It's Christmas time, and that means conference play is about to start ramping up across college basketball. With several weeks worth of data available, it's now apparent what the strengths and weaknesses of many teams are as we prepare to flip the calendar from 2022 to 2023. CBS Sports Bracketology Expert Jerry Palm already has a projected 68-team NCAA Tournament field, and it's never too early to start thinking about what "Quadrant" your favorite team's next game will fall under.
With the 2022-23 college basketball officially taking shape, it's time to assess what certain teams need the most. Unlike in professional sports, you can't sign a free agent or make a mid-season trade to bolster your roster. In the spirt of Christmas, however, we can wish for certain things to magically arrive under the tree for certain programs.
Last year, we gave Alabama a lockdown defender, Bob Huggins a Hall of Fame season, Illinois a healthy Andre Curbelo and Bill Self a chill pill. It didn't all pan out, but at least in the case of Self, things turned out pretty well as he guided Kansas to a national title.
For this year's holiday-themed Dribble Handoff, our writers are playing the role of Santa Claus and giving away some much-needed gifts throughout college basketball.
Tennessee gets: An effective offense
Tennessee is A) off to a 9-2 start, B) the only team to beat Kansas, and C) in possession of some strong computer numbers (No. 3 at BartTorvik.com, No. 4 in the NET, No. 5 in Sagarin, No. 6 in KPI). The Vols are really good once again and benefitting from the best defense in the country, according to KenPom.com.
But the offense is a bit of a mess.
The Vols are 49th in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom, which is the lowest such ranking for any team in the top 15 of the CBS Sports Top 25 And 1. They rank 275th in effective field goal percentage, 236th in offensive turnover percentage, 274th in 2-point field goal percentage and 231st in 3-point field goal percentage. Nothing comes easily on that end of the court, which is an obvious problem if Tennessee's goal is to make the Final Four for the first time in school history.
Unless things dramatically improve, this will go down as the third straight year that the Vols have been elite defensively but maybe not quite good enough offensively to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Something needs to change on the offensive end, or else the Vols could end up producing another wonderful regular season that leads to another early exit from the NCAA Tournament. Take last season, when they shot 11.1% from 3-point range in a second-round loss to lower-seeded Michigan, or the season before when they shot 33.3% from the field in a first-round loss to lower-seeded Oregon State. -- Gary Parrish
Cal gets: A change in fortune
Since Louisville's at least managed to get a pair of wins before Christmas, Hoops Santa's going to direct his charity to the West Coast. The Golden Bears are anything but golden. The only team without a victory in Division I. Cal is 0-12. It's dreadful. The Golden Bears play UT Arlington on Wednesday night, their final chance at a nonconference win. KenPom projects this team to win four games this season.
There have been calls to have Mark Fox fired. Hoops Santa isn't advocating for anyone losing their job; instead, this program is due for an improvement in health (it's had multiple starters out for stretches due to injury or illness) and deserves some happiness. A win or or two or three before February arrives. Small victories would in fact be big ones. If any program is in need of some holiday kindness, it's Cal. However that manifests into 2023, the program is overdue for something good. -- Matt Norlander
Kansas gets: A true big man
Let's face it: Bill Self hasn't exactly been a good boy this year. He's already served a self-imposed suspension for charges of questionable recruiting tactics, and his program is charged with five Level I violations by the NCAA as part of a sprawling probe into potential nefarious recruiting unveiled by federal investigators. (Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz politely reminded us of this recently.)
Still, Self deserves a true big man. His best teams have always had at least one, like David McCormack, Udoka Azuibuike and Jeff Withey, among others. His reigning-champion Jayhawks still have a heckuva squad this season -- they are 10-1, No. 5 at KenPom with the No. 12 offense and the No. 9 defense in adjusted metrics -- but size could be a concern for this roster. The team has found immense success thus far playing KJ Adams and Jalen Wilson in the front court for small-ball lineups, but Adams is just 6-foot-7 and Wilson is only 6-foot-8. Eventually, the lack of size is going to hurt KU. This team might just be talented enough to overcome that, but without an imposing presence down low -- a Self staple -- it wouldn't surprise if eventually it turns into KU's fatal flaw that ultimately sinks its chances to repeat. -- Kyle Boone
Auburn gets: Better 3-point shooting
Jabari Smith masked this roster's perimeter-shooting deficiencies last season by hitting 42% of his 3-point shots on 5.5 attempts per game. Without him, Auburn has become one of college basketball's preeminent brick-layers. The Tigers ranked ranked 337th nationally in 3-point sooting percentage at 28.9% and 296th in made 3-pointers per game at 6.2 entering Wednesday's game at Washington.
Guards Wendell Green and K.D. Johnson lead the team in 3-point attempts per game, but neither are even shooting 30% from beyond the arc. Auburn is clinging to a spot in the AP Top 25 at No. 23, but the Tigers are down at No. 57 in the NET and registered as just a No. 10 seed in CBS Sports Bracketology Expert Jerry Palm's projected NCAA Tournament field on Tuesday.
A drop-off from last season's 28-6 season in which the Tigers earned a No. 2 seed and won the SEC regular-season title was inevitable amid the departures of star front court players like Smith and Walker Kessler. But unless Auburn gets some better outside shooting, it could drop all the way to the NCAA Tournament bubble. -- David Cobb
