Stock Watch

Cam Reddish

Duke’s forgotten stud freshman — behind Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett — is starting to remind everyone why he’s a projected top-five pick. He’s reached double figures in five of his last six games, averaging 15.2 points, and has hit at least three 3-pointers in five of those contests. It’s not a coincidence that in Duke’s two losses — to fourth-ranked Gonzaga and Syracuse — the skilled 6-foot8 Reddish either struggled or didn’t play because of illness.

Tom Crean

For throwing his team under the bus after its fourth straight loss plunged Georgia within one game of last-place Vanderbilt in the SEC. While Crean technically put the onus on himself, saying, “I’m the one who decided to keep these guys,” he was really ripping his players. Crean went on to say when there’s a coaching change, there is usually roster turnover, but that didn’t happen at Georgia.

Monmouth

No team in the country has had a stranger season than Monmouth. It lost its first 12 games, nine by double figures, only to win 10 of the next 14. And now the Hawks sit all alone atop the MAAC riding a fourgame winning streak. While the non-conference schedule was far from easy, highlighted by a trip to Kentucky, and the MAAC is a pedestrian low-major conference at best this season, it takes a lot of mental toughness for a team to stay together after losing so frequently so early.

Auburn

Ranked 11th in the preseason and picked third in the SEC, Auburn has quietly been one of the country’s bigger disappointments. The roster, despite the loss of transfer Mustapha Heron to St. John’s, was supposed to be improved, with the return of Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy, though the latter missed the season’s first nine games due to a suspension stemming from his role in the FBI investigation into corruption into college basketball. Instead, the Tigers are as close to the bottom of the SEC as the top of it. They don’t have a single Quadrant 1 victory in six chances, and are trending toward landing on the bubble.