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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

Iowa is a dangerous team entering the NCAA Tournament
There’s a sentence that I never thought I’d write after the Hawkeyes lost Luka Garza and Joe Wieskamp following last season. Nevertheless, Iowa improved to 24-9 after Friday’s win over Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament and has won seven out of its last eight games. Fran McCaffery’s team has a National Player of the Year candidate in Keegan Murray (23.4 points, 8.6 rebounds) as well as quality depth and incredible offensive firepower. The Hawkeyes have scored 82 or more points in six of their last seven games. Iowa will play Indiana in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament today in Indianapolis. The game can been seen on CBS.

Providence got punched in the mouth
Don’t tell Creighton that this week was supposed to be a coronation for the Friars. The Bluejays ambushed and destroyed Providence 85-58 on Friday night at Madison Square Garden to advance to Saturday’s Big East Tournament title game against Villanova. The rout came just 13 days after the Friars beat Creighton at the Dunkin Donuts Center to clinch their first ever Big East regular season title. Providence (25-5) will enter the NCAA Tournament next week with a fresh reminder of a harsh reality: its next game could be its last if it plays the way it did on Friday.

Auburn’s guard play is again in question
This is going to be the narrative unless the Tigers make the Final Four. Needing a strong showing at the SEC Tournament to secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Auburn was beaten from tip to finish on Friday by a Texas A&M team that’s scratching and clawing just to hear its name called on Selection Sunday. A big reason for the Tigers’ struggles was due to a lack of production from their perimeter nucleus. In the defeat, Auburn’s Zep Jasper. Wendell Green, and K.D. Johnson combined to shoot just 7-34 from the field while tallying just 22 points, four assists, and six turnovers. That type of output isn’t going to be good enough for the Tigers to have a lengthy stay in the NCAA Tournament.

There was a Remy Martin sighting
The Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year has been in and out of Kansas’ lineup over the past few months due to a lingering knee injury, but showed signs of promise in Friday night’s win over TCU. The 6-foot Martin came off the bench to score 10 points to go along with three rebounds and three assists in the Jayhawks’ 13-point win. It was the first time that Martin has scored in double figures since Dec. 18th. This is a storyline to monitor moving forward for the Kansas, who is still very much in play to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Bubble teams will be rooting for Davidson
Three of the four teams remaining in the Atlantic 10 Tournament — Saint Louis, Richmond, and Dayton — are all currently not projected to be in the NCAA Tournament. That means that teams competing for the final few spots in Sunday’s bracket will be rooting for Davidson (26-5) to win the Atlantic 10 Tournament and earn the league’s automatic qualifier. Dayton is the only one of the three other teams in the Atlantic 10 Tournament that is in consideration for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Saturday’s Atlantic 10 Tournament semifinals can be seen on CBS Sports Network.

Leftovers