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The Breakfast Buffet: Dan Hurley, Virginia Tech/Duke, Houston hits the road

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

Dan Hurley is the clear frontrunner for National Coach of the Year
The Huskies lost five players — Adama Sanogo, Andre Jackson, Jordan Hawkins, Joey Calcaterra, and Naheim Alleyne — from last season’s team that won the national title in convincing fashion and are still clearly the best team in college basketball. That’s a credit to Hurley, who’s attempting to lead UConn to the Final Four in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history. The Huskies improved to 18-2 after Sunday’s 43-point win against Xavier and will take an eight-game winning streak into Wednesday’s game against Providence at Gampel Pavilion.

Virginia Tech has a major opportunity against Duke
As of Sunday, only three teams from this conference — Duke, North Carolina, and Clemson — were ranked in the Top 45 of the NET. That means there’s going to be a limited number of Quad 1 opportunities for ACC teams moving forward. The Hokies can change that if they beat Duke tonight in Blacksburg. Mike Young’s team already owns wins this season over both Boise State and Iowa State; a victory over the Blue Devils would elevate this entire conference all while putting the Hokies “in position to be in position”. Virginia Tech has won two straight meetings against Duke at home.

Houston hits the road
Kelvin Sampson’s best defensive team ever? We’ll find out this week. After losing at Iowa State and TCU, the Cougars have won four straight thanks to a relentless defense that’s holding opponents to an average of just 54 points during this current streak. Houston will play Texas tonight in Austin and Kansas on Saturday at Allen Fieldhouse. Keep an eye on veteran point guard Jamal Shead, who has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 22:6 and nine steals in his last four games.

On The Side

  • Why could Lance Jones be the difference in whether or not Purdue reaches the Final Four? He doesn’t need to score to have an impact. After averaging 19.3 points in his previous three games, Jones only scored seven in Sunday’s win at Rutgers, but also grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out eight assists, and had five steals.
  • Utah State is on the verge of having three different head coaches — Craig Smith, Ryan Odom, and Danny Sprinkle — take it to the NCAA Tournament in the past four seasons. 
  • Daniel Skillings is separating himself as Cincinnati’s best player. The 6-6 sophomore had 21 points and seven rebounds in Saturday night’s win over UCF and is averaging 15 points and 5.6 rebounds in his last five games. Remember the name.
  • Since losing to UCLA in the Elite Eight of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, Michigan is 44-44.
  • Florida is now 10-1 in games this season where Will Richard scores in double figures and 4-5 when he does not. This is the X-Factor to monitor in Gainesville for the Gators, who are 14-6 and will next face Kentucky on Wednesday night at Rupp Arena.

Daily Specials

  • Virginia Tech at Duke
  • Texas at Houston

Leftovers