It's only an exhibition ...

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Good morning! One week from today, we’ll have college hoops to watch. Like with the Field of 68’s Opening Day Marathon.

In the meantime, we’ll make due with exhibition games.

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1. If Michigan-St. John is a sign of what’s to come…

Did Saturday night at Madison Square Garden feel like late March? St. John’s vs. Michigan. Rick Pitino vs. Dusty May. Top-10 matchup. In prime time. Yeah, kinda.

If Wolverines’ thrilling 96-94 overtime win is a sign of what’s to come this season, it’s going to be a fabulous season. This play from Morez Johnson? It’s worthy of March.

Michigan’s frontcourt flexed its muscle overall. Led by Yaxel Lendeborg’s 25-10-4, Michigan’s bigs combined for 63 points and 27 rebounds. Zuby Ejiofor paced St. John’s with 24-6-6.

More notes on the weekend’s marquee exhibition games:

Kentucky 78, Purdue 65 — Without point guard Jaland Lowe and big man Jayden Quaintance, the Wildcats still ran away from the preseason No. 1 team. What may surprise you? Kentucky won because of its defense. Purdue simply looked outmatched athletically.

BYU 78, UNC 76 — AJ Dybantsa won the battle of NBA Draft lottery hopefuls. The BYU forward finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, but his activity on defense (3 steals, 3 blocks) really stood out. Caleb Wilson’s didn’t disappoint with 22-10 and three blocks. Both freshmen led their respective teams.

Duke 83, Tennessee 76 — Cam Boozer was dominant once again, this time with 24 points and 23 rebounds against a strong Tennessee front line. Boozer would have set a Duke freshman rebounding record if the game counted. Ja'Kobi Gillespie led Tennessee with 19 points, but he was 5-of-21 from the field. Nate Ament finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds on 5-of-19 shooting. Duke won despite shooting 35% from the field.

Kansas 90, Louisville 82 — Darryn Peterson, welcome to college basketball: 26-4-2 with five steals, and it took him just nine minutes to score 16 points. Kansas’ supporting cast looked long, athletic and caused all sorts of havoc. The story for Louisville was the inefficiency of the guards. Ryan Conwell had 26 points but was 7-of-21 from the field, and freshman Mikel Brown shot just 2-of-15.

NBA tanking this year is going to be comical.

Oklahoma 84, Wisconsin 83 — The Sooners’ backcourt of Xzayvier Brown and Nijel Pack combined for 33 points. Alabama transfer Derrion Reid was also solid with 14 points. Wisconsin’s big three — John Blackwell (20 points), Nick Boyd (19 points) and Austin Rapp (17 points) — all played well despite the loss.

Indiana 76, Baylor 74 — Tayton Conerway’s layup with eight seconds left proved to be the winning basket. He finished with 15 points and five assists. Lamar Wilkerson (28 points) and Tucker DeVries (18-6-5) were huge for the Hoosiers. Baylor was paced by Cameron Carr’s 18 points and nine rebounds.

Finally, Florida reportedly defeated Illinois, 96-86, in a secret scrimmage. The Gators were without Boogie Fland while Andrej Stojakovich remained sidelined for Illinois. The Gators posted a few highlights, while there was a report that Alex Condon was the “best player on the floor” and that Xavian Lee played well without Fland around.

2. Houston’s defense already scary + more exhibition results

Kelvin Sampson’s program had the nation’s best defense last season. Looks like nothing’s changed.

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