College Hoops Today

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The Breakfast Buffet: Marquette/Villanova, Danny Sprinkle, Ohio State

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

Marquette visits Villanova
This is the biggest game of the Kyle Neptune era. The Wildcats have lost five of their last six after a promising 10-4 start and need to get things back on track if they want to play in the NCAA Tournament. Villanova — who is now just 11-9 — looked like one of the top teams in the Big East in November after beating Texas Tech, North Carolina, and Memphis to win the Battle 4 Atlantis, but that momentum has dissipated. It will not be easy to regain it against Marquette. The Golden Eagles enter tonight’s game on a four-game winning streak, where its All-American point guard — Tyler Kolek — has handed out a whopping 40 assists. Over the last two weeks, Shaka Smart’s squad has again resembled the team that won both the Big East regular season and tournaments titles last season.

Danny Sprinkle should be a National Coach of the Year candidate
That is not hyperbole. Sprinkle didn’t inherit a single point from last season’s Utah State team that made the NCAA Tournament under Ryan Odom — who is now at VCU — but somehow has the Aggies at 18-2 and in sole possession of first place in the Mountain West entering tonight’s matchup against San Jose State in Logan. After taking Montana State to the NCAA Tournament in each of the past two seasons, Sprinkle is now doing the best work of his career in the Mountain West. Utah State is on the verge of having three different head coaches — Craig Smith, Odom, and now Sprinkle — take it to the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four seasons.

Ohio State has a “make or break” week
It’s now or never. The Buckeyes are just 13-7 after losing five of their last six games and need to start stacking big wins if they want to play in the NCAA Tournament. Ohio State — who currently only has one Quad 1 win — will host Illinois tonight in Columbus and then travels to Iowa on Saturday. Both are Quad 1 opportunities. After last weekend’s 25-point loss at Northwestern, the entire program feels like it’s been put on notice. Chris Holtmann is either going to rally his team back to national relevance or it’s going to have to sit and watch March Madness for the second consecutive year. Over the last two seasons, the Buckeyes have a combined record of just 29-26.

On The Side

  • Wisconsin’s bench is averaging 18.1 points during Big Ten play.
  • Texas Tech’s Grant McCasland has won 74.8 percent of his games as a Division 1 head coach entering tonight’s game against TCU in Fort Worth. Prior to his current post, McCasland was previously the head coach at both North Texas and Arkansas State.
  • San Diego State’s performance over its next four games may ultimately determine whether or not it wins the Mountain West regular season title. The Aztecs travel to Colorado State tonight (9 PM ET, CBS Sports Network) then return home to host Utah State before hitting the road again for back-to-back road games at Air Force and Nevada.
  • Ole Miss is 6-0 this season in games decided by five points or fewer entering tonight’s game against Mississippi State in Oxford.
  • South Carolina’s Myles Stute (shoulder) will be available for tonight’s game against Tennessee, Lamont Paris said on this week’s edition of the College Hoops Today Podcast. The 6-6 Stute averages 9.9 points and 3.9 rebounds and has not played since Jan. 20th. The Gamecocks were picked last in the SEC Preseason Poll, but are currently 17-3.

Daily Specials

  • South Carolina at Tennessee
  • Illinois at Ohio State
  • Marquette at Villanova
  • Texas Tech at TCU
  • San Diego State at Colorado State

Leftovers