Duke's Wendell Moore Jr., Iowa's Keegan Murray headline Andy Katz's breakout list
By Andy Katz
FOX Sports College Basketball Analyst
One month into the men’s college basketball season, there have already been plenty of surprises. Here are the teams and players who have over- and underperformed.
Duke's Wendell Moore Jr.'s surprising breakout season | CBB on Fox
BREAKOUTS
Cincinnati: New coach Wes Miller has the Bearcats playing like the old Bearcat teams under Bob Huggins and Mick Cronin. This team plays hard, gritty basketball, as evidenced by a 20-point win over Illinois in the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City.
Marcus Sasser, Houston: Sasser has averaged nearly 18 points for a Cougars team that has only one blemish — a two-point loss to Wisconsin in Las Vegas — on its résumé.
Dayton in Orlando: The Flyers lost three straight games — to UMass-Lowell, Lipscomb and Austin Peay — before ripping off three in a row to win the ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando with wins over Miami, Kansas and Belmont.
Wendell Moore Jr., Duke: The hype was all about Paolo Banchero and Trevor Keels — and justly so. But Moore has been sensational. The junior guard is averaging 17.8 points and 6.5 boards. He scored 20 points and had four steals in the win over Gonzaga in Las Vegas.
Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons look like a viable threat to finish in the upper half of the ACC after beating Virginia Tech on the road on the heels of a home overtime win against Northwestern. Their only loss came against LSU.
Iowa State: The Cyclones started the season 8-0 with wins over Xavier and Memphis to win the NIT Tip-Off and then won at Creighton. Big Ten transfers Izaiah Brockington (Penn State) and Gabe Kalscheur (Minnesota) have been sensational so far.
Adama Sanogo, UConn: He wasn’t listed on any preseason Big East teams. Then on Nov. 24, Sanogo scored 30 in a double-overtime, 115-109 win against Auburn in the Battle 4 Atlantis. He’s out for a couple of weeks due to an abdominal injury. If he comes back healthy, Sanogo should over-perform all season.
Minnesota: The Golden Gophers, projected to finish in the bottom three in the Big Ten, are 7-0 under new coach Ben Johnson. They won the Asheville Championship by beating Princeton in double overtime, and last weekend, Minnesota won at Mississippi State.
Keegan Murray, Iowa: Murray leads the Big Ten with 23.9 PPG on 59.3% shooting. Last season, he averaged 7.1 PPG for the Hawkeyes. He’s a budding star.
Johnny Davis, Wisconsin: Davis was the MVP of the Maui Invitational in Las Vegas, with 30 points against Houston. He has seen his average go from seven to 20 a game.
Wyoming: The Cowboys have three true road wins (Washington, Grand Canyon and Cal State Fullerton) and are 8-0 to snatch a top 15 NET ranking.
Arizona: The Wildcats are 7-0, including a road win at Oregon State to tip off the Pac-12. But most impressive was Arizona's crushing, 80-62 win over Michigan in Las Vegas.
San Francisco: The Dons started out 9-0 with wins over Davidson, UAB, Nevada and UNLV. They are legit NCAA Tournament contenders.
The SEC: The league is looking like the strongest in the country, with seven teams — Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Auburn, Florida and LSU — trending toward bids.
UNDERPERFORMERS
Memphis: The Tigers got blitzed by Iowa State, stumbled against struggling Georgia, lost a late possession game to Ole Miss and appear lost and rudderless without a true point guard. Billed as a Final Four contender, Memphis has plenty of work to do to even get into the tournament.
Florida State: The injury-riddled Seminoles gave up 93 points to Purdue. They got ripped by Florida in Gainesville and couldn’t contain Syracuse at home for a third loss.
Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights have dealt with injuries, notably to guard Geo Baker. Yet with losses to Lafayette and at UMass, Rutgers is nowhere near being an NCAA Tournament team.
Maryland: The Terps have already lost to George Mason and, like the Scarlet Knights, don't look like a tournament team, despite the hype of transfers Fatts Russell and Qudus Wahab. Oh, and Mark Turgeon mutually agreed to stop being Maryland's coach a month into the season, with interim Danny Manning taking over the job.
'Maryland is out of Turgatory' — Titus & Tate on Mark Turgeon and the Terrapins mutually parting ways I Titus & Tate
Michigan: The Wolverines saved face by beating San Diego State last weekend. But the manner in which the second halves got away from them in blowout losses to Arizona and North Carolina was somewhat discouraging.
Oregon: The Ducks are just 5-4 after getting blown out by BYU and Houston and losing by double figures to Saint Mary’s. Oregon also lost at home to Arizona State, which was coming off a fifth straight loss in a 29-point scoring effort against Washington State.
PERFORMING AS EXPECTED
Purdue: No. 1 team.
Duke: Coach K’s last run could include a Final Four.
Coach Titus on Mike Woodson & Coach K I Titus & Tate
Gonzaga: The Zags have lost two of their past three games but still have high-level wins over UCLA and Texas.
Villanova: The Wildcats are still the team to beat in the Big East.
UCLA/USC: The two L.A. Pac-12 teams are where they expected to be: in competition for the Pac-12 title.
Kofi Cockburn, Illinois: He’s dominating the backboard, including an 18-rebound effort against Iowa on Monday, and is the most imposing frontcourt player in the country.
Illinois outlasts Iowa 87-83 behind Kofi Cockburn's double-double
Kansas/Baylor/Texas: The big three in the Big 12 should have a season-long chase for the conference title.
Kentucky: The Wildcats haven’t won an elite game yet, but their additions –– freshman Tyty Washington and transfer Oscar Tshiebwe (West Virginia) –– are living up to the hype.
Fans: No sport needs them more than college basketball. Wearing masks hasn’t diminished the enthusiasm. The games have delivered, and so have the crowds.
Andy Katz is a longtime college basketball writer, analyst and host. He can be seen on FOX Sports and Big Ten Network platforms, as well as March Madness and NCAA.com, and he hosts the podcast "March Madness 365." Katz worked at ESPN for nearly two decades and, prior to that, in newspapers for nine years.
