College Hoops Today

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The Breakfast Buffet: Alabama/Purdue, Wisconsin attempts to move the needle against Arizona, Chase Ross

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

Alabama/Purdue
Two of the four teams that were a part of last season’s Final Four do battle in the first installment of a home-and-home series at Mackey Arena. This will be the first true road game of the season for the Crimson Tide, who are about to embark on a vicious stretch of games which includes neutral site matchups with Illinois (Birmingham), Houston (Las Vegas), and Rutgers (Las Vegas) as well as a trip to North Carolina (ACC/SEC Challenge) and a home game against Creighton. The Boilers’ three returning starters from last season’s team that lost to UConn in the national title game — Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, and Trey Kaufman-Renn — are combining to average 55.9 percent of their scoring during their first three games. This is the game of the night in college hoops.

Wisconsin attempts to move the needle against Arizona
Are the Badgers still going to be a threat to finish at the top of the Big Ten this season after losing both Chucky Hepburn (Louisville) and AJ Storr (Kansas) to the transfer portal? We’ll have a better idea after the next 40 minutes. Greg Gard is still very optimistic about his team despite losing two All-Big Ten caliber players during the offseason, but is Wisconsin good enough to hang with a team like Arizona? The Wildcats’ perimeter of Jaden Bradley, Caleb Love, and KJ Lewis is one of the best in the sport and play incredibly fast as Arizona is averaging 97.5 points in its first two games. The pace of this game will be a major factor in determining the winner. This is a quality litmus test for both teams.

Chase Ross is taking a major step forward for Marquette
If you’ve read this column before, you know that I always take statistics from buy games with a grain of salt, but Ross’ early evolution this season has been a long time coming. Over the last three years, the Golden Eagles are now 27-1 in games where Ross scores eight or more points. He looks like he’s now on his way to becoming this team’s third scoring option behind Kam Jones (22.7 points) and David Joplin (15.3 points). Entering tonight’s game against Maryland in College Park, the 6-5 Ross is averaging 15.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 3.3 steals. This kid looks like a potential All-Big East player.

On The Side

  • UConn needs significantly more out of Saint Mary’s transfer Aidan Mahaney if it’s going to have a chance to win a third straight national title. Through three games, the 6-3 Mahaney is averaging 4.3 points and 2.7 assists while shooting just 22 percent from three-point range. He averaged 13.9 points in each of the first two years of his college career.
  • Five of Kentucky’s six leading scorers — Koby Brea, Andrew Carr, Amari Williams, Lamont Butler, and Jaxson Robinson — are in their fifth season of college basketball.
  • Three of Duke’s next five games will be against opponents — Arizona, Kansas, and Auburn — who were ranked in the Top 10 of this week’s AP Top 25.
  • Syracuse has won its first two games against Le Moyne and Colgate by a combined six points.
  • Santa Clara’s hopes of putting together an at-large resume for the 2025 NCAA Tournament took a major hit on Wednesday when the Broncos lost in overtime at home to North Dakota State. Herb Sendek’s team still has non-conference opportunities remaining at Nevada and McNeese along with a home game against Stanford and a neutral site tilt against TCU in Palm Springs.

Daily Specials

  • Florida at Florida State
  • Alabama at Purdue
  • Marquette at Maryland
  • Arizona at Wisconsin
  • Ohio State at Texas A&M

Leftovers