By Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
Photo via Titus Wilkinson of The Spear
Compromise is the polite way of saying, “Fine I’ll just settle with this” followed by a sharp passive aggressive eye-roll.
But for second-seeded San Jose State men’s basketball, compromising the CBI instead of the hoped-for NIT, isn’t much to be miffed over. In fact, it does have advantages.
SJSU ended its postseason drought with a breezy 77-52 victory over first-year Division I and 15th-seeded Southern Indiana by dominating in all muscle categories.
The Spartans led by at least 20 for nearly all of the second half, outrebounded the Screaming Eagles 49-25 and outscored them by 20 points in the paint.
And on Monday at 1:30 p.m. SJSU (21-13, 10-8) will look to repeat the same result over 10th-seeded Radford (20-14) in the quarterfinals en route to setting the school record for single-season wins at 22.
Going from Mountain West underdog to CBI favorite is an unfamiliar, but welcoming position for SJSU.
The Spartans are the highest ranking team in Kenpom (93), the second-highest ranking NET team (95) trailing only first-seeded Indiana State (93) and are the only team with three quad-one wins.
“The Mountain West, being such a rugged league, prepares you as you go forward throughout the season for whatever opponent you’re going to see,” Miles said following Saturday’s win.
SJSU is the only team remaining in the CBI who comes from an NCAA Tournament four-bid conference, the last of which came in the Mountain West quarterfinals over Nevada.
Radford, however, doesn’t have any quad-one or quad-two wins and Big South cohort UNC Asheville is the conference’s highest-ranking NET team at 140th. They were an NCAA Tournament first round bounce out after a 33-point loss to UCLA.
Meanwhile Mountain West foe San Diego State, who topped SJSU in the tournament semi-finals, is 18th in the NET and set to face first-seeded Alabama in the Sweet-16.
“You have an opportunity to go out and finish the season with 24 wins and I think that’s really exciting for San Jose right now and San Jose moving forward,” said senior point guard Omari Moore who was SJSU’s second-leading scorer on Saturday with 15 points.
Saturday’s win over SIU was as easy and joyful as a win could be if it wasn’t for senior center Ibrahima Diallo exiting early with what appeared to be a left ankle injury. After the game, Miles called the Mountain West blocks-leader “questionable” to play in SJSU’s quarterfinal matchup against Radford on Monday at 1:30.
There are ramifications, but with Radford’s lack of size – 6-foot-7-inch Shaquan Jules is their biggest regular rotation player – they aren’t as severe as they would’ve been in the NIT.
Radford stood tall in its upset over tenth-seeded Tarleton State on Sunday in overtime, but doesn’t compare to the likes of Washington State or New Mexico who swept SJSU in the regular season including a 96-68 loss at Provident Credit Union Event Center.
But they aren’t Southern Indiana (16-17). They’ve been a Division I program for longer than one trip around the sun and have seen program success. In fact, they’ve made just as many NCAA Tournament appearances as the Spartans have — most recently in 2018.
For fans at least, wins don’t feel as noteworthy, but they are also more achievable and with that comes practical championship aspirations. Quite frankly, the CBI is SJSU’s to lose.
Disclaimer, it’s March and in case you haven’t heard ‘anything can happen.’ This year’s edition of it came via 16th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson’s upset over first-seeded Purdue and 15th-seeded Princeton’s upset over second-seeded Arizona.
The next compromise is the travel schedule.
With the NIT’s format which splits 32 teams up into four regions and divides them from seeds one through eight. While Santa Clara made the NIT and is down the street, the selection committee wouldn’t have had two lower seeds play each other.
Instead, SJSU would’ve traveled to Eastern Washington, Washington State, or in Santa Clara’s case flying to Evansville, Texas.
Moreover, the Spartans would’ve had to travel for the next three rounds if they kept ripping off massive upsets, and played in Las Vegas’ Orleans Arena in the final-four.
But the NIT no longer has its biggest claim to fame which is the final-four being held in the Madison Square Garden.
Obviously contingent upon some eyes-widening victories and as no slight to the wonderful Orleans Arena, but it just doesn’t compare to the Mecca. Few destinations or great wonders of the world do.
The CBI’s ‘come stay for a week’ nature presents an advantage as well. Players aren’t going through the rapid and arduous travel schedule of the NIT and will be staying in Daytona Beach, FL. the entire time.
A more controlled and consistent environment natural lends itself to more relaxed and better play.
After falling to SJSU, SIU’s leading-scorer Isaiah Swope mentioned to the Courier Press that SJSU “just didn’t panic” when the Screaming Eagles took an early 9-7 lead.
“They stuck to their game plan. They adjusted to our run, made one of their own and we just didn’t adjust to theirs,” said Swope.
Sophomore point guard Alvaro Cardenas netted a career-high 22 points in just 20 minutes and went 8-for-13 from the field and 3-for-6 from three. The ease and flow with which he played was reminiscent of when he put up his previous career-high 20 points on a 6-for-11 day from three in SJSU’s win over rival Fresno State on Jan. 10.
It’s also important to remember these are 18 to 23-year-old kids in “Spring Break Heaven” getting to play basketball with some of their closest friends.
Moore, the reigning Mountain West Player of the Year, mentioned earlier in the season that he expects the guys he’s played with to be in his wedding.
The Monday following the disappointing result on Selection Sunday, Moore said, “Not only do we get to play basketball, like basketball is giving us an opportunity to go to Daytona Beach, Florida. We’re being given opportunities that we may not have been given otherwise … it’s a lot of fun too, just the team bonding stuff.”
