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The Breakfast Buffet: Villanova/Baylor, Tommy Lloyd, Rutgers/Seton Hall

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

Villanova’s trip to Baylor
Two of the last three national champions will do battle on Sunday in what is the showcase game of this year’s Big East-Big 12 Battle. Both Villanova and Baylor again appear to be teams that are be capable of playing during the first weekend in April and it will be interesting to see what transpires later today in Waco. The Wildcats’ interior defense has been a question all season long and could face a stern test today with the Bears’ frontline of Flo Thamba, Jonathan Tchamwa Tcatchoua and freshmen Kendall Brown and Jeremy Sochan. This is the final game in Villanova’s gauntlet of a non-conference that has already seen the Wildcats trade blows with Tennessee, Purdue, UCLA, and Syracuse. Who needs the NFL?

Tommy Lloyd is an early National Coach of the Year candidate
Many people in college basketball expected Lloyd to be a success in his first season as a head coach, but hardly anyone expected this. Arizona improved to 9-0 following Saturday’s 83-79 over Illinois in Champaign and looked every bit the part of a team that could play deep into the NCAA Tournament. Lloyd has brought the same offensive principles that he conveyed for two decades as the top assistant at Gonzaga to Tucson. It’s working. The Wildcats have scored 90 or more points in five of their first nine games and entered Saturday’s game leading the nation in assists. It’s still very early in the college basketball calendar, but Lloyd is clearly doing as good of a coaching job as anybody in the sport.

Rutgers aims to continue its momentum against Seton Hall
Ron Harper Jr’s half court buzzer beater on Thursday night against Purdue gave Rutgers’ fans a memory that they’ll cherish for a lifetime. It also gave the Scarlet Knights a chance to get their season back on track. If Rutgers can beat in-state rival Seton Hall tonight at the Prudential Center in Newark, it will have a second quality win on its resume. These are the types of things that are going to have to happen if this team is going to dig itself out of an early hole that included losses to both UMass and Lafayette. Steve Pikiell’s squad enters tonight’s game at just 5-4, but still has 18 opportunities on its schedule against Big Ten teams following tonight’s matchup with the Pirates. This team still has an opportunity to salvage its season.

On The Side

  • Northeastern transfer Tyson Walker is starting to blossom for Michigan State. The veteran point guard has tallied 28 assists in during the Spartans’ current four-game winning streak. Tom Izzo’s team is 9-2 overall and will next face Oakland next Saturday.
  • The Big East has gotten unexpected mileage out of Providence, Marquette, and DePaul, who beat Louisville on Friday night at the KFC Yum Center. Could seven teams from this conference make the NCAA Tournament in March?
  • If Memphis loses it next two games to Alabama and Tennessee, it will need to beat Alabama State on Dec. 21st to enter league play in the American Athletic Conference with a .500 overall record.
  • Six of LSU’s first nine opponents have scored 60 points or less, including Georgia Tech who only scored 53 on Saturday in Atlanta. The Tigers are 9-0 overall.
  • Georgetown has a star in freshman wing Aminu Mohammed. A five-star prospect in high school, the 6-5 Mohammed had 23 points, 13 rebounds, and five assists in Saturday’s win over Syracuse.

Daily Specials

  • Florida State/South Carolina
  • Purdue/NC State (Barclays Center)
  • Villanova at Baylor
  • Maryland/Florida (Barclays Center)
  • Rutgers at Seton Hall

Leftovers