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The Breakfast Buffet: The Big East still goes through UConn, Iowa State/Kansas, Cincinnati is at a crossroads

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

The Big East still goes through UConn
St. John’s is currently in sole possession of first place in the league standings, but until the back-to-back national champs are officially dethroned, this conference still revolves around the Huskies. Remember: UConn won seven straight games following three losses at the Maui Invitational when it was at full strength with Liam McNeeley (13.6 points, 5.8 rebounds) in the lineup. McNeeley hasn’t played since Jan. 1st due to a high ankle sprain, but his return for Friday night’s game against the Red Storm at Gampel Pavilion feels like a formality. Marquette and Creighton are currently tied for second place behind St. John’s and lead UConn by a game in the Big East standings.

Iowa State/Kansas
The loser of this game is going to have a very difficult time competing for a Big 12 regular season title. The Cyclones are currently 7-3 in league play while the Jayhawks are 6-4. Both are chasing Houston and Arizona, who both only have a single Big 12 loss as of today. Iowa State is coming off back-to-back defeats and suffered a double digit loss in Ames to Kansas State on Saturday while Kansas was outscored 60-30 in the second half against Baylor after building a 19-point halftime lead. The Cyclones won the first meeting between these two teams this season a few weeks ago at Hilton Coliseum. Kansas has never had back-to-back seasons under Bill Self without winning at least a share of the Big 12 regular season title.

Cincinnati is at a crossroads
This was supposed to be the season when this program finally got back to the NCAA Tournament. This was supposed to be the season where the Bearcats finally cemented themselves as a player in the top half of the Big 12. This was supposed to be the season where Wes Miller finally got Cincinnati over the hump and made things nationally relevant at Fifth Third Arena for the first time since 2019, which was the last year that this program was a part of March Madness. Things aren’t going according to plan. The Bearcats fell to 12-9 overall and 2-8 in Big 12 play after Sunday’s home loss to West Virginia. They’ve lost four games in a row and are just 4-9 this season against power conference opponents. Cincinnati is also 0-6 in Quad 1 games this season. The Bearcats — who returned over 75 percent of their scoring from last season’s team that won 20-plus games and advanced to the Postseason NIT — are straddling a fence. They’re either going to turn their season around this week or the memories that this proud program enjoyed under both Bob Huggins and Mick Cronin are going to continue to resonate as nothing more than a distant memory. Cincinnati returns to action on Wednesday in Orlando at UCF.

On The Side

  • Texas A&M is 7-2 this season in games decided by five points or fewer.
  • Gonzaga is trending towards having its lowest NCAA Tournament seed since 2016, when it was an eleven after winning the WCC Tournament.
  • Pitt’s Jaland Lowe (17.4 points, 5.6 assists, 4.4 rebounds) is only a combined 18-48 from the field and 4-14 from three-point range in his last three games. The Panthers need Lowe to be more efficient if they’re going to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the last three seasons. Jeff Capel’s squad will next host Virginia tonight at the Peterson Events Center
  • I’m not giving up on Indiana. The Hoosiers were inches away from beating Maryland and Purdue in their last two games, but came up just short. The next six games that this team will play will be Quad 1 opportunities. There’s plenty of time for Mike Woodson’s team to play its way into March Madness.
  • Marist is chasing its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1987. The Red Foxes are currently 16-3 and in sole possession of first place in the MAAC. standings.

Daily Specials

  • Virginia at Pitt
  • Incarnate Word at McNeese
  • Charleston at William & Mary
  • North Texas at UAB
  • Iowa State at Kansas

Leftovers