Welcome back to the Starting 5. The Starting 5 is written multiple times per week by Adam Spencer to keep you up-to-date on all the news and events in the world of college hoops. You can follow Adam on Twitter at @AdamSpencer4 and @SDSBasketball.
Monday’s Associated Press Men’s Basketball Poll was, shall we say, interesting. In the No. 1 spot was Gonzaga. In the No. 2 spot was Auburn. Auburn had more first-place votes (36-25), but came up 4 total points short of the Bulldogs for the top spot (1,486 to 1,482).
The reason the Tigers came up short in total points? Well, Gonzaga wasn’t voted lower than fourth place by any AP voter. Meanwhile, Jon Wilner had the Tigers at No. 6 in his poll and Jesse Newell had Auburn at No. 9 in his rankings:
That is absolutely asinine by Newell, who seems to frequently use his poll to drum up attention for himself. If I were running the Associated Press, Newell would be stripped of his vote immediately.
I think the Tigers deserve to be No. 1, but there is no way you can be a reasonable college basketball reporter and put Auburn outside of your top 4. That’s ludicrous.
Yes, Auburn trailed in the first half at Ole Miss on Saturday night, but the Tigers bounced back to win by 9 points. Earlier in the week, they won in Tuscaloosa against Alabama. Meanwhile, Gonzaga lost to Alabama earlier this season in Seattle in what was posited as a “neutral-site” game. Yeah, right.
At this point in the season, Auburn has the deeper team. Jabari Smith Jr. is a better freshman contributor than Gonzaga’s Chet Holmgren. Here are Smith’s numbers compared to Holmgren’s:
They’re both great players, but if I were an NBA GM, I’d draft Smith over Holmgren as things stand right now. Meanwhile, Auburn has its own rim protector in Walker Kessler:
He had 7 blocks in the win at Ole Miss, and earlier this year, posted a triple-double where he had blocks as one of the categories. That’s incredible.
Also, Gonzaga has a great point guard in Andrew Nembhard, but Auburn has two in Wendell Green Jr. and Zep Jasper. SEC Network analyst Dane Bradshaw says Jasper is the best on-ball defender in all of college hoops:
Look, once again, you can’t go wrong if you have either Auburn or Gonzaga in your No. 1 spot. I’ll accept either of those. But if you have another team up there in the top spot, you should at least consider relinquishing your vote.
Also, get outta here with the Tigers at No. 6 and No. 9. Unbelievable.
Auburn has a chance to prove it should be the top team on Saturday when a tough Kentucky squad comes to Auburn Arena. More on the Wildcats next.
Let’s just say there weren’t any teams in the country, including Auburn, that could have taken down Kentucky on Saturday in Lexington. Playing with heavy hearts after the death earlier that morning of legendary coach Joe B. Hall, the Wildcats put on a show, trouncing rival Tennessee 107-79.
It seemed like the Wildcats couldn’t miss, setting a shooting record for the John Calipari era:
It was also the most points Kentucky has scored against a ranked foe since 1994:
TyTy Washington scored 28 points in the lopsided win. He’s hot right now, and that’s scary for opponents. This isn’t an easy shot, but he makes it look like a layup:
He seems to like that spot on the court, too:
No one is playing better basketball in the SEC than Washington, so Texas A&M needs to watch out on Wednesday night.
Now, let’s move on to some big stories out of the Big Ten.
After Michigan State lost at home against Northwestern on Saturday (more on that game in a second), Illinois was the last remaining B1G team undefeated in league play. That came to an end on Monday in a matinee game against Purdue in Champaign.
The game went into double-overtime before the Boilermakers were able to escape with a nice 96-88 victory. Frankly, though, it’s impressive the Illini were able to come back and force overtime. Big man Kofi Cockburn played only 22 minutes, scoring 10 points and grabbing 5 rebounds before fouling out.
Zach Edey had his number all day. Then, when Cockburn was out with foul trouble, Edey went to work even more:
It’s just not fair to put anyone other than Cockburn on Edey. He finished with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Sasha Stefanovic led the Boilermakers with 22 points, knocking down this clutch 3 in double-overtime:
Andre Curbelo played his first game in a long time for the Illini, posting 20 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. If he’s back to full strength, that’s huge for Illinois:
Alfonso Plummer did his best to keep the Illini in the game, making 6 of his 12 3-point attempts:
He finished with a game-high 24 points. But, without Cockburn, the Illini just didn’t have enough to stop Purdue.
I’m already counting down the days until these 2 teams meet again in West Lafayette on Feb. 10!
Now, let’s move on to some ACC and other stories.
Duke has plenty of star power. Freshman Paolo Banchero gets a lot of headlines, as does Wendell Moore Jr. Trevor Keels is also a breakout star as a freshman. But, Mark Williams deserves a lot of credit for this team’s success, too.
In Saturday’s 88-73 win over NC State, Williams scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. But, even more impressively, Williams blocked 8 shots without recording a single foul in 27 minutes of court time:
We already talked about Auburn’s Walker Kessler as a shot blocker and a defensive stalwart for a team that should be ranked No. 1. Williams can be that sort of guy for the Blue Devils, and that makes them even more dangerous.
Next, let’s take a look at the biggest games of the upcoming week.
The next few days are full of big-time conference matchups. There are some rivalry games and some intriguing contests on the schedule between now and Friday. So, with that said, here are the 5 games I can’t wait to watch over the next few days:
It might still be fairly early in conference play, but these games will look even more important as we get closer to Selection Sunday. Some top teams have hit snags, so we’ll see who bounces back and who continues to struggle over the next few days.
Enjoy the Starting 5? Have a question? Want to yell at me about something? Follow me on Twitter @AdamSpencer4 or email me at ASpencer@SaturdayDownSouth.com.
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