College Hoops Today

Serving College Basketball 365 Days a Year

The Breakfast Buffet: Parity, Terrence Shannon Jr., Creighton visits Pinnacle Bank Arena

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

Parity is again dominating college basketball
So you thought that we were going to have a few dominant teams separate themselves from the rest of pack this season? Forget about it! In a 24-hour span between Friday and Saturday, five teams — Purdue, UConn, Marquette, Duke, and Kentucky — that were ranked in the Top 12 of last week’s ROTHSTEIN 45 lost games. This is becoming a recurring theme in college basketball due to the massive roster turnover that now occurs with the transfer portal. Last season’s Final Four did not feature a single one or two seed. Don’t be shocked if the same thing happens in 2024.

Terrence Shannon Jr. is playing like the best wing in the sport
The 6-6 Shannon is a prime example of another COVID senior that’s thriving in his fifth season of college basketball. Shannon had 23 points and 10 rebounds in Illinois’ 76-58 win at Rutgers on Saturday and has played exceptionally efficient basketball over the past couple of weeks. In the Illini’s last five games, Shannon is averaging 21.8 points while shooting 53 percent from the field and 48.9 percent from three-point range. Those are first-team All-American type numbers.

Creighton visits Pinnacle Bank Arena
This is not hyperbole: Today’s game between the Bluejays and Nebraska is the biggest game of the Fred Hoiberg era. And it isn’t close. The Huskers played terrific basketball to end last season and that level of play has carried over. Nebraska will take a 7-0 record into today’s matchup with Creighton, who is coming off a 14-point at Oklahoma State on Thursday. The Bluejays are averaging 12 made three-point shots and are prolific offensively. A win today would officially put the Huskers in the discussion as a potential NCAA Tournament team in 2024.

On The Side

  • Villanova was a combined 15-64 from three-point range in back-to-back losses this week to St. Joe’s and Drexel — that’s only 23 percent.
  • Syracuse is 3-13 against Virginia since joining the ACC in 2013.
  • Kel’el Ware is starting to come into his own for Indiana. The 7-footer is averaging 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in his last two games. A transfer from Oregon, Ware averaged just 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds last season with the Ducks.
  • Lamont Paris has South Carolina off to a 7-0 start in his second year in Columbia. The Gamecocks haven’t truly helped or hurt themselves yet, but they deserve tremendous credit for winning all of the games on their schedule. We’ll know a lot more about this team after it visits Clemson on Wednesday.
  • Saint Mary’s game at Colorado State on Dec. 9th is the last remaining Quad 1 opportunity for the Gaels during their non-conference schedule. Randy Bennett’s squad fell to 3-5 after Friday night’s loss to Boise State.

Daily Specials

  • Auburn at Appalachian State
  • Clemson at Pitt
  • Louisville at Virginia Tech
  • Creighton at Nebraska
  • Minnesota at Ohio State

Leftovers