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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

D.J. Burns is another COVID senior who’s thriving
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Productive COVID seniors need to be re-recruited with the same fervor that coaching staffs recruit four and five-star prospects if they don’t have a lucrative professional opportunity. Burns is the latest example. The 6-9, 275 pound big man has dragged NC State to the Final Four and like many other COVID seniors, is playing his best basketball in his final season of college basketball. Burns had 29 points in Sunday’s Elite Eight win over Duke and is averaging 18.3 points, five rebounds, and 3.5 assists in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. There’s absolutely no way that the Wolfpack would be in this position without him. Along with Burns, two other players in NC State’s starting lineup — D.J. Horne and Casey Morsell — are also COVID seniors.

UConn’s defense against Alabama’s offense
The Huskies have held their first four opponents in the NCAA Tournament to an average of just 53.5 points. The Crimson Tide are averaging 89.8 points in their first four NCAA Tournament games. Something’s gotta give on Saturday in Phoenix. It will be interesting to see how Nate Oats aims to attack UConn big man Donovan Clingan, who’s tallied 14 blocked shots in four NCAA Tournament games. If Oats opts to put five players on the floor who can make outside shots, it could force Clingan to step away from the basket, which could open up driving lanes for Alabama. A fascinating chess match awaits on Saturday in Phoenix between Oats and Dan Hurley.

Oklahoma State made a “sneaky good” hire with Steve Lutz
There may not be a great deal of sizzle with this hire, but there’s an awful lot of substance. Lutz is not going to self promote on social media or be the sexiest name during a coaching cycle, but he wins. In fact, he wins big. In three seasons as a head coach, Lutz has led two programs — Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Western Kentucky — to the NCAA Tournament. A Texas native with deep roots in the junior college scene, Lutz’s blue collar mentality should play very well in Stillwater. After working as an assistant for both Greg McDermott at Creighton and Matt Painter at Purdue, Lutz is a combined 69-35 in three seasons as a Division 1 head coach with three straight appearances in March Madness.

On The Side

  • UConn’s two starting guards — Tristen Newton and Cam Spencer — have a combined assist-to-turnover ratio of 42:10 in the NCAA Tournament.
  • 46.7 percent of Alabama’s field goal attempts this season have been three-point shots. 
  • Purdue’s opponents are committing an average of 19.8 fouls per game in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
  • Jarin Stevenson scored a combined nine points in Alabama’s first three NCAA Tournament games. He had 19 in Saturday’s Elite Eight win over Clemson.
  • Only four of the 15 players that played double figure minutes for UConn and Purdue in the Elite Eight were transfers.

Leftovers