College Hoops Today

Serving College Basketball 365 Days a Year

The Breakfast Buffet: San Diego State has maximized the “COVID” senior, UConn’s bench, Miami emerging as flagship program in ACC

Here’s today’s installment of “The Breakfast Buffet”, the morning column 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

San Diego State has maximized the “COVID” senior
Additional years of eligibility for players who were in school when the 2020 NCAA Tournament was cancelled due to COVID has changed college basketball over the past few years. Not many programs have taken advantage of it more than San Diego State. Four players in the Aztecs’ rotation — Matt Bradley, Nathan Mensah, Adam Seiko, and Aguek Arop — are in at least their fifth season of college basketball. That type of experience can’t be understated.

UConn’s bench has been outstanding in the NCAA Tournament
The Huskies’ elite troika of Adama Sanogo, Jordan Hawkins, and Andre Jackson is one of the primary reasons why this team has advanced to the Final Four, but it would be foolish to ignore the reinforcements that UConn has in reserve. The Huskies are averaging 21 points off the bench in four NCAA Tournament games with reserves like Donovan Clingan, Nahiem Alleyne, and Joey Calcaterra all playing major roles. Alleyne and Calcaterra are a combined 12-25 from three-point range in the NCAA Tournament.

Miami is emerging as a flagship program in the ACC
That is not a misprint. With a state of transition at both Duke and North Carolina, the top of the ACC is now wide open on an annual basis. The Hurricanes have taken full advantage. Over the past two seasons, Miami is a combined 55-18 entering Saturday’s Final Four matchup with UConn. Jim Larranaga’s team advanced to the Elite Eight last season and lost to Kansas, who was the eventual national champion. Another reason for the Hurricanes’ rise in the ACC? Virginia hasn’t won a game in the NCAA Tournament since it won the 2019 national title and Florida State — who was a force at the top of the league from 2016-21 — has missed the last two NCAA Tournaments.

On The Side

  • Florida Atlantic was picked FIFTH in the Conference-USA Preseason Poll. On Saturday, it will play in the Final Four. Anarchy? Nope. Just College Basketball.
  • 16 of the 20 projected starters in the Final Four were in their respective programs a year ago. Player retention matters.
  • Jim Larranaga has a career record of 16-10 in the NCAA Tournament. That’s pretty incredible when you consider that all of those games were played when he was either at Miami or George Mason.
  • Since losing at home to Xavier on Jan. 25th, UConn’s averaging margin of victory is 16.1 points.
  • Penn State has offered its head coaching vacancy to VCU’s Mike Rhoades, with an annual salary of over $3 million dollars, a source told College Hoops Today.

Leftovers