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The Breakfast Buffet: Texas A&M begins a massive stretch, Memphis, Michigan State/Arizona

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

Texas A&M begins a massive stretch
Are the Aggies a bonafide threat to win the SEC and earn a high seed in the NCAA Tournament? The next month will give us a pretty good indication. Starting with today’s first-round matchup against Penn State in the ESPN Events Invitational., Buzz Williams’ squad will potentially play seven straight games against power conference opponents. After three games this weekend in Orlando, Texas A&M will travel to Virginia in the ACC/SEC Challenge before back-to-back home games against DePaul and Memphis followed by a neutral site game with Houston. Things are about to get real for the Aggies, who enter today’s game at 4-0.

Memphis is the team to watch in the Battle 4 Atlantis
The Tigers were an afterthought to many at the start of the season, but they’re definitely not an afterthought now. Memphis is 4-0 after Wednesday night’s win against Michigan and will face Arkansas today in the Bahamas. This isn’t the most talented team that Penny Hardaway has had as a head coach, but it feels like this squad has the most substance. Memphis’ starting five — Jahvon Quinerly, Caleb Mills, Jaykwon Walton, David Jones, and Jordan Brown — currently has an average age of 23 years old.

Michigan State tries to slow down Arizona
If the Spartans try to run with the Wildcats today in Palm Springs, they’ll essentially be trying to push a boulder up a hill. According to the analytics website KenPom.com, Arizona’s enters today’s matchup against Michigan State ranked 10th nationally in adjusted tempo. The Spartans meanwhile, are ranked 329th. Arizona has also been an awesome offensive team — as usual — under Tommy Lloyd and enters today’s game averaging 99.6 points. It’s a golden opportunity for Tom Izzo’s squad to make a national statement after early losses to both James Madison and Duke. Michigan State enters today’s game averaging 74 points and shooting just 26.3 percent from three-point range as a team.

On The Side

  • Purdue is 29-2 in its last 31 non-conference games. The two losses? Fairleigh Dickinson and St. Peter’s in the last two NCAA Tournaments.
  • Marquette’s Sean Jones is not Briante Weber, but he’s the best on-ball defender that Shaka Smart has coached since Weber starred for him at VCU.
  • Indiana (4-1) will not make the 2024 NCAA Tournament unless it starts getting more out of Mackenzie Mgbako. The 6-8 freshman is averaging just five points and 2.4 rebounds through the Hoosiers’ first five games while shooting just 1-13 from three-point range. “He’s still learning,” Indiana head coach Mike Woodson said of Mgbako after the Hoosiers beat Louisville on Monday at MSG. “The expectations are what they are because he’s a ‘five-star’, but what is that really? He’s still a young guy.”
  • Xavier (3-2) will begin a six-game home stand on Friday against Bryant. The Musketeers will not return to the road until they play at St. John’s on Dec. 20th to open Big East play.
  • Five teams from the Mountain West — San Diego State, Boise State, New Mexico, Nevada, and Colorado State — look like they’re capable of competing for bids to the NCAA Tournament. The conference has had four teams hear their names called on Selection Sunday in each of the past two seasons.

Daily Specials

  • North Carolina/Villanova (Battle 4 Atlantis)
  • Arkansas/Memphis (Battle 4 Atlantis)
  • Arizona/Michigan State (Palm Springs)
  • Creighton/Colorado State (Kansas CIty)
  • USC/Seton Hall (San Diego)

Leftovers