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The Breakfast Buffet: Illinois will be a trendy Final Four pick, Jordan Hawkins, San Diego State/Wyoming

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

Illinois is going to be a trendy Final Four pick
Experience? Check. Shooting? Check. A National Player of the Year candidate? The Illini have that as well. All of those things are primary reasons why many people will point their compass towards Illinois when the brackets for the 2022 NCAA Tournament are announced in 13 days. Brad Underwood’s team improved to 20-8 following Sunday’s win at Michigan and is 17-6 with All-American big man Kofi Cockburn in the lineup. Sophomore point guard Andre Curbelo — who was pegged as a preseason All-American — has missed over 60 practices this year due to a lingering concussion issue, but appears to be rounding into form. Curbelo had 12 points, three rebounds, and three assists on Sunday against Michigan. The Illini will close the regular season this week with back-to-back home games in Champaign against Penn State and Iowa. If Illinois wins those two games and performs well in the Big Ten Tournament, it could ultimately wind up as a two or three seed on Selection Sunday.

Jordan Hawkins is the X-Factor for UConn
The Huskies’ star of the future is more than capable of becoming a factor in the present. UConn is 7-0 this season in games where the 6-5 Hawkins scores in double figures, including a 16-point effort in the Huskies’ double overtime win over Auburn at the Battle 4 Atlantis in November. Hawkins didn’t arrive in Storrs with the same expectations or pedigree that James Bouknight did a few years ago, but his long term potential remains extremely promising. If Hawkins can become a consistent double figure scoring threat for UConn over the next month, the Huskies’ ceiling will drastically change moving forward. He had 11 points in Sunday’s win over Georgetown.

San Diego State’s trip to Laramie
The Mountain West Conference’s flagship program travels to a soaring upstart. The irony of tonight’s matchup in Laramie? For years, the Aztecs have always been the team from this conference that’s been in stable position to make the NCAA Tournament in late February and early March. The roles are now reversed as Wyoming (23-5) is safely in the field while San Diego State (18-7) is in solid position, but still needs a few more wins to feel like it’s a lock to hear its name called on Selection Sunday. A win tonight by the Aztecs on the road could cement their place in the bracket.

On The Side

  • Providence (24-3) is set to earn its highest NCAA Tournament seed ever. The Friars — who clinched the Big East regular season title for the first time in program history on Saturday night — have never been higher than a five seed on Selection Sunday.
  • Auburn’s Wendell Green is averaging just nine points while shooting just 21.2 percent from the field and 24 percent from three-point range over his last four games. He has to be significantly better if the Tigers are going to have a chance to reach the Final Four for the second time in the last three NCAA Tournaments.
  • Baylor’s Flo Thamba is making the most out of his extended minutes following Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua’s season-ending knee injury. The veteran big man is averaging 10.8 points and 8.3 rebounds in the four games since his counterpart went out of the lineup.
  • It’s hard to see BYU (21-9) being on the right side of the bubble on Selection Sunday if it doesn’t beat San Francisco (23-8) in the quarterfinals of the WCC Tournament next Saturday in Las Vegas. The Cougars and Dons split two meetings during the regular season. BYU will first meet the winner of Loyola Marymount/Pacific on Friday.
  • Fordham’s Kyle Neptune should be the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year. The Rams have lost their top two scorers — Antonio Daye and Darius Quisenberry — yet have still remained competitive. Fordham is 13-14 entering tonight’s game against UMass in the Bronx.

Daily Specials

  • Northwestern at Iowa
  • Kansas State at Texas Tech
  • Baylor at Texas
  • San Diego State at Wyoming
  • UCLA at Washington

Leftovers