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- Jacob Rhee

Here are my 10 biggest takeaways through seven weeks of the men’s college basketball season.

1. There’s still time to cancel.

I legitimately couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Illinois announce that it was sending Terrence Shannon’s jersey into the rafters in February. Wait… what? Are we talking about the same dude? Terrence Shannon? Huh?

For reference, Greg Oden’s No. 20 does not hang above the court in Value City Arena. Hey, really quick! Let’s line up Shannon and Oden side by side, and compare their collegiate accomplishments. This ought to be good.

Yeah. If Shannon is getting a ceremony, my guy Greg deserves the key to the city of Columbus and a year-round parade. Be better, Illinois.

2. Still standing.

The SEC is playing real-life Monopoly at the moment. It currently claims four of the top six squads in the AP poll, as well as all three of the unbeaten major-conference schools that remain.

We haven’t seen dominance like this… ever? The Big Ten ran things in 2020-21, and sent nine of its 14 teams to the tournament. But those kids had gone to war against each other all season long, and ran out of gas near the finish line; the conference was unrepresented at the Final Four. Let’s pay close attention to what these SEC players look like in late February. I think we’ll see plenty of tired legs.

3. Penny time?

There is no coach in the sport that underachieves quite like Penny Hardaway. He’s always going to be an elite recruiter. I mean, those mixtapes from his own playing days are nasty enough to get into the living room of any gifted player. But… what exactly does he accomplish with that talent? This is Year 7 at Memphis, and he’s received a March Madness invitation twice. Zero Sweet Sixteens. That’s not acceptable.

Perhaps PJ Haggerty is the golden goose. He’s posting a 23-6-3 line on 48-40-84 shooting splits. Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter have each taken the scenic route to the Tigers’ roster, but the two former four-star guards are blossoming together. They just might be saving the job of an NBA icon.

4. Inside out.

Kansas, Houston, Purdue, Michigan State, and UCLA - five top-21 squads - just don’t shoot threes. They’re all taking under 22 per game. All of the old-school basketball fans that are sick of watching NBA dudes hoist bombs should probably tune in.

5. The one and only JuJu Murray.

All I ask is that you remember this kid’s name. It’s not often that a 5-foot-11 point guard from Ole Miss demands our attention, but that’s the case this season. I am head over heels in love with his game; those crafty pump fakes around the paint, the tight handle, and that gorgeous shooting stroke. JuJu was a role player on the Cinderella Saint Peter’s team that crashed the Elite Eight in 2021-22. I’m extremely confident that he’s going to deliver another memorable March moment here soon.

6. Doug Gottlieb, go away.

Please, man. For everyone’s sake. You stole credit cards as a player, you were insufferable in the studio, and you’re a colossal failure as a head coach already. Now you’re getting into a humiliating social media scrap with Adam Schefter?

Do your poor players a favor, and step down.

7. Tiptoeing.

Do you know who Maxime Raynaud is? It’s okay, neither does the national media. For no reason in particular, let’s just fling his numbers up next to the first 12 games that Luka Garza played in his brilliant first-team All-American junior campaign at Iowa. There’s no way that this no-name dude at Stanford can hang, right? Right?

Oh. We should all probably get to know our friend Maxime a little bit better, huh?

8. Dawg days.

Georgia usually only pops up in college basketball’s realm of relevancy when some elite prospect randomly decides to commit there. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was the big man on campus, and fellow former five-star Anthony Edwards later followed suit. Neither dude could lead this lowly program to a winning campaign.

The current headliner is Asa Newell; he’s not a Georgia native like his two aforementioned predecessors, but he might be the guy that accomplishes something in Athens. The versatility on defense is eyebrow-raising, and his offensive skillset looks a little more refined every time I watch. He has his squad sitting at 11-1, with an absolutely brutal conference schedule around the corner. 12 opponents that are currently ranked, in a fifteen-game stretch? Let’s find out how real these Dawgs are.

9. Born in 2007.

Arizona State big Jayden Quaintance is averaging 3.5 blocks, in less than 30 minutes per game. He’s also almost seven months younger than college basketball’s resident baby boy Cooper Flagg. That’s an astounding pair of true statements.

Jayden isn’t even eligible for the draft until 2026, but the NBA folks are already drooling.

10. My updated National Player of the Year ladder.

1) Kam Jones, Marquette

2) Johni Broome, Auburn

3) Keshon Gilbert, Iowa State

4) Dylan Harper, Rutgers

5) Jeremiah Fears, Oklahoma

6) Maxime Raynaud, Stanford

7) Eric Dixon, Villanova

8) Curtis Jones, Iowa State

9) Zeke Mayo, Kansas

10) Alex Karaban, UConn

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