Tuesday's Champions Classic is an incubator. It's two enormous games, and the rest of the college basketball slate fades into the background. Outside of a couple minutes of Florida-Florida State before Duke-Michigan State tipped off and Illinois-Texas Tech (at halftime of the Duke-Michigan State brawl), I didn't get a chance to watch a single second of anything else.

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Isaac Trotter

Wednesday was a catch-up day to try and learn something. Five meaningful games were on the docket:

• Illinois-Texas Tech
• Marquette-Michigan
• Virginia Tech-Iowa
• USC-California
• Memphis-Vanderbilt.

 It's a tough gig, but someone has to do it. Let's dive into the hits, misses and grades.

Michigan Wolverines

Early hit: Michigan dug out of an early hole and seized control of Wednesday's 84-70 win over Marquette thanks to a new jumbo lineup, featuring 6-10 sniper Quinn Costello, 6-11 forward JP Estrella and 7-2 center Moustapha Thiam. That trio, paired with Michigan's star guard tandem of Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney, outscored Marquette by 22 points in 24 possessions. It's a very complementary group. Costello and McKenney are big-time, catch-and-shoot snipers. You have to respect Estrella and Thiam both as lob threats and on the glass. Cadeau is a wizard on the sticks who gets the ball where it needs to go. This lineup will get a lot more burn in Michigan's biggest tests. It may prove to be the easiest button Mike Boynton can press to create good shots. 

Early miss: Michigan has literally no depth right now. There is a very, very large gap between the top six players on the roster and how the operation runs when most of the second unit is on the floor. 

Grade, so far: B-

Marquette Golden Eagles

Early hit: The newcomers can all play. Louisville transfer big man Sananda Fru was Marquette's biggest offseason acquisition, but he had a night to forget against Michigan due to foul trouble before anyone could even blink. Better days are ahead there. Liberty 5-in-5 transfer Colin Porter (21 points, five 3s), freshman wing Alex Egbuonu (nine points) and St. Thomas transfer Nolan Minnessale (five points, five rebounds, three steals, two assists) were the lone bright spots. Porter's a fun changeup who can get hot in a hurry from way downtown, even though he will get picked on defensively mercilessly. Minnessale is a real connector. Egbuonu is a 6-foot-7 hulking wing who can deck it and pressure the rim. All three look deserving of more minutes moving forward for Shaka Smart's club.

Early miss: Something is off with sophomore point guard Nigel James Jr.; the potential Big East Player of the Year candidate shot 0-for-11 from the field against Michigan and sat on the pine for the final 10+ minutes of regulation. He has the same number of turnovers as buckets (five) this season. The best part of James' game was his ability to consistently get his shoulders past that first wave of defenders. He was an automatic paint touch. That rarely happened against Michigan. Athleticism and confidence are usually tied together. When you're confident, the athleticism pops. When you're not confident, it wanes. Marquette needs this to be a blip on the radar. It has no chance of competing in the Big East without James being James again. Smart didn't say that James was battling an injury, either.

Grade, so far: C

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Isaac Trotter

Illinois Fighting Illini

Early hit: Quentin Coleman is infectious. He's someone you want to watch play every single day. The 6-foot-4 freshman guard had 19 points on nine shots, three offensive rebounds, four assists and two steals in front of a raucous Texas Tech crowd. Illinois' big second-half comeback came up short in the 84-78 loss, but Coleman was the star of the show. He's in the thick of pretty much everything. 

Who was the dude who flew out of nowhere to intercept a lob like a pterodactyl? Oh, it's Coleman.

Who was the dude whose leg got rolled up and then checked himself back into the game, much to the Illinois staff's chagrin, even though he wasn't cleared to return quite yet? No. 11: Quentin Coleman.

Who is leaving the game to puke in a garbage can and then drilling ludicrous contested 3s later? Ah yes, Quentin Coleman.

Coleman isn't playing mistake-free basketball, but he's one of the Big Ten's best guards already. The joy and fire he plays with is reminiscent of Kingston Flemings or Tyrese Maxey. You can't look away. Coleman looks every bit the part of a top-five pick in the 2027 NBA Draft. 

Early miss: Illinois is not a good defensive-rebounding team these days. Texas Tech ripped down 18 offensive rebounds against the Illini, including a couple on a critical possession late in the second half that led to a Donovan Atwell dagger. That's tied for the third-most offensive rebounds a Brad Underwood team has allowed in the last six-plus seasons. Texas Tech corralling 45% of its misses is something that will drive Underwood up a cliff. All-American forward David Mirkovic is still out with a foot injury. He may be a vacuum-cleaner on the glass, but Illinois needs more from everyone else on the boards.

Grade, so far: B

Texas Tech Red Raiders

Early hit: Mid-major portal evaluations. Hofstra transfer Cruz Davis and Wyoming transfer Damarion Dennis look like real hits. Davis was the big-name addition. He was a top-30ish transfer in the 2026 cycle for 247Sports, but you still have to go out and ball. Davis has done that. He's a maestro in pick-and-rolls and such a steadying force for a Texas Tech offense that needs a fulcrum while JT Toppin heals up. Davis is Texas Tech's cool, calm closer. He put Illinois away with two floaters, one with each hand, in Winning Time. He's really, really good.

Dennis is the surprise, but maybe we should have seen it coming. The Wyoming transfer has a revving motor and a clean stroke from downtown. His defense isn't perfect yet, but Texas Tech needed a second-unit guard who can be a weapon off the ball. Dennis is doing just that by burying catch-and-shoot 3s and using cuts to make himself available. Texas Tech doesn't win that game without Dennis. 

Early miss: Even when JT Toppin comes back, I'm afraid that Texas Tech may not have quite enough in the tank defensively to win the National Championship. It's going to take grit and a whole lot of takeaways to stay alive.

Grade, so far: B+

Virginia Tech Hokies

Early hit: The Jaylen Curry-Ben Hammond backcourt. Virginia Tech's guard tandem is ridiculously fast. Iowa has the personnel to be a problem defensively eventually, but Curry and Hammond blowtorched Iowa all night long in Tuesday's 93-88 overtime win. Virginia Tech is handing Curry a bunch of on-ball reps, and the twitchy lefty gave the Hawkeyes all sorts of problems with his paint pressure. It also allows Hammond to pivot to more off-ball reps. Virginia Tech can send him wiggling around screens, and he's a menace off pindowns because you have to respect him from all three levels. It's a good mix. Rugged forward Amani Hansberry is the heart and soul of this team, but Curry (25 points) and Hammond (32 points, four assists, zero turnovers) are the juice.

Early miss: I'm not enamored with Virginia Tech's centers. Ben McCollum was licking his chops whenever Virginia Tech had a double-big lineup on the floor. 

Grade, so far: A-

Iowa Hawkeyes

Early hit: Cooper Koch looks poised to be one of the best role players in the country. Maybe it's disrespectful to call him a role player, but the 6-foot-8 forward is just an awesome, all-around player who is way more than just a shooter. Shooting 40% from downtown last year can draw eyeballs, but he's so much better now. Koch had 26 points, seven rebounds and two dimes in the Virginia Tech loss. With Bennett Stirtz off to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Ben McCollum needed a new iron man. Insert Koch. He literally played all 45 minutes in the overtime affair. The junior wing is turning into a complete player who can hunt mismatches in backdowns, guard multiple positions, rebound and be a weapon as a cutter, spacer or screener. Koch isn't an elite athlete, but his pacing, footwork, strength and deceleration all look much improved. He's really good.

Early miss: Experienced big man Cam Manyawu does not seem to be in McCollum's trust tree these days. Manyawu played just 15 minutes in this one. Iowa needs more from its vet.

Grade, so far: B

USC Trojans

Early hit: Rodney Rice looks healthy. A nasty shoulder injury forced him to miss all but six games last season, but the 6-foot-5 guard is back and balling. He had 32 points and nine assists in USC's win over Wichita State on Sunday, but I thought his decision-making was pretty good in Wednesday's 77-65 win over Cal. Mark Madsen is experimenting with a new aggressive, blitzing defense, so Rice was seeing double teams all game long. He did a nice job of staying in control, finding the open man and helping USC keep the advantage. He's going to have to take some tough shots in USC's iso-heavy offense, so the efficiency may suffer, but he's processing the game well. Rice had 19 points, five rebounds, three assists and just two turnovers in 39 minutes. 

Early miss: The rollercoaster continues for Darius and Adonis Ratliff. Darius had three fouls in five minutes. Adonis had two fouls in four minutes. The toolsy, athletic twins are still a work in progress. Some of the flashes of size, skill and length are tantalizing. Some of the shot selection and lack of force are also maddening. Eric Musselman is a former NBA coach who heavily leans into matchup-based rotations. He quickly realized both the Ratliff brothers didn't have it and wasn't afraid to yank 'em. USC's approach this year will be to let  Rice and Alijah Arenas do just about everything offensively. The three other players on the floor will be the ones who do everything else and get out of Rice and Arenas' way. Wednesday's trio was Jacob Cofie (for his defense, passing and rebounding), KJ Lewis (for his defense, secondary playmaking, cutting and dawg) and Jadis Jones (for defense and cutting). 

If you don't do that stuff, you won't play. 

Grade, so far: B-

Vanderbilt Commodores

Early hit: Vanderbilt's A-game is terrifying. Memphis is a much-improved team, but very few teams would've beaten Vanderbilt on Tuesday. Memphis had no shot at slowing down the runaway train. The Dores rolled 105-81. Hot take: Vanderbilt will go undefeated on the nights it gets six triples from its frontcourt trio of Bangot Dak, Sebastian Williams-Adams and Berke Buyuktuncel. Memphis understandably did not defend those guys like shooters, but the big fellas buoyed Vanderbilt early with triples. Then Ace Glass hit the flow state. He scored 23 points in a flash. It hit Memphis like a tsunami. Vanderbilt's a good team this year because it has much-improved size and loads of strong defenders around All-American point guard Tyler Tanner. But when they also make jumpers? Warm the bus up.

Early miss: Nothing major. Vanderbilt played great. Let's check back in when it plays Ohio State in 12 days.