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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

Samson Johnson could play a major role for UConn against Alabama
The Crimson Tide play at a breakneck pace and that’s right up Johnson’s alley. While much of the spotlight entering Saturday’s Final Four game will focus on Donovan Clingan, don’t be shocked if Johnson also has a major impact. One of the top rim running big men in college basketball, the 6-10 Johnson is tailor made to breakout against Alabama. He’s coming off a strong outing in the Elite Eight against Illinois, where he tallied 10 points in 18 minutes. Tip off for tonight’s matchup is at 8:49 PM ET on TBS.

Alabama needs a historical shooting performance against UConn
The Crimson Tide are averaging 12 made three-point shots during the 2024 NCAA Tournament. I’m not sure if that would be enough to even give them a chance tonight against UConn. Alabama either shoots three-point shots or layups and there’s essentially nothing in between. It’s not going to get many layups against the Huskies with Donovan Clingan standing in the paint. It will take a miraculous shooting performance for the Crimson Tide to pull the upset against the defending national champions.

NC State needs to take away Purdue’s supporting cast
Zach Edey is more machine than man right now. He’s averaging 30 points and 15 rebounds in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and most recently had a historic, 40-point, 16-rebound effort in the Elite Eight last Sunday against Tennessee. The Wolfpack aren’t going to completely neutralize him. So how do they put themselves in a position to pull a massive upset tonight in the Final Four? By taking away everyone else that makes up Purdue’s supporting cast. NC State has the length, versatility, and athleticism to disrupt the Boilers’ other primary players like Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, Lance Jones, Mason Gillis, and Trey Kaufman-Renn. That’s the formula for the Wolfpack to get to Monday night. Tip off for tonight’s matchup is at 6:09 PM ET on TBS.

On The Side

  • UConn’s average margin of victory in the 2024 NCAA Tournament is 27.8 points. It was 20 points a year ago when the Huskies won the 2023 national title.
  • UConn has 85 assists to just 36 turnovers in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. That’s an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.4:1 as a team.
  • Alabama’s Latrell Wrightsell (head) will be available for today’s Final Four game against UConn, Nate Oats told College Hoops Today on Friday. The 6-3 Wrightsell averages nine points and has not played in the Crimson Tide’s last two games.
  • Four of Purdue’s top six scorers — Braden Smith, Fletcher Loyer, Lance Jones, and Mason Gillis — are shooting 35.5 percent or better from three-point range.
  • Prior to this season, Kevin Keatts had never won a game in the NCAA Tournament as a head coach. He’s now two wins away from the national title. Anarchy? Nope. Just college basketball.

Leftovers