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The Breakfast Buffet: Florida Atlantic’s resume takes a hit, Eddie Lampkin, Tolu Smith gets set to return

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

Florida Atlantic’s resume takes a hit
The Owls now officially own the strangest resume in college basketball. And yes, their resume is stranger than Villanova’s. Seven days after Florida Atlantic beat Arizona in double overtime in Las Vegas, it lost on the road at Florida Gulf Coast. This means that the Owls — who were ranked SEVENTH in last week’s ROTHSTEIN 45 — now have a pair of Quad 4 losses; Florida Atlantic lost earlier this season at home against Bryant. How unexpected was Saturday’s loss to the Eagles? Pat Chambers’ squad entered the game with a 5-9 record and didn’t have its leading scorer — Isaiah Thompson — due to an upper body injury. Despite wins over Arizona, Butler, Texas A&M, and Virginia Tech, Florida Atlantic’s non-conference losses could inhibit its potential ceiling on Selection Sunday.

Eddie Lampkin is playing the best basketball of his career
Leaner, quicker, and more mobile than he was when he was at TCU, the 6-11 Lampkin has solidified the center position for Colorado. Entering today’s game against Washington State, Lampkin has tallied three straight double-doubles, headlined by a 17-point, 12-rebound performance in Friday night’s win against Washington. Colorado has an All-American candidate in KJ Simpson and several pro prospects in guys like Tristan da Silva and five-star freshman Cody Williams, but Lampkin gives them an interior scoring option that they lacked last season. His presence could be a major factor as the Buffaloes aim to keep pace with Arizona atop the Pac-12 standings.

Tolu Smith makes his season debut for Mississippi State
Chris Jans exclusively told College Hoops Today on Saturday that the 6-11 Smith would be available for Sunday’s matchup against Bethune-Cookman after missing the first 12 games of the year with a foot injury. It’s a major boost for the Bulldogs. The presence of Smith — who averaged 15.7 points and 8.5 rebounds on last season’s team that reached the NCAA Tournament — should drastically change things for Mississippi State — who is 10-2 — on both sides of the floor. This is a team to monitor in the top half of the SEC.

On The Side

  • Gonzaga’s remaining road games at Kentucky, San Francisco, and Saint Mary’s will likely be the only remaining Quad 1 opportunities that it has during the regular season. Mark Few’s team is currently 9-4 and does not possess a single Quad 1 win. The Bulldogs have serious work to do if they’re going to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.
  • St. John’s has nothing to gain by sacrificing home games to play at UBS Arena as it did on Saturday against Hofstra. The Red Storm should utilize MSG as much as possible and then play every other home game on their schedule on campus at Carnesecca Arena.
  • South Carolina already has more wins this season — 12 — than it had during all of last year when it finished with 11. Lamont Paris has the Gamecocks — who are 12-1 — “in position to be in position”.
  • Looking for an under-the-radar big man? Try Utah’s Keba Keita. The 6-8 sophomore tallied a double-double — 18 points and 11 rebounds — in Friday’s Pac-12 opener against Washington State and is averaging 10.1 points and 6.9 rebounds entering today’s matchup with Washington in Salt Lake City.
  • Since the 2021-22 season, Stanford is just 9-10 in Pac-12 home games entering today’s matchup with Arizona in Palo Alto.

Daily Specials

  • Washington State at Colorado
  • Arizona at Stanford
  • Bryant at Ole Miss
  • Washington at Utah
  • Arizona State at Cal

Leftovers