College Hoops Today

Serving College Basketball 365 Days a Year

The Breakfast Buffet: Caleb Love returns to Durham, Tennesee/Wisconsin, Ohio State’s backcourt

Who’s hungry for college basketball?

Here’s today’s installment of “The Breakfast Buffet”, a daily column that can be found here every single morning getting you caught up to date on everything that’s happened from the day/night before and everything that’s going to happen in the next 24 hours.

Mangia!

Things To Sample

Caleb Love returns to Cameron Indoor Stadium
This talented guard averaged 19.7 points in three games in Durham during his time at North Carolina. Tonight, he’ll return to Duke as a member of Arizona’s newly recalibrated foundation that put up 122 points earlier in the week against Morgan State. Love was heavily criticized last season as a member of the Tar Heels, but tonight’s matchup with the Blue Devils presents an early opportunity to send a national message. This is a Final Four caliber game in November.

Tennessee/Wisconsin
First to 60 wins? Don’t rule it out of the realm of possibility. Both of these programs made a concerted effort to add more offense during the offseason, but both of their foundations are still built around defense. It will say a lot about Tennessee’s long-term potential if it can score 70 points or more on the road at the Kohl Center. The Vols scored 89 a few weeks ago in a charity exhibition win at Michigan State.

Ohio State’s backcourt steps up a weight class
The Buckeyes’ combination of Bruce Thornton and Roddy Gayle was stellar earlier in the week in a close win against Oakland, combining for 34 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists. The competition level gets raised tonight against Texas A&M’s perimeter combo of Wade Taylor IV (16 points) and Tyrece Radford (nine points), who started on last season’s team that reached the NCAA Tournament. Is Ohio State drastically improved from last year’s 16-19 campaign? We’ll have a better idea after the next 40 minutes.

On The Side

  • UCLA needs Dylan Andrews to play like an all-conference caliber player if it’s going to be one of the top teams in the Pac-12. The sophomore point guard had just four points and three assists in Monday’s opener against St. Francis. The Bruins will host Lafayette tonight in Westwood.
  • Marquette’s Chase Ross will be one of the top sixth men in college basketball this season. The 6-5 sophomore had 12 points and four rebounds in 20 minutes on Monday night against Northern Illinois. Remember the name.
  • BYU is 15-14 in its last 29 games against San Diego State entering tonight’s meeting in Provo. Tonight’s matchup will be the sixth consecutive season that the two former Mountain West rivals have played head-to-head.
  • Only one player who played for Creighton on Tuesday against Florida A&M — 6-10 sophomore Fredrick King — did not attempt a three-point shot.
  • Mississippi State improved its three-point shooting with the additions of JUCO transfer Trey Fort and freshman Josh Hubbard. The duo combined for 27 points in Wednesday night’s win over Arizona State and was a combined 7-14 from three-point range.

Daily Specials

  • Arizona at Duke
  • Texas A&M at Ohio State
  • Tennessee at Wisconsin
  • Florida/Virginia (Charlotte)
  • Yale at Gonzaga

Leftovers