The ACC-Big Ten Challenge has come and past, while the first real weekend of College Basketball took place. There were many great performances that took place this week. While the week as a whole wasn’t the most exciting week as there weren’t a lot of close and exciting games, we did get a better picture of the College Basketball landscape as a whole. With this past week in the books, it is now time to look at the weekly awards for this week.
Team of the week: Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State is the best team in College Basketball right now and it really isn’t all that close. This week the Buckeyes were scheduled to play at North Carolina in a game they were expected to lose. Not only did they not lose that game, but they also won by 25 points in a game where they didn’t play all that good as they turned it over 15 times and didn’t shoot it all that good. While that might say more about North Carolina than it does Ohio State, this is still an impressive performance. They then followed that up by beating a good Penn State team 106-74 at home on Saturday. Per Jordan Sperber, Ohio State has 3 of the 6 20-point wins against top-50 Kenpom teams this season, which is simply ridiculous. This Buckeyes team has just continued to impress and show that they are the best team in College Basketball right now.
Player of the week: Luka Garza – Iowa
Luka Garza had one of the more impressive performances this season on Friday against Michigan as he had 44 points in a game where he didn’t make a single three. While Iowa didn’t win this was one of the better performances of the season. In addition to that Garza also had a 23 point performance as Iowa went on the road and beat Syracuse. Not to mention he also had 21 points and 10 rebounds against Minnesota. All in all, in a week where there weren’t a lot of great performances, Garza is the clear choice to be the Player of the week.
Upset of the week: Indiana over Florida State
Florida State came into this game against Indiana off a great week in the Emerald Coast Classic where they won the tournament. While this was a prime letdown spot, the Seminoles were in my eyes clearly the better team. That being said, it did not play out anything like that as Indiana controlled the game throughout winning 80-64. Devonte Green had a career-high 30 in this game and Indiana walks away winners of this game.
Dumpster-fire of the week: Notre Dame
Losing a road game at Maryland is nothing to really worry about but the team also didn’t look competitive at all in that game which is a concern. Forget that result though and move on forward to Saturday’s game against Boston College. The Irish fell behind early and after coming back they had a chance to tie the game but TJ Gibbs was unable to make the needed free throws and the team lost to a Boston College team that looks like one of the worst teams in the ACC. Losing to Maryland isn’t bad and is worthy of being ignored but no one can deny that a Notre Dame team hoping to make the NCAA Tournament cannot lose to Boston College.