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The Breakfast Buffet: Northwestern has an inside track to history, Jonas Aidoo, Kylan Boswell

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

Northwestern has an inside track to history
This program has never played in the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons. That may change in 2024. There’s a lot of basketball left to be played and we’re still seven and a half weeks away from Selection Sunday, but Northwestern’s 96-91 win over Illinois on Wednesday night in Evanston joins a resume that also includes victories over Purdue, Dayton, and Michigan State. All four of those triumphs are going to hold up nicely as long as Northwestern — who is now 14-5 — can finish the season with another six or seven victories. Chris Collins continues to raise the bar with the Wildcats.

Jonas Aidoo is Tennessee’s unsung presence
While most of America has been drooling over Dalton Knecht, Aidoo has quietly been having a breakout season. After averaging 5.1 points and 4.9 rebounds a year ago as a sophomore, the 6-11 Aidoo has become a major piece to the Vols’ puzzle and is averaging 12.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks through Tennessee’s first 18 games. This is a wildcard to watch moving forward in Knoxville. The Vols are 12-2 over the past two seasons in games where Aidoo scores in double figures.

Arizona needs Ky Boswell back on track
Let’s make this simple: The Wildcats can’t go to the Final Four unless Boswell starts playing at a higher level. In his last three games, the broad shouldered point guard has only scored a total of 14 points while shooting just 5-23 from the field and 3-14 from three-point range. Boswell also only has five assists during that span. That isn’t going to be good enough if Arizona is going to consistently beat high level competition in the NCAA Tournament. His progression is a major storyline to watch as the Wildcats play back-to-back road games this weekend at Oregon State (tonight) and Oregon (Saturday). Arizona has lost its last two games on the road.

On The Side

  • Maryland’s Jahmir Young likely won’t be selected as an All-American unless the Terps make a push towards the NCAA Tournament, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not putting up All-American caliber numbers. In Young’s last eight games, he’s averaging 25 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 3.9 assists.
  • Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard has 25 assists and zero turnovers in his last three games entering tonight’s tilt in Spokane against San Francisco. That’s utterly ridiculous.
  • Pitt has a burgeoning star in freshman point guard Jaland Lowe. The talented floor general is averaging 16.3 points in his last three games and has handed out 12 assists to just three turnovers during that span.
  • Georgetown is giving up an average of 87.3 points in its last three games, which have all been losses. Things won’t get any easier for the Hoyas, who will travel to Amica Mutual Pavilion on Saturday in Ed Cooley’s long awaited return to Providence.
  • Rob Lanier deserves credit for the job that he’s doing at SMU. After only winning 10 games a year ago in his first season with the Ponies, SMU will take a 13-5 record into tonight’s game at North Texas.

Daily Specials

  • Arizona State at Oregon
  • San Francisco at Gonzaga
  • Arizona at Oregon State

Leftovers