College Hoops Today

Serving College Basketball 365 Days a Year

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.

Things To Sample

North Carolina was the shock of Selection Sunday
A lot of many people — including me — did not think that there was any possible way that that the Tar Heels could earn an-large bid to the 2025 NCAA Tournament with a 1-12 record in Quad 1 games. All of us were wrong. North Carolina’s inclusion in March Madness was unequivocally the biggest surprise on Selection Sunday. Remember: Tar Heels AD Bubba Cunningham was the chairman of this year’s NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, but couldn’t be in the room when North Carolina’s resume was being discussed. It no doubt though, had a major impact on the selection process. Hubert Davis’ squad will face San Diego State on Tuesday night in the First Four in Dayton.

The SEC’s dominance was reaffirmed
This conference broke the old Big East’s record of 11 in 2011 with 14 teams in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. There was a growing sentiment over the past few weeks that the SEC would ultimately cannibalize itself and only get 11 or 12 teams into the bracket, but that never happened. This season’s version of the SEC will go down as the greatest power conference in the history of college basketball.

The Mountain West always finds a way
One year after this league put a record six teams into the NCAA Tournament, the Mountain West again answered the bell. Four teams from this conference — New Mexico, Utah State, Colorado State, and San Diego State — advanced to March Madness, marking the fourth straight year that the Mountain West had at least four teams hear their names called on Selection Sunday. In a day and age where power conferences are dominating college sports, that’s an incredible accomplishment.

On The Side

  • Four of the head coaches in the West Region — Dan Hurley (UConn), Bill Self (Kansas), John Calipari (Arkansas), and Rick Pitino (St. John’s) — have won the national title in their careers. Hurley, Self, and Pitino have each won two.
  • Kentucky’s Lamont Butler (shoulder) will be available for the Wildcats’ first NCAA Tournament game against Troy, Mark Pope told College Hoops Today on Sunday. Butler DNP in the Wildcats’ last game and averages 11.5 points and 4.3 assists.
  • An interesting wrinkle in the first round matchup between UCLA and Utah State? The two head coaches in this game — Mick Cronin and Jerrod Calhoun — both worked for Bob Huggins as assistant coaches prior to becoming head coaches.
  • McNeese’s Will Wade was a student manager at Clemson prior to getting into coaching. The Cowboys and Tigers will meet in the Round of 64.
  • Xavier’s campus is only 47 miles away from UD Arena, where the Musketeers will play Texas on Wednesday night in the First Four.

Leftovers