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The Breakfast Buffet: San Diego State’s big opportunity, Missouri/Illinois, Clemson

Who’s hungry for college basketball?

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

San Diego State has a golden opportunity at Arizona State
It’s getting harder and harder for programs outside of power conferences to build a legitimate at-large resume for the NCAA Tournament. San Diego State can take another step towards that goal with a win tonight at Arizona State. The Aztecs already have a victory over UCLA on their resume and a second win over a top tier Pac-12 team — this time on the road — would travel all the way to Selection Sunday with significance. Brian Dutcher’s team is 4-0 overall and also still has games on its schedule against both BYU and Saint Mary’s before jumping into league play in the Mountain West. 

Missouri and Illinois are on a collision course
The annual “Braggin’ Rights” game appears to have more cache than usual as both Missouri and Illinois appear to be on their way towards special seasons. The Tigers are a perfect 4-0 after Wednesday night’s win over Liberty and have the depth, experience, and guard play to be a major player in the SEC. Illinois meanwhile, clearly has its best team since it went to the 2005 national title game and should accept nothing less than a deep run in the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Saturday’s game in Columbia will be the first time since 1979 that this annual game has been held on campus. 

Clemson’s defense is a real thing
The ACC’s sleeper team is stifling everyone it plays and that includes a pair of Big Ten squads in Purdue and Maryland. The Tigers held the Terps to just 51 points in Wednesday’s 16-point win as they moved to 4-0 on the season. Brad Brownell’s squad is holding opponents to an average of just 50.3 points while averaging nine steals as a team. Clemson will next face Alabama on Saturday in a neutral site game in Atlanta.

On The Side

  • Florida State’s two-point win over Indiana on Wednesday night was the 10th straight game that the Seminoles have won in overtime. Leonard Hamilton used a total of 12 players in the victory, further reiterating that Florida State’s greatest strength will once again be its depth. 
  • Minnesota’s Marcus Carr is playing like an All-American. The veteran point guard is averaging 25.6 points, 4.4 rebounds, and six assists through five games for the Gophers, who host UMKC tonight. Richard Pitino’s squad is 5-0 overall.
  • We’re starting to see why Richmond’s staff privately feels that Tyler Burton is the Spiders’ best long term prospect. The 6-7 forward stepped into the starting lineup when Nick Sherod was lost for the year to injury and is now starting to hit his stride. Burton had 21 points and 13 rebounds in Wednesday’s win over Northern Iowa and has reached double figures in three consecutive games. 
  • The entire narrative surrounding Georgia Tech’s season has changed in the last 72 hours. The Yellow Jackets were in purgatory after opening the year with back-to-back losses against Georgia State and Mercer. Now they’ve got tangible momentum after consecutive wins over Kentucky and Nebraska.
  • 78.9 percent of all scheduled games in college basketball have been played since Nov. 25th. That’s a major win considering that the sport is trying to operate in the middle of a once-in-a-century global pandemic.

Daily Specials

  • San Diego State at Arizona State

Leftovers: