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The Breakfast Buffet: Joel Soriano, Kentucky, Illinois/Missouri

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

Joel Soriano is playing like an All-American
Add this guy to the list of COVID seniors who are flourishing at a high level. One year after he averaged a double-double (15.2 points, 11.9 rebounds), the 6-11 Soriano has taken his game to another level. Leaner, quicker, and more mobile than he was last season, this sturdy veteran has been the latest player to find his calling under Rick Pitino. Soriano is now averaging career-highs in points (18.0), blocks (2.3), and assists (1.8) along with 10.8 rebounds. He had a career-high six blocked shots in Wednesday night’s win over Xavier. Soriano also had never attempted a single three-point shot in the first four years of his career prior to this season, but is currently a blistering 7-9 from long distance in 2023-24. There’s not many interior players in the sport playing better than this guy.

Kentucky has its best team since 2019-20
Many people don’t remember that team because the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID, but that group of Wildcats finished 25-6 and had a perimeter that consisted of Ashton Hagans, Tyrese Maxey, Immanuel Quickley, and Johnny Juzang before he transferred to UCLA. This is John Calipari’s best team since. Better than the team in 2022 that earned a two seed in the NCAA Tournament before being upset by St. Peter’s? The potential ceiling of this team isn’t comparable to the ceiling of that team. Prior to Kentucky’s blowout win over Louisville on Thursday night at the KFC Yum Center, the Wildcats had six different players — Antonio Reeves, Rob Dillingham, DJ Wagner, Reed Sheppard, Tre Mitchell, and Aaron Bradshaw — averaging in double figures. That doesn’t include five-star freshman Justin Edwards, who was considered to be this team’s best long-term prospect at the beginning of the season. When you talk about the best teams in the country moving forward, be sure to include the Wildcats in the conversation. Kentucky hasn’t been to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2019 — there’s a strong chance that changes in 2024.

Illinois will be tested against Missouri’s pressure
The annual “Braggin’ Rights” game takes place between these two rivals in St. Louis and it should serve as a tremendous test for Brad Underwood’s perimeter. Illinois does not have a traditional point guard in its current rotation and has opted to use 6-6 sophomore Ty Rodgers (5.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists) in a facilitating role in an effort to be bigger, longer, and stronger at all five positions on the floor. We’ll see how that translates against the Tigers’ high-octane defense. 11 players on Missouri’s roster average 7.7 minutes or more and you can bet that Dennis Gates will try and use all of them in a game of this magnitude. Illinois has 120 assists and 128 turnovers this season as a team.

On The Side

  • Kansas’ starting five — Dajuan Harris, Elmarko Jackson, Kevin McCullar, KJ Adams, and Hunter Dickinson — has accounted for 80.6 percent of its points scored this season entering tonight’s game against Yale at Allen Fieldhouse.
  • North Carolina’s RJ Davis has scored 23 or more points in seven consecutive games.
  • Villanova has now won at Creighton and against both North Carolina and Memphis on a neutral court. The Wildcats may have some bad losses, but those three victories are going to hold up very nicely on Selection Sunday.
  • 45.7 percent of Alabama’s field goal attempts this season have been from three-point range.
  • Providence freshman Garwey Dual has 14 assists to just two turnovers in his last two games, but doesn’t have a made field goal during that span. A salute to this young man for not letting his offense dictate the rest of his game!

Daily Specials

  • Georgetown at Marquette
  • Yale at Kansas
  • Illinois/Missouri (Saint Louis)
  • Maryland at UCLA
  • Colorado State at Loyola Marymount

Leftovers