This week, Kansas sat star freshman and projected top two pick Darryn Peterson (hamstring), but still came through with a bounce-back win; Duke piled up 65 points in the first half with Mike Krzyzewski attending the game; and Louisville got the upper hand this time in its historic rivalry with Kentucky. Other college basketball stories we’re tracking include…

Daeshun Ruffin Bounces Back

Since managing a mere 11 wins in 2021-22, the Jackson State Tigers have been slowly working their way back to respectability as they seek to end an 18-year NCAA tourney drought. In the three years since that ugly record, they’ve upped their victory count to 14, 15 and then 16 last season.

Thanks to a very tough early schedule (they play ranked teams in four of their first five), they’re off to an 0-2 start this season, but earned a small moral victory last week when they managed (as expected) to beat the 37.5 point spread against a very strong Louisville squad.

The good news for the Tigers is that senior guard Daeshun Ruffin came up huge on Thursday after a pedestrian season debut. Against the Cardinals, he piled up 22 points with four assists, three treys and a pair of steals.

After transferring from Ole Miss, Ruffin broke out last season, doing a much better job of getting to line to help him set a new career high in scoring. Early on this season – despite seeing less PT – he’s sinking more buckets on more touches, and isn’t being shy about jacking up three-point attempts, even if he’s not as accurate as usual in this regard.

The news isn’t all good for Ruffin, as his rebounds and assists are down, while his turnovers and fouls are up, but much of this is likely because of the dominant teams Jackson State has faced so far. He’ll probably fare better on Saturday against Louisiana Tech.

Despite the Tigers’ struggles, Ruffin earned SWAC Defensive Player of the Week honours. He’s a tiny dude (5’10”, 157), but is surprisingly strong and very quick. Ruffin plays an exciting game, but players his size generally don’t make it to the NBA. Still, as the highest ranked recruit in Ole Miss basketball history (he was crazy good in high school as you can see in the video below), he has the pedigree to surprise us.

A Trojan Worth Tracking

It wasn’t that long ago (2021-22) that the USC Trojans tied the program record with 26 wins, but it’s been mostly downhill since. The following season, they dropped to 22 victories before bottoming out with just 15 in 2023-24. Last season, USC made some progress, but still missed the NCAA tourney for the second straight time.

And while it’s very early and their competition so far hasn’t exactly been top shelf, the Trojans are undefeated (2-0). It’s a good enough start that they actually rate odds to make the Final Four (+2000 as per FanDuel) – not exactly a favourite, but that’s definite progress for a program that has struggled recently.

On Sunday, fifth year senior swingman Chad Baker-Mazara enjoyed his finest college game, going off for 20 first-half points en route to a career high 26 points with seven boards, three treys, three assists and a pair of swats. He shot extremely well (7-for-13 from the floor and 9-for-9 from the charity stripe), especially from outside (3-of-4).

Baker-Mazara — who’s had his share of issues on social media — has bounced around in his college career, getting his start at Duquesne before transferring to San Diego State for his sophomore season. He then spent two campaigns with Auburn before opting to finish his college days with USC. Baker-Mazara has generally gotten better each season, but looks poised to really break out this season.

Despite seeing less PT early on, he’s canning more buckets on more touches, taking (and making) more three-pointers, and doing a way better job of getting to the line while converting at a career-best rate. Baker-Mazara’s rebounding, blocks and scoring are way up, and so far, the only regression we’ve seen has been in assists and steals.

The Dominican is tall (6’7”) but quite light (172), so could stand to add some bulk. But he’s very noticeable and active both on offense and defense, and while he hasn’t garnered much NBA draft attention yet, he does have the look of someone who could play pro. Baker-Mazara has a similar profile to Johnny Furphy, San Antonio’s second round pick last year (35th overall).

Baker-Mazara is a player NBA prospect hounds will want to track this season.

RotoRob Tune of the Day

The J.B.s acted as James Brown’s band from 1970 through the early ’80s, remaining active until 2006. In 1972, they released Food for Thought, which featured “Pass the Peas,” a funk instrumental that hit No. 29 on the R&B chart.

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