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The Breakfast Buffet: Michigan State, Colorado State, Iowa/Illinois

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

Michigan State’s potential road to the NCAA Tournament will be bumpy
The Spartans have their work cut for themselves. Thursday night’s 30-point loss at Rutgers after a 20-day layoff due to COVID-19 was a punch in the mouth, but so is the rest of Michigan State’s schedule. Between now and Selection Sunday, Tom Izzo’s team still has to play Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio State twice with additional road trips looming at both Purdue and Maryland. For a team that’s now 8-5 overall and 2-5 in Big Ten play, that’s one arduous slate to navigate if it wants to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. 

Colorado State goes for a sweep
I never thought that I’d be writing about Colorado State (12-3) as one of the main points of this daily column, but I also never thought that four teams from the Mountain West Conference would have a chance to play in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The Rams, San Diego State, Utah State, and Boise State have all put themselves in position to be in position to earn an at-large bid on Selection Sunday, with Niko Medved’s squad as the most surprising member of that quartet. Colorado State does not have a senior in its rotation and owns individual wins over all of the teams listed above. The Rams will go for a sweep of Boise State tonight in Fort Collins and if they get it, they could start receiving votes in next week’s AP Top 25. 

The long awaited matchup between Iowa and Illinois
If we learned anything from last season, it’s that these two teams don’t like one another. That alone would make tonight’s matchup in Champaign juicy. The battle in the middle between Iowa’s Luka Garza and Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn makes it juicier. This game has a legitimate chance to be the best of the weekend.

On The Side

  • The NCAA Selection Committee is expected to address the topic of teams “opting out” of their respective conference tournaments in the next 7-10 days, according to a source close to the situation. This is a major storyline to monitor as the integrity of the bracket remains a massive priority.
  • We’ll know a lot more about North Carolina after the next few weeks as three of the Tar Heels’ next five games are on the road at Clemson, Duke, and Virginia. Roy Williams’ squad has won six of its last seven.
  • Wisconsin is 17-1 over the past two seasons in games where its opponents score 60 points or less. The one defeat came without Micah Potter in the lineup. 
  • Saint Louis’ first week back from a lengthy pause due to COVID-19 continues to be trial by fire. After losing to Dayton at home on Tuesday in its first game in over a month, the Billikens will visit Richmond tonight. So much for a grace period!
  • Houston has a major weapon in reserve in Idaho transfer Cameron Tyson. The 6-2 guard came off the bench to score 31 points in Thursday night’s win at Tulane and made nine shots from long distance. Tyson made 105 three-point shots two years ago at Idaho. 

Daily Specials

  • UNC Asheville at Iowa
  • Saint Louis at Richmond
  • Iowa at Illinois
  • New Mexico State at Grand Canyon
  • Boise State at Colorado State

Leftovers: