Finals week: Early grades across the college basketball landscape
By Chris Stone
The Incompletes: We’re still waiting on that late homework
Arizona Wildcats: Sean Miller’s squad is currently playing with just seven scholarship players. Before the season, forward Ray Smith suffered a third ACL tear, forcing him to end his basketball career early. More recently, a high-ankle sprain sidelined junior point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright for eight weeks. In addition, the Wildcats have played the entire season without guard Allonzo Trier due to an eligibility issue. There is no timetable for Trier’s return, but given that he’s the leading scorer from last season’s team, it’s worth waiting to see what Arizona can become assuming he ends up on the court.
Duke Blue Devils: Duke is like the student who hangs out after class to convince the professor to bump their grade from an A to an A+. The Blue Devils may already be deserving of the title of “best team in the country,” and they’re not even fully healthy yet. Luke Kennard and Amile Jefferson have been spectacular in larger roles and Grayson Allen is rounding into form. Meanwhile, Jayson Tatum and Marques Bolden have only played three games with the team since recovering from injury. AND Duke is still waiting on the nation’s top recruit, Harry Giles, to be healthy enough to take the floor. Giles, if healthy, is a potential game changer on both ends of the court, so even though the Blue Devils are already good, they may end up even better.
Next: College basketball week 5: 5 biggest takeaways
Kentucky Wildcats: John Calipari finds his team in this section for two reasons. The obvious one is that Calipari’s teams are almost always better in March. It’s a natural consequences of having a roster full of young players who slowly find their footing over the course of a season. The second, though, is that the Wildcats have really only faced one true test, their home matchup against UCLA. With upcoming games against North Carolina and Louisville, we should get a better sense of where on the spectrum of national title contenders Kentucky resides.