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The Breakfast Buffet: Dana Altman still isn’t getting his due, Quincy Guerrier is a major key against Houston, Lon Kruger

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

Dana Altman still isn’t getting his due
Oregon is not a blue blood program, but this is the fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament where the Ducks have at least advanced to the Sweet 16. A big reason for that is Altman. Very few coaches in the sport can adjust and adapt to their personnel better than Altman on short notice. Three of Oregon’s starters — LJ Figueroa, Eric Williams, and Eugene Omoruyi — were not active members of the Ducks’ program last season. Williams and Omoruyi redshirted a year ago after transferring from Duquesne and Rutgers respectively. Oregon will attempt to advance to its third regional final in its last four NCAA Tournaments this weekend against USC. 

Quincy Guerrier is a major key for Syracuse against Houston
This isn’t a vintage Syracuse team up front in terms of overall size and that could be a major factor against a team that rebounds as well as Houston. That’s also where Guerrier comes into play. The 6-7 forward is Syracuse’s leading rebounder this season (8.5), but has only grabbed 11 rebounds in two NCAA Tournament games. He’ll need to be a major factor on the glass if the Orange are going to have a chance to advance to the Elite Eight. 

Lon Kruger deserves a standing applause
College basketball lost a class act on Thursday, when Kruger announced his retirement. The veteran coach led five different programs — Kansas State, Florida, Illinois, UNLV, and Oklahoma — to the NCAA Tournament during his career. Kruger led the Gators to the Final Four in 1994 and the Sooners to the Final Four in 2016. A coach’s coach, Kruger was as high character a human being as there was in the sport for the duration of his tenure in college basketball. He will be missed. 

Alabama’s big men could cause a problem for Cody Riley
Playing with a center who can stretch the defense is a dangerous weapon to have and the Crimson Tide have two of them in Jordan Bruner and Alex Reese. That could be a problem for a bruiser like Riley, who will likely be dragged away from the basket defensively when one of these two players are on the floor. Bruner and Reese have made a combined 54 three-point shots this season. This is a key matchup to watch in the Sweet 16.

High school recruits are going to be affected by immediate eligibility 
This is where college basketball is headed and there’s no stopping it. One of the effects is less opportunities for kids who are currently in high school. Very few college coaches are going to opt to recruit an incoming high school freshman instead of a proven college player if they have the choice — especially if that high school freshman can transfer after a year and not have to sit out. There’s a lot of high school prospects that are going to miss out on opportunities to play college basketball because of this new rule.

Leftovers: