College Hoops Today

Serving College Basketball 365 Days a Year

The Breakfast Buffet: Armageddon at the Cintas Center, Arizona/Arizona State, there’s too many games in today’s Noon ET window

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

Armageddon at the Cintas Center
It’s officially the last day of December in 2022, but it might as well be March of 2023 on Xavier’s campus. The Musketeers are again cementing themselves nationally under Sean Miller and will get a chance to move the needle today at the Cintas Center when they host UConn (14-0). Xavier enters today’s game averaging 83.9 points and running incredible offense, but that doesn’t mean that they’re going to be tough enough to be the first team to beat the Huskies this season. UConn’s size, length, and physicality has been on a different level through its first 14 games and the one thing that the Musketeers have repeatedly lacked despite their 11-3 start is a consistent edge and desire to outwill their opponent. This is the game of the day in college basketball.

Arizona/Arizona State
The Sun Devils haven’t played since they lost by 37 at San Francisco on Dec. 21st, but they’ve got a chance to bounce back in a major way today against Arizona (12-1) in Tempe. Can Arizona State (11-2) pull the upset against its in-state rival? It all depends on how it handles the Wildcats’ power forward/center combo of Azuloas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo, who’s averaging a combined 37.9 points and 17.8 rebounds entering today’s game. Bobby Hurley needs a big game defensively out of Warren Washington (eight points, 7.1 rebounds) up front.

There’s too many college basketball games in today’s Noon ET window
I get that it’s New Year’s Eve and there’s a plethora of key college football games on television. I also get that television deals pay the bills for many of these conferences. But I still don’t understand how it benefits college basketball as a whole to have six teams who were ranked in last week’s AP Top 25 — UConn, Xavier, Virginia, Kentucky, TCU, and Duke — in action today between Noon and 2 PM ET. This doesn’t include a pair of Big East (St. John’s-Seton Hall) and ACC (Virginia Tech-Wake Forest) conference games that’s also being played at this time. West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said years ago that it was a disservice to college basketball to put so many games on against each other at the same time — he was right. I get that networks need programming. I get that there’s a lot to juggle when you combine New Year’s Eve with key games in college football. I also get that it would be better for college basketball for more marquee games to be truly showcased.

On The Side

  • John Calipari is 11-3 against Louisville since becoming Kentucky’s head coach in 2009. The two rivals will meet again today at Rupp Arena. Tip off is at Noon ET on CBS.
  • Houston (13-1) has a gem in freshman Emmanuel Sharp. The 6-3 guard has scored nine or points in four of his last five games and is averaging 12.8 points during that span. The Cougars will host UCF (10-3) later today at the Fertitta Center.
  • Pitt is 3-0 in ACC play for the first time since the 2015-16 season, which was Jamie Dixon’s last year with the Panthers prior to leaving for TCU.
  • Michigan State is 4-1 this season with Malik Hall in the lineup and 5-3 when he is not. The Spartans’ lone loss with Hall in the lineup? A one-point defeat against Gonzaga early in the season.
  • Providence has quietly won six games in a row since losing at TCU on Nov. 30th. The Friars are 11-3 entering Sunday’s game against DePaul in Chicago.

Daily Specials

  • UConn at Xavier
  • Oklahoma State at Kansas
  • Arizona at Arizona State
  • Texas at Oklahoma
  • Baylor at Iowa State

Leftovers