This past week wasn’t exactly the most exciting week in College Basketball as a lot of teams either took the week off in preparation for early season tournaments. This made quality games on Monday through Wednesday basically non-existent and made the craving for early-season tournaments more existent. This means that the choices for the weekly awards are limited, look for the awards to be a little bit better this week, although for now, these are my awards.
Team of the week: Virginia Cavaliers
I have been one of the more vocal people saying that Virginia wouldn’t be good and that is because they struggle to score on offense which is something I’m not sure about but with that being said, Virginia had a great week and deserves to be recognized for it. Virginia took a punch from Anthony Lamb and Vermont as Lamb scored 30 and Vermont led late before the Cavaliers closed them out. Virginia took care of business against Umass later in the week before going against Arizona State in the Hall of Fame Classic Championship game. Virginia at one point allowed a 19-0 run and found themselves in a tie game in the closing seconds before Freshman Casey Morsell hit the game-winning three to win the game. As a whole, the Cavaliers continue to be the best defensive team in the sport and are pretty clearly showing that despite their offensive struggles, they are still a great team.
Player of the week: Precious Achiuwa
Following the suspension of James Wiseman, someone on the Tigers needed to step forward and Precious Achiuwa certainly did that. Achiuwa first scored 16 points and added 12 rebounds as the Tigers held off a Little Rock team that would not go away. Achiuwa then had 25 points and 11 rebounds as he helped Memphis pick up a big win against a really good Ole Miss team. These two big games from Achiuwa was critical in helping Memphis go 2-0 on the week and continue to be one of the best teams in the sport. Look for Achiuwa to continue to perform at a high-level as the Tigers hope to continue to win games and move up the rankings.
Upset of the week: Virginia Tech over Michigan State
The Virginia Tech Hokies came into this game against Michigan State without really any expectations as they were double-digit underdogs and no one really expected anything from the Hokies. That being said, they pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the early season as they beat Michigan State to advance in this year’s Maui Invitational. The Hokies took advantage of foul trouble by Cassius Winston in order to take the lead into the half but still, most people expected them to fold in the second half but they didn’t. They continued to make big shots in order to maintain a lead and then late, Landers Nolley hit a big three to give Virginia Tech a four-point lead which they never wound up giving up as they won 71-66. This win shows that the Hokies are indeed a really good team, despite losing basically everyone from last year’s team.
Dumpster-fire of the week: Utah
Utah had fooled us with their 94-point win against Mississippi Valley State and their win against Minnesota. They faced Coastal Carolina in the first round of the Myrtle Beach Invitational and while they were favored to win, an upset wouldn’t have been too terrible, however, they not only lost but lost by 22 points. They beat Ohio but then played a Tulane team that was completely terrible last year and shouldn’t matchup with Utah. They, of course, found a way to lose 65-61 to the Green Wave and secure their spot as the dumpster-fire of the week Champion for this week.