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The Breakfast Buffet: Louisville, Luka Bogavac, Brad Underwood has brought “Bo Ryan type consistency” to Illinois

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

Louisville looks the part
A 96-point performance against a program like Kentucky? A pair of guards — Mikel Brown and Ryan Conwell — that combined for 53 of those 96 points? That’s the requisites of a team that’s ready to return to national prominence. The Cards’ offensive outburst on Tuesday night against their in-state rival at the KFC Yum Center was a national statement. Pat Kelsey changed Louisville’s culture and perception last season when he led the Cardinals to 27 wins and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. More is on the table this year. Louisville looks primed to challenge Duke for an ACC regular season title and seek a trip to the second weekend of March Madness for the first time since 2015.

Luka Bogavac emerges for North Carolina
With Seth Trimble out indefinitely for the Tar Heels due to an arm injury, the Tar Heels need someone else to step up on the perimeter. Bogavac is that guy. The 6-6 wing scored 19 points, handed out five assists, and had zero turnovers in North Carolina’s win over Radford on Tuesday night in Chapel Hill. This is the guy that’s primed to have a bigger piece of the pie for Hubert Davis’ team until Trimble returns to the lineup.

Brad Underwood has brought “Bo Ryan type consistency” to Illinois
And that’s the highest compliment that you can give to a head coach in the Big Ten. Like Ryan at Wisconsin and Matt Painter at Purdue, Underwood has brought an elite level of consistency over the last half decade in Champaign. Since the 2020-21 season, the Illini have been a single digit seed in five straight NCAA Tournaments and finished second or better in the Big Ten regular season standings three times during that span. Tuesday night’s 81-77 win over Texas Tech is just another sign that personnel can change for Underwood on a yearly basis, but this program is going to be a national factor as long he’s the head coach at Illinois.

On The Side

  • Indiana’s next five games are all at Assembly Hall, starting with tonight’s tilt against Milwaukee in Bloomington. If the Hoosiers hold serve at home, they’ll be 7-0 entering their Big Ten opener on Dec. 3rd at Minnesota. The game to keep an eye on during this stretch? A date with Kansas State on Nov. 25th.
  • NC State’s top four scorers — Paul McNeil, Quadir Copeland, Darrion Williams, and Tre Holloman — are all shooting 46.7 percent or better from three-point range entering tonight’s game against UNC Greensboro in Raleigh. The Wolfpack are 2-0 in Year One under Will Wade.
  • Looking for an off-the-radar power conference team that could make the NCAA Tournament? Try Oklahoma State. The Cowboys were picked 12th in the Big 12 Preseason Poll and they definitely won’t finish there. Steve Lutz’ team is 2-0 and will host Prairie View A&M tonight in Stillwater.
  • Villanova found a gem in James Madison transfer Bryce Lindsay, who’s averaging 24.7 points in his first three games. Remember the name.
  • Yale has won back-to-back road games against the Patriot League favorite — Navy —- and the MAAC favorite — Quinnipiac — by an average of 33 points. How does James Jones not have a bigger job?

Daily Specials

  • North Florida at Tennessee
  • Oakland at Houston
  • St. Joe’s at Virginia Tech
  • Minnesota at Missouri
  • UNC Greensboro at NC State

Leftovers