25 Teams That Played Elite College Basketball During Week 1

According to Torvik efficiency data

One week of college basketball is in the books. Still waiting on YouTube TV to bring ESPN back so I can lock in even harder, but it still felt great to sit back and enjoy some beautiful hoops in early November.

The list below isn’t my Top 25, nor should it be anyone’s, but if nobody cared about future outlooks and roster strength and only focused on game results and efficiency data, this would actually absolutely be the Top 25….and if that were the case….well it’d be absurd.

D2 Games don’t count, so you’ll notice Boise State ranked way higher than they should be (they lost to D2 Hawaii Pacific last Monday)

1. Illinois

   1. Beat Jackson State 113-55

   2. Beat FGCU 113-70

2. Indiana

   1. Beat Alabama A&M 98-51

   2. Beat Marquette 100-77

3. Michigan

   1. Beat Oakland 121-78

4. Louisville

   1. Beat SC State 104-45

   2. Beat Jackson State 106-702

5. UConn

   1. Beat New Haven 79-55

   2. Beat UMass Lowell 110-47

6. Vanderbilt

   1. Beat Lipscomb 105-61

   2. Beat UCF 105-93

7. Gonzaga

   1. Beat Texas Southern 98-43

   2. Beat Oklahoma 83-68

8. Minnesota

   1. Beat Gardner-Webb 87-60

   2. Beat Alcorn State 95-50

9. Clemson

   1. Beat New Hampshire 88-38

   2. Beat Gardner-Webb 97-59

10. Kentucky

    1. Beat Nicholls 77-51

    2. Beat Valpo 107-59

11. Duke

    1. Beat Texas 75-60

    2. Beat Western Carolina 95-54

12. Syracuse

    1. Beat Binghamton 85-47

    2. Beat Delaware State 83-43

13. Georgia

    1. Beat Bellarmine 104-59

    2. Beat MD Eastern Shore 94-29

       1. georgia tech went to overtime with md eastern shore 2 days prior

    3. Beat Morehead State 120-81

14. Stephen F Austin

    1. Beat Arkansas State 90-65

15. LSU

    1. Beat Tarleton State 96-60

16. Alabama

    1. Beat North Dakota 91-62

       1. barely beat them last season

    2. Beat St John’s 103-96

17. UNC

    1. Beat Central Arkansas 94-54

    2. Beat Kansas 87-74

18. High Point

    1. Beat Furman 97-71

19. New Orleans

    1. Beat TCU 78-74

20. BYU

    1. Beat Villanova 71-66

    2. Beat Holy Cross 98-53

21. Oklahoma State

    1. Beat Oral Roberts 95-71

    2. Beat Texas A&M 87-63

22. NC State

    1. Beat NC Central 114-66

    2. Beat UAB 94-70

23. Yale

    1. Beat Navy 97-68

24. Iowa

    1. Beat Robert Morris 101-69

    2. Beat Western Illinois 77-58

25. Iowa State

    1. Beat Fairleigh Dickinson 88-50

    2. Beat Grambling State 102-62

If your teams logo is anywhere to the right of the last blue line pictured in the graphic above, you’re allowed to smile, things looked very promising this week. The reason I love Torvik data is it’s not some sort of facade, it’s really never too early to draw some light conclusions.

• Take Ohio State for example. They beat IU Indy 118-102 and IPFW 94-68 this week. Theoretically, their offensive efficiency should be easily top 10 in the country, maybe even top 5.

  • But since Torvik compiles quality of shots created, how much offense was found due to your opponent being horrible defensively, turnover worthy plays, etc, you end up finding that maybe Ohio State could’ve somehow looked even better offensively.

• So people might say “Well Nick don’t you think it’s too early for this we don’t have a big enough sample size”, and it’s like sure yeah, but this data isn’t showing us anything outside of the cold hard truth of how efficient a team was offensively and defensively in week 1 in a way that should help us understand what to expect in week 2 and beyond.