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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/Duke is a colossal Final Four matchup
Every couple of years, there’s a game on the final Saturday of the college basketball season that has a buildup that’s comparable to a prize fight for the heavyweight championship of the world. That’s what the next week will be like in anticipation for the showdown between the Cougars and the Blue Devils. Houston possesses the sport’s best defense while Duke possesses the sport’s best offense. This game is a rematch of last year’s Sweet 16 matchup, which the Blue Devils won after Cougars star Jamal Shead left the game with an ankle injury.

Geography is a major factor in the NCAA Tournament
Every game matters? You better believe it. Auburn’s run to the Final Four for the second time in program history is just another example of why seeding is so important in March Madness. The Tigers’ ability to play 108 miles from their campus in Atlanta had a major hand in their ability to get to San Antonio. Johni Broome’s 25-point, 14-rebound performance after an elbow injury in the second half of Sunday’s win over Michigan State didn’t hurt either. When people from the periphery say that “college basketball doesn’t matter before March”, please tell them how wrong they are. Auburn’s regular season dominance — much like UConn’s regular season dominance a year ago — put it in position to play meaningful NCAA Tournament games close to home. Last season, the Huskies won two games in Brooklyn and then two games in Boston en route to their second consecutive national title. Geography is a major factor in the NCAA Tournament.

The relationship between Bruce Pearl and Todd Golden will be a major storyline this week
When Pearl got the Auburn job in 2014, he hired a young kid from Columbia’s staff to be his first Director of Basketball Operations. That kid was Golden. 11 years later, the mentor will face the pupil in the Final Four. Florida won the only head-to-head meeting between these two programs on Feb. 8th at Auburn. Tip off for this national semifinal will be at 6:07 PM ET on Saturday on CBS.

On The Side

  • Two of the four head coaches in this season’s Final Four — Duke’s Jon Scheyer and Florida’s Todd Golden — are under 40.
  • Duke’s Tyrese Proctor is 16-of-25 from three-point range in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
  • J’Wan Roberts is the only player in Houston’s program that was a part of the Cougars’ two Final Four runs in 2021 and 2025.
  • Tennessee is 0-7 against number one seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
  • Kevin Willard is the first head coach hired by Villanova that didn’t have a direct tie to the Wildcats’ program since Rollie Massimino was tabbed to lead the Philadelphia school in 1973.

Leftovers