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The Breakfast Buffet: St. John’s, Dug McDaniel steps up a weight class, TCU/Utah

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

St. John’s moves into the eye of the storm
The Red Storm are 11-1 entering tonight’s Big East road opener at Villanova (6-5), but are ranked 337th out of 363 teams in strength of schedule according to the analytics website KenPom.com. In fairness to the people who put together St. John’s non-conference schedule, no one knew that Florida State (3-10) — who the Red Storm beat last Saturday in what was supposed to be a key non-conference game — was going to have a subpar season due to injuries. Nevertheless, St. John’s is going to have to do serious work in the Big East to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. How much work does that entail? Considering that only four teams in the Big East — UConn, Creighton, Xavier, and Marquette — are currently ranked in the Top 50 of the NET, it will probably take 12 or 13 wins during league play for the Red Storm to be comfortably in the bracket on Selection Sunday. St. John’s has played one game so far this season against a team that is projected to be in the NCAA Tournament and it lost at Iowa State by 11 on Dec. 4th.

Dug McDaniel steps up a weight class
Michigan’s freshman point guard — who was inserted into the Wolverines’ starting lineup when Jaelin Llewellyn was lost for the year with a knee injury — has averaged 11 points, five assists, and five rebounds in his last two games against Lipscomb and Minnesota. The caliber of competition gets raised significantly tonight when McDaniel goes against North Carolina’s two-headed monster of R.J. Davis (15.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists) and Caleb Love (18.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists) as part of the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte. Michigan (7-3) does not currently have a win on its resume over a team that is projected to be in the NCAA Tournament.

TCU/Utah
If you plan on filling out a bracket in March, it would be in your best interest to start studying TCU (9-1). The Horned Frogs’ only loss this season came against Northwestern State, but they didn’t have their starting backcourt — Mike Miles and Damion Baugh — available for the game. TCU also has five starters back from last year’s team that nearly beat Arizona in the second round of the NCAA Tournament and is eerily similar to the teams that Jamie Dixon had while he was at Pitt. Utah (9-3) has already beaten Arizona and appears primed to compete for an NCAA Tournament berth in its second season under Craig Smith. This should be a fun game at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City.

On The Side

  • Creighton’s five starters — Ryan Nembhard, Trey Alexander, Baylor Scheierman, Arthur Kaluma, and Ryan Kalkbrenner — are combining to average 83.6 percent of the Bluejays’ points. The 7-1 Kalkbrenner — the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year — has missed the last three games due to illness. Creighton has lost six straight games and will next host Butler on Thursday.
  • The unsung presence during Kansas State’s 10-1 start is Nae’Qwan Tomlin. The 6-10 forward is averaging 14 points and 7.5 rebounds in his last four games all while giving the Wildcats a third scoring option behind Keyontae Johnson (17.8 points) and Markquis Nowell (14 points).
  • Arizona State has a dangerous pre-Christmas break game tonight at San Francisco. The Dons are coming off a loss earlier in the week against UT Arlington, but recently won at UNLV last weekend. Tip off is at 10 PM ET on CBS Sports Network.
  • Oregon’s Keeshawn Barthelemy (ankle) is out until some time in January, a source told College Hoops Today on Tuesday. The 6-2 Barthelemy has only appeared in four games this season and averages 8.5 points. He’s one of multiple starters who are currently out of the lineup for the Ducks.
  • The WCC will go to a 16-game, double round-robin format for league scheduling beginning in the 2023-24 season following BYU’s departure to the Big 12, multiple sources told College Hoops Today.

Daily Specials

  • St. John’s at Villanova
  • Michigan/North Carolina (Charlotte)
  • TCU/Utah (Salt Lake City)
  • Auburn at Washington
  • Colorado State/USC (Phoenix)

Leftovers