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The Breakfast Buffet: Arizona sends a message, Wooga Poplar, Michigan is ahead of schedule

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

Arizona sent a message with its win at Duke
Will a team in college basketball have a better win this season than the Wildcats triumph on Friday at Cameron Indoor Stadium? It may be highly unlikely. Arizona’s ability to beat Duke in Durham immediately dispels any questions anyone had about this team’s chemistry after adding three key players — Caleb Love (North Carolina), Jaden Bradley (Alabama), and Keshad Johnson (San Diego State) — via the transfer portal. It also again puts the Wildcats among the nation’s elite under Tommy Lloyd, who is now 63-11 as Arizona’s head coach. Another note: Love has a 3-1 career record against the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Wooga Poplar is oozing star potential
Jim Larranaga would tell anyone that would listen over the summer that Poplar was primed for a breakout season. So far, he’s right. Through two games, the 6-5 wing is averaging 23 points while shooting an astronomical 75 percent from the field and 71.4 percent from three-point range. Is Poplar — like Isaiah Wong was a year ago — on track to be an All-American? It’s definitely trending in that direction early in the season.

Michigan is ahead of schedule
Who saw this coming? The Wolverines lost Hunter Dickinson to Kansas and their other top scorers — Jett Howard and Kobe Bufkin — to the NBA, but have quietly had an impressive first week. Michigan’s wins over UNC Asheville and Youngstown State — two quality mid-major programs — have come by an average of 27.5 points. That margin of victory is even more impressive when you consider that the Wolverines are operating without their head coach as Juwan Howard is still recovering from offseason heart surgery. Michigan will next play St. John’s on Monday night at Madison Square Garden in the Gavitt Games.

On The Side

  • Isaiah Collier (18.5 points, 5.5 assists, three rebounds, two steals) has looked like an All-American out of the gate for USC, but he needs to improve his ball security. The 6-5 freshman has 10 turnovers in the Trojans’ first two games.
  • UConn (1-0) will only play two of its first 13 games — at Kansas (Big East-Big 12 Battle) and a matchup with Gonzaga in Seattle — outside of the Northeast. Dan Hurley’s squad will entertain Stonehill today at the XL Center. Tip off is set for Noon ET.
  • Through two games, Michigan State (1-1) is a combined 2-31 from three-point range. Yikes!
  • Providence (1-0) has an interesting game today at home against Milwaukee (1-0). The Panthers were picked second behind Northern Kentucky in the Horizon League Preseason Poll. This is a good tuneup for the Friars before Tuesday’s matchup with Wisconsin in the Gavitt Games.
  • A word to the wise: Buy stock in Virginia freshman Blake Buchanan. The 6-11 big man scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds off the bench in Friday night’s win over Florida in Charlotte.

Daily Specials

  • Stonehill at UConn
  • North Dakota State at Creighton
  • UNC Wilmington at UNC Asheville
  • FDU at Seton Hall
  • Milwaukee at Providence

Leftovers