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The Breakfast Buffet: Baylor/Gonzaga, Tre Johnson’s debut, Memphis begins its loaded non-conference schedule against Missouri

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

Baylor/Gonzaga
The game of the night in college basketball is at Spokane Arena as the Bears and Bulldogs do battle in a Final Four caliber tilt. Gonzaga returns over 75 percent of its scoring from last season’s team that reached the Sweet 16 while Baylor has several new pieces of note headlined by a pair of impact transfers — Norchad Omier (Miami) and Jeremy Roach (Duke) — and five-star freshman V.J. Edgecombe. This matchup is a rematch of the 2021 national title game, which was won by Baylor in Indianapolis.

Tre Johnson makes his debut for Texas against Ohio State
He’s not getting as much attention as Duke’s Cooper Flagg or Rutgers’ duo of Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, but Johnson is a name that should be mentioned among college basketball’s best freshmen entering the 2024-25 season. The 6-6 shooting guard is a wiry scorer who should have a major impact for Rodney Terry’s team as he looks to gel with three proven college scorers — Jordan Pope (Oregon State), Tramon Mark (Arkansas), and Arthur Kaluma (Creighton) — that the Longhorns added via the transfer portal. Texas has won four NCAA Tournament games in the last two years under Terry. Tip off for this game is at 10 PM ET on TNT.

Memphis begins its loaded non-conference schedule against Missouri
A brutal November awaits Penny Hardaway’s squad, starting with tonight’s game against Missouri at FedExForum. December isn’t easy either. After tonight’s opener against an SEC opponent, Memphis will travel to UNLV before returning home to play a well coached Ohio team on Nov. 15th. Another trip to the West Coast follows, starting with a matchup with San Francisco at the Chase Center prior to three games in the Maui Invitational, which will begin with an opening round tilt against UConn. The Tigers will also travel to both Clemson and Virginia during the non-conference portion of their schedule before returning to Beale Street to host both Mississippi State and Ole Miss in late-December. Yikes!

On The Side

  • Xavier’s Zach Freemantle returns to game action tonight for the first time in 646 days as the Musketeers host Texas Southern at the Cintas Center. The 6-9 Freemantle — who’s missed the past year and a half due to multiple foot injuries — is a bit of a forgotten man in college basketball, but remains one of the Big East’s best players when he’s healthy. In 22 games prior to injury during the 2022-23 season, Freemantle averaged 15.2 points and 8.1 rebounds.
  • Maryland will not have to get on a plane until it travels to Purdue on Dec. 8th. Eight of the Terps’ first nine games will be played in College Park, starting with tonight’s opener against Manhattan.
  • St. John’s begins its second season under Rick Pitino tonight in Queens against Fordham. The Hall-of-Famer boasts a combined winning percentage of 75.2 in his second season at his previous stops — Iona, Louisville, Kentucky, Providence, and Boston University — as a college head coach.
  • The sleeper game of the night in college basketball is in Moraga as CAA favorite Towson visits Saint Mary’s. The Gaels return two double figure scorers — Augustas Marciulionis and Mitchell Saxen — from last season’s team that won 26 games and both the WCC regular season and tournament titles. The 6-4 Marciulionis (12.4 points, 5.3 assists, 3.3 rebounds) is the reigning WCC Player of the Year.
  • Green Bay’s Doug Gottlieb makes his Division 1 head coaching debut tonight in Stillwater against his alma mater Oklahoma State.

Daily Specials

  • Missouri at Memphis
  • Texas A&M at UCF
  • Florida/South Florida (Jacksonville)
  • Texas/Ohio State (Las Vegas)
  • Baylor/Gonzaga (Spokane Arena)

Leftovers