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Five things we learned from Round 1 of the NCAA Tournament in San Diego

AP Photo/Ben McKeown)

By Jack McCarthy

As we move into the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament, here are five things we learned from the squads that faced off in San Diego:

Arizona looks like the frontrunner to take home the trophy

In other regions, a couple No. 1 seeds struggled to defeat their No. 16 seed opponents. On Thursday, Duke was down by as much as 13 to Siena before rattling back and just coming up with enough at the end. On that same day Michigan had first half struggles against Howard. Arizona, on the other hand, put their matchup against LIU to bed before the first media timeout.

They pose such a tremendous threat with their size and length and have matched up well with every type of opponent they’ve faced. 

 

No. 9 seed Utah State awaits them in the Round of 32, where it’s a clash of similar styles. Arizona will need to build off of their physicality in the win Friday against Long Island University if they want to move onto the second weekend.

 

St. John’s was severely underseeded

St. John’s has been given its fair share of unappreciation over the last couple of weeks. The Big East Champion, who beat the now No. 2 seed UConn Huskies by 20, was given a No. 5 seed for its work, and Zuby Ejifor was shockingly left off any AP All-American teams. The Big East was certainly down this year, with Creighton and Marquette, two tournament usuals, taking steps back, but the Red Storm still went a blistering 18-2 in the league. 

Their reward? A No. 5 seed in overall No. 1 seed Duke’s regional, with Darryn Peterson and a healthy Kansas waiting in the wings in the Round of 32. 

Friday’s game against No. 12 seed Northern Iowa showcased the committee’s error. It was destruction from the jump. St. John’s jumped out to a 20-3 lead in a little over seven minutes and didn’t look back. 

 

The only positive to come from this? Well, for NCAA Tournament enjoyers, you get a juicy Round of 32 matchup between a St. John’s team out to prove the committee wrong and a Darryn Peterson-led Kansas squad. 

 

Darryn Peterson can push Kansas to a Final Four 

The projected No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft struggled to get going Friday, hitting zero shots on his first six attempts against No. 13 seed California Baptist. From there, he found his shot, going 11-for-18 the rest of the way. 

 

The kid is projected to be an NBA superstar, and drowning out all the noise thrown his way this season, Peterson has all the necessary tools to push this Jayhawks team to make a deep run in arguably the most difficult region in the tournament. 

 

The Mid-Major level has hoopers 

California Baptist’s Dominique Daniels Jr. is a flamethrower. Die-hard fans of the sport knew this; he’s the fifth-leading scorer in the country, averaging 23.2 points per game. Daniels Jr. has been stellar with California Baptist for three years now, not turning away from the program that took him in from the JUCO level. 

Like Peterson, he struggled to get going, only hitting one shot on ten attempts in the first half. 

The Lancers found themselves down by as many as 26 points. That’s when Daniels Jr. turned it on. The 5-foot-10 guard had some elite space creation, brushing off defenders and scoring at will. His energy and shot-making led the Lancers all the way back to within six before eventually coming up just short.

 

The NIL and revenue sharing era in college athletics has led to a narrative that smaller schools can’t grab and maintain talent. Daniels Jr. proved every one of those people wrong.   

 

Cinderella isn’t dead; the committee just got better at seeding 

Outside of a few blunders (see St. John’s), the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee has done a great job at seeding teams the last couple of years. The proof? Less and less lower-seeded teams making deep runs in the tournament. With the help of improved computer metrics and a growing disparity between the top and the rest, it’s becoming glaringly more apparent what seed line a team should be placed on.

 

Yes, I know, it creates a worse watching experience when all of the top-seeded teams win, but if the committee had a decade ago the resources they have now, maybe some of the Cinderella runs wouldn’t be considered so. 

Should Loyola Chicago in 2018, the most famous Cinderella run in recent memory, really have been a No. 11 seed? Mind you, they went 25-5 in a regular season that included a win on the road against No. 5 Florida. 

With the NET, Kenpom and all of the other metrics at the committee’s fingertips, expect this trend to continue in the future.

 

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