There was plenty of conjecture in advance of the NCAA Tournament selections about the possibility Rick Pitino might face off against his son, Richard, in a First Four game in Dayton as both teams fought to be included in the field.
But who ever imagined the son would outdo the father this season?
Richard’s New Mexico squad qualified for the tournament by winning the Mountain West Conference championship Saturday evening. And, based on the No. 11 seed assigned to the Lobos even after the victory against San Diego State, they needed to win that automatic bid.
Rick Pitino’s St. John’s team was not among those selected for an at-large berth, making this only the fifth of his past 26 teams to miss March Madness.
Richard has done a fine job energizing the UNM program after struggling to break through to consistent success at Minnesota. His Gophers reached the NCAAs twice in eight seasons. This is his first appearance at New Mexico in his third year since becoming head coach.
One of the stars of this team, by the way, is the son of a guy who played for his father: Jamal Mashburn Jr.’s father quite obviously was Jamal Mashburn Sr., who was an All-American on Kentucky’s 1993 Final Four team.
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All-West Region team
C – PJ Hall, Clemson
F – DaRon Holmes, Dayton
G – RJ Davis, North Carolina
G – Mark Sears, Alabama
G – Caleb Love, Arizona
Best West Region first-round game
No. 6 Clemson vs. No. 11 New Mexico
The Lobos are as fun to watch as almost anyone in this tournament. They play faster than 98 percent of the teams in Division I, but even at that pace they manage to be effective defensively. Guards Jaelen House and Jamal Mashburn Jr., each the son of a former NBA star, average a combined 30 points.
Clemson has a way of dropping the most consequential games, a habit that seemed to break with its monumental road win at North Carolina in February, but that was revisited in a shockingly one-sided ACC Tournament loss to middling Boston College.
Despite the seed disparity, Clemson is an underdog by 1.5 points.
EXPERT PICKS: DeCourcy (UConn) | Bender (UConn) | Iyer (UConn) | Yanchulis (South Carolina women)
Seeded too high
No. 7 Dayton.
There was no challenge too great for the Flyers to fail to meet it. They played two NCAA Tournament teams in non-conference. Lost both. They played on the road against the teams that finished first, second, fourth, fifth and sixth in the Atlantic 10. They were 1-4 in those games.
These were the 2024 NCAA Tournament teams Dayton beat in the regular season: No. 16 seed Grambling State, No. 16 seed Longwood, No. 14 seed Oakland and No. 11 seed Duquesne, whom Dayton allowed into the field by losing to the Dukes in an A-10 tournament quarterfinal.
Seriously, a team with a resume like this was fortunate to be included. That they wound up on the No. 7 line is unimaginable.
HISTORY OF UPSETS BY SEED:
16 vs. 1 | 15 vs. 2 | 14 vs. 3 | 13 vs. 4 | 12 vs. 5
Seeded too low
No. 10 Nevada
Part of the mysterious seed rampage against Mountain West teams, the Wolf Pack were stuck with a No. 10 seed despite six Quad 1 wins and an 8-6 record against the first two quadrants. That’s a lower seed than TCU, whom the Pack beat on a neutral court.
Nevada had conference road wins against Boise State, Colorado State and Utah State.
Upset special
No. 10 Nevada over No. 7 Dayton
The people of Dayton may be the nicest in college basketball, including coach Anthony Grant. So there is no pleasure in saying this: The next impressive win for this group of Flyers will be the first. Maybe now is the time. Nevada can be inconsistent with its attention to detail. But the Pack have been a better basketball team. That helps explain why they’re favored by books to win the game.
MORE: Bracket busters to watch in 2024 March Madness
Best potential game
No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 2 Arizona, possible Elite Eight
The disconnect within the North Carolina roster in 2022-23 – the season after the same players carried the Tar Heels to the NCAA Championship game – was the most open secret in college basketball throughout that failed season for Carolina.
It was obvious how uncomfortable their association had become throughout last season, when the Tar Heels were considered a title favorite but missed the tournament entirely. After center Armando Bacot and guard RJ Davis chose to return for this season, Love announced he would be transferring.
Bacot compared it to a crumbling marriage. “Caleb, that’s my guy. He’s one of those guys I would say that’ll be Carolina forever, for sure,” Bacot told Inside Carolina.” It’s one of those things where like, yeah, it was a divorce. But I mean, we still love him. We’ve got kids together.”
Come on, you know you want to see this game!
PRINTABLE: Download a 2024 March Madness bracket here
Best potential player matchup
Mark Sears, Alabama vs. RJ Davis, North Carolina, possible Sweet 16
Davis is 6-0, 180 pounds and averaged 21.4 points on 43.1 percent shooting and 40.6 from 3-point range. Sears is 6-1, 185 and averaged 21.1 points on 50.4 percent accuracy and 43.1 percent from 3-point range.
They practically were made to challenge each other.
SN AWARDS: Men's 2024 All-America teams | Player of the Year | Coach of the Year
Get to know
Colgate coach Matt Langel.
How Langel still is the coach at Colgate is one of those mysteries that persist in college basketball. The level of consistency he has produced is no guarantee he would succeed at a higher level. But five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from a one-bid league says a lot. Colgate has won 87 percent of its Patriot League games in those seasons.
Trained by one of the great basketball minds, LaSalle coach Fran Dunphy, Langel expresses he is happy at Cornell, that his family loves the area, but told The Post-Standard of Syracuse he would “never say never” about moving for another job.
That’s coachspeak for, “Why on Earth haven’t you hired me yet?”
Don’t be surprised if …
No. 9 Michigan State finds a way to win a game. This has not been a typical MSU season. The Spartans are 19-14, which is a lot of losses to own and still receive an NCAA bid. They won three games against teams in the field, which seems OK until you realize they played 13.
Michigan State extended its run of consecutive NCAA appearances under coach Tom Izzo to 26. They failed to win at least one tournament game in six of those tournaments.
The Spartans are favored by 1.5 points. Because this is March. And March is when people expect the best out of Michigan State, and almost always get it.
MORE: Watch the 2024 NCAA Tournament with Sling TV
Sleeper team
No. 8 Mississippi State
What the Bulldogs did to Tennessee in the SEC Tournament was shocking, quite possibly even to themselves. They lost four consecutive games to close the regular season and looked like they might even play themselves out of the field.
Then came the quarterfinal SEC game against Tennessee. They seized control immediately and allowed only five points in the first 8½ minutes. They refused to allow the Vols back into the game, ultimately winning by a 17-point margin that flattered Tennessee more than the game had.
With their size and physicality and defensive orientation, they could cause serious problems for North Carolina in a potential second-round game.
West Region Final Four pick
No. 2 seed Arizona
There’s no good reason to trust the Wildcats, but then, that’s true of pretty much every high seed in this region (and some of the middle and lower ones, too).
Because the Wildcats are in such company, though, they know the territory.
They have the size and scoring ability to succeed, they can succeed in transition and in the halfcourt and they control the backboards and rim well enough to rank among the nation’s top dozen teams in defense.
They are not heavily reliant on 3-point shooting, but they convert an uncommon percentage of those they take. It’s a great recipe for success. Until it’s not. But there are a lot of teams in the West Region with similar problems – and without similar strengths.
