Most people indulge in the countless hours of football that go on during Thanksgiving, Black Friday and the following Saturday. And who can blame them? You get to see the juggernaut Lions lose to an underwhelming team (as is tradition) and the college football slate is usually loaded with rivalry games and season-defining games. But college basketball had a big time slate too. I get it, here in the south, football is king but during this holiday week, I consumed all the college hoops once could handle so I could report back to you with enough love and analysis to where you don’t have to miss any of the Andy Dalton v. Jared Goff showdown this country was blessed with on Thursday.

It was Feast Week on ESPN and there were a plethora of early season college basketball tournaments. Some revealed more than others but for me, there were three big winners and three main losers that stood out the most.

Winners

DUKE – It’s only fitting that the Blue Devils get to steal a number one ranking at some point during Coach K’s career victory lap. Duke is the first team to dethrone a number one ranked team with their win over Gonzaga on Friday in a game that truly delivered.

Paolo Banchero scored 21 points (20 of which came in a dominant first half), Mark Williams established himself as a reliable defensive anchor and most importantly, they discovered some depth that they will desperately need to take them far in March.

First, we have to address Banchero’s performance. He’s an elite scorer at all three levels and did more than hold his own against Chet Holmgren (both guys will more than likely be the 1 and 2 overall pick in the NBA Draft). Paolo’s 20-point first half provided the spark Duke needed to get going and the energy was contagious as the team still aggressively attacked the Zags defense in the second half when Banchero was forced out of the game due to some cramping issues.

It’s also important to notice the importance Williams has on this team. Beside Banchero, Wendell Moore Jr. and Trevor Keels are the biggest names on this Duke team but if it weren’t for Williams, this is not the number one team in the country. Williams has been a force on the defensive end and is more than efficient enough offensively to keep him on the floor. He blocked five shots against the Zags, he’s blocking almost nine shots per 100 possessions and is seventh in the country in block percentage per KenPom. Williams is becoming a stud and an important piece on this Duke team who has just a high of a ceiling as any team in college basketball.

Lastly, the Blue Devils got some contribution from unexpected sources. Not many teams can score with the Zags. Most teams DEFINITELY can’t score with the Zags when their best player and scorer is out of the game for much of the second half. Most teams sure as hell can’t score with the Zags if they can’t bring at least two guys off the bench who can fill some kind of scoring void for whoever exists the game. But the Duke got that spark from Theo John and Joey Baker. John scored five points in only 12 points while Williams was catching a breather and Baker scored six points on two three-pointers in 14 minutes while Moore and Keels caught breathers. This guys won’t be relied upon to carry big scoring burdens but they need to be competent enough to avoid a massive drop off in production when the team gets in foul or injury trouble. They proved they have that capability on Friday.

BAYLOR- The defending champs are BACK (!!) and there is nothing like saying you’re back than by dropping the hammer against a good Michigan State team in the championship game of the most competitive early season tournament field.

I knew this team would be good and at least contend for a Big 12 title. I figured they would finish behind Kansas and Texas in Big 12 play. But after this week, one now has to make the argument as to why they aren’t the clear, definitive favorite to win that conference and maybe even the whole thing once again.

This team has incredible scoring balance (seven players averaging at least seven points per game), dominate the offensive glass (10th in the country in offensive rebound percentage) and like almost all of Scott Drew’s team, are physical and lock down on defense (they’re fifth in KenPom defensive efficiency and fourth in defensive turnover rate).

This is a quintessential Drew-coached squad. The depth is eye-popping. Their leading scorer, LJ Cryer, comes off the bench and scores 14 points per contest. Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua and Jeremy Sochan haven’t started a game this season and both contribute seven points each off the bench.

However, what makes this team so dangerous is the emergence of Arizona transfer James Akinjo. Akinjo is essentially filling in the Jared Butler role from last season. Last season, Butler was averaging about nine assists per 100 possessions as the team’s leading distributer. Akinjo is currently averaging 12 assists per 100 possessions after seven games this season.

This Baylor team isn’t as dangerous from three as last season’s was, but it can still improve and the potential to repeat has been proven after an impressive showing in the Bahamas.

DAYTON- Before Feast Week, the Flyers had three of the worst home losses in college basketball. UMass-Lowell (ranked 234 in KenPom) upset them at home by one point. Lipscomb (ranked 198 in KenPom) dominated them in Dayton by 19 points. Austin Peay (ranked 286 in KenPom) beat them by six. No team that played in a major early season tournament went in with a worse week than Dayton.

So what do they do this week? What everyone expected…win a tournament that included Kansas, Alabama, Belmont and three other teams that were NCAA Tournament participants last season.

The shocking upset, of course, was the thrilling buzzer beating win over Kansas. That was the big stunner. Dayton had zero business winning that game but credit Anthony Grant’s team for toughing it out. They don’t win that game without the 12 offensive rebounds (which accounted for 48% of the team’s misses). Even the game winning shot was created off a blocked shot by David McCormack. They were just slightly more efficient than Kansas was, they just barely got to the free throw line at a better rate than Kansas did and even had turnover problems, but the offensive rebounding won that game.

In the championship of the ESPN Events Invitational, Dayton beat Belmont in a game where they needed to make timely shots. They played well enough defensively to force Belmont to take tougher shots later in the clock and then kept Belmont at bay by hitting tough, contested three’s down the stretch (especially from guys like Kobe Elvis, Koby Brea and Elijah Weaver).

Was this three game winning streak over Miami, Kansas and Belont flukey? It might be early to say. They won this three games in three different ways. Will it erase the memory of them losing to three teams below the KenPom 198? Not just yet, but if they build on this momentum moving forward, we can chalk up that disastrous week as just a really bad week that isn’t indicative to who this team is. However, they have to be considered a weekend winner not just because they upset a top four team at the buzzer, but because they did some major damage control on those three bad losses before the month was even over. That’s a hard feat to pull off, only mentally tough teams can do that, and that’s what Anthony Grant teams usually are.

Losers

MEMPHIS- This year, the Tigers are trying to shake the same distinction that all of Penny Hardaway’s teams have had: elite on defense, putrid on offense. The last two seasons, they have been bubble quality teams solely because they couldn’t generate the offense needed to put them over the top despite being elite defensively. This weekend in the NIT Tournament, they showed that, despite the young talent on offense, there is a long way to go on that side of the floor.

The positives are still on the defensive end of the floor. Memphis still ranks third in the country in defensive efficiency. Jalen Duren is all-world exciting on defense and is blocking eight shots per 100 possessions. They still hold teams to 40% eFG and 39% shooting from two. It’s pretty damn hard to score on this team.

However, the inefficiency on offense is a problem. Trust me, I understand it’s only late November and the two guys they are relaying on to provide that offensive spark are 18 and 17 years old respectively. It can and probably will improve. But it was a problem against Virginia Tech and it was THE reason they lost to an underwhelming Iowa State team in the championship game.

In this two games combined they had an estimated offensive rating of 88. That’s brutal. It’s also what can keep them from participating in the NCAA Tournament if it keeps resulting in losses to teams like Iowa State (who is just one year removed from a two-win season).

There were two concerning things about the offense that I noticed during the Iowa State loss. First it seemed like once Iowa State was starting to hit tough, contested jumpers (Memphis played great defensively in the first half and the halftime deficit was purely a result of Iowa State hitting tough shots late in the shot clock), it pressured the offense to keep up. Once they couldn’t keep up and win the jump-shooting battle, it made their defense worse. As well as I thought they played defensively in the first half, the Iowa State shot quality got much better in the second and lapses finally started happening. That’s when the game got out of hand, when the focus on the offensive production took away from what they were doing defensively.

Secondly, unforced turnovers took away all margin for error that they had. They only coughed the ball up 13 times against Virginia Tech and despite only shooting an eFG% of 43.4%, they were still able to win because they gave away fewer possessions. They were just as inefficient shooting the ball against Iowa State (41.5% eFG) but turned the ball over a whopping 21 times. That is a recipe to win zero games no matter how good your defense is. Again, it’s very early and these things can be corrected with a young team, but if it doesn’t…it’ll be another frustrating season in West Tennessee.

BELMONT- I have stated ad nauseam how important this month is for the Belmont Bruins. I have specifically cited the ESPN Events Invitational as a key event to boosting the resume due to #10 Alabama and #4 Kansas headlining it. Belmont got the chance to play neither. A win against Drake looked like a big plus until they got thumped by Alabama and only managed to score 54 against North Texas. The win against Iona looked impressive due to the efficient offensive performance and when you consider the fact that Iona was a day removed from upsetting Alabama, it looked even more promising.

But the loss in the championship game against Dayton was a big disappointment. I get it, Dayton pulled off a major upset against Kansas and I have them considered a big winner over the last week. This tournament might have even saved Dayton’s season. But this is still one that Belmont will want back come March. At the end of the year, this Dayton loss more than likely looks like a quadrant 2 loss and the two wins against Drake and Iona don’t quite look like quad 1 wins. Belmont will have ample opportunity to collect quad 2 and 3 wins later in the non-conference and in OVC play, but the lack of opportunity to get a quad 1 win hurts and blowing an opportunity against a team I feel like they are better than to cushion the quad 2 record hurts even worse, especially considering the amount of quality shots they created and just simply missed (thats hoops sometimes, my dudes).

ILLINOIS- Going into last season’s NCAA Tournament, I just knew in my soul they were destined for a national championship. One second round upset to Loyola-Chicago and a few early season disappointments later, the promise of a national title looks more and more bleak.

They responded to their upset loss against Marquette by dropping a tournament game to Cincinnati in which the Bearcats held Illinois to 30% eFG shooting despite the return of All-American center Kofi Cockburn. The loss looks even worse after Cincinnati dropped a game at home to Monmouth (shoutout King Rice).

Illinois was a fantastic defensive team last season, this season, they seem average. They’re ranked 22 in defensive efficiency and recently surrendered 85 points to a bad UT Rio Grand Valley team 250th in offensive efficiency. Granted, that game was without a few key contributors but against a team like that, you still shouldn’t surrender points like that to a team like UTRGV.

Another red flag is the turnovers. Despite having experienced guards like Trent Frazier and Andre Curbelo, Illinois has definitely failed to value the basketball, ranking 334th in turnover percentage per KenPom. That’s a formula for disaster.

I have a little bit of faith that they turn it around if Curbelo gets healthy but if the last week has been any indication of how this team will be in the coming months, their B10 schedule won’t be very kind to them.

Elijah Campbell is the Executive Producer for Darren, Daunic & Chase on weekdays from 10 am-2 pm and is the co-host of Courtside with Campbell and Knezovic. Follow him on Twitter @E_Campbell3.