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The Breakfast Buffet: Texas, The SEC, Houston/SMU

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 is a contender for the Big 12 regular season title
That means that the Longhorns are good enough to compete with Baylor. If you’re good enough to compete with Baylor then you’re good enough to earn a high seed in the NCAA Tournament. Texas’ 25-point thrashing of Kansas on Saturday at Phog Allen Fieldhouse was the worst home loss that the Jayhawks have ever had under Bill Self. The margin of victory may have been surprising, but the result was not. Texas’ personnel is clearly better than Kansas’ on paper and that’s not a debatable argument. There was a growing sentiment entering this season that this was going to be Shaka Smart’s best team yet in Austin; Saturday’s result reiterated that notion. Texas has all the requisites. 

The SEC is one jumbled mess
There’s many mysteries in this conference beyond Kentucky’s 2-6 start. Just three days after Tennessee blitzed Missouri by 20 points in Columbia, the Vols were beaten at home by Alabama. Arkansas, LSU, and Florida all look like they have potential to be in the mix for a bid to the NCAA Tournament, but we still don’t have a true gauge as to what their individual ceilings are. The only thing that’s for sure right now in the SEC? Nothing’s for sure. 

Houston’s trip to SMU
The two top teams in the American Athletic Conference will do battle tonight in what is likely the first time this season that many college basketball fans will get an up close look at the Ponies. It says here that they will be impressed. SMU has guard play, size, and quality depth. Houston meanwhile, is looking to bounce back from a close loss earlier this week at Tulsa. If Tim Jankovich’s team is going to make the NCAA Tournament in a few months, this is the type of game that it needs to win. SMU enters tonight’s game at Moody Coliseum at 6-0.

On The Side

  • Iowa has a future star in freshman Keegan Murray. The 6-8 forward had 14 points and nine rebounds in the Hawkeyes’ win over Rutgers on Saturday and also scored nine points in 21 minutes earlier in the week against Northwestern. Remember the name.
  • Creighton is now 3-1 in true road games this season, with the lone defeat occurring on the road at Kansas by a single point. Greg McDermott’s squad will play four of its next five games in Omaha.
  • Michigan State freshman A.J. Hoggard continues to look like the Spartans’ best option at point guard. The broad shouldered floor general started in Saturday night’s win over Nebraska and handed out five assists in the victory. Hoggard is the only pure playmaker on this team’s roster. 
  • UCLA played arguably its best defensive game of the season in Saturday’s 65-62 win over Colorado just hours after it announced star forward Chris Smith is done for the year with a torn ACL. What does that mean for the Bruins long term? Mick Cronin’s team doesn’t have what it had, but it still has enough. 
  • Back-to-back games for mid-major teams at the same location is an interesting dynamic to follow. Earlier this week, Boise State beat San Jose State by 52 points. On Saturday, the Broncos won by one. Anarchy? Nope. Just college basketball. 

Daily Specials

  • Ohio State at Minnesota
  • Wake Forest at Georgia Tech
  • Southern Illinois at Drake
  • Houston at SMU
  • Northwestern at Michigan

Leftovers: