College Hoops Today

Serving College Basketball 365 Days a Year

The Breakfast Buffet: Kentucky/Louisville, David Mirkovic, Creighton’s interior defense

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

Kentucky/Louisville
One of college basketball’s premier rivalry games eight days into the season? You better believe it. The annual showdown between the Wildcats and the Cardinals comes a little earlier than normal, but it also adds extra significance because it’s the first legitimate game this season for both of these programs. You don’t learn about your team by blowing teams out; you learn about your team by playing a comparable opponent. Keep a close eye on Louisville freshman point guard Mikel Brown (14.5 points, 7.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds), who’s playing in the first big time game of his college career.

David Mirkovic comes to the forefront
Producing in buy games doesn’t always equate to producing in the guts of Big Ten play, but we’ve seen enough from the 6-9 Mirkovic (18.0 points, 12.5 rebounds) early to know that he’s going to be a major part of Illinois’ operation this season. That sentiment will be reiterated if he can perform at a high level tonight when the Illini host Texas Tech in Champaign. It will be very interesting how Mirkovic and the rest of Illinois’ international imports handle the size and physicality of JT Toppin and the rest of the Red Raiders’ front line without Tomislav Ivisic, who’s out with a knee injury. This feels like a Sweet 16 caliber game.

Creighton’s interior defense is going to be tested against Gonzaga
The Bluejays’ first opponent of the 2025-26 season — South Dakota — regularly attacked the front of the rim last week in Creighton’s opener and that sentiment is only going to be magnified tonight in Spokane. The Bulldogs boast one of the nation’s top power forward/center combinations in the sport with Braden Huff (13.5 points, 7.0 rebounds) and Graham Ike (16.0 points, 11 rebounds), which will further clarify just how far the Bluejays are going to have to come defensively in the post-Ryan Kalkbrenner era. Kudos to both Mark Few and Greg McDermott for agreeing to this home-and-home series, which features two programs — Gonzaga and Creighton — who are always two of the most aesthetically pleasing watches in the sport.

On The Side

  • Duke’s first true road test of the season comes tonight against Army. Join Tom McCarthy, Steve Lappas, and myself for the call. Tip off is at 7 PM ET on CBS Sports Network.
  • The most impressive part of Caleb Wilson’s start to the season for North Carolina? His accuracy on offense. The Tar Heels’ 6-9 freshman is a whopping 17-22 from the field and is averaging 23.5 points and 5.5 rebounds entering tonight’s game in Chapel Hill against Radford.
  • How did Neoklis Avdalas (20.5 points, 7.5 assists, 4.0 rebounds) wind up at Virginia Tech? Check out this excerpt here from Monday’s edition of INSIDE COLLEGE BASKETBALL NOW.
  • Stanford has a gem in freshman point guard Ebuka Okorie. The 6-2 floor general is averaging 27.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 3.0 steals in his first two college games. This was a sensational find by Kyle Smith.
  • Vanderbilt has quietly put up 105 points in each of its first two games. The Dores are once again off the SEC radar, but may very well have the requisites to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season under Mark Byington.  

Daily Specials

  • Michigan/Wake Forest
  • Florida State at Florida
  • Kentucky at Louisville
  • Texas Tech at Illinois
  • Creighton at Gonzaga

Leftovers