Do we even need an introduction? College basketball is putting out an unbelievable product right now. Let's dive into this week's edition of 10 trends. There is so much to unpack.
1. Cooper Flagg gets a bucket on every Auburn defender
One under-discussed subplot surrounding the fabulous Flagg is that Montverde Academy, where he played as a high school senior, was so dominant in its 33-0 campaign last season that he rarely got reps in late-game situations. He's learning what he can and can't do in clutch scenarios on the fly. Unfortunately, two costly late-game turnovers against Kentucky and Kansas have shrouded some of his brilliance.
That was not the case on Wednesday.
The freshman phenom was tremendous in No. 9 Duke's 84-78 win over No. 2 Auburn, notching 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and three steals.
Duke's offense sizzled to the tune of 1.33 points per possession against Auburn's fabulous defense. That had not happened to a Bruce Pearl team since Feb. 20, 2021, when a Cam Thomas-led LSU club went berserk for 1.34 points per possession (shoutout, Will Wade).
Flagg's destruction of every single Auburn defender was the biggest reason why. Pearl tried everybody on Flagg and nothing worked. He scored seven buckets on six different Auburn defenders.
- First bucket: Flagg blows by All-American Johni Broome and finishes over Dylan Cardwell. Those are two of the best shot-blockers in America, folks.
- Second bucket: Chaney Johnson, a strong 6-foot-7 forward, gets the assignment this time. Flagg parachutes to the rim, stops on a dime and drills a tough fadeaway.
- Third bucket: Johni Broome is guarding him, but Duke dials up a big-on-big screen to get Cardwell onto Flagg. The freshman phenom takes Cardwell (I repeat, one of the elite defenders in the sport) into the paint for a fallaway jumper. Nothing but the bottom of the net.
- Fourth bucket: Auburn is still switching everything defensively, so Flagg is used as the screener to get Denver Jones, a 6-4 guard, onto him. That, predictably, does not go well for the Tigers. Flagg gets to his spin move and drills a floater.
- Fifth bucket: It's Chad Baker-Mazara's time to tango. The long-armed wing offers little resistance. Flagg blows right by him and connects on a jumper over Broome's outstretched arm.
- Sixth bucket: Auburn wants Broome to stay attached to Flagg, but Duke does a good job of putting the Tigers' defense in conflict with Kon Knueppel setting a screen for Flagg that forces Auburn guard Tahaad Pettiford to switch onto Flagg. A 6-1 guard trying to stop a 6-9 forward is not going to go well. Pettiford is a pest, but Flagg stays under control, gets to the middle of the floor and finishes through contact for an old-fashioned, 3-point play.
- Seventh bucket: It's Johnson's turn for one last time. The Auburn forward moves his feet brilliantly, Flagg slips on the hardwood but keeps his dribble and pirouettes into an impossible lefty floater. Unguardable.
2. The heady trigger-man behind Washington State's rise
Washington State coach David Riley celebrated his 38th birthday last week, and his club rewarded him by notching a 68-57 road win over Mountain West frontrunner Nevada on Monday. It's easily one of any team's most impressive road victories, and the first Quad I victory was added to Wazzu's ledger.
It did it without star wing Cedric Coward who was sidelined with a shoulder injury. The best player on the floor was sophomore LeJuan Watts, one of five Eastern Washington studs to follow Riley to Pullman this offseason.
The 6-6, 233-pound forward finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and six assists against an intimidating Nevada frontline that features size at every single level.
Riley's brilliance is in his simplicity. Eastern Washington had the Big Sky's best offense last year, and Riley dialed up post-up after post-up … with anybody on the floor. Last season, Eastern Washington had the sixth-highest post-up rate in the country, just trailing the likes of Purdue (with Zach Edey) and Gonzaga (with Graham Ike and Braden Huff).
It's early, but Riley's kept tapping the "post-up" button early and often at Washington State. The Cougs rate in the 88th percentile nationally in post-up frequency and in the 90th percentile in post-up efficiency, per Synergy.
Watts is in the middle of all of it. His playmaking is a total delight. Washington State does a fabulous job of spacing the floor (big men Ethan Price and Dane Erikstrup can both stroke it from downtown), so Watts has a potpourri of options. He is a fabulous trigger-man who has notched a 20% assist rate to go along with his 11.8 points per game.
Some opponents have tried to take Washington State out of its stuff by playing zone. That's a death sentence against a high-processing stud like Watts who picks apart defenses with pinpoint precision.
Riley has Washington State up to No. 83 on KenPom.com, 28 slots ahead of its preseason rating, but the challenges only get more vicious. The Cougars will face Boise State on Saturday (4 p.m. ET on CBS) with another Quad I win just 40 good minutes of basketball away. Boise State, like Nevada, is huge. Five of Boise State's top-six rotation players are 6-7 or taller with Tyson Degenhart and O'Mar Stanley leading the way.
Watts is the problem solver.
3. Indiana's disconnected defense
The smoke alarms should be blaring in Indiana's facility after the Hoosiers' defense went MIA at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Louisville bulldozed IU for 1.24 points per possession in an 89-61 drubbing. Gonzaga only shot 6 of 20 (30%) from downtown, but it still managed a humming 1.20 points per possession in a stress-free 89-73 victory. Gonzaga would've easily cracked 100 if it hadn't taken its foot off the gas late in the game when the contest was already decided.
Connected, well-scouted defenses do not let the best shooters get free looks. Indiana is not doing that right now. The Hoosiers allowed 39 (!) unguarded catch-and-shoot 3-pointers during the three-game stay in the Bahamas.
Two of Louisville's best three shooters are lefty Reyne Smith and BYU transfer Noah Waterman. Smith and Waterman combined for 17 attempts from 3-point range against IU. Gonzaga's best two snipers are Nolan Hickman and Khalif Battle. They combined for 11 3-point attempts against IU. Providence's best two shooters are Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Jayden Pierre. They combined for 18 attempts against IU.
You get the point. The best shooters are getting free against IU.
The tape is even more damning.
Let's go back through those four plays from the Louisville horror show.
- First play: Indiana was trying to do a ton of off-ball switching to combat Louisville's actions. Kanaan Carlyle (No. 9) and Myles Rice (No. 1) blow a switch and Smith gets a wide-open 3-pointer.
- Second play: Indiana's transition defense was not very good either. It doesn't locate well right now. Bryson Tucker (No. 8) and Oumar Ballo (No. 11) are both camped in the middle of the paint guarding absolutely no one. Louisville's James Scott is smart and active. Instead of lazily standing in the corner, he just goes up and gets in Tucker's way to free up Waterman for an open look with no one in the zip code. Louisville doesn't even have to run a play to get a fantastic look for one of its best shooters.
- Third play: I have no idea what Trey Galloway (No. 32) is doing here. None.
- Fourth play: This baseline out-of-bounds play (also called a BLOB) is to get Smith another trey. He's red hot and feeling it. Galloway turns his head to look at the inbounds play and he's dead right then and there. Kasean Pryor tags him with a screen and Malik Reneau and Oumar Ballo have no intention of helping at all. Another scot-free look for the splashin' Smith.
The self-scouting in Indiana's war room is already underway. It is what it is with Ballo. Teams like Gonzaga and Louisville that feature frontcourt snipers will give the big man trouble. That's been the case throughout his entire college career and won't change anytime soon. But the other stuff just cannot happen. Indiana's attention to detail defensively and off-ball awareness simply has to be better.
Part of it has to be on IU's staff to find something that works. Part of it has to be on the players to execute and, uh, give a damn.
4. Iowa State steals back-to-back buckets against Marquette with an identical play
Sometimes, basketball games are won in the margins.
Like out-of-bounds plays.
No. 6 Iowa State knocked off No. 5 Marquette 81-70 in a top-10 showdown and it used an identical play to score two-straight buckets off baseline out-of-bounds plays.
Kansas coach Bill Self is frequently lauded for his ability to steal little harmless buckets that matter way more later. T.J. Otzelberger is doing the same thing at Iowa State. When the Cyclones are inbounding the ball underneath their basket, you better watch out. Iowa State is averaging 1.147 points per possession on baseline out-of-bounds plays.
That rates in the 96th percentile, per Synergy.
5. Tre Johnson shows competitive fire for Texas
NC State had two possessions in the final minute against Texas on Wednesday, needing just a bucket to tie the game. Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts dialed up a Jayden Taylor isolation against Texas freshman Tre Johnson not once, but twice.
Johnson rose to the challenge both times with back-to-back excellent defensive chops. He didn't get credited with a block or a steal, but he forced Taylor into a tough stepback jumper and another contested jumper in the paint to help Texas salt away a 63-59 victory.
The five-star freshman has a serious competitive spirit that's impossible to ignore. You can tell this stuff matters to him on both ends. Oh, and he made two of the biggest shots in the clutch.
6. A theory behind RJ Davis' shooting woes
Davis is shooting just 47% at the rim on 21 attempts in halfcourt situations. Davis went just 2 for 5 at the rim in halfcourt scenarios in No. 20 North Carolina's frustrating 94-79 loss to No. 10 Alabama on Wednesday.
Davis is on pace to post his lowest efficiency at the rim since his sophomore season at UNC.
Part of it is bad luck. If you go through the tape, Davis has had numerous layups that are halfway down and find a way to skitter out.
Another reason could be no Armando Bacot. North Carolina's screening has not been a major strength so far in the early going. There aren't many instances where Davis' defender is getting scraped off Davis by the physical screens that Bacot could land.
That's not just on Jalen Washington and Ven-Allen Lubin. Some of UNC's timing has been off as Davis gets used to playing with two bigs who are getting major burn in UNC's rotation for the first time.
North Carolina's defense does not look like it will be a strength because it's small at every single level. The offense has to cook to make up for it. That can't happen if Davis cannot get anything going at the rim.
7. West Virginia's new two-man game is cooking
New West Virginia point guard Javon Small is scoring nine points per game directly off pick-and-rolls this season. That's an absurd number that ranks sixth-best in all of college basketball.
West Virginia's coaching staff has helped Small start cooking by using Tucker DeVries, West Virginia's best overall player, as the screener to create a dangerous this-or-that dilemma for opposing defenses.
DeVries is the No. 1 player on every West Virginia scouting report. The 6-7, 220-pound forward has a strap and is shooting nearly 47% from downtown on serious volume.
West Virginia's decision to put its best two players in action at the same time has forced tons of conflict. The chemistry between Small and DeVries has been phenomenal. Small helps DeVries and vice versa.
Together, they've helped West Virginia exceed expectations in a major way with wins over No. 7 Gonzaga and Arizona who entered the season as national championship contenders.
8. UAPB freshman Chop Paljor hits H-O-R-S-E shots
Arkansas-Pine Bluff is off to a 1-8 start, but let me introduce you to Chop Paljor, a 6-8 freshman, who shoots 3-pointers from the parking lot.
Paljor came out of nowhere to erupt for six treys against Missouri on Nov. 24. He hit three more against Kansas State last Sunday.
You just have to watch this...
9. Inside Kim English's pivot to help Providence knock off BYU
Providence beat BYU 83-64 points Tuesday when the Friars took 27 fewer shots than the Cougars. Part of it was a strategic play to regularly punt on chasing down second-chance opportunities to limit a potent BYU transition offense. There are multiple instances on tape where a Friars shooter lines one up and two or three of his teammates are already jogging back in transition to prepare for the incoming onslaught instead of bulldozing downhill for a shot at an offensive rebound.
Providence finished the game with just two offensive rebounds on 17 misses. Add in a few missed offensive free throws and the algorithm spits out a meager 10% offensive rebound rate. That was the third-lowest mark of Kim English's coaching career, dating back to 2021. It's also a massive outlier for this current iteration of Providence basketball.
Providence's offensive rebound rate, game-by-game:
- Central Connecticut: 36.1%
- Stonehill: 37.5%
- Hampton: 36.7%
- Green Bay: 35.7%
- Delaware State: 48.5%
- Oklahoma: 41.2%
- Davidson: 30.2%
- Indiana: 38.6%
- BYU: 10%
It's a jarring pivot but it worked. A Providence transition defense that had just gotten shelled by Indiana to the tune of 21 points allowed just eight points on six shots. It was BYU's lowest transition rate of the season.
The Friars face in-state rival Rhode Island at noon ET Saturday on CBS Sports Network.
10. Maryland's Derik Queen goes drivin'
There was plenty of consternation about Maryland's funky frontcourt fit between Queen and Julian 'Juju' Reese, but so far, it's been one of the best two-man tandems in the country.
Maryland blitzed Ohio State 83-59 in Wednesday's Big Ten opener, and the Terps have a whopping +50.5 net rating with Reese and Queen on the floor together. That rates in the 99th percentile nationally, per CBB Analytics.
That efficiency is partially boosted by bulldozing mid-majors, but even in Maryland's biggest three games (Marquette, Ohio State and Villanova), that duo is +29 in over 62 minutes together.
It's another valuable reminder that high-processing hoopers can make almost any situation work. Queen's smart, under-control drives have unlocked just about everything for Maryland. Queen is averaging 16.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, and he's turned it over on just one of his 29 drives.
The burly 6-10, 246-pound freshman just sheds defenders left and right on his way to the tin. Queen's dexterity with the rock has even allowed Maryland to experiment with some big-on-big pick-and-rolls where Reese's road-grating screens can open up lanes for Queen to get to the rack.
Oh, and Queen's passing has immediately translated to the college ranks.
Queen, the driver, is brutal to guard. Queen, the playmaker, might be even more dangerous.
Flagg and Dylan Harper have been the best two freshmen in the country. For my money, Queen has been the third-most impactful in the first month. Good things just keep happening when the big fella gets a touch.
He's Maryland's best player.