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The Breakfast Buffet: Mark Pope, Oklahoma State’s brutal draw, Villanova is quietly in the shadows

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

Mark Pope drew the short straw
This guy has been masterful during his first two years in Provo, accumulating a combined record of 44-14 while also putting BYU in position to be a single digit seed in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments. His reward this year for being a six seed? A first round meeting with the winner of Thursday’s First Four showdown between UCLA and Michigan State. Yikes.

Oklahoma State got a brutal draw
That doesn’t mean that the Cowboys are going to be picked off early in the bracket, but it does mean that they’re going to be tested early in the bracket. Oklahoma State’s first game in the NCAA Tournament is against Liberty, which is the equivalent of going to the dentist. Liberty coach Ritchie McKay worked for Tony Bennett at Virginia before taking his current post and plays a slow and methodical style much like the Cavaliers. If the Cowboys win that game, they’ll face either Tennessee or Oregon State next in a game to get to the Sweet 16. That’s a brutal draw. 

Villanova has been forgotten
It’s not an oversight, it’s an insult. Villanova has quickly gone from high NCAA Tournament seed to the team that everyone is expecting to bow out gracefully in the first round to Winthrop. If only things were that simple.The Wildcats don’t have what they had with Collin Gillespie in the lineup, but they still have enough to win multiple games in the bracket. There’s a lot of teams in this year’s field that would gladly take a starting lineup of Justin Moore, Caleb Daniels, Brandon, Slater, Jermaine Samuels, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. Don’t write this team off just yet.

Darius Days is a big key for LSU against St. Bonaventure
Will Wade’s team is 18-1 this season in games where Days scores in double figures. Can you say X-Factor? The 6-7 big man has massive face up ability and could drag St. Bonaventure big man Osun Osunniyi away from the basket. Days shot 39.7 percent from three-point range this season and made 48 shots from long distance while averaging 11.7 points and 7.9 rebounds. When he’s good, the Tigers are tough to beat.

Drake got a big boost
The Bulldogs finally got some good personnel news on Tuesday. ShanQuan Hemphill — Drake’s leading scorer and rebounder (14.1 points, 6.3 rebounds — who has not played since Feb. 10th due to a foot injury “is on track to play” in Thursday’s First Four game against Wichita State, according to Bulldogs coach Darian DeVries. This is a huge boost for a team that won 25 games, but recently lost its starting point guard Roman Penn for the season due to injury. With Hemphill in the lineup, it will add another element of physicality for this team against the Shockers.