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The Breakfast Buffet: St. John’s visits Seton Hall, Cincinnati, Mountain West

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

St. John’s visits Seton Hall
It’s been five years since both of these teams reached the NCAA Tournament, but that’s the current trajectory for the Red Storm and the Pirates in 2024. Seton Hall has been one of the biggest surprises in the country and enters tonight’s game in Newark in sole possession of first place in the Big East. And St. John’s? It’s taken Rick Pitino less than 20 games to make the Red Storm into a team that “nobody wants to play”. St. John’s has lost eight straight games against Seton Hall at the Prudential Center.

Cincinnati is getting a taste of the Big 12
The Bearcats have played well enough to be 3-0 in the best conference in college basketball. Instead, they’re 1-2 after back-to-back losses by a combined four points. Things won’t get any easier over the next 10 days. Cincinnati hosts TCU tonight at Fifth Third Arena and Oklahoma on Saturday before traveling to Kansas next Tuesday. All three of those teams were ranked in the Top 30 of this week’s ROTHSTEIN 45. Wes Miller’s squad enters this evening’s matchup with the Horned Frogs at 12-4.

The Mountain West is performing like one of the best conferences in college basketball
On Monday, the Mountain West had six teams — Colorado State, San Diego State, Utah State, New Mexico, Nevada, and Boise State — ranked in the Top 50 of the NET. Only the Big 12 and the SEC had more while the Big East also had six. How many teams will this league have in the 2024 NCAA Tournament? That’s still TBD. The Mountain West hasn’t had five teams picked on Selection Sunday since 2013, but has had four teams reach the bracket in each of the past two seasons. This is ONLY January.

On The Side

  • Wisconsin now has a two-game lead on both Purdue and Illinois in the Big Ten standings. The Badgers still have to play the Boilers twice and the Illini once in at home. As of today, the Big Ten goes through Madison. Greg Gard’s team will visit Penn State tonight in State College.
  • Bruce Pearl said Monday on the College Hoops Today Podcast that Chad Baker-Mazara is Auburn’s wildcard moving forward. The 6-7 wing has scored 13 or more points in four of his last five games. “He’s like having another point guard on the wing except he’s got great size,” Pearl said of Baker-Mazara, who has also tallied eight steals in his last two games. The Tigers are 16-2 and will next face Vanderbilt on Wednesday in Nashville.
  • Kansas has won four of its last five games at Oklahoma State entering tonight’s tilt in Stillwater.
  • Idaho transfer Isaac Jones has been a revelation for Washington State. The 6-9 big man is averaging 25 points and 12 rebounds in his last two games for the Cougars, who are 12-5 after Saturday’s upset win over Arizona.
  • As of Monday, Dayton was the only team from the Atlantic 10 ranked in the Top 76 of the NET. This conference will only be a multi-bid league on Selection Sunday if someone other than the Flyers wins the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

Daily Specials

  • Purdue at Indiana
  • St. John’s at Seton Hall
  • Kansas at Oklahoma State
  • Baylor at Kansas State
  • Utah State at New Mexico

Leftovers