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The Breakfast Buffet: Florida State, Jared Butler, Rutgers-Indiana

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

Florida State is only starting to scratch the surface
Four straight conference wins by an average of 17.8 points is impressive, but this team has a much higher ceiling than it’s currently showing. Why? Scottie Barnes. Florida State’s prized freshman has yet to perform like he’s capable and that’s a good sign for the Seminoles’ long-term potential. Barnes has recently dealt with an ankle injury and has also had to transition to a new position — point guard — after he predominantly played power forward in high school. Barnes had just seven points, seven assists, and four rebounds in 24 minutes in Saturday’s win against Clemson. His progress over the next six weeks will go a long in dictating just how far Florida State can go in March.

Nobody had a better week than Jared Butler
Butler bypassed the NBA and opted to come back to school for weeks like the one he just had. Operating with the focus of a surgeon, Baylor’s star guard averaged 26 points and seven assists in back-to-back wins over Kansas and Oklahoma State. The most impressive thing about Butler during this stretch? His overall efficiency, as he shot a combined 18-27 from the field and 13-16 from three-point range. That’s utterly ridiculous. 

Rutgers needs to be in desperation mode today against Indiana
The Scarlet Knights are straddling a fence. They’re either going to pick up a key road win today in Bloomington or they’re going to drop their sixth straight game and seventh in their last eight. Rutgers — who will drop to .500 today with a loss — needs strong performances defensively inside from both Myles Johnson and Cliff Omoruyi in an effort to keep Indiana’s Trayce Jackson-Davis at bay. The 6-9 Jackson-Davis enters today’s game averaging 20.6 points and 8.8 rebounds while shooting 54.2 percent from the field. 

On The Side

  • Michigan’s decision to pause all activities in its athletic department due to COVID-19 means that the Wolverines’ next four games in men’s basketball are officially postponed. Juwan Howard’s club — as of now — is slated to return to game action on Feb. 11th against Illinois. The Wolverines are currently 13-1 overall and 8-1 in Big Ten play.
  • Justin Ahrens is emerging as a legitimate piece in Ohio State’s rotation. The 6-6 wing is averaging 11 points over the Buckeyes’ last four games and has made 13 three-point shots during that span. Ahrens averaged just 2.9 points last season.
  • Dan Hurley is getting every ounce he can out of UConn, but the Huskies are going to have a hard time winning games in the Big East until they get healthy. UConn’s top three long-term prospects — James Bouknight, Andre Jackson, and Akok Akok — are all out due to injury. 
  • LSU’s defense is offensive. The Tigers gave up an average of 93.5 points in losses this week to Alabama and Kentucky. Regardless of how talented this team is offensively, it can’t be taken seriously at the top of the SEC until it shows some sort of willingness to defend. 
  • It’s going to be awfully tough for Richmond to earn an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament. The Spiders haven’t gotten the mileage that they hoped for out of their road win at Kentucky and have now lost home games to both Hofstra and La Salle. Chris Mooney’s squad is pushing a boulder up a hill.

Daily Specials

  • Rutgers at Indiana
  • Davidson at UMass
  • Western Kentucky at Middle Tennessee
  • Loyola Chicago at Bradley
  • Memphis at East Carolina

Leftovers: