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The Breakfast Buffet: Dajuan Harris, Providence/UConn, Leon Rice

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

Dajuan Harris is playing brilliant basketball for Kansas
Bill Self has had many great player development stories during his Hall-of-Fame career and Harris is next in line. The 6-1 junior is playing at an extremely high level, which has directly coincided with the Jayhawks’ current five-game winning streak. During that span, Harris is averaging 11.6 points, 6.8 assists, four rebounds, and 2.2 steals. Harris also has 26 assists to just two turnovers in his last three games. His progression is a major reason why Kansas is 23-5 and has more Quad 1 wins — 14 — than anyone else in the sport.

Providence/UConn
Let’s get one thing out of the way real quick: Ed Cooley and Dan Hurley have a strong mutual respect, but neither one is asking the other to get together for drinks over the summer in Newport. Let’s get another thing out of the way: These two programs do not like each other. Providence (20-7) won the first meeting between these two teams earlier this season in Rhode Island, but it remains to be seen if the Friars are capable of winning in a road environment like they’ll encounter tonight at Gampel Pavilion. UConn (20-7) has quietly won four of its last five games, with its lone loss during that span coming at Creighton by just three points.

Leon Rice deserves credit for the job he’s doing at Boise State
The Broncos aren’t necessarily viewed as one of the Mountain West’s flagship programs like San Diego State, New Mexico, and UNLV, but they’ve been a model of consistency for a long time. That’s a credit to Rice. After losing three of its top five scorers — Abu Kigab, Emmanuel Akot, and Mladen Armus — from last season’s team that won both the Mountain West regular season and tournament titles, Boise State (21-6) is again in position to reach the NCAA Tournament. The Broncos were projected to reach the bracket in last week’s BRACKET BREAKDOWN and will next host New Mexico (20-7) tonight.

On The Side

  • Duke (20-8) is 12-4 this season in games where Jeremy Roach scores in double figures. As Roach goes, so do the Blue Devils.
  • Over the past two seasons, St. John’s (16-12) is just 5-10 in games decided by five points or fewer. The Red Storm will visit Georgetown (7-21) tonight in Washington D.C.
  • Washington State’s Mouhamed Gueye is quietly on a massive tear. In his last seven games, the 6-11 Gueye is averaging 17 points and 9.7 rebounds.
  • Virginia will play Florida and Virginia Tech will face South Carolina in a doubleheader at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte on November 10th, according to multiple sources.
  • The official start date for the 2023-24 college basketball season will be Monday, November 6th, according to an NCAA official.

Daily Specials

  • Providence at UConn
  • Kentucky at Florida
  • Tulane at Houston
  • Iowa at Wisconsin
  • New Mexico at Boise State

Leftovers