College Hoops Today

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The Breakfast Buffet: Alabama’s upcoming schedule, Ed Cooley/Georgetown, Hannes Steinbach

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’s upcoming schedule feels like a gauntlet
Don’t ever accuse Nate Oats of ducking the smoke. Starting with Saturday’s game against St. John’s at MSG, the Crimson Tide are about to begin a vicious five-week stretch loaded with Quad 1 opportunities as well as potential potholes. After Saturday’s game in New York, Alabama will then host Purdue in Tuscaloosa next week before a matchup with Illinois on Nov. 19th at the United Center in Chicago. Three games then follow at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas with Gonzaga and UNLV cemented as the Crimson Tide’s first two opponents before an opponent that’s TBD later in the event. Clemson then visits Alabama on Dec. 3rd as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge before a buy game against UTSA on Dec. 7th and a matchup with Arizona on Dec. 13th in Birmingham. Yikes!

Ed Cooley is gradually building momentum at Georgetown
Cooley’s third season with the Hoyas is a critical one and there’s tangible signs that this program is turning a corner. Georgetown’s win at Kentucky last week in an exhibition game won’t count in the overall standings, but it was a positive reflection of the Hoyas on a major stage. Shortly after the game in Lexington, four-star prospect Alex Costanza — a top-25 recruit in the 2026 class — verbally committed to play for Georgetown. The only thing left for Cooley and the Hoyas to do in the short term is to win enough key non-conference games in November and December to be in a position to play for a berth in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. That quest begins on Friday night in College Park against Maryland. The Hoyas have not earned an at-large bid to March Madness since 2015.

Get to know Hannes Steinbach
Not familiar with Steinbach? That will soon change. In a season where talented freshmen are everywhere, Washington has a real gem doing major work in the Great Northwest. A native of Germany, the 6-11 Steinbach was the Huskies’ best player during the preseason and tallied a whopping 21 points, seven rebounds, and six assists in Washington’s opener earlier this week against Arkansas Pine Bluff. The Huskies resume play tonight in Seattle against Denver.

On The Side

  • St. John’s Ian Jackson quietly had the most ridiculous line of the first week of the 2025-26 season: 15 points in 15 minutes in Monday’s opener against Quinnipiac while shooting a perfect 6-6 from the field and 3-3 from three-point range.
  • Oregon needs Jackson Shelstad (hand) back badly, but the Ducks’ issues could be much more than that. Dana Altman’s squad doesn’t have a proven wing that can score at the power conference level and provide aid in between Shelstad and Nate Bittle (12 points, 14 rebounds versus Hawaii on Monday) up front. Things look sluggish right now in Eugene.
  • Murphy’s Law has hit TCU. The Horned Frogs lost a buy game against New Orleans in their opener on Monday and also lost their starting center — Malick Diallo — to a season-ending knee injury. Brutal!
  • 11 of Saint Louis’ first 14 games will be played at Chaifetz Arena, including tonight’s tilt against Chicago State. The Atlantic 10 needs mileage out of the Billikens, who have not reached the NCAA Tournament since 2019.
  • The sleeper game of the week in college basketball is in Frisco, Texas on Friday as VCU takes on Utah State. Both teams are expected to be near the top of their respective conferences and both teams are searching for a potential Quad 1 win. This is ONLY November.

Daily Specials

  • Jackson State at Louisville
  • Bethune-Cookman at Miami
  • North Florida at Florida
  • Grambling at Iowa State
  • Merrimack at Auburn

Leftovers