It has been 218 days since Bill Self earned his second national title and the University of Kansas as the Jayhawks defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels, 72-69.
Since then, Coach Self has been issued a four-game suspension by the University to get ahead of the impending IARP ruling regarding his recruiting tactics. The Jayhawks lost the 2022 Final Four Most Outstanding Player Ochai Agbaji and sharpshooter Christian Braun to the NBA Draft but reloaded through the transfer portal.
It has been 572 days since the one-time transfer exception has been enacted. This ruling has completely shifted the sport, allowing an unofficial free agency period in the sport that has been tirelessly debated whether it is a good or bad thing at its core. Regardless of your opinion on it, one thing cannot be debated: this rule has fundamentally changed the ways coaches construct their rosters.
Look no further than reigning Naismith Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe. The senior and former Big 12 Freshman of the Year transferred from West Virginia seen as a bruising center with a limited ceiling in a high-level role. After joining the Kentucky Wildcats in January of 2021, Tshiebwe has dominated on the hardwood while in the Blue and White, helping lead the team to a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament and is a large part of the reason Kentucky was named the top team on KenPom coming into the year.
It has been a little over nine hours since the 2022-23 season capped off its opening game that saw Oregon State defeat Tulsa, 73-70, with plenty of teams falling to their opponent in buy games.
In the highest profile of them all, No. 14 TCU just barely escaped against the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions, 73-72, and almost lost its first game of the year with its highest preseason ranking in program history. The Horned Frogs returned five starters and many bench pieces from a team that just barely fell to one-seeded Arizona in the NCAA Tournament in overtime, coming just short of its first Sweet 16 since 1968.
The Golden Lions opened the first 10 minutes of the first half on a tear, leading 29-9 with senior forward Chris Greene adding in 13 points of his own with four three-pointers. TCU chipped away at the lead throughout the half, but still trailed 46-35 heading into the locker room.
The Horned Frogs did not regain the lead until a layup from Eddie Lampkin Jr. gave them a 52-50 edge with 12:57 remaining in the contest. At no point did Arkansas-Pine Bluff fall dead, never trailing by more than five points. It even took a 70-66 lead with just 1:53 to go after Ishmael Plet got to the rack and converted a layup. However, TCU did not allow its opponent to play spoiler on opening night, ending the game on an 8-2 run, highlighted by a Mike Miles Jr. trey to finally put the Horned Frogs up once and for all.
The junior guard, who led the team in scoring last season, gave them 15 points, six coming from the charity stripe and his lone three-pointed on three attempts coming at the most crucial point of the young season. Golden Lions’ Shaun Doss Jr. was the game’s highest scorer, giving Arkansas-Pine Bluff 25 points going 4-of-5 from deep, six rebounds and a pair of steals.
Stetson’s win over Florida State was arguably the most surprising upset of the evening, as the Hatters defeated the Seminoles 83-74. FSU looked underwhelming from start to finish. After missing its first NCAA Tournament since 2016, Florida State was picked fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference preseason media poll and returned former five-star recruit Matthew Cleveland and the 2021 American Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year Caleb Mills.
Despite the obvious talent on the Seminoles’ roster, they could not put a stop to Hatters’ sophomore guard Luke Brown. The Carmel, In. native (shoutout Mark Titus) came off the bench and cashed seven threes on 11 attempts, scoring 27 points, four boards and three assists. Stetson led by as many as 18 and took its first win against a power conference opponent since beating South Carolina, 63-56, on December 30, 2019.
The Porter Moser era in Norman, Ok. has not started with a bang. After going 19-16 last season and missing the NCAA Tournament, the Oklahoma Sooners looked to have a promising core coming into the season, highlighted by the 2022-23 Preseason Newcomer of the Year in the Big 12, Nevada transfer Grant Sherfield, and Preseason All-Big 12 Honorable Mention, Tanner Groves.
Sam Houston State traveled to the Lloyd Noble Center with low expectations for the 2022-23 season, being selected eighth of 13 teams in the preseason poll for the Western Athletic Conference. The Bearkats may have proved those voters wrong, earning a huge win against the Sooners in Norman in a 52-51 upset after Lamar Wilkerson cashed his fifth three of the night with four seconds remaining.
Oklahoma led the game 46-34 with just over five minutes left to go, and the Sooners allowed Sam Houston State to go on an 18-6 run to close out the game and drop their first game of the year. Wilkerson led all scorers with 17 points.
With over 200 games being played on opening night, nerds and stat heads alike (it’s up to you to figure out which one I fall under) will tell you statistics show not all the favorites will win and some high majors are destined to lose a buy game. Nonetheless, it is still shocking when it happens, and always reminds me of how much I love this sport.
No matter how much the sport has changed over the past two years, from FBI scandal rulings to the transfer portal and NIL rules, college basketball will always be my favorite sport to watch because it is so unpredictable. It truly is the only sport that you get crazy upsets night-to-night and can have the expectation of parity from top to bottom. Any given team can lose on any given night, whether it be No. 14 TCU, Florida State or Oklahoma.
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