THREE CALLING
A trio of teams that could steal the blue bloods’ spotlight come March
North Carolina is in danger of missing the postseason. Kentucky is looking up at LSU and Auburn in the SEC. Defending national champion Virginia is on the bubble. Traditional Big Ten power Michigan State doesn’t even lead its conference.
The programs we’re used to seeing owning the sport have fallen off. Instead of the blue bloods that usually dominate the conversation — and yes, Kansas and Duke remain national championship factors — college basketball has offered us new powers with fresh faces.
Meet Baylor, Dayton and San Diego State. Who, you ask?
Get to know the teams that could dominate Marc h , three programs that h ave a c o mbined three losses this season and three Final Four trips among them, and none in the last 50 years.
San Diego State
The Aztecs are the lone undefeated team left, a program that didn’t even reach the postseason a year ago. The Aztecs did go dancing six consecutive times between 2010-15, making the Sweet 16 in 2011 and 2014 under former coach Steve Fisher. The school produced some guy named Kawhi Leonard. You may have heard of him. He was on the team the last time it started a season 20-0, in 2010-11. It doesn’t play in a power conference, though the Mountain West is a quality league, and the Aztecs boast double-digit victories over expected tournament teams Creighton and Iowa.
Defense is the Aztecs’ calling card. They are ranked sixth in adjusted defensive eff i - ciency and held Creighton to a season-low 52 points. Luke Garza, Iowa’s National Player of the Year candidate, manage nine points against them. But don’t confuse this group as being offensively challenged. It averages 75 points per game, impressive considering it plays as such a slow pace. The turnaround from a year ago, when San Diego State finished fourth in the Mountain West, isn’t out of nowhere. It has played the t ra nsfe r game well. Former Washington State guard Malachi Flynn leads coach Brian Dutcher’s team in scoring and assists. Vanderbilt transfer Yanni Wetzell has provided a 6-foot-10 back-to-thebasket force.
In 12 leag ue games, San Diego State has prevailed by double f igures eight times. There is a very distinct possibility it becomes the first team since Kentucky in 2015 to enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated.
Baylor
Only B ayl o r has been immune to the No. 1 virus, managing to hold that spot for what will be three weeks on Monday, unlike the six teams befo re i t . The Bears have defeated f ive ranked teams, and manhandled Kansas on the road, snapping an 0-for-17 drought at Allen Fieldhouse. Like San Diego State, Baylor does it with defense, holding Arizona, Butler, Texas Tech and Kansas to season-lows in points.
The roster is an eclectic mix. There are no f ive-star recruits. The linchpin to the defense is big man Freddie Gill espie, a rim-protecting force who began his career at Division III Carleton College in Minnesota. Transfers Davion Mitchell (Auburn) and MaCio Teag ue (UNCAsheville) have excelled, and sophomore Jared Butler has become a needed star. The Bears are so deep — eight players average double f igures in minutes played — last year’s leading rebounder and second-leading scorer, Tristan Clark, is seventh in minutes and points after missing the second half of last season due to a knee injury.
They do everything well. Baylor defends at a high level, it doesn’t turn it over much (29th in turnover differential) and is strong on the glass (29th in rebounding margin). It’s no accident it hasn’t lost since Nov. 8 against Washington, winning 18 straight games.
Dayton
The seventh-ranked Flyers haven’t been ranked this high since 1968. That was also the last time they had an All-American. It’s not a coincidence this team can boast both a high ranking and such a player.
Obi To p p i n , a mega-skilled 6-foot-9 forward from Brooklyn, is a proj e c te d top-10 pick, a highlevel scorer and rebounder who has improved across the b o a rd b e t we e n his freshman year and sophomore season. Lightly recruited and unranked o ut of Mount Zi o n P r e p, he ave ra ge d 24. 5 points in a pair of wins over Georgia and Virginia Tech in the Maui Invitational and nearly led Dayton past Kansas in an overtime loss in the title game. That, and an overtime loss to Colorado, a re t he Flye r s ’ l o ne s e t ba c k s . Odds are, he will be the top prospect in the tournament.
Toppin is just part of this easy-on-the-eyes team that features one of the premier offenses in the country. Dayton is fourth in the nation in scoring (82.7), f ifth in distributing (18.7) and leads the country in offensive efficiency. Three of its top four scorers shoot at least 40 percent from deep and six different players have led them in scoring. Barring a collapse, Dayton will be the third team Anthony Grant, an alum of the school, takes to the NCAA Tournament, along with VCU and Alabama.