Starting 5: Kentucky embarrassment, SEC drama and some Phil Knight excitement

Hey everyone! Welcome to the Starting 5, a column that will run a few times per week from here forward. How many times per week? Well, let’s just say that when there’s an important night of college basketball, I (Adam Spencer) will be there to break it all down.

I’m sort of like Batman in that way. Just shine a basketball logo into the sky and I’ll be there to offer some analysis (which you’ll probably disagree with, but I digress). On Tuesday night, there was definitely a basketball logo in the sky, so I sat down at my desk, turned on my TV (and iPad) and got down to business.

Here’s your Starting 5 for Wednesday:

1. Opening tip

Boy, do I feel stupid for putting Kentucky at No. 1 in my weekly SEC basketball power rankings this week. The article published Tuesday morning and, naturally, Tuesday night, the Wildcats lost to unranked Evansville.

Coming into Tuesday’s game (in Lexington, no less), Kentucky was the No. 1 team in the AP Poll and the No. 2 team in the KenPom.com rankings. Meanwhile, Evansville was nowhere near the AP Poll top 25 and No. 169 in KenPom’s rankings. So, naturally, the Adam Spencer jinx lives on.

Last week, I had Florida at No. 1 in the SEC power rankings. Readers, I don’t need to tell you what happened next (but I will anyway). Florida went out and lost to unranked Florida State.

Naturally, I moved Kentucky up to No. 1. What was I thinking, right? Well, I felt that a win over a No. 1 team (Michigan State) meant that Kentucky deserved the bump. Instead, the Wildcats lost 67-64 to Evansville … Evansville!

So, what happened? Well, to start, big man Nick Richards is a bigger part of this team than many thought he’d be. When he had to sit with 2 fouls less than 5 minutes into the game, it took its toll on the Wildcats.

He actually managed not to pick up another foul in the second half, but missing 15 minutes in the first half isn’t good. Meanwhile, going 4-for-17 from 3-point range wasn’t going to help the Wildcats’ cause.

If we’re being honest with ourselves, Kentucky deserves to be hammered in the next AP Poll. There’s no reason the No. 1 team in the country should lose at home to Evansville. Yes, this team has plenty of time to regroup and become a Final Four contender, but for now, yikes.

Tyrese Maxey continues to play well. He’s getting starter-like minutes, but he is still coming off the bench. I understand why coach John Calipari wants to keep Maxey and fellow PG Ashton Hagans playing at different times as much as possible, but when you have guys like Maxey, sometimes you just have to put your best 5 players in the game and roll the ball out there.

(As a Mizzou graduate who is furious with Evansville for making transfer G Dru Smith sit last year over pettiness, Kentucky’s loss on Tuesday night enrages me even more.)

2. Home-court advantage

The Missouri Tigers (oh hey there, alma mater) gave No. 21 Xavier a battle in Cincinnati on Tuesday night, but it wasn’t meant to be. In overtime, the Musketeers came out with a 5-point victory over the tough Tigers.

Still, it was a good fight from Cuonzo Martin’s crew, and one that should help build some momentum. The Tigers didn’t shoot well, but the defense acquitted itself nicely. Mizzou only shot 20-for-60 from the field, but the Musketeers went an abysmal 20-for-61. Xavier was also an ugly 3-for-21 from 3-point range.

(Here’s where I want to express my gratitude toward Mizzou and Florida. Thanks to 40 misses from the Tigers on Tuesday night and Florida’s 14-for-50 effort in a loss to Florida State on Sunday, there were enough bricks for me to build a beautiful 5-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom house for my family. Thanks, Gators and Tigers!)

Now, for some other quick hits from around the SEC:

• Auburn is lucky it is still undefeated. Will the Tigers be No. 1 in my SEC power rankings next week? For their sake, they’d better hope not. They did need a buzzer-beater from true freshman F Isaac Okoro just to pull off a 70-69 victory over South Alabama:

ISAAC OKORO: THE SAVIOR OF AUBURN BASKETBALL pic.twitter.com/vpbWfpjC6a

— Power of Dixieland (@PwrofDixieland) November 13, 2019

• Should Georgia have beaten The Citadel by a lot more than 95-86? Yes, but at least freshman sensation Anthony Edwards continued to impress. He put up 29 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. That dude is legit, and you can bet coach Tom Crean is already leveraging Edwards’ early success while he’s meeting with 2020 recruits.
• Yves Pons has been a revelation for a Tennessee squad that desperately needed someone to step up. He’s been the Vols’ second-leading scorer in each game, trailing Lamonte Turner in the first game and Jordan Bowden in an easy win over Murray State on Tuesday night. The Vols can make some noise in the SEC if Pons is able to score 19 points and put up 4 blocks on occasion. Kudos to him.

OK, that’s enough SEC talk. Let’s move on to something else.

3. Road game

Over in Portland, Memphis and Oregon played in the Phil Knight Invitational. So, is Memphis big man James Wiseman supposed to be the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft or not? He was in foul trouble in the first half against the Ducks and struggled.

Add in the NCAA issues and I’m not sure what to make of him at this point. There’s a lot of pressure on Memphis coach Penny Hardaway with this situation, too. Make Wiseman the No. 1 pick and more 5-star guys will come to Memphis. Watch him fall out of the lottery and none of the nation’s top players will want to join the Tigers.

No pressure.

Oh, and they lost to Oregon in Portland. Yes, it was basically a road game, but the 82-74 loss won’t exactly help Hardaway and the Tigers. Hardaway has managed to recruit the guys he coached in AAU ball, but can he sustain that? And, can he put together some actual victories on the court for the Tigers?

Spoiler alert: No. At least, not in my opinion. I think this Penny experiment ends in about 2 more years. And that’s sad to me, because my corgi’s name is Penny. She’s clearly the better Penny, though:

OK, that’s enough ripping on Memphis. Let’s take a look at some other notes around the country:

• Duke beat Central Arkansas 105-54. Yeah, not much to say about that game. Great job, Blue Devils.
• Air Force beat Army 69-57. That means Air Force has taken down Army in football and men’s basketball this year. Good year for the Falcons!
• Butler beat Minnesota in a strong nonconference game. The Bulldogs needed 27 points from G Kamar Baldwin, but got the job done.
• UCF’s tough year continues. After losing to Tulsa in football, the basketball team fell to in-state rival Miami 79-70 on Tuesday night. Life is a bit tougher without a guy like Tacko Fall (now with my favorite NBA team, the Boston Celtics).
• Washington State has never been especially good at basketball, even during the Klay Thompson days. However, falling by 8 points at Santa Clara on Tuesday night was just … well, it wasn’t good. Considering the struggles the football team is going through right now (1-5 in Pac-12 play), it’s a tough time to be a Cougar. Add in Klay’s injury and former QB Gardner Minshew losing his starting job with the Jacksonville Jaguars and it’s downright sad.
• Not only did Phil Knight get to see Oregon beat Memphis … he also got to see rival Oregon State lose at the Phil Knight Invitational. The Beavers fell to Oklahoma after keeping things close in the first half. Considering the game ended at 12:30 a.m. local time in Norman, this was an impressive win for the Sooners.

Moving forward, we’ll highlight some other great games that are coming up over the next few days.

4. Outlet pass

In this section, we’ll take a look ahead to other things taking place this week. For now, if you’re not looking forward to Wednesday’s slate of games … well, I don’t know what to tell you.

No. 10 Villanova takes on No. 16 Ohio State in Columbus. Meanwhile, LSU coach Will Wade takes on his old team in VCU. Here are the 5 games I’m most excited about on Wednesday and Thursday:

1. No. 10 Villanova at No. 16 Ohio State (Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern)
2. No. 3 Michigan State at No. 12 Seton Hall (Thursday at 8:30 p.m. Eastern)
3. Purdue at Marquette (Wednesday at 9 p.m. Eastern)
4. No. 23 LSU at VCU (Wednesday at 6 p.m. Eastern)
5. Penn State at Georgetown (Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern)

Those are some fun contests for this point in November. We’re not even to the Thanksgiving week tournaments yet!

5. Buzzer beaters

Until we start getting some reader questions in here (not your fault, this is the first Starting 5, after all), I’m just going to ask myself a couple of random questions in this space.

Which 3 teams do you like despite having no real ties to them?

1. Baylor — My co-best friend went to law school there, so I guess that’s sort of a tie? Still, the Bears are fun and I like their green and gold color scheme. Incidentally, I’m also a Green Bay Packers fan.
2. Wofford — I love the nickname “Terriers,” and I also play as Wofford in my “College Hoops 2K5” franchise that I still play on my PS2 from time to time. I won the title on “easy” mode the first year. NBD.
3. Wake Forest — OK, so I really like the nickname “Demon Deacons.” A deacon is supposed to be a man of God, while a demon is pretty much the opposite of that. It doesn’t make sense, but I love it. Wake Forest could trot out an all-time starting 5 (hey, that’s the name of this column!) of Chris Paul, Jeff Teague, Al-Farouq Aminu, John Collins and Tim Duncan. That’s a squad that could beat a lot of other all-time starting lineups!

Who would be your No. 1 team right now?

Well, considering the first 2 No. 1 teams this season have lost immediately, I’ll have to be careful with this pick. Thinking … thinking some more … let’s go with Kansas.

Yeah, that works. As a Mizzou grad (did I mention that yet?), jinxing the Jayhawks seems like a good move at this point. Yes, Kansas definitely deserves to be No. 1. Or maybe Evansville. Who’s to say?

Enjoy the Starting 5? Have a question? Want to yell at me about something (not you, Kansas fans)? Follow me on Twitter @AdamSpencer4 or email me at ASpencer@SaturdayDownSouth.com.

Adam Spencer

Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 16 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.