5 questions you have about college basketball this season, answered

Get caught up.

We’re less than a week away from Selection Sunday, which means it’s about that time to start paying attention to college basketball again. It’s OK if you haven’t been watching the action since November. We don’t judge.

But obviously, there’s a lot that you’ve missed over the past few months, and with the NCAA Tournament starting in literally less than two weeks, a refresher could be nice, right?

Well, we’re here to help and get you caught up on the college basketball season. Here are some of the hard-hitting college basketball questions that needed to be answered ahead of March Madness.

5. Zion Williamson is gone, and I like dunks. Where can I find dunks?

Sadly, yes, Zion Williamson is gone. But for those dunk enthusiasts out there, college basketball has a couple players who could make deep tournament runs and punish the rim in the process.

Get to know the name Obi Toppin if you haven’t already. The Dayton sophomore is a projected lottery pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, and he has a habit of turning actual games into an impromptu dunk contest. The dude seriously threw down a poster, a reverse dunk and eastbay (between the legs!) on consecutive possessions on Saturday.

While Toppin probably gets the most creative with his in-game dunks, he’s not alone in the 100-dunk club this season. Kansas senior Udoka Azubuike is in a position to break the Division I field-goal percentage record (he’s at 74.6 percent. The record is 74 percent) thanks in large part to his relentless dunking. With a 7-foot, 270-pound frame, Azubuike has been nearly impossible to stop this season because no other team has a body to match up with him.

4. I keep hearing that college basketball is down this year. What happened?

It’s a complicated question with a variety of factors to consider. The first factor should be the early entrants to last year’s NBA Draft. There were 84 underclassmen who declared for the 2019 draft, kept their names in and 44 of those went undrafted. That means that college basketball essentially lost 44 players with pro potential for this season. That’s a staggering loss across the board, and it definitely adds credence to the “college basketball is down” narrative.

The NCAA also hurt itself when it comes to the most talented prospects for an already-weak 2020 draft class. Players like LaMelo Ball and James Wiseman — aside from three games for Wiseman — were not part of this college basketball season due to eligibility issues. And the NCAA seemed unwilling to work with the players to reach a resolution that preserved their eligibility without a lengthy suspension. R.J. Hampton — another potential lottery pick — chose to go to New Zealand over college hoops at Kansas. The probable No. 1 pick Anthony Edwards is on a bad Georgia team. There’s no Trae Young or Zion this season.

When you take all those young stars out of the game, the overall product suffers.

3. What sleeper teams should I keep an eye on?

Glad you asked! It sort of plays into the previous answer. With a “down” year in college basketball, this presents an opportunity for good-but-not-great teams to make a deep tournament run. Non-Power 5 teams like San Diego State, Dayton and Gonzaga are going to compete for possible 1 seeds this year. I wouldn’t call them sleepers, but they definitely aren’t bluebloods.

Without the benefit of seeing matchups and the bracket, Creighton, Butler, Oregon, Virginia and Texas Tech could all make runs at the Final Four in Atlanta.

2. Is Duke any good?

Last year, Duke looked like a dominant team and still lost in the Elite Eight. This year, though, has been a weird season for Duke. The Blue Devils started the season by beating Kansas. They then lost on their homecourt to Stephen F. Austin three weeks later. And in February, Duke lost three of four games — all to unranked teams.

But to answer the question, yes, Duke is good. And I would cap that qualification at “good.”

Vernon Carey Jr. is a great big man. Tre Jones is a very Duke guard. Coach K is still around. Duke could make a deep run, but it could also lose to a bad team and nobody would be surprised.

1. Is there a real favorite to win it all this season?

You’ll probably hear a good deal of pundits say that there are “NO GREAT/DOMINANT TEAMS” this year, and I wouldn’t necessarily go that far. For the past couple months, the Kansas Jayhawks — even in a season of controversy — have played themselves into a Great Team™️ position.

The Jayhawks have won 16 straight games (including a win at then-No. 1 Baylor), went undefeated on the road in Big 12 play and have swept the advanced rankings. Kansas is at the point where it could skip the Big 12 tournament entirely and still get the No. 1 overall seed. It’s already locked up.

We already know that Azubuike presents matchup nightmares for opponents. But Kansas isn’t a one-man team. Sophomore guard Devon Dotson is a Player of the Year candidate. Marcus Garrett is among the best perimeter defenders in the country. Kansas should be considered the favorite.

I’d also argue that Dayton meets the Great Team™️ criteria. So don’t let the talking heads fool you. There’s some great basketball being played at the top of the rankings.

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