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The Breakfast Buffet: Nick Smith Jr., Indiana, a big week for Rodney Terry

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

Nick Smith Jr. is hitting his stride for Arkansas
That’s bad news for the rest of the Razorbacks’ opponents, starting with Tennessee (21-8) tonight in Knoxville. The 6-5 Smith — who has only played 10 games this season due to a knee injury — is averaging 20 points over his last three games and seems primed to give Arkansas (19-10) the type of threat that it envisioned when it signed him as a five-star prospect. With Smith playing at a high level, the ceiling for this team completely changes entering March. Remember: Eric Musselman has led this program to back-to-back appearances in the Elite Eight and took Nevada to the Sweet 16 in 2018 before taking his current post. He’s a proven coach in the NCAA Tournament and now has a talent like Smith playing his best when things matter most.

Indiana is emerging
Are the Hoosiers the Big Ten’s best bet to play deep into March? It’s starting to look like it. Following a regular season sweep of Purdue for the first time since the 2012-13 season, Indiana (20-9) is trending upward entering tonight’s game against Iowa (18-11) in Bloomington. The Hoosiers have a first-team All-American in Trayce Jackson-Davis (20.1 points, 11.8 rebounds, 2.8 blocks), a burgeoning star in freshman Jalen Hood-Schifino (13.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists), and a seasoned supporting cast. Six of this team’s top seven scorers played in two NCAA Tournament games a year ago. This program has not been to a Final Four since 2002.

A big week for Rodney Terry
Texas is 15-6 since Terry took over as the Longhorns’ interim head coach in late December, but this story is far from being fully written. Texas will visit TCU on Wednesday and then close the regular season in Austin on Saturday against Kansas. If the Longhorns win both games, they’ll win at least a share of the Big 12 regular season title. That’s simply incredible considering the circumstances that this program has dealt with in the past few months. Regardless of whether or not Terry becomes Texas’ permanent head coach, he’s proven that he has the temperament, leadership skills, and coaching acumen to be a head coach at the highest level somewhere next season.

On The Side

  • Jerome Tang said on this week’s edition of the College Hoops Today Podcast that Nae’Qwan Tomlin is a major key for Kansas State (22-7). “He’s definitely the X-Factor,” Tang said of the 6-10 Tomlin, who averages 10 points and 5.9 rebounds. “If he can stay out of foul trouble, he can be a real difference maker for us.”
  • UCLA (25-4) is 70-3 under Mick Cronin in games where it holds the opponent to 65 points or fewer.
  • Marquette’s Kam Jones averages 7.6 attempts from three-point range. The good thing? He’s shooting 37.1 percent from long distance.
  • Two bubble teams to monitor closely this week? Michigan (17-12) and Arizona State (20-9). The Wolverines have road games at Illinois and Indiana while the Sun Devils have road games at UCLA and USC. All of those games are Quad 1 opportunities.
  • Iona (22-7) now has a three-game lead in the MAAC after Sunday’s 33-point win over Siena. Anything can happen in a mid-major conference tournament, but a three or four seed in the NCAA Tournament may very well be a few weeks away from staring at Rick Pitino in the Round of 64.

Daily Specials

  • Clemson at Virginia
  • Iowa at Indiana
  • Texas Tech at Kansas
  • Arkansas at Tennessee
  • San Diego State at Boise State

Leftovers