Before we get started, if you missed the first edition of this, check it out here. We’re only a week into the college basketball season, but with most teams having a couple of games under their belts, the big-picture landscape is starting to get a little clearer heading into the early-season tournaments in the coming weeks.

Here are my underrated and overrated teams at this point, along with some revised outlooks from the first edition. Let’s get right into it with 2022 Underrated and Overrated College Basketball Teams.

Underrated

Three teams that were nearly included in the week one underrated list highlight the new one in week two.  Houston leads the way, and while it’s hard to be underrated when you’re ranked #3, they’re by far the best and most complete team in the country right now and should win most of their games by very comfortable margins. 

Houston

The Cougars have been extremely good defensively for years now, but this season their offense is right there with the defense.  They’re incredibly tough, strong, and aggressive on both ends of the floor, and they do a tremendous job of taking the physicality right up to the line without crossing it by fouling too much.

J’Wan Roberts dominates the interior, freshman Jerace Walker looks like a lottery pick, and Houston’s three guards push the tempo and wear down opponents with their relentless attacking.  This team is significantly better than anyone else right now, and at this point, they should be the favorite to cut down the nets in their hometown in April.

Arizona

Arizona lost some big-time talent from last year’s team when Bennedict Mathurin and Dalen Terry left for the NBA, but they return one of the nation’s best frontcourts in Azoulas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo.  Both guys are huge with great hands and a nice touch around the rim.  They pass the ball extremely well, and Tubelis also shoots it accurately from the outside and is starting to look like a lottery pick next year.

Pelle Larsson is an extremely versatile wing who brings incredible energy every night, and if Arizona can get consistent play out of its experienced backcourt and get some decent contributions from the bench, they should be dominant and play more like a top-five team this season.

Michigan State

Michigan State also nearly made the list in week one, and they played like a top-ten team while leading and controlling the game against Gonzaga for almost the entire 40 minutes. Unfortunately, Drew Timme took over late and stole the game from the Spartans, but Michigan State is a veteran squad that should have a great chance to win the Big Ten this season.

Michigan State was the bigger, stronger, tougher team against the Zags, and I’m still not really sure how they lost.  Despite dropping the game in the end, the Spartans still covered easily and should be a good team to bet on going forward, especially since they remain unranked in the AP poll and come in at #25 in the Coaches poll.

James Madison

James Madison has come out of the gates on fire, blowing away their first few opponents in impressive fashion.  While Valley Forge, Hampton, and Buffalo aren’t exactly world beaters, anytime you can win your first three games by 34, 48, and 85 points, you need to be taken seriously!  A November 20^th match-up at North Carolina should provide a great opportunity to cash in on what will likely be way too big of a spread.  I wouldn’t even be surprised if James Madison wins the game.

UCONN

UCONN has one of the best big men in the country in Adama Sanogo, and from the looks of the first couple games, he’s got a pretty good supporting cast around him.  The Huskies are sharing the ball extremely well and using their size, speed, and length to disrupt their opponents.  They’ve looked great so far, but they haven’t really been tested.  A November 18^th contest against a surprisingly tough UNCW squad should be a good barometer of just how good UCONN is.

Stetson

Stetson handled FSU’s overaggressive pressing defense with patience, intelligence, and great passing while unleashing a barrage of 3-pointers to knock off the Seminoles in Tallahassee. They used a disciplined zone defense to frustrate the much bigger and more athletic Seminoles, and while it appears Florida State isn’t anywhere close to getting the most out of their size and talent, it’s still an impressive win nonetheless.  Stetson’s performance didn’t look like a fluke, and I look for them to continue to play above expectations this season.

Evaluations and Observations from Part 1

Texas and St. John’s

Both of these two teams played well and are still firmly on the underrated list going forward. 

Florida State 

Florida State was sloppy and undisciplined defensively and likely caught a bit off-guard by the shooting, passing, ball-handling, and tough zone defense of Stetson.  The Hatters played extremely well to get the win, but the Seminoles proved that they’re just not where they need to be after dropping their next game to UCF as well.  It’s beginning to look like Coach Leonard Hamilton is starting to lose his touch like many of his peers have at his age, and I certainly wouldn’t put my money on FSU again anytime soon.

Oklahoma State 

Oklahoma State was without one of their best players, Woody Newton, in their loss to Southern Illinois, but that’s no excuse for squandering a late lead.  Although they rebounded nicely in a blowout win over Oakland, they’re still off the underrated list for now, but the Cowboys will have a chance to get back on it once Newton returns.

Villanova 

Villanova is really missing highly-touted freshman Cam Whitmore to start the year, and they could struggle and be a relatively low-scoring team until he returns.  This team doesn’t have much depth and can’t afford to lose any of its top players, and it showed in a close loss to in-state rival Temple.

However, these early season struggles could be a blessing in disguise, as it will give an opportunity to develop some of the bench players, as well put the Wildcats out of the Top-25 and under the radar for when Whitmore can get back and acclimated to the team.  I wouldn’t bet on them right now, but take a look at them in a few weeks once they get back to full strength.

Kentucky

Antonio Reeves has really given Kentucky a boost,  as he’s really stepped up in the absence of Oscar Tshiebwe to start the season.  While wins over Duquesne and Howard aren’t anything to get excited about, it looks like the Wildcats are going to be just fine once Tshiebwe returns.

Kentucky has had big contributions from their highly-touted freshmen, along with seniors Reeves, Jacob Toppin, and CJ Fredrick.  They’ve got two huge games this week against Michigan State and Gonzaga, and they’ll likely need their leader and last year’s Player of the Year to return if they hope to win either game.

Gonzaga

Gonzaga showed that they’re still well-coached and have a ton of fight while stealing a victory from Michigan State. Drew Timme is an amazing college player, and while I do think this team isn’t nearly as good as their last few, they’ll likely still have a lot of success this season.  However, I’m taking Texas to cover against them in a few days, and most likely also to win the game.

Kansas

This Kansas team had plenty of firepower to get by North Dakota State and Omaha, but we’ll learn a lot more about the Jayhawks when they take on a very young but talented Duke team on Tuesday.  Freshman Grady Dick has stepped up to help Jalen Wilson with the scoring load, but I still think Kansas is overrated at this point in the season.

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