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The Breakfast Buffet: Kentucky’s PG problems, Villanova’s role players, and blue blood trouble

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

Kentucky’s point guard problems do not appear to be going away
Will John Calipari alter things at the most important position on the floor following Sunday night’s 17-point loss at Georgia Tech? Anything and everything is on the table. Kentucky’s two primary point guards — Devin Askew and Davion Mintz — have combined for 19 assists and 20 turnovers in four games this season. As a team, the Wildcats have 47 assists to 73 turnovers. Kentucky is now 1-3 overall and still has games this month on the schedule against Notre Dame, UCLA, and Louisville. Don’t dismiss the idea of Calipari using 6-7 freshman Terrence Clarke at point guard like he did with Tyreke Evans at Memphis during the 08-09 season. Clarke was the Wildcats’ best player in Sunday night’s loss, tallying 22 points in the defeat. 

Villanova’s role players answered the bell against Texas
This team is about much more than its star power. The Wildcats’ 68-64 win over Texas on Sunday in Austin was anchored by Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Justin Moore, and Collin Gillespie, but there’s absolutely no way that Villanova would have won the game without both Cole Swider and Jermaine Samuels. The aforementioned duo combined to score six of the Wildcats’ final 11 points, as Swider made a pair of significant three-point shots in the second half that allowed Villanova to create separation. Samuels meanwhile, didn’t have a great shooting game (2-7), but still finished with eight points, a game-high 12 rebounds, and three assists as he always seemed to be around the ball in critical moments. The Wildcats are 4-1 overall and will next open Big East play on Friday at Georgetown.

College basketball’s blue bloods do not appear to be in vintage form
Could this be the year of the outlier? Without question. With the exception of Villanova, many of the premier programs in college basketball — Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, and Kansas — all appear to have major holes. The Wildcats, Blue Devils, and Tar Heels are all depending on youth in the back court while the Jayhawks have regularly shifted to a five-out lineup due to a lack of reliable post play. And Michigan State? The Spartans were terrific last week in a road win at Duke, but their staff will be the first to tell you that they’re adjusting every day to not having a reliable player at point guard like they had the past few years with Cassius Winston. The door has never been more open for programs like Baylor, Houston, Creighton, Iowa, Illinois, and others to capitalize. 

On The Side

  • The sleeper game of the week in college basketball could be Oklahoma’s trip to Xavier on Wednesday as part of the Big East-Big 12 Battle. The Sooners won their first conference game at TCU while the Musketeers are 6-0 after winning the annual Crosstown Shootout on Sunday at Cincinnati. 
  • Texas needs more offense out of Andrew Jones if the Longhorns are going to contend for a Big 12 regular season title. The veteran guard is just 5-24 from three-point range this season. Texas was 12-3 a year ago in games where Jones reached double-figures.
  • Creighton is getting early mileage out of 7-foot freshman Ryan Kalkbrenner. The first-year man is averaging 10.7 points, four rebounds, and 1.3 blocks in 13.7 minutes. It will be interesting how much Kalkbrenner can contribute when the Bluejays visit Kansas on Tuesday in the Big East-Big 12 Battle.
  • Georgia Tech’s win over Kentucky was the first time in John Calipari’s career where he lost a head-to-head matchup with one of his former assistants. Calipari had previously won 17 straight meetings against former staff members before Josh Pastner got the better of his former boss on Sunday. 
  • Rice is 4-0 for just the third time since 1977 and the Owls have two transfers — Drew Peterson and Trey Murphy — who are playing significant roles for USC and Virginia respectively.

Daily Specials

  • Wofford at Richmond
  • Northern Arizona at Arizona
  • Eastern Washington at Oregon

Leftovers: