A rule change allowing college basketball programs to schedule legitimate preseason matchups against other top programs has provided a few new data points to consider for preseason rankings. With the start of the men's college basketball season one week away, I've made a few adjustments to my original preseason poll. Those preseason games do not count, but as North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said last week, it's not like they're lab experiments. They keep score, Davis said.
At Madison Square Garden, the lights were bright and the energy was real as No. 5 St. John's took the floor against No. 7 Michigan in an exhibition that felt far more like a March showdown than a preseason tune-up. This game absolutely lived up to its hype, with both teams exchanging blows for all 45 minutes, but Michigan came out victorious with a 9694 overtime win. Yaxel Lendeborg led all scorers with 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field, adding 10 rebounds for a double-double.
While Oklahoma smothered Wolverines freshman quarterback Bryce Underwood, Mateer completed 21 of his 34 passes for 270 yards with a passing touchdown and an interception. He also finished with a team-high 19 carries for 74 yards, adding a pair of rushing scores on either side of halftime in his second career start for the 18th-ranked Sooners. "You saw what he can do," Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables said of Mateer. "He falls forward a lot. He's got great strength and great skills.