When on the Hawaiian islands, one must remember to spread aloha. If you don’t have the aloha spirit, bad things tend to happen − even when in paradise.
Dan Hurley clearly didn’t get the memo as Connecticut team finished last with an 0-3 record at the Maui Invitational.
It was a trip to forget for the Huskies as they went from a team appearing good enough to be the second one to win three consecutive national championships to one that would be lucky to get out of the first round of the tournament. They saw their 17-game win streak end to Memphis in the first game and lost another close to Colorado before getting blown out by Dayton to finish the tournament.
As bad as it was to leave the islands without a win, Hurley also did damage to his reputation. Sure, he’s a proven winner and one of the more fiery coaches in the country, but his poor sideline behavior was on full display. Referees have been lenient with him for long, but the tantrums needed a punishment at some point. Even when he got a deserved technical in late in the loss to Memphis, he still found a way to blast the officiating. Clearly, no self-reflecting coming any time soon, and that’s why Connecticut leads the early editions of men’s college basketball winners and losers.
Winners
Auburn
Kansas started the season at No. 1 and hasn’t done anything to lose it, but Auburn has been playing like the best team in the country. After a poor first half in the first game of the Maui Invitational against Iowa State, the Tigers stormed back to beat the Cyclones at the last second. They then got past North Carolina before overwhelming Memphis in the tournament final.
While playing like the best team in the country, they may have one of the best players in Johni Broome. He not only leads the country in rebounds per game (12.9), but he finished the tournament averaging 21.7 points and 15.0 rebounds per game, dominating near the basket with fellow big man Dylan Cardwell helping them become a powerful frontcourt.
Oregon
The team to beat in the Big Ten? It may actually be the Ducks. They finished the weekend the winners of the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas and are unbeaten through eight games.
Dana Altman lost much of the production from last year’s tournament team but he has reloaded and has the Ducks on a hot start. After posting a second half comeback against No. 19 Texas A&M and handling San Diego State, Oregon went up against the high-paced No. 9 Alabama offense and kept it in check en route to a last second win over the Crimson Tide.
Memphis
After last season’s collapse, Penny Hardaway entered this campaign with a near entirely new roster and his seat getting hotter as the team headed to Maui. The Tigers started with a bang when they took down Connecticut and then held off Michigan State in the semifinal. Memphis did lose to Auburn in the final, but it was a third game in three days. It was a week Memphis should be extremely proud of and found playmakers in Tyrese Hunter and PJ Haggerty, who lead the best 3-point shooting team in at 46.9%.
Oklahoma
The Battle 4 Atlantis was wide open, and Oklahoma took advantage by winning the tournament in the Bahamas, collecting wins against Providence, No. 23 Arizona and Louisville along the way. The Sooners won’t wow you offensively, but they’ve been playing great defense, especially generating steals and disrupting teams from the 3-point line. Porter Moser has yet to make the tournament in his four years in Norman, but the Sooners off to a 7-0 start they are at looking like a team that could break that streak.
Louisville
Is Louisville actually back? The Cardinals certainly don’t appear to be a laughing stock anymore and Pat Kelsey may be the right guy after a second place finish in the Battle 4 Atlantis. They shed off old skin in the first game in the tournament when they blitz Indiana and the Hoosiers may still be wondering what happened. They then got a gritty win over West Virginia before falling to Oklahoma in the finals. Wisconsin transfer guard Chucky Hepburn has emerged as a leader and can help Louisville make a push toward playing meaningful March basketball.
West Virginia
After the mess that was last season, coach Darian DeVries and his son Tucker arrived in Morgantown and thing are looking up. The Mountaineers started the Battle 4 Atlantis with an overtime victory against No. 4 Gonzaga. West Virginia did lose to Louisville in the semifinals, but West Virginia recovered to beat Arizona in the third-place game. Tucker DeVries, the team’s second-leading scorer, made eight 3-pointers and totaled 26 points in the defeat of the Wildcats .
Losers
North Carolina
If it weren’t for a late Herculean effort against Dayton, North Carolina could’ve been the team that left Maui without a win; The Tar Heels were thumped by Auburn and then lost to Michigan State in the third-place game. North Carolina hasn’t looked anywhere near a contender so far and that’s in part to their poor starts against good teams − it had double-digit deficits in the first half of all three games in Maui. They’ve been able to make second-half adjustments, but it can’t simply be relying on that to salvage its season.
Houston
A team expected to compete for a national championship is leaving the Players Era Festival with two losses, one to Alabama and the other in an overtime stunner to San Diego State. What’s been odd is that the Cougars have done a good job taking care of the ball and forcing turnovers, but they’re letting opponents shoot too many free throws while not getting enough production outside of L.J. Cryer and Emanuel Sharp. The Cougars have been one of the winningest teams in the country, but they’ve already got three losses before even reaching the rough-and-tumble Big 12.
Creighton
Creighton again entered the season expected to provide the biggest challenge to Connecticut in the Big East, but now neither team looks like a conference champion after the first month. The Blue Jays lost the first two games of the Players Era Festival against San Diego State and Texas A&M before they held off Notre Dame in the seventh-place game. Creighton is now 5-3 but hasn’t beaten any high-caliber teams, a concerning sign for Greg McDermott’s squad.
Indiana
Knowing he needs to cool down the hot seat, Mike Woodson brought in a talent transfer portal class to contend in an open Big Ten. Instead his team’s performance at the Battle 4 Atlantis may have only intensified the pressure. Louisville may be a much improved team, but it still doesn’t excuse getting embarrassed by 28 points by the Cardinals. The Hoosiers then got quickly put away by Gonzaga before salvaging the trip against Providence for seventh place. The defense didn’t look good at all, and that’ll need to get fixed quickly.
Arizona
Tommy Lloyd has been a great regular season coach for Arizona so far, but it doesn’t look like the Wildcats are going to enjoy life in the strong Big 12. Already coming off poor showings against Wisconsin and Duke, Arizona needed to play well in the Bahamas but instead had a 1-2 trip that included losses to Oklahoma and West Virginia. The defense hasn’t been good and Caleb Love has really struggled in the games Arizona has dropped. A veteran like Love will have quickly build consistency before the Wildcats get into a conference that won’t have any easy weeks.