College Hoops Today

Serving College Basketball 365 Days a Year

The Breakfast Buffet — March Madness Edition

Who’s hungry for college basketball?

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

The Big Ten stood tall on Selection Sunday
That doesn’t mean that this league is going to stand tall during the NCAA Tournament. Remember: The Big Ten has not won a national title since 2000. Nevertheless, nine of the Big Ten’s 14 teams will play in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. That’s 64.2 percent of the conference, which is incredibly impressive. Two teams from the Big Ten — Rutgers and Indiana — will play in the First Four in Dayton on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Scarlet Knights will play Notre Dame while the Hoosiers will face Wyoming.

The Midwest Region looks vulnerable
All of the top four seeds in this region — Kansas, Auburn, Wisconsin, and Providence — look like they have more holes than the top four seeds in the three other regions. Kansas has played great basketball recently, but doesn’t have elite talent compared to past years. Auburn? The guard play is a major concern. Meanwhile, Wisconsin and Providence also lost early in their respective conference tournaments. If an outside-the-box team is going to advance to the Final Four, there’s a good chance that it comes out of this region.

Keegan Murray could take over the NCAA Tournament
I’m not saying this guy is going to do what Danny Manning did for Kansas in 1988, but what else does he have to do to be universally labeled as arguably the best player in college basketball? The 6-8 Murray averaged 28 points and 8.3 rebounds during the Big Ten Tournament while shooting an astronomical 61.1 percent from three-point range. Murray — not anyone else — is currently playing like the best player in college basketball. The Hawkeyes will open the 2022 NCAA Tournament in the Round of 64 against Richmond.

Providence will have its hands full with South Dakota State
Never seen the Jackrabbits? Start watching tape now if you plan on filling out a bracket. South Dakota State is 30-4 and hasn’t lost since Dec. 15th. It shoots 44.9 percent from three-point range as a team. The Jackrabbits also have a hidden star in 6-6 point forward Baylor Scheierman, who’s currently averaging 16.2 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists. The Friars will have their hands full in the Round of 64.

Texas A&M and Xavier experienced “The Dark Side of March”
Both of these teams dreamed of advancing to the NCAA Tournament. Neither made the field. The Aggies had an incredible run in the SEC Tournament, beating Auburn and Arkansas back-to-back before losing to Tennessee on Sunday in the title game. Xavier meanwhile, expected to have its team yet under Travis Steele, but wound up falling short. Both of these teams will now have to focus on the Postseason NIT. This is the “dark side of March.”

Leftovers