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The Breakfast Buffet: Villanova aims to bounce back, Ohio State, St. Bonaventure

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

Villanova aims to bounce back
The Wildcats’ first Big East game of the year tonight at Creighton (8-3) will also be Villanova’s fourth true road game of the young season. That’s pretty incredible considering it’s only Dec. 17th. It’s also the first time that Villanova (7-3) will play since it scored just 36 points and shot 22.2 percent from the field in a 21-point loss to Baylor on Sunday in Waco. The Big East is off to an incredible start as a conference and Creighton has proved that it’s a capable piece of that equation, as evidenced by the Jays’ win over BYU last Saturday in South Dakota. This is the game of the night in college basketball.

Wendell Moore’s jump has been massive
Most players make their biggest jumps from their freshman to sophomore seasons. Moore has made his as he transitioned from being a sophomore to being a junior. The 6-5 wing had a near flawless effort in Duke’s 92-67 win over Appalachian State on Thursday night, finishing with 21 points, five rebounds, and six assists while shooting 8-11 from the field and 4-4 from three-point range. It was a microcosm of Moore’s season thus far. After averaging 9.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists while shooting just 41.7 percent from the field a year ago, Moore entered Thursday night’s game with averages of 17 points, six rebounds, and five assists with a shooting percentage of 56.7 percent from the field. That’s a significant jump. This could wind up being the Blue Devils’ second-most important player after Paolo Banchero.

St. Bonaventure’s final “showcase game”
An ankle injury to star guard Kyle Lofton has taken a little air out of the Bonnies’ potential dream season, but this is still a team that can make a run in the NCAA Tournament when it’s at full strength. The problem for St. Bonaventure (8-2) now moving forward is going to be its lack of opportunities against teams that are in the hunt to hear their names called on Selection Sunday. That includes Virginia Tech (7-4), who the Bonnies will play later today in Charlotte in a neutral site contest. While the Hokies and the rest of the ACC haven’t had the start to the season that both envisioned, the Atlantic 10 is in a similar predicament. Other than St. Bonaventure, there is no team currently in the Atlantic 10 that is a legitimate at-large candidate for the NCAA Tournament. A win today against Virginia Tech won’t go as far as the Bonnies had hoped when they scheduled this game during the offseason, but beating an ACC team on a neutral floor is likely going to be a more high profile opportunity than St. Bonaventure will have until its first game of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.

On The Side

  • The Big East is now 91-24 as a conference. 10 teams from the league have winning percentages of 70 percent or better. No team is under .500. Barring cannibalization, seven NCAA bids feels like an attainable goal.
  • Kansas needs more out of Jalen Wilson. The 6-8 forward has yet to score in double figures this season after opening the year with a three-game suspension due to a DUI. In Wilson’s first six games of last year he averaged 16.3 points and nine rebounds.
  • Michigan State’s two primary centers — Marcus Bingham and Julius Marble — are combining to form an All-Big Ten First-Team caliber big man. Bingham and Marble are averaging 16 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 3.4 blocks as a duo. The Spartans are 9-2 and will play Oakland on Dec. 21st on Tuesday in Detroit.
  • San Francisco (10-0) is going to have to play very well this weekend to remain undefeated. The Dons will face Grand Canyon on Saturday in Phoenix and then visit Arizona State on Sunday.
  • Many people — including myself — thought that Washington State would be a dark horse NCAA Tournament in 2022. The Cougars are now 7-4 and have lost three buy games. The only way this team will hear its name called on Selection Sunday is if it wins the Pac-12 Tournament.

Daily Specials

  • Richmond/NC State (Charlotte)
  • St. Bonaventure/Virginia Tech (Charlotte)
  • Villanova at Creighton
  • Wake Forest/Charlotte (Charlotte)
  • Saint Mary’s/San Diego State (Phoenix)

Leftovers