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
Amari Bailey breaks out for UCLA
Jaylen Clark’s lower leg injury opened the door for someone else in the Bruins’ starting lineup to step up. On Thursday against Colorado, that someone was Bailey. The 6-5 freshman played his best game of the season for UCLA against the Buffaloes in the Pac-12 Tournament, scoring a career-high 26 points while shooting an efficient 8-12 from the field. Bailey’s ability to be a consistent offensive threat alongside Tyger Campbell and Jaime Jaquez is a major storyline to monitor moving forward. The Bruins will play Oregon tonight in Las Vegas in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals.
North Carolina is headed to the NIT
Despite returning four starters —- R.J. Davis, Caleb Love, Leaky Black, and Armando Bacot — from last season’s team that reached the national title game, the Tar Heels will miss the NCAA Tournament after starting the season as the Preseason No. 1 team in the country. This was essentially cemented after North Carolina’s loss to Virginia on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. How did we get here? The Tar Heels definitely missed Brady Manek’s ability to space the floor as a stretch power forward, but in addition to that, the chemistry of this team never really seemed to get into a regular rhythm. This is one of the more disappointing seasons we’ve seen in recent memory.
The Big East Tournament semis should be elite
Championship Week doesn’t normally have quite the same feel as the NCAA Tournament, but the semifinals of the Big East Tournament on a Friday night at the World’s Most Famous Arena comes awfully close. Tonight’s doubleheader at MSG should be stellar as UConn faces Marquette and Xavier takes on Creighton. Regardless of who wins or loses, the quality of those four teams ensures that Saturday’s title game will be top shelf. For many college basketball junkies, tonight’s doubleheader at MSG is their favorite annual event on the college basketball calendar.
Tim Miles is getting “blood from a stone” at San Jose State
Is Miles the most underrated program builder in college basketball? It certainly feels that way. After being the steward of North Dakota State when it transitioned to Division 1, Miles laid strong foundations at both Colorado State and Nebraska as he took both programs to the NCAA Tournament. He’s now only two wins away from doing the same thing at San Jose State, who won its first Mountain West Tournament game in program history on Thursday against Nevada. The Spartans are 20-12 entering today’s semifinal matchup against San Diego State (9 PM ET, CBS Sports Network) after finishing just 8-23 a year ago in Miles’ first season at San Jose State.
The Atlantic 10 again dropped the ball
This conference’s decision to take today completely off from tournament competition and wait until Saturday to play its semifinals is completely asinine. Part of what makes Championship Week so special is the momentum that’s created by games being played one day after the next. The Atlantic 10 clearly missed that memo. After starting its conference tournament on Tuesday at the Barclays Center, this league will wait until Saturday to resume action despite playing games during the past three days.
Leftovers
- The Breakfast Buffet: UConn’s dominance, Andre Jackson, Florida Atlantic’s path is similar to Loyola Chicago in 2018
- The Breakfast Buffet: Things come full circle for Gonzaga and UConn, Kansas State, Rodney Terry
- The Breakfast Buffet: Markquis Nowell, UCLA will always be left wondering what could have been, FAU
- The Breakfast Buffet: Rick Barnes’ best chance to return to the Final Four, Adama Sanogo, Gonzaga/UCLA
- The Breakfast Buffet: Tobin Anderson, the Big East’s roster of head coaches is elite, Bobby Hurley
