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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

Dan Hurley’s greatest challenge is tonight against Michigan
Hurley’s four-year run at UConn is utterly ridiculous. The 53-year old head coach is a whopping 18-1 in the last four NCAA Tournaments, but during that run he’s yet to face an opponent in the same weight class as Michigan. The Wolverines enter tonight’s national title game with the Huskies with an average margin of victory of 21.6 points during March Madness. Tip off for tonight’s game is at 8:50 PM ET on TBS.

Tarris Reed vs. Aday Mara
A battle of traditional big men in college basketball? You better believe it. The 6-11 Reed — who’s averaging 20.8 points, 13 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks during March Madness — has been the best big man in the NCAA Tournament while the 7-3 Mara is coming off the best game of his college career on Saturday against Arizona as he tallied 26 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks against the Wildcats. The winner of this head-to-head battle should give his team a decisive advantage in tonight’s national title game in Indianapolis.

Solo Ball, Yaxel Lendeborg should be good to go
UConn’s junior shooting guard and Michigan’s star were both dealing with nagging injuries after Saturday night’s games, but both were left off the NCAA’s Player Availability Report on Sunday night, which means they should be good to go for tonight’s title game. Ball scored 13 points in the Huskies’ win on Saturday against Illinois while Lendeborg only logged 14 minutes after a pair of injuries to his ankle and knee.

On The Side

  • The Big Ten has not won a national title since 2000.
  • UConn has an all-time record of 6-0 in the national title game.
  • UConn’s Braylon Mullins was 4-24 from three-point range to start the NCAA Tournament. He’s made five of his last eight shots from long distance, headlined by his dramatic launch to beat Duke last week in the Elite Eight.
  • Michigan’s Trey McKenney is averaging 12.6 points as a reserve in the NCAA Tournament while shooting 63.6 percent from the field and 52.4 percent from three-point range.
  • Join us later today at 4:30 PM ET on CBS Sports Network for an official pregame show prior to tonight’s heavyweight matchup between UConn and Michigan in Indianapolis.

Leftovers