PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas: Baylor coach Scott Drew knew their sixth-placed Bears might need time to reconcile a changed roster after they lost four starts to a national-championship run .
Instead, Bears rolled through Battle 4 Atlantis. They were joined by a bunch of teams in their takedowns of No. 1 Gonzaga, including Maui Invitational Champion Wisconsin and No. 5 Duke, which flourished over the Thanksgiving week after being relegated to the off-season.
This is quite a starting point if each continues an upward trajectory as well.
Like his kind of dating, Drew said twice about the transfer of James Akinjo as his new point guard. You just start dating someone, you have to figure things out. When you’ve been married for two years, you know what your wife likes and doesn’t. Well keep going through that process.
The Bears’ departures include Jared Butler, a first-team Associated Press All-American, a third-team All-American, and Davian Mitchell, a total of nine NBA draft picks and their second-leading scorer in Macchio Teague.
Drew turns to Akinjo, who had previously stayed in Georgetown and Arizona. Talented freshman forwards Kendall Brown and Jeremy Sochan arrive. Returnees such as LJ Cryer and Matthew Meyer stepped into larger roles. And Baylor (7-0) continues to win big, with Akinjo as MVP for the last time in the Atlantis title game against Michigan State.
Baylor has won 13 straight dating in last year’s title match in the Indianapolis Bubble.
Nobody cared who scored the goal, they all played pretty tough defensively,” said Spartans coach Tom Izzo. It was good to see. Unfortunately I had to look at him from the negative side.
At the Maui Invitational, which moved to Las Vegas, Wisconsin beat Texas A&M, No. 12 Houston and St. Mary’s with its youngest team in decades. The Badgers (5-1) have lost six seniors and have two returning starters and 12 underclassmen. The average age of their opening-night starting lineup was 19.8 years, up from 22.6 the previous year.
The driving force was sophomore Johnny Davis, who averaged 23.7 points and 6.7 rebounds in three games to become Maui MVP. Davis averaged 7.0 points as a freshman reserve but has been playing around 32 minutes in a starring role.
I’m learning as everyone watches this group mature and grow before us, Wisconsin coach Greg Gard said after the win against the Cougars.
Then there were the Blue Devils (7-0), who defeated Gonzaga in a late-March caliber game on Friday in Las Vegas. Duke missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the previous 1995 season, but was reloaded with a top-flight recruiting class, a seasoned boost from Marquette transfer Theo John, and a surge from veteran co-captain Wendell Moore Jr.
That group could claim No. 1 on Monday’s AP Top 25 in Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski’s final season.
Star freshman Paolo Banchero said that since the off-season, we have been trying to come in every day and be consistent and practice well. One thing is not a bad practice. … so when you pile on days like this, come in every day and be persistent, then in big games like this you’re going to be able to win and fight that.
Gonzaga’s Upside
The Gonzaga–Duke fight took place three days later when the Zags dominated No. 2 UCLA in Las Vegas to commemorate their turnaround. The performance included 56% shooting with No. 1 national recruit Chet Holmgren among four players with at least a dozen points.
That’s the beauty of our system: Anyone can step in any night, said coach Mark Few. And this team is so selfless.
big moments
The holiday-week tournament featured several classic moments, starting with Dayton defeating No. 4 Kansas on Mustafa Amzil’s buzzer-beating shot at the ESPN Events Invitational at Walt Disney World.
There was also a wild opening-round game of Battle 4 Atlantis between No. 19 Auburn and No. 22 Yukon, with the Huskies claiming a 115–109 double-overtime victory, experiencing a second-weekend NCAA Tournament matchup.
Smith’s Rise
Holmgren and Banchero have garnered the most attention among the top freshmen, but Auburn’s Jabari Smith has made a strong start.
The 6-foot-10 McDonald’s All-American Atlantis stood out as an all-tournament pick, balancing its outdoor shooting with portions of back-to-the-basket work. He averaged 19.3 points against Yukon, Loyola Chicago and Syracuse, including 15 runs for 26 (58%) in the final two.
I want him to be a complete player, said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl. I want him to be in and out. I want him to be able to defend multiple positions. And I want him to impress the victory. That’s all he cares about.
cleaning the spartans
Izzo’s Spartans grinded through a hard win against Yukon in the Atlantis semi-finals, but Baylor’s second half faded to complete the tournament performance, with Izzo promising a few changes.
His concerns: 51 turnovers in three matches and being mentally tough.
We’re going to do a few different things, Izzo said, because it’s easier to get better physically. …mentally it’s a little tough.
,
AP Basketball writer John Marshall in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
,
Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter https://twitter.com/aaronbeardap . follow on
,
More AP College Basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here. follow us on Facebook, Twitter And Wire,