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The Breakfast Buffet: Rick Barnes’ best chance to take Tennessee to a Final Four, Michigan State/Purdue, Creighton

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

This is Rick Barnes’ best chance to take Tennessee to a Final Four
The Vols were a No. 2 seed in the 2019 NCAA Tournament and lost to Purdue in overtime in the Sweet 16, but given the landscape of college basketball this season, this year’s team has a better chance of advancing to the sport’s most hallowed showcase. Had Tennessee beaten Purdue and advanced to the Elite Eight four years ago, it still would have then had to play the Virginia team that won the national title to get to the Final Four. This year’s rendition of the Vols doesn’t have the star power that team had with Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield, but Tennessee’s defense, balance, and role allocation is next level good. The Vols have held 15 of their first 21 opponents to 60 points or fewer and are now 18-3 after Saturday’s 82-71 win over Texas. Barnes has only advanced to the Final Four once in his career — 20 years ago when he was at Texas.

Michigan State/Purdue
National Player of the Year favorite Zach Edey tallied 32 points and 17 rebounds in the Boilers’ one-point win over the Spartans on Jan. 16th and the two teams will have a rematch today at Mackey Arena (12:15 PM ET, CBS). One big difference between today’s matchup and the one 13 days ago? Michigan State should have a healthy Malik Hall (10 points, four rebounds). The Spartans are 8-2 when Hall is in the lineup this season and 6-5 when he is not.

Creighton could be this season’s North Carolina
What does that mean exactly? A year ago, the Tar Heels weren’t ranked in the final AP Top 25 prior to the NCAA Tournament and wound up losing to Kansas in the national title game. Could the Bluejays do the same in a few months? Don’t rule it out of the realm of possibility. That doesn’t mean that Creighton (13-8) is guaranteed to do what North Carolina did last season, but its 17-point win over Xavier on Saturday does reiterate that this team has the requisites to make a run in March. Remember: Creighton is 13-5 with Ryan Kalkbrenner — the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year — in the lineup and 0-3 when he is not.

On The Side

  • North Carolina (15-6) has quietly won 10 of its last 12 games with its two losses during that span coming by a combined nine points in road games at Pitt and Virginia. Let’s be honest: Who really wants to see this team on a neutral court in March?
  • UCLA (17-4) can’t come close to reaching its peak until Jaylen Clark starts playing better offensively. The 6-5 Clark is just 7-29 from the field and 1-7 from three-point range in his last three games.
  • In Xavier’s two losses during Big East play, Souley Boum is a combined 2-17 from the field with a total of six points.
  • New Mexico’s Jamal Mashburn Jr. (19.5 points) is the best mid-range shooter in college basketball. And it may not be close.
  • Villanova, Georgetown, and St. John’s — the three Big East programs who played in the 1985 Final Four — will enter today with a combined record of 29-33.

Daily Specials

  • Providence at Villanova
  • Michigan at Penn State
  • Michigan State at Purdue
  • Rutgers at Iowa
  • Drake at Belmont

Leftovers