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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.

Things To Sample

Boogie Fland returns for Arkansas
The five-star freshman guard hasn’t appeared in game action since since Jan. 18th due to a hand injury, but will be available for the Razorbacks tonight in Providence against Kansas (7:10 PM ET, CBS). It will be interesting to see how his return affects this team’s overall rhythm and chemistry. Arkansas went 9-6 with Fland out of the lineup. The 6-2 guard averaged 15.1 points, 5.7 assists, and 3.4 rebounds prior to injury.

Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones introduces himself to America
Never heard of Tait-Jones (19.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists)? There’s a good chance you will by the end of today. The 6-6 guard is the best player on UC San Diego, who will take a 30-4 record into tonight’s Round of 64 game against Michigan in Denver (10 PM ET, TBS). The Tritons are making their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament and having a rising star in head coach Eric Olen. UC San Diego is entering today’s game shooting a whopping 36.6 percent from three-point range as a team.

Life hit Zach Freemantle back
It’s funny how things work out. Xavier’s veteran big man has been through multiple injuries over the past few years and prior to this season, had never played in the NCAA Tournament. But on Wednesday night in the First Four against Texas in Dayton, the 6-9 Freemantle finally had the moment that he had been salivating for. After battling early foul trouble for much of the first half, Freemantle recalibrated himself and made the go ahead shot late in the game to put the Musketeers up for good. He finished with 15 points in the 86-80 victory, which was Xavier’ first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2023. Sean Miller’s team will next face Illinois on Friday in Milwaukee.

On The Side

  • St. John’s game tonight against Omaha in Providence is its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 64 since 2015. The Red Storm have not won a game in March Madness since 2000.
  • Houston hasn’t lost before the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since 2018.
  • Louisville’s home arena — the KFC Yum Center — is just 77 miles away from Rupp Arena, which is where the Cardinals will play Creighton today in the Round of 64.
  • VCU won 27 games in 2023 and 28 games this season and was a 12 seed and 11 seed respectively in those two NCAA Tournaments. The Rams will meet BYU today in Denver in the Round of 64.
  • A team from the First Four has won a game in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in each of the past four seasons.

Leftovers