it’s so hard to get teams to play us."

But the sold-out Smith Center was appreciative too. A full haul of students (many in island-lounging gear, for whatever reason) happily and peacefully sprinted to greet their team after the 73-68 win. There were no accusations of player harm toward Virginia, a Final Four contender that starts three seniors.

GW hadn't defeated UVa since 1974 and hadn't faced a top-10 opponent at home since 2000, a loss to Temple.

Ah, so that's how a court-storming becomes understandable this early in the season.

But remember to thank Bennett: He took his team into a hostile environment and risked an early-season loss, rather than just beg off and play someone at home or on a neutral floor.

No kisses necessary, though.

We Haven't Yet Talked About These Towers Facing Each Other

Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

What's big enough to get a college basketball coach to pull his young son out of school and bring him all the way across the country?

A matchup of very intriguing centers, as it turns out.

UC Irvine's Russ Turner told the Orange County Register's Jeff Miller the impetus to put together a game between his 7'6'' center, UCI junior Mamadou Ndiaye against another 90-incher—Central Florida freshman Tacko Fall.

Turner confided it's an $85,000 trip, in part to bring these unnatural (or perhaps unusual is a better word) forces together.

“This isn’t something we’d normally do, traveling three time zones for a midweek game,” Turner said. “But, given the circumstances, we figured this was a good opportunity.”

Miller reported that "Turner pulled his son, Darius, a third-grader, out of school so that he could travel with the team and see it live."

UCF has to be thrilled that Fall is eligible after a long wait.

The one huge bummer is that the game—won by Irvine by a point in overtime—could only be found online through ESPN3.

The second-biggest bummer was the big men didn't produce big numbers. Ndiaye had five points while Fall produced six, and they combined to make just 4-of-14 shots. It had to be wild for both to be actually worried about getting a shot blocked.

Arizona Feels Some Heat from Elsewhere in the Pac-12

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

We're so used to Arizona dominating the Pac-12 in recent years.

But there's definitely some insecurity being felt in Tucson. Coach Sean Miller took some thinly veiled shots at UCLA this week after a 30-point home win against a nonconference team.

We know UCLA coach Steve Alford has been under some heat of his own with the Bruins fanbase and even Bill Walton. And Miller made references to UCLA not getting faithful crowds.

But the way it stands right now, Arizona's incoming recruiting class is getting beat by the Bruins, as calculated per the 247 Sports Composite team rankings.

T.J. Leaf's switcheroo from UA to UCLA is just the latest thorn in Miller's crown. He's been to a Sweet 16 and two Elite Eights in the past three years (including two Pac-12 regular-season titles) but the gap is closing.

And Alford will do anything to bridge it further. That includes taking away his own kid's scholarship.

Yes, it's getting entertaining in the Pac-12. The only bigger surprise—if we're comparing it to recent history—would be getting a Final Four bid next March, from Arizona or otherwise.