Mailbag: Georgetown, Purdue, surprise players

• Who are some of the best freshmen so far?
• New Mexico: Contender or pretender?
• What's Georgetown's ceiling?

Welcome back to the weekly college hoops mailbag.

Our college basketball reporters Nicole Auerbach and Eric Prisbell are here to keep you up-to-date and to answer your questions each week. Here's a reminder to send in questions for next week's mailbag to nauerbach@usatoday.com.

@jameezy9: how impressive is Rasheed Sulaimon? is he the most impressive freshmen in this early season?

Auerbach: He's definitely one of the most impressive. In my mind, when I think of talented freshmen right now, I think of him and Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart. Eric and I have talked a lot lately about this freshman class and how guys such as Shabazz Muhammad have not performed as well as expected. Sulaimon and Smart are the opposite. Major impact players. I talked to Coach K on the phone Wednesday and he said Sulaimon is one of the best freshmen in the country, and he's been able to find success early because he's playing with three seniors. I think that definitely helps him with the adjustment to the speed of college ball and also not putting too much pressure on himself to do too much. He's got guys like Seth Curry and Mason Plumlee to help him out.

Prisbell: Well, I think it's an intriguing discussion because some freshman seasons have not unfolded thus far as most thought they would. I agree with Mike Krzyzewski when he says Rasheed Sulaimon is playing as well as any freshman in the country. I watched Rasheed a little bit in high school and knew he was a great get by Duke. But I did not expect this level of play this early and against this level of competition. Their schedule has been brutal, and Rasheed responded with 17 second-half points to help Duke beat Ohio State. Mason Plumlee, before that game, told me that while he knew Rasheed could play, he had been pleasantly surprised with his moxie as a freshman. Nicole and I have talked a bunch about this topic. Personally, I may lean toward Marcus Smart because of his overall impact on Oklahoma State, kind of changing the personality of the squad as a well-grounded, selfless freshman. But there are plenty of similarities in how the two players carry themselves. Big fan of both.

@nightengalejr: Is Erick Green and Virginia Tech the real deal? Can they make some noise in the ACC, like a possible top-3 finish?

Auerbach: I think the ACC is kind of up for grabs. Duke has been the best team in the nation so far, but can the Blue Devils hold up? Not much depth and Seth Curry is already struggling with an injury. UNC was blown out by Indiana. N.C. State has talent but hasn't been able to beat any great teams so far. That paves the way for teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech to make some noise in this conference. Erick Green has been sensational — averaging 24.9 points a game. I don't know about top-3, but how about top-4? I think that spot could end up coming down to Maryland and Virginia Tech, two teams we did not think we'd be talking about this way entering the season.

Prisbell: I was lukewarm on the ACC before the season. Now I see it as offering us one of the more compelling conference races out there. There are plenty of wild cards and X-factors — Maryland is formidable, Miami can be formidable, and what do we make of Virginia Tech? — and then N.C. State has been uneven and Duke has been a world beater thus far. So what do we make of VT beating an Oklahoma State team that soundly beat NC State? To me, it shows me Virginia Tech — despite lack of depth, despite so much reliance on one of the nation's best guards (Erick Green) — the Hokies need to be watched and may have a chance to create some havoc on the bubble. It's still very early and I want to see how they fare in a true road environment at West Virginia. The ACC is a good league. I did not think it was a deep league. Virginia Tech could prove me wrong.

@Riddzey32: Do you think G-Town is going to be on top in The Big East?? #HailToPitt

Auerbach: I don't know about the top because there is a pretty good team over there in Louisville, but I do think Georgetown will be one of the better teams in the Big East. The Hoyas were so under the radar all summer/preseason after losing Henry Sims, Jason Clark and Hollis Thompson and after taking one glance at a treacherous non-conference schedule. And lo and behold, Georgetown performed well against all these tough teams. Beating then-No. 13 UCLA and taking No. 1 Indiana into overtime really opened a lot of eyes and proved the Hoyas can hang with anyone because they have an incredibly talented do-anything player in Otto Porter, a future NBA first-round pick, and they also have great length in general. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if this season goes like last season where Georgetown isn't expected to do much, then it goes out, wins some big nonconference games and performs pretty well in Big East play ... earning itself a nice seed in the NCAA tournament.

Prisbell: Nicole has seen Georgetown in person and has been Otto Porter's capable biographer, so she is best to ask about Georgetown's ceiling. More broadly, let's face it, the top of the Big East is a beast. I will get to see a few of those teams the next few days. When at full strength, Louisville remains my pick. Georgetown's loss to Indiana showed me a lot about the Hoyas, in a positive way. Their victories over UCLA and Texas, to me, may have said more about the uneven nature of those two opponents. And I have already blocked out the cringe-worthy Tennessee game, which can only be viewed on a black-and-white television because it set the game back a half-century and caused James Naismith some after-life agita. #yuck!

@nmraider: are the unm lobos pretenders or contenders?

Auerbach: I haven't seen enough of them on TV to answer that question fully, but I like what I've seen so far. The Lobos are 9-0, and Davidson, George Mason, UConn and USC are all solid wins on the resume, though, even if they aren't super flashy. When you're a team like New Mexico, you need to pick up those kinds of (possible) Top-100 RPI wins in the non-conference season so your rèsumè looks good come March. I'll also say one quick thing about college basketball in general: It's kind of down from last year. A team we might have questioned more last season could be a serious contender this year. This could be one of those cases.

Prisbell: Contenders. New Mexico is lurking in the weeds. This is one of my biggest national sleeper teams. The Mountain West race will be highly competitive. The UConn victory was solid and I believe the national ranking is legit. But my litmus test for the Lobos comes around the holidays. In a four-game stretch, they play South Dakota State — would love to be there — at Cincinnati, at Saint Louis and then home to UNLV. If they win three of those four, then this team will need to be taken a lot more seriously. Also, this is a team that shoots nearly 80% from the line, and I'm not sure that will change much even as competition stiffens.

@halfpoint22: What does Purdue have to do from here on out to make the big dance?

Auerbach: It's just the first week of December so we have a looooooong — I repeat, looooooong — ways to go till the NCAA tournament. The Big Ten is supposed to be the toughest league in the country, so it's not going to be easy to pick up wins in conference play for the Boilermakers. But they'll have to. If they can finish in the top 6-7 of the Big Ten, I think they'll be OK. The 8th- and 9th-best teams will likely be bubble teams, so if Purdue finishes that low, I think it'll still have a shot at the NCAA tourney — it'll just be way more nerve-wracking, especially because Purdue lost a lot of winnable non-conference games so far (Villanova, Oregon State, Bucknell and Xavier all could have been won). It's an uphill battle for sure, and it's only going to get harder as Big Ten play gets underway.

Prisbell: I don't root for teams, I root for stories. And I would have loved to have seen Purdue reach the Final Four with Robbie Hummel. Purdue this year finds itself in a tough spot. With four losses this early in the season — and an arduous Big Ten schedule ahead — Purdue does not appear on track for an NCAA tournament bid. That said, when you play a conference schedule as difficult as the Big Ten offers this season, you have opportunities to rack up top-50 quality victories very quickly. For instance, in early January, they play Illinois, Michigan State and Ohio State in consecutive games. Win two of those games, and you have hope. But based on what I have seen so far, I just don't believe Jerry Palm's pride and joy can accomplish that.