Most first-year stars experience early exit from tourney

Many of the freshman stars who garnered so much of the college basketball world’s attention during the regular season have already been bounced from March Madness.

Arizona’s Deandre Ayton, Oklahoma’s Trae Young, Missouri’s Michael Porter Jr., Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Texas’ Mohamed Bamba are all considered potential NBA lottery picks whenever they decide to turn pro. They’re also all out of the NCAA Tournament after facing the harsh reality that sometimes individual talent isn’t enough in March.

Sexton is the only freshman from that group who even reached the second round.

“I hate losing,” Young said after Oklahoma’s first-round overtime loss to Rhode Island. “That’s not in my DNA, losing.”

One lesson these freshmen are learning is rather obvious: It always helps to be surrounded by experienced players or equally talented freshmen.

Many of the notable fresh- men who were ousted from the NCAA Tournament played quite well, but only three of the top seven prospects from the 2017 recruiting class according to the 247Sports Composite remain in the tournament. It’s probably no coincidence that all three of them play for Duke.

Duke’s Marvin Bagley, Trevon Duval and Wendell Carter Jr. are in the regional semifinals after helping the Blue Devils win their first two NCAA Tournament games by an average margin of 23½ points. Duke has five players — including four fresh- men — with NCAA Tournament scoring averages in double figures thus far.

“Just being able to share the wealth in between one another and for us to be all together and be unselfish, it’s a great thing,” Carter said.

The Duke freshmen say they have benefited from having talented classmates around them who are going through similar situations. They’ve also worked alongside senior guard Grayson Allen and his wealth of postseason experience.

“That’s the reason I came to Duke, to play with a lot of great guys who I’ve seen play before and to be able to team up with these guys and figure out each other and work together,” Bagley said. “It’s a great feeling.”

Kentucky also has reached the Sweet 16 with a freshman class that included five of the nation’s top 18 Class of 2017 recruits according to the 247Sports Composite. Freshmen Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Hamidou Diallo, PJ Washington and Kevin Knox have averaged a combined 66 points in two NCAA Tournament games.