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The Breakfast Buffet: Duke takes a trip to Charlottesville, Jaden Bradley, RJ Luis

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

Duke takes a trip to Charlottesville
All eyes are on the Blue Devils’ game on Saturday at MSG against Illinois, but first Jon Scheyer’s squad will play Virginia tonight on the road. Only one of Duke’s last 15 opponents — Clemson — is a lock to play in the NCAA Tournament, which makes it tough to truly get an accurate gauge on just how good the Blue Devils actually are compared to some of the other top teams in the country. Duke’s average margin of victory in its last five ACC wins is 22.6 points. A similar type of result is expected tonight against the Cavaliers.

Arizona needs Jaden Bradley back on track
The Wildcats’ veteran point guard was a major part of their mid-season turnaround, but he wasn’t himself during a pair of losses last week against Kansas State and Houston. During that span, the 6-3 Bradley averaged just 8.5 points while shooting 5-17 from the field and 0-5 from three-point range with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 8:7. In the three games prior, he averaged 15.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists while shooting 53.8 percent from the field. Arizona can’t be near its apex without Bradley operating at a high level. The Wildcats will look to snap their two-game losing streak tonight in Waco against Baylor. 

RJ Luis is in the pole position to win Big East Player of the Year
The best player on the best team doesn’t always win this award and Luis may not even be the best player on St. John’s, but he’s right there with guys like Marquette’s Kam Jones, Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, and his teammate Kadary Richmond to win Big East Player of the Year honors. The 6-7 wing was relentless in Sunday’s win over Creighton at MSG and finished with 23 points, 14 rebounds, and five assists in the 79-73 victory. Remember: Luis couldn’t practice last season due to a shin injury and now with renewed health, has emerged into one of the top players in the conference and truly, one of the top players in the country. The Red Storm currently have a two-game lead in the Big East standings and have not won an outright conference regular season title since 1984-85.

On The Side

  • Houston’s road winning streak is now at 11, which is the longest road winning streak in college basketball.
  • UConn is averaging 17.3 turnovers in its last four games and had 16 in Saturday’s loss at Seton Hall.
  • The SEC’s quest to get 13 or 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament may be fading. Recent slides at places like Georgia and Oklahoma have lowered the league’s ceiling. Remember: There’s still 27 days until Selection Sunday.
  • NC State is trending towards missing the ACC Tournament one year after it advanced to the Final Four for the first time since 1983 and won the ACC Tournament for the first time since 1987. Under new rules, the bottom three teams in the ACC regular season standings do not qualify for the ACC Tournament.
  • James Jones is on the verge of leading Yale to at least a share of the Ivy League regular season title for the fourth time in the last six seasons that this conference has played college basketball (the Ivy League didn’t play during the 2020-21 season due to COVID). The Bulldogs have also gone to three NCAA Tournaments during that span and won a game in the bracket last March against Auburn. How does this guy not have a bigger job?

Daily Specials

  • Duke at Virginia
  • Kansas State at Utah
  • Arizona at Baylor

Leftovers