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The Breakfast Buffet: Alabama visits Missouri, Calipari/Pearl, Kansas hits a low point

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 visits Missouri
Florida’s Todd Golden said earlier this week on the College Hoops Today Podcast that the Tigers are the SEC team that nobody’s talking about that could make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Dennis Gates’ squad will get another opportunity to showcase its ability tonight at home against the Crimson Tide. Missouri is currently 19-6 overall and has already won 11 more games than it did during all of last season. Keep a close eye on Tigers guard Caleb Grill, who has scored 15 points in each of his last two games. Missouri is 11-1 this season when Grill scores in double figures.

John Calipari and Bruce Pearl get reacquainted
The 25th all-time meeting between these two coaching rivals happens tonight as Auburn hosts Arkansas. Calipari was won 16 of the previous 24 head-to-head matchups. The Razorbacks are firmly on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament and a win tonight on the road could immediately propel Arkansas into the majority of bracket projections. Pearl and the Tigers are 10-1 at home this season, with their only defeat at Neville Arena coming a few weeks ago against Florida.

Kansas hits a low point
This doesn’t feel like real life. The Jayhawks’ thirty-four point loss on Tuesday night at BYU tied its largest margin of defeat under Bill Self. This came three days after this team lost in Salt Lake City to Utah, who is nowhere near the NCAA Tournament. If it feels like this program has never played this poorly under Self that’s because it hasn’t. Kansas’ fifth-place finish in the Big 12 standings last season was the lowest its ever finish in the conference since Self took over in 2003. Things are worse this year. The Jayhawks would be the seven seed in the Big 12 Tournament if the regular season ended today.

On The Side

  • Duke’s average margin of victory in ACC play is 21.5 points.
  • St. John’s Kadary Richmond is averaging 18.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 7.0 assists, and 2.6 steals in his last five games entering tonight’s matchup with DePaul in Chicago. Don’t rule this guy out in the Big East Player of the Year race.
  • Wisconsin has scored 80 or more points 15 times in a season for the first time since 1970-71.
  • Rutgers is in serious danger of missing the Big Ten Tournament. The Scarlet Knights are currently in 15th place in the Big Ten standings and lead Washington by just a half game. Under new Big Ten rules, only 15 of the league’s 18 teams qualify for the conference tournament.
  • Two hours does not feel like a big enough TV window between college basketball games anymore. Too many tip times slide and too many games are more than two hours long. It will be interesting to see if these windows expand moving forward.

Daily Specials

  • Vanderbilt at Kentucky
  • Arkansas at Auburn
  • Alabama at Missouri
  • St. John’s at DePaul
  • New Mexico at Boise State

Leftovers