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The Breakfast Buffet: Purdue, Murderer’s Row continues for Texas, Armaan Franklin

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

Purdue’s season won’t be considered a success unless it ends in the Final Four
That may be a harsh reality, but it’s the utmost truth. The Boilers — who are No. 1 in this week’s ROTHSTEIN 45 — improved to 21-1 after Sunday’s win over Michigan State and have arguably the best chance that they’ve ever had to reach the Final Four under Matt Painter because of Zach Edey and the overall balanced landscape in college basketball. A heavy favorite for National Player of the Year, the 7-4 Edey went for 38 points and 13 rebounds on Sunday against the Spartans and with each passing game reiterates why he’s the most dominant player that the sport has seen in a long time. That combined with the lack of dominant teams in college basketball puts Purdue in a “Final Four or bust” type scenario. Remember: This program has not been to the Final Four since 1980 and has had several heartbreaking NCAA Tournament experiences in the past five years. In 2018, the Boilers lost starting center Isaac Haas to an elbow injury in March and fell in the Sweet 16 to Texas Tech. One year later in 2019, Purdue lost one of the great Elite Eight games ever played in overtime to Virginia, who went on to win the national title. Finally, last season’s team — which featured Edey, a lottery pick in Jaden Ivey, and Trevion Williams — was picked off in the Sweet 16 by St. Peter’s. If the Boilers don’t end their season in the Final Four in Houston, everyone around their program will feel again as if something was left on the table.

Murderer’s Row continues for Texas against Baylor
There’s no time for the Longhorns to lick their wounds after Saturday’s 11-point loss at Tennessee. Texas (17-4) — who is 10-3 under acting head coach Rodney Terry — is in the middle of as difficult of a stretch as any team will play this season. After tonight’s game against Baylor (16-5) in Austin, the Longhorns will play back-to-back road games at Kansas State (18-3) and Kansas (17-4). Winning tonight against the Bears at home is imperative if this team wants to keep pace at the top of the Big 12 standings.

Armaan Franklin is playing great basketball for Virginia
Transfers often play better in their second year at a new destination than their first and that appears to be what’s happening with Franklin. The 6-4 guard — who spent the first two years of his college career at Indiana before transferring — is averaging career-highs in points (13.4), rebounds (4.7), field goal percentage (42.9 percent), and three-point field goal percentage (41 percent). He’s had a major hand in Virginia’s 16-3 start entering tonight’s game at Syracuse. Franklin is averaging nearly two more rebounds than he did last season (2.8) and is a significantly more efficient outside shooter. Franklin only shot 29.6 percent from three-point range a year ago.

On The Side

  • Arizona is 19-3 after losing three of the first 33 picks — Bennedict Mathurin, Christian Koloko, and Dalen Terry — of last year’s NBA Draft. Tommy Lloyd is doing just as good — or better — of a coaching job as he did last season when he was named the National Coach of the Year.
  • Kansas State’s 18 wins under Jerome Tang are more than it’s had in a season since 2018-19, which was the last time that this program played in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats only won a combined 34 games in the three seasons prior to this year.
  • San Diego State’s Keshad Johnson is quietly playing the best basketball of his career. The 6-7 senior has stabilized the power forward spot for the Aztecs and is averaging 13.3 points and 9.3 rebounds over his last three games.
  • Marquette (17-5) has 38 assists on its last 63 made field goals.
  • Pitt (15-7) is 5-3 this season in games decided by five points or fewer. All five of those wins have come during ACC play. The Panthers will next travel to North Carolina on Wednesday.

Daily Specials

  • Virginia at Syracuse
  • Baylor at Texas
  • Iowa State at Texas Tech

Leftovers