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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

Houston will have to play two road games to get to the Final Four
Is this the most ridiculous draw that a number one seed has ever gotten entering the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament? It’s very possible. The Cougars are the top seed in the Midwest Region, but will have to play Purdue on Friday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, which is just 69 miles away from the Boilers’ campus. If Houston beats Purdue and advances to the Elite Eight, it will then face either Tennessee or Kentucky, who are both significantly closer geographically to the site of the game than the Cougars. Lucas Oil Stadium is just 188 miles away from Rupp Arena and 359 miles away from Thompson-Boling Arena, were the Vols play their homes games. By comparison, Houston is 1,015 miles from its home campus. The Selection Committee didn’t do Kelvin Sampson any favors this weekend.

Elite brands are all over the Sweet 16
13 of the 16 programs that are left playing in the 2025 NCAA Tournament have been to the Final Four. Eight of those programs — Michigan, Michigan State, Florida, Maryland, Arkansas, Kentucky, Duke, and Arizona — have won the national title. There may not be a Cinderella story like we had a few years ago with Florida Atlantic or in 2022 with St. Peter’s, but that doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be elite matchups over the next week. Things are aligned for the next two weeks to feature several marquee showdowns with some of the top brands in the sport.

Arkansas is the Cinderella team in the 2025 NCAA Tournament
Can a team that’s full of five-star prospects and coached by a Hall-of-Fame head coach really be considered a Cinderella? In this case, yes. The Razorbacks were 0-5 in SEC play when five-star freshman Boogie Fland (14.2 points, 5.4 assists) went out of the lineup with a hand injury, but have still managed to find their way into the second weekend of March Madness. Meanwhile, Arkansas’ best player — Adou Thiero (15.6 points, 6.0 rebounds) — hasn’t played since Feb. 22nd due to a knee injury. Despite all of that, John Calipari has this team just two wins away from the Final Four. If that happens, it will be one of the most improbable runs that we’ve seen to the sport’s most hallowed showcase.

On The Side

  • Alabama is 10-4 in the NCAA Tournament under Nate Oats.
  • Duke freshman big man Patrick Ngongba has produced with Maliq Brown (shoudler) out of the lineup for the Blue Devils. The 6-11 Ngonga is averaging 9.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks in his last four games.
  • BYU has scored 77 or more points in 10 of its last 11 games.
  • Maryland’s trip to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nine years made me recall one of college basketball’s most underrated stretches by a head coach. From 1994-2003, Gary Williams took the Terps to the Sweet 16 or beyond seven times.
  • Dear NCAA: Do yourselves a favor and move the start date for the transfer portal back one week. This process shouldn’t start until after the Final Four is set.

Leftovers