Top Five Winners And Losers From Feast Week 2025

2. Kansas supporting cast

Another unbeaten team in the Players Era Festival was Kansas, which went 3-0 without its top player, 6-foot-5 freshman guard Darryn Peterson. Wins over Syracuse and Notre Dame can be expected, but it was the team’s 81-76 victory over Tennessee in the third-place game that was highly impressive. Jayhawks’ 6-foot-4 senior guard Melvin Council and 6-foot-3 freshman guard Elmarko Jackson each had 17 points, with Jackson’s game off the bench serving as a breakthrough performance after a rough start to the season. Once Peterson is back in the fold, Kansas looks to be a Big 12 contender once again.

3. Iowa State guard Killyan Toure

The Cyclones also finished 3-0 in the Players Era Festival, beating St. John’s, Creighton and Syracuse. The most impressive part is that they won all three games without leading scorer Tamin Lipsey, a 6-foot-1 senior guard who suffered a lower-leg injury in the final minutes against the Red Storm.

The ball-handler who stepped up in Lipsey’s absence was 6-foot-3 freshman guard Killyan Toure, who combined to produce 39 points and seven assists in the wins over the Bluejays and Orange. Once again, Iowa State has one of the better backcourts in the country, with a future star on its hands in Toure.

4. USC Trojans

The winner of the Maui Invitational was USC, which beat Boise State, Seton Hall and Arizona State on its route to the title. The team’s two stars, 6-foot-4 junior guard Rodney Rice and 6-foot-7 senior forward Chad Baker-Mazara, each had big outings in Hawaii to carry the Trojans to victory, including Baker-Mazara’s 23 points in the title-game win over ASU without Rice available (shoulder). It hasn’t looked the prettiest for USC, but the Trojans are now 7-0 on the year with what should be at least a trio of Quad 2 wins on their resume.

5. Seton Hall and coach Shaheen Holloway

Last year, the Pirates won seven games total. This year, Seton Hall is already 7-1 overall, including big wins over NC State and Washington State to finish third in the Maui Invitational. After having the worst scoring offense in the country the season prior, the Pirates have made massive strides, scoring at least 75 points in all three games. Time will tell what the Big East program does the rest of the season, but it’s safe to say that they’re going in the right direction, removing any “hot seat” talk Holloway had coming into the season.

Players Era Wrap-Up: Michigan Steamrolls, St. John’s Stumbles

From Kansas’ improvement to Auburn’s gut check, here are the top headlines from the final day of the Players Era Festival

Losers

1. Syracuse and its missed opportunities

Yes, the Orange came into the Players Era Festival without their leading scorer, 6-foot-9 sophomore forward Donnie Freeman, with a lower-leg injury. But they were moments away from pulling off a massive upset over Houston, which would’ve been a signature win. Syracuse lost that game in overtime and then went on to lose handily to both Kansas and Iowa State, who were each without their best players. The team looked improved coming into the event, but going 0-3 and not getting a quality win could come back to haunt them if Syracuse finds itself on the bubble.

2. NC State’s defense

Offense has not been the issue for the Wolfpack in the Will Wade era, ranking top-15 nationally at 93.6 points per game. What made the team a loser in Feast Week was the defensive effort shown in the Maui Invitational, giving up 85 points to Seton Hall and 102 to Texas and finishing sixth in the tournament. That end of the court needs to get fixed quickly for NC State to be in the NCAA Tournament mix.

3. WCC’s chances at resume-building

In Gonzaga’s last year in the WCC, it’s as good an opportunity as ever for the conference to get as many bids as possible. Coming into Feast Week, there were four programs off to strong starts, including Saint Mary’s, San Francisco, and Santa Clara. However, the results just haven’t gone their way: the Broncos lost to Saint Louis in a key class at the Acrisure Invitational, while the Dons fell to both Nevada and Colorado in the Holiday Classic. 

The Gaels got blown out by Vanderbilt, while even Gonzaga wasn’t immune to a rough result, losing by 40 points to Michigan. The Bulldogs’ overall resume is fine and puts them in position for a protected seed, but they are now squarely behind Arizona in the fight for a potential 1 seed in the West Region. Unfortunately, the WCC hasn’t been able to capitalize on the Mountain West’s own struggles in resume-building. 

4. Cincinnati and head coach Wes Miller

The Bearcats lost two big games this week. The first was a home loss to top-10 ranked Louisville, despite leading at the half. But the even more notable result was a 64-56 home defeat to Eastern Michigan, which will likely be a Quad 4 setback on their resume. After a solid start to the season, Cincy is trending backwards, which isn’t good for them or coach Wes Miller’s chances to get off the hot seat.

5. Oregon Ducks

The teams that went winless in the Players’ Era Festival were Syracuse, UNLV and Oregon, with the latter team being the most surprising. The Ducks fell to Auburn, Creighton and San Diego State, none of which will be viewed as bad losses. The problem for this team is that we’re a month into the season and they’ve yet to have an impressive team performance, nearly falling to Rice and Hawaii to open the year. 

We’ll know soon enough whether the Ducks can be a postseason team, with games against USC and UCLA to open Big Ten play.