It’s not an official title, but there’s some bragging rights involved.
When UMass and Harvard play on Saturday at 1 p.m. Mullins Center, it is for the unofficial “Best in Massachusetts” designation.
In a perfect world, there’d be more games between the state’s seven Division I programs. But Boston College’s hard plummet into irrelevance has limited the potential for marquee games.
The best of those has become UMass vs. Harvard.
Less than two weeks into 2016-17, here’s the Bay State Basketball Top 7.
1. Harvard — Harvard has lost a game to Stanford in China and beaten NAIA Fisher College to start the season, so it’s hard to gauge them so far.
But with Siyani Chambers back joining one of the best Ivy League freshman classes ever, the Crimson looks to be an NCAA Tournament contender.
2. UMass — If the Minutemen held on at Ole Miss, there would be some buzz nationally about their potential. Even still, their early play has left plenty of reasons for optimism.
3. Northeastern — NU stunned UConn in the Battle of Husky Schools that Jim Calhoun Used to Coach. But Connecticut has been incredibly shaky so far with losses to NU and Wagner, so it doesn’t mean as much as it might have. Northeastern and Beanpot buddy BU split two regular season games.
4. Boston University — The Terriers beat Maine and LIU-Brooklyn and are expected to contend in the Patriot League.
5. Boston College — If the ACC were a Monopoly board, almost every property would be purchased with a hotel on it. For the rest of the conference, BC is Free Parking.
The Eagles have already lost to Nichols State, a school few people realize is in Division I. It’s going to be another long year at the Heights.
6. Holy Cross — It’s probably not fair to have the Crusaders here. They’ve got a chance to be better. But their best game so far is an eight-point loss to a UMass team that wasn’t sharp.
UMass-Lowell — The River Hawks beat Wagner, which beat UConn so there’s reason to hope they’ll be competitive in the America East.
JARREAU HONORED — With 25 points on Monday and a game-winning shot on Thursday, UMass freshman DeJon Jarreau was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week. He averaged 14.7 points, 5.7 assists and 4.7 rebounds in three games.
MY TOP 10 — 1. Kentucky; 2. Villanova; 3. Indiana; 4. Kansas; 5. Duke; 6. Xavier; 7. North Carolina; 8. UCLA; 9. Virginia; 10. Creighton.
I’m higher on UCLA and Creighton than most voters, but UCLA’s freshman have lived up to the hype preceding them and the Blue Jays have looked terrific so far.
For the rest of my Top 25, visit the College Hoop Week Guide on gazettenet.com’s UMass Sports Blog.
GAME OF THE WEEK: Maui Invitational Final, Wednesday, 9:30 p.m. , — This is hopefully North Carolina vs. Wisconsin, which would be terrific.
ATLANTIC 10 GAME OF THE WEEK: VCU vs. Baylor, Wednesday, 2:30 p.m. at Battle 4 Atlantis — Baylor upended Oregon last week with the Ducks missing Dillon Brooks, their top player. It earned the Bears the No. 20 spot in this week’s top 25.
The annual Bahamas event is loaded with Louisville, Michigan State and Wichita State highlighting the eight-team field. A good showing by VCU could impact its postseason hopes in March.
BUZZER BEATER — Kent State rarely blips the radar in college basketball outside of suburban Cleveland. But its gesture during the national anthem last week has earned the Golden Flashes national praise.
The divisive political landscape has led to protests and displays across the country during the pregame “Star-Spangled Banner”, with many related to racial unrest.
The Kent State basketball players made an attempt at unity. Each one asked an unsuspecting member of the crowd of a different race to join them on the floor.
They chose men, women, adults, seniors and children. All locked arms from “Oh, say can you see” until “the home of the brave.”
The idea came from the players themselves. The athletic department released the following statement.
“The decision to use the national anthem as a time to show solidarity in our diverse campus community was made by the team’s seniors and captains, not athletic department officials. The student-athletes brought their idea to the athletic department’s coaches and staff, who unanimously supported them in their decision. Kent State strives for inclusive excellence, and supporting this decision by student-athletes matched the core values of the university.”
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage