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The Breakfast Buffet: March Madness Edition

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

Oscar Cluff is the X-Factor for Purdue
The Boilers are 16-3 this season when their burly big man scores in double figures and he’s clearly playing his best basketball at the most important time of the year. The 6-11 Cluff averaged 17.3 points and 9.5 rebounds last week in four games in the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago and his production may ultimately determine just how far Purdue will advance over the next few weeks. Matt Painter’s squad will officially begin March Madness tonight against Queens in St. Louis. Join Spero Dedes, Jim Spanarkel, and myself for the call at 7:35 PM ET on TRUTV.

The Atlantic 10 had a big Thursday
This conference will have two of the final 32 remaining teams in the NCAA Tournament as both VCU and Saint Louis advanced in the Round of 64 with a pair of wins over North Carolina and Georgia respectively. It’s been harder and harder for this league to get quality volume in March Madness over the past few seasons, but it was obvious all season long that the top of the Atlantic 10 had some excellent teams. That was reiterated on Thursday with a pair of signature victories. VCU will next face Illinois on Saturday while Saint Louis will square off with Michigan.

Cinderella isn’t dead
Remember when people said we would never again see upsets in the NCAA Tournament? Two days into March Madness, we’ve already seen two mid-major programs — Miami University and High Point — knock off power conference teams on a neutral court. Another — Siena — took Duke to the wire as a 16 seed. That doesn’t include the wins mentioned above by both VCU and Saint Louis. Cinderella definitely isn’t dead — not by a long shot.

On The Side

  • Rick Pitino is 19-5 in first round NCAA Tournament games entering St. John’s tilt today in San Diego against Northern Iowa.
  • Chase Johnston’s game-winning layup with 11 seconds left in High Point’s win over Wisconsin on Thursday was his first two-point field goal of the entire season. Anarchy? Nope. Just college basketball.
  • Villanova’s Round of 64 matchup today against Utah State is its first NCAA Tournament game since it lost to Kansas in the 2022 Final Four.
  • UConn needs Braylon Mullins back on track. The 6-6 freshman is just 5-30 from three-point range in his last five games entering today’s first round game against Furman in Philadelphia.
  • Hofstra will make its first appearance in March Madness since 2001 when it faces Alabama later today in Tampa.

Leftovers