NCAA Week in Review: Upset Sunday Sheds Light on North Carolina, Michigan

Belmont Bruins helped shed some light on North Carolina’s flaws (photo: sports-logos-screensavers.com)

After the first full week of college basketball action, there were several head-to-head matchups featuring two Top 25 teams. The headline came on Tuesday as part of the Champions Classic where Michigan State and Kansas came away with huge victories over Kentucky and Duke, respectively.

While the rest of the world was focused on those games, as well as the high profile freshman, the action did not stop there this week. Actually, the biggest day of the week happened this past Sunday. On that day, three Top 25 teams lost non-conference games to unranked opponents. North Carolina and Notre Dame lost at home while Michigan lost on the road.

Belmont, a high powered mid-major that has been a staple in the NCAA Tournament over the past five years, traveled to North Carolina and came away with a shocking 83-80 victory over the 12th-ranked Tar Heels. What’s more shocking than the Belmont victory is the fact that UNC missed 26 free throws in the game. Belmont’s J.J. Mann had 28 points to seal the Bruins victory on Sunday afternoon.

Despite what others may think, it is not time to panic in Tar Heel Nation. Since Roy Williams became head coach for UNC, each one of his teams seem to drop an unexpected game to an unranked opponent. Last season it was Butler and Texas that got the best of the Tar Heels. The year before it was UNLV. It’s a pattern that Roy Williams-led UNC teams have.

Of course, it’s easy to point out that UNC is missing what is perhaps its top player, P.J. Hairston, due to NCAA refusing to make a decision on his eligibility for this season after summer run-ins with the law (an issue I’ve been more vocal about since the middle of October). Until Hairston is allowed to suit up for Carolina, the Tar Heels are going to be limited in their overall production. James Michael McAdoo and Marcus Paige are playing great basketball so far, but are forced to pick up the slack the rest of the roster, which includes a lot of freshman in the rotation, is leaving. They cannot do it alone and until UNC has their full roster available to them they are going to struggle, but it is not time to panic.

Another ranked ACC team felt the bitter taste of defeat on Sunday as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish lost at home to Indiana State. Now, while Notre Dame, ranked 21st in the country at the time of the game, dropping this game could be considered an upset, it’s not as big of an upset as some would like you to think it is.

Indiana State comes out of the Missouri Valley Conference. Last season the headline team was Creighton, but now it’s the Wichita State Shockers, fresh off an appearance in the Final Four. However, do not sleep on the Sycamores. They were one of the few teams last year that were able to figure out how to stop Doug McDermott. Indiana State has two very good players in Justin Gant and Manny Arop. Couple that with the veteran leadership of senior Jake Odum and the Sycamores are a team to watch this season.  Call it an upset if you want, but the Sycamores are for real.

These two games brings us to the final “upset” on Sunday came from seventh-ranked Michigan at the hands of the Iowa State Cyclones. Iowa State may not be ranked or be one that could challenge for a national championship, but they are nothing to scoff at. The Cyclones have a talented roster, once again filled with proven talents that transferred to play for “The Mayor” Fred Hoiberg. DeAndre Kane, formerly of Marshall, is the latest in highly touted players to make that jump. Kane finished the game against the Wolverines with 13 points and six rebounds.

Michigan, on the other hand, is still trying to adjust to life after Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. That process was made more difficult with Mitch McGary missing most of training camp with a back issue. McGary did return for the game, totaling nine points, six rebounds and four steals in 22 minutes of action in his first game of the season.

Iowa State is better than most will give them credit for this early in the season and Ames can be a hostile crowd for a visiting team. It’s going to take some time for McGary to return to full strength and may take even more time for freshman Derrick Walton Jr. to be fully comfortable as the starting point guard. After all, Walton only has to live up to National Player of the Year Burke and get Michigan back to the national title game. It’s a marathon, not a sprint for the Wolverines.

Also worth noting, Iowa State went from unranked to 21 in the latest AP Rankings after the victory. Essentially this means that Iowa State was on the cusp of a ranking before the game and the victory just solidified it.

So what does all of this mean for the grand scheme of things? In short: not much.

Take nothing away from Indiana State, Iowa State and Belmont for their great victories on Sunday, but media members and fans often like to overreact after a small sampling of games. UNC, Michigan and Notre Dame are still going to be major players this college basketball season and their one loss is not the end of the world for them. If anything, it is a wakeup call that they need to get their acts together. Better that wakeup call come now than in the middle of February with conference and NCAA Tournament implications on the line.

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