College Hoops Today

Serving College Basketball 365 Days a Year

The Breakfast Buffet: Jim Larranaga, San Diego State, Matt Bradley

Here’s today’s installment of “The Breakfast Buffet”, the morning column 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

Jim Larranaga has cemented his place in history
The 73-year old Larranaga was already up for the Naismith Hall-of-Fame prior to this season and Miami’s run to the Final Four should make that honor a formality. Larranaga has now taken two non powerhouse programs — Miami and George Mason — to the Final Four. Regardless of what happens this week in Houston, that’s an incredible accomplishment. The Hurricanes will face UConn on Saturday for the right to play for the national title.

San Diego State has officially gotten over “what could have been” in 2020
Three years ago, the Aztecs were 30-2 before COVID cancelled the NCAA Tournament. Three years later, San Diego State is in the Final Four for the first time ever. Many people — including myself — wondered how the Aztecs would have performed as one of the top seeds in the bracket in 2020, but those feeling of curiosity dissipated after Sunday’s win over Creighton in the Elite Eight. It was Steve Fisher’s dream to get this program to the Final Four. Now his prized pupil — Brian Dutcher — gets to live out that dream this week in Houston.

Matt Bradley doesn’t need to play well for San Diego State to beat quality competition
This is an important storyline to follow heading into this week’s Final Four in Houston. Bradley — the Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year — has averaged just four points and is a combined 3-17 from the field in the Aztecs’ last two games, but that hasn’t inhibited San Diego State’s ability to beat Alabama and Creighton back-to-back. If Bradley can get into a decent rhythm offensively in Houston, the Aztecs would have an even higher ceiling than they showed during this past weekend in Louisville.

On The Side

  • The least talked about aspect of UConn’s dominance over the past few weeks? Donovan Clingan has blocked nine shots in the NCAA Tournament while only playing a total of 50 minutes.
  • San Diego State is the first team from the Mountain West to ever play in a Final Four.
  • Miami’s Jordan Miller is 23-37 from the field in the NCAA Tournament.
  • This is the first Final Four in NCAA Tournament history without a one, two, or three seed.
  • Utah Valley’s Mark Madsen has emerged as a leading candidate for the head coaching vacancy at Cal, multiple sources told College Hoops Today. Madsen — who played on a Final Four team in 1998 at Stanford — has won 48 games in the past two years at Utah Valley.

Leftovers