Bracketology 2024: Duke, Dayton and Kansas among week’s winners

Dayton

Mostly due to the pandemic washing away their impressive 2020 season, Dayton has not reached the NCAA Tournament in six years. They’ve had some talented pieces come through Dayton, but the Flyers just haven’t gotten the job done in the A-10 in recent years. A tough road loss at Northwestern in the opening week certainly dulled the start of the season, but the Flyers showed up this past week.

Though they didn’t win the title, the Flyers got a pair of nice wins at the Charleston Classic that will certainly help in the long run. Picking up neutral-site wins over LSU (by 3 points) and St. John’s (by 7 points) could look even better a few months down the line, especially with the Flyers potentially on the bubble with these teams. There’s also no shame in losing by 14 points to a really strong Houston squad; they got their key wins.

San Diego State

The Aztecs advanced to the national championship game last season, the first time the program had even reached as far as the Elite Eight. After that historic season, the Aztecs lost several pieces but still returned enough players to be a ranked squad with certain expectations. A road loss to BYU was disappointing, but San Diego State got back on the wagon this week.

Tuesday’s win over Long Beach State (who would later upset Michigan) was solid, but we’re talking about the Aztecs’ performance at the Continental Tire Main Event. On Friday, they went to work and got a massive 25-point win against a Saint Mary’s team with similarly high expectations. Two days later they secured that tournament title by surviving Washington in a 100-97 affair in overtime. Jaedon LeDee has been sensational, and the Aztecs picked up two very good wins as a result.