It didn’t take long for the upsets to start. A week into the college basketball season has already seen at least three upsets, including a top five team and a top ten team. Arizona, at the time ranked tenth, started things off over the weekend by losing at Virginia, followed by Boston College losing at home to Vermont on Monday night.

Last night, the first of the “big three” (Florida, UNC, Kansas) fell, as Kansas was beaten at home by Oral Roberts. You know, you just don’t expect ORU to beat Kansas, but especially in the Phog. It just shouldn’t happen, even though this is still a young Kansas team. However, considering the Jayhawks have been upset in the first round of the NCAA’s the last two years (to Bucknell and Bradley), perhaps the players aren’t the problem. Being on the cover of SI probably didn’t help. But, I suspect they’ll be fine. You might say they were overrated, but isn’t everyone? It’s mostly guessing at this point, until there’s a few more weeks and they all play a few more games.

UNC also had somewhat of a scare last night, although they did pull out the win. Winthrop - who nearly beat #2 seed Tenneessee in last year’s tournament - played well against UNC and had a 12 point lead in the first half. They led by 8 at the break, then withstood Carolina’s initial run in the first 4 minutes to keep the lead until around the 10:00 mark. They hung with them until about the last four minutes and it ended with a 7 point margin. UNC is still young as well, and it will take some time to get everyone working well together, just as with any other team this time of year. When they do, though, watch out. I still say they’ll be better than Florida in a month or two.

So, what about Duke? I’ve been trying to decide whether or not to comment on them until I saw a few more games, but I figured I’d go ahead and make some initial observations. They’re currently playing in the CBE Classic and won their first two games over Columbia and Georgia Southern. The Columbia game wasn’t televised in my house (I don’t have ESPNU), but I did get to see the Georgia Southern game on ESPN2.

Duke looked about like they should, I suppose. It’s just that after being a fan for so long, and having seen the success of the past, you expect them to win every game against a (supposedly) lesser team by halftime. When that didn’t happen Monday night, there was that thought in the back of my mind that they could be losing their first game earlier than I had anticipated, which stressed me out more than usual. While I’ve had increased anxienty and stress during the last couple of Arkansas football games, which were important games against good teams, it doesn’t compare to how I feel during Duke basketball games. It’s been nearly 8 months since the last one and I’d almost forgotten how my nerves go into overdrive. It doesn’t even matter who Duke is playing - I’m over the edge immediately and stay there until the game ends (or, in a loss, even beyond that.) Had I a stress alert scale like the Homeland Security terror alert, mine would be at the highest during Duke basketball games (which, of course, would be blue.) For many of their games, I’m so worked up about it you’d think I was actually playing in the game rather than just watching it on TV. My anxiety, however, was unnecessary as they did manage a comfortable win by shutting down Georgia Southen in the second half.

Overall, they looked good considering who they are personel-wise and the fact that it was their second game (not to mention their second night in a row.) The freshmen, of course, were the unknowns. You know what they’re supposed to be capable of, but that doesn’t always match reality. With the last two years pretty much being the Redick and Williams show, this team will need to “find itself” offensively, and it probably will for the rest of this calendar year. It was obvious Monday night.

DeMarcus Nelson played great. He was clearly the best one on the floor. He’s also the oldest. It’s good to see him back at 100% again. A lot has been said about the leadership of McRoberts and Paulus, but I think Nelson may be as important as any player out there. Not back at 100% again is Greg Paulus. He’s not exactly got Sean Dockery quickness to begin with, but coming back from the injury doesn’t help. He needs to remain healthy, because they obviously were at a disadvantage with anyone else running the point. That will be much more obvious (and potentially damaging) as they play better teams, especially once conference season begins. McRoberts puzzled me a little. He seemed uninvolved at times on the offensive end. I’m not sure if it was the defense or it was him. But, he did pick it up a little in the second half. I think he may have to adjust more than anyone, considering he benefited so often last season from the attention paid to Shelden. He’ll have to make it happen himself this year, and I don’t doubt that he will.

The freshmen all looked very promising. It didn’t seem Brian Zoubek was as much of a factor in this game, but I think he’s got a lot of potential. Jon Scheyer has got a very nice shot and I believe he’ll take Redick’s spot as the primary outside shooter as the year moves on. Lance Thomas looks to be a workhorse, and his athletic ability along with Gerald Henderson, McRoberts and Nelson is something Duke has sorely needed the last couple of years. Henderson looks to be the best of the bunch. He may very well be the best scorer on the team by year’s end, or perhaps a close second to Nelson.

Defensively, they looked good in the second half. I think being a more athletic team this year will help with their defense once all of the newer guys get adjusted. I think they’ll have the potential to really stop teams like they haven’t in recent years, and that will help generate offense as well.

It was only the second game, so I shouldn’t expect too much from such a young team. Again, I think offensively, it will take some time for everyone to determine their fit. With a lot of new faces, and the fact that noboby on this team was “the man” last year, it will take them some time to get things in order. Plus, with a more athletic team, their style of play will not be identical to the last couple of years, and will take some adjusting to as well. Overall, I was pleased with what I saw, mostly due to the potential I see for both the remainder of this year and the next couple of years to come. They will be far more balanced than they have been for the last couple of years. What is it they say? They don’t rebuild, they reload? I think they’re reloaded for the next few years. Now, about title number four…okay, that’s a little premature.

Duke plays a non-CBE game tonight with UNC-Greensboro at Cameron Indoor, then goes to Kansas City for two more CBE games. They’ll play Air Force next Mondey in the semifinals, and if they win, they’ll play Tuesday against the winner of Texas Tech and Marquette (or if they lose to Air Force, they’ll play the loser of the other game.) Whether or not they can win both games, I’m not certain. I think Texas Tech would be a tough test for them, but I don’t know enough about Air Force or Marquette to say one way or the other. I just hope they’ll beat Air Force so they can avoid possibly losing two games. After Thanksgiving they have home dates with Indiana and Georgetown, which will help them learn more about themselves as a team and give me an idea where they’re headed this year.

I meant to post my predictions last week, but never did. Here’s what I came up with after looking at the schedule. I predict a third place finish in the ACC. I think, being this young, they will have a hard time finishing second ahead of BC as some have predicted. Carolina will clearly win the league, and I think BC will finish second. I think third will be between Duke and Georgia Tech, and I’m giving Duke the edge. I think the ACC will be tougher than it’s been in a while this year. I am going to go ahead and predict another Sweet 16 this year, depsite the youth. They did it in 2000 while “rebuilding” and again in 2003 while “rebuilding.” So, I think they can make their 10th in a row this year. And, I am predicting a record of 26-10. That’s probably slightly optimistic, but I think by the time mid-January rolls around, they’ll be able to win a game or two they shouldn’t.

Well, I set out to make a few comments, and ended up with a book. That’s a lot after seeing them play once. I suppose now I’ll sit back and see how far off I really was…