Top Teams Taken Down
A week of college basketball is officially in the books! With a relatively static first week of the season, last night saw a couple teams stake their claim in the 2021-22 season, building their resume early with some marquee non-conference victories:
Seton Hall
Projected as a bubble team, the Pirates nabbed what is one of the most impressive wins to date for any team: a road win over the 6th-ranked Michigan Wolverines. Seton Hall trailed for much of the second half, but were in a virtual deadlock for the final few minutes. The Pirates found themselves up 2 when Terrance Williams drew a foul with 0.8 left in regulation, but fortunately for Seton Hall, he missed the first free throw and accidentally banked the second in. The theme in this game was bench scoring; while the Wolverines only had 9 points total off the bench, Seton Hall had 37 (including 13 apiece from Tray Johnson and Bryce Aiken). Michigan should be fine. They just need the season to mature with their young squad. Seton Hall, however, has the ability to cement themselves as a Big East contender.
BYU
This team is also seen as a bubble team at the onset of this young season. While their win over the #12 Oregon Ducks in Portland isn't nearly as impressive as going into Ann Arbor and coming out victorious, you cannot overlook that margin of victory. 32 points! The Cougars just shot so much better, netting 59.6% from the field (40.9% from beyond the arc) compared to Oregon's measly 32.1% field goal success rate. Alex Barcello was absolutely fantastic tonight; he shot 9-11 for 25 points and used his agility to the fullest to get clean drives to the rim. This is a veteran BYU team that could finally see itself go deep into the NCAA Tournament this season.
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