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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

Purdue got a favorable draw
Nothing is guaranteed with the Boilers in March, but Purdue appears to have a favorable path in the Midwest Region. Matt Painter’s team will play the winner of Montana State/Grambling State on Friday in Indianapolis and then the winner of TCU/Utah State if it advances. A wounded Kansas team is the four seed in the Midwest while the most vulnerable Gonzaga team that we’ve seen in quite sometime is the five seed. You never know for sure in March, but the Boilers should be heavily favored to at least reach the Elite Eight.

The Mountain West got minimal respect from the Selection Committee
Four of the six teams from this league that made the NCAA Tournament — New Mexico, Colorado State, Boise State, and Nevada — were double digit seeds. Utah State — who won the Mountain West regular season title outright — is an eight seed in the Midwest Region while San Diego State is a five seed in the East Region. All six of these teams were ranked in the Top 39 of the NET on Sunday. The Mountain West set a record by getting six teams in the NCAA Tournament, but how those teams perform in the next week will play a major hand in how this conference is perceived moving forward.

Caleb Love could face North Carolina in the West Regional Final
Only in Hollywood could a script like this be written and ironically enough if seeds hold in the West Region, Los Angeles will be the host city for an Elite Eight matchup between Arizona — Love’s new team — and his old team in the Tar Heels. There’s a lot of basketball to be played before this matchup can come to fruition, but it’s a major storyline to monitor moving forward in the West Region. Love was an integral part of North Carolina’s team that advanced all the way to the national title game in 2022. He transferred following the end of last season.

On The Side

  • The Big East only had three teams — UConn, Creighton, and Marquette — reach the NCAA Tournament. It’s the lowest amount that the league has had since 1993.
  • Nebraska has never won an NCAA Tournament game. The Huskers will play Texas A&M in the first round on Friday in Memphis.
  • Thursday’s first round game between Arizona and Long Beach State features two head coaches — Tommy Lloyd and Dan Monson — with deep ties to Gonzaga. Lloyd was an assistant for 20 years under Mark Few before taking his current post while Monson was the head coach at Gonzaga from 1997-99 and led the Bulldogs to the Elite Eight in 1999.
  • How about Dayton’s first-round draw? The Flyers received a seven seed, but have to fly cross country to face Nevada in Salt Lake City!
  • All four 11 seeds — New Mexico, Duquesne, NC State, and Oregon — were teams who earned automatic qualifiers to the NCAA Tournament by winning their conference tournaments.

Leftovers