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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.

Mangia!

Things To Sample

Arizona doesn’t necessarily have to make a high number of three-point shots to beat Michigan
The Wolverines’ first loss of the season against Wisconsin was the byproduct of the Badgers burying a whopping 15 shots from long distance in Ann Arbor. But Michigan’s other two losses this season against Duke and Purdue occurred when their opponents only made a combined 10 three-point shots. The Wildcats’ interior offense will tested like it’s never been tested on Saturday against the Wolverines’ massive front court troika of Yaxel Lendeborg, Morez Johnson, and Aday Mara, but history has proven that winning the game for Arizona will not necessarily depend on how it shoots from long distance.

Bill Self made it official
The Hall-of-Fame head coach announced on Wednesday that he’ll return to Kansas for the 2026-27 season and officially ended the discussion regarding a potential retirement. Now Self will focus on getting the Jayhawks back among the nation’s elite. Kansas hasn’t been to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament since it won the national title in 2022. The Jayhawks are the favorite to land five-star prospect Tyran Stokes, the top overall prospect in the 2026 class.

North Carolina is taking its time
Don’t expect the Tar Heels to have their next head coach in place in the next few days. And there’s a good chance that it won’t happen until the conclusion of the Final Four. North Carolina’s top two targets — Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd and Michigan’s Dusty May — are playing head-to-head on Saturday night in Indianapolis and the third name on the Tar Heels’ wish list — Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan — has told confidants he won’t engage in anything until after the NBA season is done on April 12th. It could be a little while before things are cemented moving forward in Chapel Hill.

On The Side

  • Michigan has advanced to the national title game in each of its last six trips to the Final Four.
  • 20 years ago, UConn’s Dan Hurley was at a prep school (St. Benedict’s) and Illinois’ Brad Underwood was at a junior college (Daytona Beach). On Saturday, they’ll go head-to-head in the Final Four. Anarchy? Nope. Just college basketball.
  • Iowa State’s T.J. Otzelberger has now had two of his assistants — JR Blount (San Diego) and Kyle Green (Northern Iowa) — become head coaches over the past few weeks.
  • Nevada Smith — who was named Siena’s head coach on Wednesday — is the ninth assistant under Shaka Smart to be a Division 1 head coach.
  • College Hoops Today reported on Wednesday that Syracuse and Indiana will meet next season at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Leftovers