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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

Purdue’s time is now
The Boilers are in the national title game for the first time since 1969 when they lost to John Wooden and UCLA. They’ve never won a national title. Their best attempt to do so may be tonight against UConn. I know that Purdue is an underdog in tonight’s matchup against the Huskies, but will the Boilers ever again have a player like Zach Edey — the first player to win National Player of the Year honors in back-to-back seasons since Ralph Sampson did at Virginia almost 40 years ago — in their program? History says no. UConn has been a wrecking machine in the NCAA Tournament, but Purdue is far from a pushover. The Boilers’ time is now.

Zach Edey against Donovan Clingan
This is the type of matchup things brings people in from the periphery. This the type of matchup that we used to have in basketball, when traditional, back-to-the-basket centers regularly roamed the paint. That isn’t the case anymore, which makes the head-to-head showdown between Edey and Clingan so special. As I mentioned above, the 7-4 Edey has won National Player of the Year honors in back-to-back seasons while Clingan has arguably been the most dominant player in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. UConn’s 7-3 center has truly shined in March Madness, averaging 16.2 points, nine rebounds, and 3.6 blocks in his last five games. But he’s never faced Edey, who’s regularly gotten all of Purdue’s opponents into foul trouble over the past few weeks. If he can do the same tonight to Clingan — who has never fouled out of a game in his college career — the landscape of this game will drastically change.

John Calipari/Arkansas will be the storyline of Championship Monday
Only Calipari could upstage a colossal showdown between UConn and Purdue for the national title on the final day of the college basketball season. The Hall-of-Fame head coach is reportedly leaving Kentucky to be the next head coach of Arkansas after 15 seasons with the Wildcats. Sources told College Hoops Today on Sunday night that the Razorbacks intensely shifted their focus on Calipari after they were spurned by both Ole Miss’ Chris Beard and Kansas State’s Jerome Tang on Friday. This storyline will now dominate the headlines on what is the final day of the 2023-24 season. It will have a major effect on things moving forward over the next few weeks. A separate source also added that Calipari’s strained relationship with Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart is a major reason why he was open to a reset. The 65 year-old head coach had $33 million dollars remaining on his pact with the Wildcats, but according to a source, has always held the Arkansas job in high regard dating back to his time and Memphis and felt comfortable with the infrastructure that the school presented. There is still no timetable on an official announcement.

On The Side

  • UConn has won 11 straight NCAA Tournament games by double figures.
  • With a win tonight, Dan Hurley will join Kansas’ Bill Self and St. John’s Rick Pitino as the only active head coaches that have won two national titles.
  • UConn’s Cam Spencer is averaging 7.6 rebounds and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 19:3 during the 2024 NCAA Tournament. This guy is much more than just a shooter.
  • The Big Ten has not had a national champion since Michigan State won it all in 2000. Purdue can change that with a victory tonight over UConn.
  • Tonight’s game between UConn and Purdue is only the eighth time since 1994 that two number one seeds have played for the national title.

Leftovers