Welcome back to the Teams of the Week column! A few changes for this piece pertaining to the upcoming season. Due to time constraints and several other projects in College Basketball, we will shorten this down to a quick highlight on each team. Besides, many folks have shorter attention spans these days - so maybe this is good for all of us?
The purpose of this article is to recognize programs each week who achieve great feats relative to expectations and relative to the big picture of the regular season conference races and/or March Madness.
This opening week was full of highlights and primarily dominated by non-power school headlines. Four of the five awards this week go to said schools.
College Basketball Teams of the Week – Week 1 (November 9-14, 2021)
Furman
Paladins went into Louisville, led most of the way. Finally were able to pull away in OT. The 80-72 victory on Friday night, snapped the Cardinals' 59-game home winning streak in the month of November.
San Diego
Toreros stunned Nevada on the road. USD loaded up on quality transfers and played an excellent game behind Terrell Brown. Brown’s seven blocks are the second-most in a game in USD history. The Toreros have 10 newcomers this season and are ready to make noise in the WCC.
Florida
Beat rival Florida State at home in Sunshine State Showdown. Played excellent second half defense. The victory snapped a string of seven years and seven painful losses against the Noles.
Wagner
The Seahwaks put together two stellar performances. Most notably pulling away with a 14-point road win at VCU. Seahwaks’ star Alex Morales, had 20 points and 11 rebounds to pace Wagner.
UC Davis
Two excellent guards (Ezra Manjon & Elijah Pepper) propelled an Aggies take down of Utah State in Logan. USU beat Richmond later in the week, making this even more impressive. UC Davis also beat EWU and gave HC Jim Les win #300.
Strongly Considered
UMASS-LOWELL
The UMass-Lowell Riverhawks went 2-0, highlighted by a major upset at Dayton in front of 13,000+ fans.
DUKE
Duke Blue Devils beat Kentucky, went 3-0. Paolo Banchero was dynamite.
CHATTANOOGA
The Chattanooga Mocs went into LMU on opening night, played a well-executed defensive scheme and didn't turn the ball over. Great win.
OHIO U.
Bobcats were incredible, beating two great programs in Belmont and Cleveland State with relative ease.
UCLA
UCLA Bruins passed its first major test vs. Villanova. Won the game without Cody Riley. Overtime game, that was tight throughout, high-level College Basketball.
HONORABLE MENTION
Nicholls The Colonels pulled off an opening night stunner, 62-58 at Northern Iowa.
BYU Battled San Diego State to the wire, protected home court with a key 66-60 victory. Alex Barcello was clutch.
New Mexico State NMSU was impressive in controlling UC Irvine on opening night. The Aggies showed they are back as the class of the WAC.
Miami-Ohio Veteran team took advantage of the opportunity, fought all the way back to beat Georgia Tech on the road late. Also blew out Lamar. 2-0 start.
Minnesota Not much was expected from the Gophers this year, a ton of new faces. That didn't stop them from winning the Asheville Championship.
Western Illinois WIU stunned Nebraska with Luka Barisic's deep three-pointer that gave Western a lead for good with 6.7 seconds remaining.
UCF Great start to the campaign, won at Miami over the weekend to continue to build more buzz about this team.
Virginia Tech Hokies played Navy on the road after Navy stunned Virginia. V-Tech did not mess around, beat Navy by 20 in an impressive game.
Kansas Took care of business against Michigan State. Looked the part of a #1 seed.
Iowa State Cyclones got the TJ Otzelberger era started off well. The 2-0 start includes a nice win over Oregon State.
UC Riverside Special shout-out to the Highlanders for their incredible 3/4 court shot to beat ASU. UCR did lose earlier in the week to SDSU.
UC San Diego Tritons won by double-digits at Cal and at home vs. George Washington. Impressive start for the second year D1 program.
Charleston Plowed through three games in their home tourney to kick-start the Pat Kelsey era at 3-0. Cougars win over Lipscomb was noteworthy.
San Jose State Won the season opener over CSUF on buzzer-beater. Tim Miles win #400.