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The Breakfast Buffet: UConn takes aim at Big East title, Gonzaga, Kentucky’s offense

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

UConn takes aim at an outright Big East regular season title
The last time that the Huskies won an outright league championship? 1999, which was also the year that this program won its first national title under Jim Calhoun. Following Marquette’s loss on Saturday at Creighton, UConn can now clinch an outright Big East regular season title with a win today against Seton Hall at Gampel Pavilion. The Pirates are one of three teams to beat the Huskies this season. Tip off is at Noon ET on CBS.

Gonzaga’s NCAA Tournament streak will remain intact
Nothing will be left up to chance. There will be no added pressure to earn an automatic qualifier at the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas in a week. The Bulldogs dominated Saint Mary’s from tip to finish on Saturday night in Moraga, earning a 70-57 win and their third Quad 1 victory of the season thus cementing their place in March Madness once again. Gonzaga last missed the NCAA Tournament in 1998. The most amazing thing about the Bulldogs’ performance against Saint Mary’s? Gonzaga didn’t just look like a team that deserves to be in the NCAA Tournament — it looks like a team that can advance in the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky’s offense is doing historical things
We’ll get to the Wildcats’ defense in a minute, but first, let’s talk about how well how potent this team is offensively. For the sixth time this season, Kentucky scored 100 or more points when it dropped 111 on Arkansas in Saturday’s nine-point win at Rupp Arena. That means that the Wildcats have scored 100 or more points in 20.7 percent of the games that they’ve played this season. Prior to this season, this program had only scored 100 or more points 18 times in 497 games under John Calipari — that’s only 3.6 percent. Kentucky is currently averaging 89.5 points, which is the most that it’s ever averaged in the Calipari era. And its defense? That’s still an issue. The Wildcats are allowing an average of 95.3 points in their last three games. This team can win a national title or lose in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

On The Side

  • Kansas now has seven conference losses following Saturday’s loss against Baylor in Waco. That’s the most conference losses that the Jayhawks have had since the 1988-89 season, which was Roy Williams’ first year in Lawrence.
  • Alabama was averaging 100.4 points in the seven games prior to Saturday night’s game against Tennessee. The Vols held the Crimson Tide to 74 in the seven-point victory.
  • Florida Atlantic’s Vlad Goldin is averaging 19.6 points and 5.2 rebounds in his last five games. He averaged 7.2 points and 7.4 rebounds in last year’s NCAA Tournament when the Owls advanced to the Final Four.
  • USC is the bid stealer to watch at the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas. Remember: Despite their 12-17 record, the Trojans likely have the conference’s second-most talented roster behind Arizona.
  • Providence is not out of the at-large picture for the NCAA Tournament, but the Friars have to win their final two regular season games after losing at home on Saturday to Villanova. Kim English’s squad will travel to Georgetown this week and then return to Rhode Island next Saturday to host UConn. That means that there’s one person who can single handedly knock Providence out of the at-large discussion — Ed Cooley.

Daily Specials

  • Seton Hall at UConn
  • Michigan at Ohio State
  • UAB at Memphis
  • Rutgers at Nebraska
  • Stanford at Colorado

Leftovers

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