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The Breakfast Buffet: Rick Barnes’ best chance to return to the Final Four, Adama Sanogo, Gonzaga/UCLA

Here’s today’s installment of “The Breakfast Buffet”, the morning column 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

This is Rick Barnes’ best chance to return to the Final Four
The 68-year old Barnes led Texas to college basketball’s most hallowed showcase 20 years ago in 2003 and hasn’t been back since. He’s get an outstanding chance to change that over the next few days at Madison Square Garden. Tennessee — who dominated Duke in the Round of 32 — lost its starting point guard Zakai Zeigler a few weeks ago to a season-ending knee injury, but still has enough to win two more games and get to Houston. The Vols are far and away the most physically imposing team left in the East Region. They’ll aim to advance to their first Elite Eight under Barnes tonight against Florida Atlantic at the World’s Most Famous Arena. Tip off is at 9 PM ET on TBS. The winner of tonight’s game will play the winner of Kansas State/Michigan State on Saturday.

Adama Sanogo should present all sorts of problems for Arkansas
UConn’s broad shouldered big man is averaging 26 points and 10.5 rebounds in two NCAA Tournament games and his dominance is unlikely is slow down tonight against the Razorbacks in Las Vegas (7:15 PM ET, CBS). Arkansas simply does not have the interior girth to slow down Sanogo individually in the low post. If the Huskies can limit their turnovers and attack the Razorbacks at the front of the rim, they’ve got an excellent chance to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2014, which was the last time that this program won a national title.

Gonzaga/UCLA
An elite contrast in styles, this showdown tonight in Las Vegas is the premier game of the Sweet 16 (9:45 PM ET, CBS). According to the analytics website KenPom.com, Gonzaga is the No. 1 offense in college basketball and UCLA is the No. 2 defense. The Bulldogs are averaging 83 points in two NCAA Tournament games while the Bruins are only allowing an average of 58 points thus far in the bracket. Tempo will be a big key in this game in order to determine who will advance to the Elite Eight and have a chance to go back to the Final Four.

On The Side

  • Kansas State’s Jerome Tang was the head coach of Heritage Christian Academy (HS) in 2000 when Tom Izzo and Michigan State won the national title. Tonight, the two will go head-to-head in the Sweet 16 at Madison Square Garden. America!
  • UCLA’s Tyger Campbell has 17 assists and just two turnovers in the NCAA Tournament.
  • The scary thing about UConn? The Huskies still haven’t seen peak Jordan Hawkins in the NCAA Tournament. The 6-5 sophomore is averaging 12.5 points in his last two games and is more than capable of exploding this weekend in Las Vegas. Hawkins is also 7-12 from three-point range in the NCAA Tournament.
  • Florida Atlantic enters tonight’s Sweet 16 matchup against Tennessee with 33 wins. It won 32 games combined in the two seasons prior.
  • Malachi Smith could be a wildcard for Gonzaga tonight against UCLA. A potent reserve, Smith scored 11 points off the bench in the Round of 32 against TCU and had 14 points off the bench in the WCC Tournament title game against Saint Mary’s.

Leftovers