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
Parity is again dominating college basketball
The Final Four did not feature a single one or two seed last season. Don’t be surprised if history repeats itself in a few months. In the past two days, the four top teams in this week’s ROTHSTEIN 45 — Purdue, Kansas, Houston, and Tennessee — all lost road games to teams who were not ranked in the Top 25 of the ROTHSTEIN 45. Those defeats don’t include Marquette’s home loss on Wednesday to Butler. Much like last season, this sport may not have a dominant team.
Marcus Domask has emerged as Illinois’ go-to guy
With Terrence Shannon Jr.’s status TBD moving forward, Domask has taken the baton for the Illini. In the three games that Illinois has played since Shannon was suspended indefinitely after being arrested for rape, the 6-6 Domask — who played the past few seasons at Southern Illinois — has averaged 19.7 points, 7.3 assists, and four rebounds. Can the Illini remain in the Big Ten’s top tier without Shannon? It’s definitely within the realm of possibility if Domask continues to play at an all-conference caliber level. Illinois hosts Michigan State tonight in Champaign.
Frankie Collins’ defense has spearheaded Arizona State’s 4-0 Pac-12 start
Bobby Hurley has built the Sun Devils’ program on the foundation of talented guards like Tra Holder, Shannon Evans, Remy Martin, and Lu Dort. Collins is next to take a seat at that table. On Monday, I wrote about how Hurley has rallied Arizona State after a 6-5 start and a big reason for that is Collins’ improved defense. During the Sun Devils’ current four-game winning streak, Collins has tallied 14 steals and already has more steals this season — 47 — than he had during all of last year. The 6-1 junior is also averaging career-highs in points (13.7), rebounds (5.7), and field-goal percentage (45.3) entering tonight’s game against Washington in Seattle.
On The Side
- Barring something unforeseen, Duke should take a 10-game winning streak into its matchup on Jan. 27th against Clemson at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils will next play Georgia Tech and Pitt back-to-back at home and then Louisville on the road.
- Nebraska’s Keisei Tominaga is officially the most exciting player in the Big Ten. The 6-2 lefty is averaging 21.3 points in his last three games while shooting 12-25 from three-point range during that span. The Huskers are 13-3 and are trending towards their first NCAA Tournament berth since 2014.
- Iowa State freshman Omaha Biliew — a five-star prospect — has yet to play in the Cyclones’ first two Big 12 games.
- UCLA’s Dylan Andrews is 16-66 from the field and 3-24 from three-point range in his last five games entering tonight’s tilt at Utah.
- Here’s the best way to describe the Big 12: Every conference game feels like it’s a game in the NCAA Tournament.
Daily Specials
- Florida Atlantic at Tulane
- Michigan State at Illinois
- UCLA at Utah
- Gonzaga at Santa Clara
- Arizona State at Washington
Leftovers
- BRACKET BREAKDOWN: January 24th
- The Breakfast Buffet: Morez Johnson, Louisville, Memphis’ perimeter
- The Breakfast Buffet: Texas A&M’s portal class, Xavier/St. John’s, Murphy’s Law has hit Arkansas
- The Breakfast Buffet: Javon Small, Wake Forest has a big week, John Blackwell goes Hollywood
- Episode 482 — Michigan’s Dusty May
