College Basketball Grab Bag: Hail Kentucky, Leave Tom Crean's Kids Alone

Welcome to the VICE Sports College Basketball Grab Bag, where every week we'll round up the biggest news stories in the sport. Random stuff, too, because it's college basketball. Enjoy!

To be fair, Wisconsin isn't going to be as good as it was last year, not without Sam Dekker and Frank Kaminsky. That said, this might actually be one of the biggest upsets in a decade.

Let's count the ways: Western Illinois began the season ranked No. 258 in the all-important KenPom ratings. Wisconsin was ranked No. 9. Wisconsin has the eighth-richest athletic department in the country, bringing in almost $127 million last season. Western Illinois ranks No. 183 with $12 million in revenue. That's less than Wisconsin football coach Paul Chryst's contract is worth. Heading into this game, Wisconsin was 210-22 at the Kohl Center. Now Western Illinois has a win there!

So, again, how the hell did this happen? Well, WIU simply slowed the game down to an unbearable pace of 57 possessions—if there are fewer possessions, the better team has fewer chances to pull away—and then just crossed their fingers. Even if that's not a formula for repeated success, it worked this time, in awesome and hilarious fashion. We all should savor the moment. We probably won't see an upset of that magnitude again this season.

The Champions Classic has turned into the best early-season event of the year, and it demonstrates why college basketball, in some ways, is so much more fun than college football.

In it, Kentucky, Michigan State, Duke, and Kansas agree to play each other every year, with back-to-back games in the same location, purely as a showcase for their programs and the fans. Many football teams wouldn't dare lose to another potential blue blood: the egos are too prominent and the fear of missing out on the College Football Playoff is too strong. These teams, however, know they're getting into the NCAA Tournament, and besides, they aren't afraid. Props to all four programs.

Official attendance last night: 21,461. Thank you fans! See you at — Champions Classic (@championclassic)November 18, 2015

In Game One, we learned that Kentucky is still No. 1, after the Wildcats beat Duke, 74-63. As I wrote in our preview, only the Wildcats could lose six players to the NBA and remain the nation's most talented team, thanks to a group of superstar freshmen and tiny Tyler Ulis, who is the most underrated point guard in the country.

Kentucky might not go 40–0—and, given how much the pressure mounts with each win during an undefeated season, that might be a good thing—but the Wildcats have to be the title favorites. Again. Putting anyone above them is just overthinking it.

I'm not a big fan of Indiana coach Tom Crean. I don't like that he runs off players but hides behind Bible verses. I don't like his antics, like when he fired this shot, unprovoked, at a Michigan basketball assistant and ran away like a giddy child.

This Crean photo, from after he yelled 'you wrecked the program' at the Michigan assistant, is underutilized. — Kevin Trahan (@k_trahan)November 17, 2015

I also don't think he's the best coach. He underachieved tremendously two years ago, failing to even make the NIT, and he might need a very good season to keep his job. That said, Crean does not deserve the cruelty he and his family have endured from fans. As CBS Sports reports, there have been instances where fans have gone too far, like at his son's high school basketball game:

As the story goes, Crean and his wife, Joani, were at their son Riley's high school basketball game. It was a road game. Against a rival. And when Riley checked-in and walked onto the court, some students started a "Tom Crean sucks" chant that filled the gym.

"I think I looked at Tom and said, "Well, that's a nice one,'" Joani recalled with a smile.

Crean's daughter even had a professor—presumably an actual grownup—who mocked her:

"One of her professors, on April 1, announced to the class that Tom Crean got fired," Joani said. "He said 'Tom Crean was fired this morning.' And Megan was sitting in the class. And people cheered. And then the professor said … 'April Fools!'"

Come on, sports fans. Be better.

How about the Crusaders? They're 4-0, with a tough win at Rhode Island, and they rank No. 27 nationally in KenPom. This upcoming week provides difficult games against Oregon and Oregon State, but this team has a chance to climb into the national rankings.

Illinois started the week with a loss to North Florida, followed by a come-from-behind win against North Dakota State. It looked like things were going better against a good Providence team, but then the Fighting Illini missed three shots—including a putback dunk—at the buzzer to lose. Ouch.

UC Irvine center Mamadou Ndiaye and UCF center Tacko Fall are both 7-foot-6, and they played against each other Wednesday night! Basketball is full of tall people, and these two made everyone on the court look tiny.

During the non-conference season, I'll pick out the most hilarious guarantee game—a game in which the home team pays a smaller program to essentially come and get its ass kicked. The winner in this case will be a loser most weeks.

Grambling State is the worst team in college basketball—No. 351 out of 351—but the Tigers still need home games. They can't just go on the road and take losses every game. So they scheduled a game against something called Mid-Atlantic Christian, and won, 85-26. Mid-Atlantic Christian is so bad that it lost to the worst team in Division I basketball by almost 60 points. Congrats to Grambling for finding a guarantee game this awful.

Every week, I will rank random things. This week, it's games from this week that I want to see every year.

1. Maryland–Georgetown. Maryland doesn't fit, geographically, in its conference, so making this a regular rivalry would be awesome.

2. Kentucky–Duke. Won't happen because of the Champions Classic, but this would be such a great yearly matchup.

3. Virginia–George Washington. Another DC battle pitting a highly motivated basketball school against a bigger institution.

4. Stephen F. Austin–Northern Iowa. Two very underrated mid-majors that you should get to know, particularly UNI.

5. Belmont–Anyone. It's always exciting to watch Belmont play a major conference team. This year, it was an 83-80 win over Marquette.