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The Breakfast Buffet — March Madness Edition

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

Notre Dame-Rutgers was an instant classic
Ties. Lead changes. This game had it all. The Irish’s 89-87 double-overtime triumph on Wednesday night in Dayton was one of the best NCAA Tournament games in recent memory. How good was it? Mike Brey said after the game that it was the best game that he’s ever been a part of. The Irish — who won their first NCAA Tournament game since 2017 — will advance to the Round of 64 where they’ll play Alabama on Friday in San Diego.

Creighton/San Diego State should be a rock fight
Like offense? This isn’t the game for you. Both of these teams have been elite defensively late in the season, especially in their respective conference tournaments. Creighton — which has been known for its offense under Greg McDermott — only allowed an average of 58.3 points during the Big East Tournament. San Diego State only allowed an average of 52.3 points during the Mountain West Conference Tournament. The first team to 60 points may win this game today in Fort Worth.

This is Fran McCaffery’s best chance to reach the Sweet 16
The 62-year old head coach as taken four different programs — Lehigh, UNC Greensboro, Siena, and Iowa — to the NCAA Tournament, but has never been able to advance. This is McCaffery’s best chance to do so. Iowa had a higher seed in last year’s NCAA Tournament, but a No. 2 seed in a region that led to a second round matchup with a team like Oregon was not in the Hawkeyes’ favor. Iowa will begin play in the bracket today against Richmond (3:10 PM ET, TruTV). If it wins, it will play the winner of Providence and South Dakota State on Saturday.

Kentucky-Louisville should be a much friendlier rivalry moving forward
Pending board approval, Louisville will hire Kenny Payne — a former Cardinals player and Kentucky assistant — as its next head basketball coach on Friday, a source told College Hoops Today. Payne was in an assistant coaching role for the New York Knicks and before that, was an assistant coach under John Calipari at Kentucky from 2010-20. What does that mean for one of college basketball’s most heated rivalries moving forward? A much more mellow back and forth for 364 days a year, with one exception occurring when the two teams face off for their annual game either at the KFC Yum Center or Rupp Arena.

Travis Steele simply didn’t win enough at Xavier
From Bob Staak to Pete Gillen to Skip Prosser to Thad Matta to Sean Miller to Chris Mack, every single head coach that has come from this program has had tremendous success over the last four decades. Travis Steele did not. The Musketeers were a No. 1 seed in the 2018 NCAA Tournament before Mack left and took the Louisville job; they haven’t been back since. Steele — who was removed from his post on Monday — was a combined 70-50 in four seasons. His successor will have to understand that the expectation at Xavier is that the Musketeers should be playing in the NCAA Tournament on an annual basis.

Leftovers