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The Breakfast Buffet: March Madness Edition

Mangia!

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.

Things To Sample

Tyler Kolek is in beast mode
Remember when this guy was hurt? Marquette’s All-American point guard missed several weeks prior to Selection Sunday with an oblique injury, but you’d never know it by the way that he’s playing in the NCAA Tournament. In two games in March Madness, the Golden Eagles’ star point guard is averaging 19.5 points, 11 assists, and 5.5 rebounds. That’s utterly ridiculous for somebody who missed weeks of game action. Marquette is in the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013 and will next play NC State on Friday in Dallas.

Houston’s backcourt was the difference against Texas A&M
The Cougars’ perimeter is always really, really good, but against the Aggies it was great. Houston’s starting troika of Jamal Shead, LJ Cryer, and Emanuel Sharp combined for 71 of its 100 points in a 100-95 overtime victory on Sunday against Texas A&M. The Cougars will now face Duke in the Sweet 16 later this week in Dallas. It is the fourth straight year that Houston has reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

The ACC is again flourishing in March
This league is now a combined 29-11 in the last three NCAA Tournaments, which is incredibly impressive considering the fact that the ACC has only had five of its 15 teams reach March Madness during each of the past three seasons. Many people — including myself — wondered how much representation the ACC would have in the NCAA Tournament because for the majority of the season, this conference had several teams in and out of the bubble picture. Remember: Two of the ACC’s five teams that reached March Madness — NC State and Virginia — barely made the bracket as the Wolfpack earned an automatic qualifier by winning the ACC Tournament while the Cavaliers were selected for an at-large bid, but had to play Colorado State in the First Four in Dayton. The ACC continues to perform at a high level in March Madness despite only having a third of its league reach in the NCAA Tournament in the past three seasons.

On The Side

  • Purdue has a total of 19 turnovers in its first two NCAA Tournament games. It had a combined 31 turnovers when it lost in March Madness to St. Peter’s and Fairleigh Dickinson in 2022 and 2023. This was a major point of emphasis by Matt Painter prior to the postseason.
  • T.J. Otzelberger has won four NCAA Tournament games in his first three years as Iowa State’s head coach.
  • Terrence Shannon Jr. and Marcus Domask have combined to score 55.2 percent of Illinois’ points in two NCAA Tournament games.
  • NC State was 17-14 at the conclusion of the regular season. The Wolfpack have since won seven straight games and will play in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2015. Anarchy? Nope. Just college basketball.
  • Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard is averaging 11 assists in four postseason games.

Leftovers