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The Breakfast Buffet: St. John’s has its biggest week in a long time, Johni Broome, Chance McMillian

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 has its biggest week in a long time
This is where they say “the plot thickens”. Rick Pitino’s second season with the Red Storm now features a 19-3 record through 22 games, but the level of this team’s ceiling may ultimately be measured by how it performs in its next two games. St. John’s will host Marquette tonight at MSG and then travel to Storrs on Friday to play UConn. A pair of wins would put this program in position to win its first Big East regular season title since the 1991-92 season, which was Lou Carnesecca’s final year as head coach. It would also give the Red Storm — who are just 1-3 in Quad 1 games this season — two more Quad 1 wins, which could massively boost their potential seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. This is the biggest week that St. John’s — who has not won a game in the NCAA Tournament since 2000 — has had in a long time.

Johni Broome’s level of competition should be taken into account when discussing the National Player of the Year race
Broome (18.3 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.7 blocks) and Duke’s Cooper Flagg (20.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.5 steals) have clearly separated themselves as the top two players in the sport this season and that’s not debatable. Neither is the level of competition that Broome has faced on a nightly basis compared to Flagg. As of today, Auburn is 12-1 in Quad 1 games this season while Duke is 5-2. Broome played in 12 of those games and missed one due to injury. Both of these players are terrific and both deserve all of the praise that they’ve currently received and will continue to receive. But the SEC had 13 teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament in last week’s BRACKET BREAKDOWN and the ACC only had four. As of today, Broome gets my vote for National Player of the Year. Auburn returns to action tonight at home against Oklahoma.

Chance McMillian is quietly having an All-Big 12 season for Texas Tech
The Red Raiders officially arrived on the national scene after Saturday’s overtime win at Houston and this guy is a major part of their overall operation. The 6-3 McMillian enters tonight’s game in Lubbock against Baylor averaging career-high averages in points (15.4), field-goal percentage (54.5), three-point field-goal percentage (45.5), and rebounds (4.3). His floor spacing is a major reason why this rendition of Texas Tech is the best offensive team that Grant McCasland has had as a head coach. McMillian has made at least two three-point shots in each of his last five games.

On The Side

  • Think Kentucky missed Lamont Butler last week? The Wildcats tallied 25 assists to 27 turnovers last week in two games without their starting point guard. Mark Pope’s squad visits Ole Miss tonight in Oxford.
  • Tonight’s meeting between Michigan State and UCLA in Westwood is only the third-ever head-to-head meeting between Tom Izzo and Mick Cronin. The two have split the first two meetings, with Cronin’s victory coming in the First Four of the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
  • Wisconsin’s John Tonje has regained his early season form when he was playing like an All-American. The 6-5 guard is averaging 25.3 points while shooting 53.2 percent from three-point range and 56.8 percent from three-point range in his last four games. The Badgers will host Indiana tonight in Madison.
  • A salute to Leonard Hamilton, who announced on Monday that he’s resigning at the end of the 2024-25 season following a long and prosperous career at Florida State. There’s not many better people in this business than Hamilton, who truly cared for his players off the court as much or more as he did on the court. He’ll be deeply missed by all of us in the college basketball community.
  • Louisville’s Pat Kelsey was this week’s guest on the College Hoops Today Podcast.

Daily Specials

  • Marquette at St. John’s
  • Kentucky at Ole Miss
  • Oklahoma at Auburn
  • Michigan State at UCLA
  • Baylor at Texas Tech

Leftovers