College Hoops Today

Serving College Basketball 365 Days a Year

The Breakfast Buffet: AJ Dybantsa, Purdue, Yale/Alabama

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

AJ Dybantsa is putting up “Carmelo Anthony type numbers” as a freshman
That doesn’t mean that BYU is going to win the national title like Syracuse did with Anthony in 2003, but it does encapsulate just how good the 6-9 Dybantsa has been during the first 13 games of his college career. Like Anthony — who averaged 22.2 points and 10.0 rebounds — during his lone season of college basketball at Syracuse, Dybantsa has instantly shined like one of the best players in the sport. He’s currently averaging 23.1 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists while shooting 59.1 percent from the field. The Cougars will begin Big 12 play on Saturday at Kansas State. Tip off is at 1:30 PM ET on CBS.

Purdue has done work in the shadows
It feels like the Boilers have barely been discussed since they got blown out by Iowa State on Dec. 6th at Mackey Arena. It won’t stay that way for long. Purdue has beaten its last three opponents — Minnesota, Marquette, and Auburn — by a combined 76 points and will have a chance to extend its three-game winning streak tonight in West Lafayette against Kent State. Remember: The Boilers — who are 11-1 — returned 86 percent of their scoring from last season’s team that reached the Sweet 16 and was consensus number one team in the sport to start this season.

Yale/Alabama
The last leg of the Crimson Tide’s vicious non-conference schedule features a showdown with one of the best mid-majors in the sport. The Bulldogs are again the favorites in the Ivy League under James Jones and will take an 11-1 record into tonight’s clash in Tuscaloosa. Yale big man Nick Townsend (16.9 points, 7.6 rebounds) is one of the best non-power conference players in the sport. This feels like a 4/13 matchup in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

On The Side

  • Michigan’s Dusty May was last week’s guest on INSIDE COLLEGE BASKETBALL NOW. To watch the full interview, click HERE.
  • Prediction: The team that finishes fifth in the Big 12 regular season standings will wind up playing in the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
  • Vanderbilt has assisted on 60.4 percent of its made field goals entering tonight’s game against New Haven.
  • Cal and Stanford will enter ACC play this week with a combined record of 23-3. It will be interesting to see how teams from the East Coast perform when they visit the Bay Area during conference play over the next few months.
  • Washington’s Wesley Yates (hand) is OUT for Monday night’s game against Utah, Danny Sprinkle told College Hoops Today on Sunday. The 6-4 Yates did not play in the Huskies’ last game and currently averages 14.9 points and 3.9 rebounds.

Daily Specials

  • McNeese at Michigan
  • Kent State at Purdue
  • James Madison at Arkansas
  • Yale at Alabama
  • Utah at Washington

Leftovers