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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

Collin Gillespie’s ball security will be a major key against Kansas
Villanova’s fifth-year point guard has played a total of 281 minutes in the NCAA Tournament during his career. He’s only had eight turnovers during that span. That’s an average of just one turnover every 35.1 minutes. The Wildcats need that type of precision from Gillespie on Saturday if they’re going to beat Kansas and advance to the national title game on Monday night. Villanova — and Gillespie — simply can’t allow Kansas to obtain easy scoring opportunities.

North Carolina has the personnel to “go over the top” of Duke’s defense
Much of that is related to Brady Manek. The transfer from Oklahoma made five three-point shots in early March when the Tar Heels beat Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium and has made 16 three-point shots in four NCAA Tournament games. Manek’s teammate Caleb Love has made 15 three-point shots during the NCAA Tournament while R.J. Davis has made seven. This troika is good enough to “go over the top” of the Blue Devils’ defense on Saturday and open up the rest of the floor.

Duke needs more out of Trevor Keels
The Blue Devils’ broad shouldered freshman is only averaging 6.8 points in four NCAA Tournament games while shooting just 40.7 percent from the field and 20 percent from three-point range. Duke needs more mileage out of Keels. The Blue Devils are 19-2 in games this season where Keels scores in double figures and 6-0 in games where he scores 15 or more points.

Xavier is three moves away from being a Top-20 team to start next season
The to-do list for Sean Miller is simple and straight forward following the Musketeers’ Postseason NIT title run, which was led by interim head coach Jonas Hayes. First, Xavier needs to retain its current roster. Second, it needs to find an impact lead guard to replace Paul Scruggs. Third, the Musketeers need to add another knockdown shooter to fill the void that will be left behind by Nate Johnson’s departure. If those things happen, Miller could have the third-best team in the Big East next season behind Villanova and Creighton.

Roster volatility will be at an all-time high over the next 60 days
Just as I always do, next week I will release my first edition of the ROTHSTEIN 45 in preparation for the 22-23 college basketball season. But unlike in past years, there’s a good chance that those rankings won’t last a day — or maybe even an hour — without some sort of change. This is the way that things have gone in college basketball. With the transfer portal, immediate eligibility, and players being granted an additional year of eligibility due to COVID, everything is in flux. It will stay that way for at least the next 60 days until the NCAA’s early entry withdrawal deadline for the 2022 NBA Draft on June 1st.

Leftovers