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The Breakfast Buffet: March Madness Edition

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

All eyes are on Kentucky
College basketball’s most fascinating team and maybe the most fascinating team that John Calipari has coached in his Hall-of-Fame career begins March Madness today against Oakland. It’s a really important couple of weeks for the Wildcats. Kentucky hasn’t advanced to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2019 and hasn’t been to the Final Four since 2015. An elite offensive team with major flaws defensively, Kentucky feels like it could win the national title or be eliminated in the next few days. Calipari said earlier this year, “we’ve been good, but we just haven’t been Kentucky good”. We’ll see if that changes over the next few weeks. Tip off for today’s game is at 7:10 PM ET on CBS.

Gonzaga/McNeese
All NCAA Tournament games are juicy, but this one feels juicier. The Bulldogs have been a March staple under Mark Few, who’s coached in March Madness in every season that he’s been a head coach. McNeese meanwhile, has won 30 games after winning just 11 a year ago. The biggest reason why? Will Wade. After off-the-court issues ended his tenure at LSU, Wade sat out a year before he was hired by the Cowboys last March. All he’s done in his first year back in the college game is engineer a 19-win turnaround. Just 41 years old, Wade has already led three different programs — VCU, LSU, and McNeese — to the NCAA Tournament. Tip off for today’s game is 7:25 PM ET on TBS.

Eddie Lampkin is the X-Factor for Colorado
Tad Boyle called Lampkin a “game changer” for the Buffaloes when he landed him from TCU via the transfer portal. The 6-11 big man reiterated why in Tuesday night’s 60-53 win over Boise State in the First Four. Lampkin made several big plays down the stretch and gave Colorado a bonafide low post threat in the second half, finishing with 13 points and six rebounds in the victory. The Buffaloes are 16-4 this season when Lampkin scores in double figures. He could be in line for a big day on Friday, when Colorado faces Florida in Indianapolis as the Gators just lost starting center Micah Handlogten for the season due a leg injury.

On The Side

  • Michigan State’s Tom Izzo is 19-6 in first round NCAA Tournament games entering today’s matchup with Mississippi State.
  • NC State’s Michael O’Connell averaged 13.2 points in five ACC Tournament games last week. He averaged just 4.6 points in the previous five games. This is the player to watch for the Wolf Pack as Kevin Keatts’ squad meets Texas Tech today in the Round of 64.
  • Nevada is the fifth program that Steve Alford has taken to the NCAA Tournament. Alford previously coached UCLA, New Mexico, Iowa, and Missouri State prior to taking his current post in Reno. The Wolf Pack will meet Dayton today in the Round of 64.
  • Two mid-major big men to keep an eye on today: Akron’s Enrique Freeman (18.6 points, 12.9 rebounds) and Colorado State’s Joel Scott (13.2 points, 6.1 rebounds).
  • Nebraska’s C.J. Wilcher (illness) is expected to be available for Friday’s NCAA Tournament game against Texas A&M, Fred Hoiberg told College Hoops Today on Wednesday. Wilcher — who averages 7.9 points — did not play in the Huskers’ last game.

Leftovers