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The Breakfast Buffet: A big day at Welsh Ryan Arena, Nate Oats, TCU

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

A big day at Welsh Ryan Arena
The game of the day in college basketball will take place in Evanston and that’s something that hasn’t been regularly written throughout the history of college basketball. Northwestern (17-7) is probably three wins away from clinching an NCAA Tournament berth for only the second time in program history, but it will be very difficult for the Wildcats to earn a victory today against top-ranked Purdue (23-2). Northwestern’s long suffering fan base had little reason to be excited after Pete Nance transferred to North Carolina and Ryan Young transferred to Duke following last season, but Chris Collins has quietly done as good of a coaching job this year as he’s done in his career. This is appointment TV for the college basketball junkie.

Nate Oats needs to be discussed as a National Coach of the Year candidate
Alabama (22-3) has never been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but that could change four weeks from today. The Crimson Tide now have their best record through 25 games since the 1974-75 season and are now 12-0 in SEC play after Saturday’s win at Auburn. That’s all a credit to Oats, who recently inked a long-term extension with Alabama and is now one of the highest paid coaches in college basketball. It’s time to start putting this guy into the National Coach of the Year discussion. Remember: Four of the Crimson Tide’s starters — Jaden Bradley, Brandon Miller, Noah Clowney, and Mark Sears — were not in Alabama’s program last season.

Do not punt on TCU
That may sound like a crazy thing to say considering the fact that the Horned Frogs have lost four of their last five games, but it’s the absolute truth. TCU (17-8) took Baylor (19-6) — a team that’s won nine of its last 10 games — to the wire on Saturday night in Fort Worth and only lost by four points without two starters in Mike Miles (18.1 points, three assists) and Eddie Lampkin (7.1 points, 6.3 rebounds). How many other teams in college basketball could do that? If fully healthy, the Horned Frogs still have the highest ceiling in the Big 12. Remember: Prior to Miles’ knee injury on Jan. 28th against Mississippi State, TCU was 16-4 and already had double-digit wins against both Kansas and Kansas State on its resume.

On The Side

  • Shereef Mitchell is an unsung presence for Creighton. The 6-1 junior only scored two points in Saturday’s win over UConn, but held Huskies star Jordan Hawkins to just 11 points. Mitchell is a potential defensive stopper to monitor for the Bluejays moving forward.
  • Mike Boynton is doing yeoman’s work at Oklahoma State (15-9). The Cowboys have won five straight games and are currently playing without starting guard Avery Anderson, who is out indefinitely after wrist surgery.
  • If Memphis (18-6) doesn’t win the games that it’s supposed to win down the stretch — starting with today’s game against Temple (14-11) — the American Athletic Conference could be a one-bid league if Houston wins up winning the conference tournament in March.
  • Something that’s not getting enough attention: Iowa (14-9) is trending towards qualifying for seven of the last nine NCAA Tournaments under Fran McCaffery. That’s an impressive run for a “non blue blood” program. The Hawkeyes will visit Minnesota this afternoon.
  • Dayton’s Toumani Camara is playing like someone who believes that he’s the best player in the Atlantic 10. In his last four games, the 6-8 Camara is averaging 21.5 points and 12.8 rebounds. The Flyers have won four of their last five games.

Daily Specials

  • Temple at Memphis
  • Iona at Niagara
  • Iowa at Minnesota
  • Michigan State at Ohio State
  • Purdue at Northwestern

Leftovers