College Hoops Today

Serving College Basketball 365 Days a Year

The Breakfast Buffet: Cooper Flagg, the Big East, Penn State takes aim at relevance

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

Cooper Flagg is saving his best for Duke’s big games
And that’s a trend that fans of the Blue Devils hope will translate in March. Duke’s blue chip freshman had 22 points, 11 rebounds, three steals, and two blocks in Wednesday’s 82-78 win over Auburn at Cameron Indoor Stadium and regularly reiterated why he possesses the highest long-term ceiling out of any player in college basketball. That type of production level against top tier competition has been a common theme for the 6-9 Flagg. In games this season against Auburn, Kansas, Arizona, and Kentucky, Flagg is averaging 21.3 points and 8.2 rebounds. He’s been as good as advertised through one month of the 2024-25 college basketball season.

The Big East is bouncing back
Rumors of this league’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Following a bleak first month of the season, the Big East responded in a major way over the past 48 hours as it picked up several key wins in the Big East-Big 12 Battle. During that time, four Big East programs — UConn, Creighton, Providence, and Villanova — earned key victories over four Big 12 programs — Baylor, Kansas, BYU, and Cincinnati — who are projected to play in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The Big East will also have more opportunities in the next few days against the Big 12 as well. This league is in a much better place now compared to where it was at the start of the week.

Penn State takes aim at relevance
Mike Rhoades felt before the season that his team — which returned 58.9 percent of its scoring from a year ago — was being undervalued in the Big Ten landscape. We’ll have a better idea if that sentiment is true after the Nittany Lions host Purdue tonight at the Bryce Jordan Center The Boilers remain on their perch as the Big Ten’s flagship program under Matt Painter while Penn State is still a mystery. Despite a 7-1 record out of the gate, the Nittany Lions’ best win thus far is a neutral site win over Virginia Tech, who was ranked 216th in the NET as of Thursday. Penn State’s lone loss came against Clemson in the title game of the Sunshine Slam. Keep an eye on Northern Illinois transfer Yanic Konan Niederhauser (14.3 points, 6.5 rebounds) in the pivot, who’s coming off a 27-point performance in the Nittany Lions’ win on Sunday over Buffalo.

On The Side

  • It feels like this is said almost every season, but Rick Barnes is again doing one of his best coaching jobs. Tennessee’s average margin of victory during its 8-0 start is 26.8 points and the Vols are holding their opponents to an average of 56.6 points. Barnes is on track to take this program to its seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament in 2025.
  • Is it time to order a Code Red on North Carolina? Quite possibly. The Tar Heels fell to 4-4 after Wednesday night’s loss to Alabama and have shown minimal defensive resistance and even less rim protection. In four games this season against power conference competition, North Carolina is allowing an average 91.3 points. And its best win — which came against Dayton — required a 21-point comeback.
  • Michigan’s power forward/center combo of Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin is averaging 41 points and 15.5 rebounds in the Wolverines’ last two games, which have been wins over both Xavier and Wisconsin.
  • The SEC went 14-2 in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
  • Xavier will play its first true road game of the season tonight against TCU in Fort Worth. Three of the Musketeers’ next four games are away from the Cintas Center, including back-to-back tilts at Cincinnati (Dec. 14th) and UConn (Dec. 18th). Sean Miller’s squad is currently 7-1.

Daily Specials

  • Purdue at Penn State
  • Xavier at TCU
  • Saint Louis at San Francisco

Leftovers