{"id":670561,"date":"2026-03-21T11:16:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/670561\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T11:16:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T11:16:40","slug":"nets-keeping-extra-close-tabs-on-this-years-ncaa-tournament","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/670561\/","title":{"rendered":"Nets keeping extra close tabs on this year’s NCAA Tournament"},"content":{"rendered":"

With March Madness starting, Nets fans are going to be watching a lot of basketball on split screen.<\/p>\n

One eye on the Nets, and the other on the NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n

One on their team tanking for lottery odds, the other on the potential franchise-changer(s) they hope all this losing buys them.<\/p>\n

Nets fans will be paying special attention to the three stars at the top: Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and AJ Dybantsa.<\/p>\n

The Nets came into Friday with the third-worst record in the NBA, and having a 40.1 percent chance of landing one of those coveted top three picks in the draft.<\/p>\n

Peterson made his NCAA Tournament debut while Brooklyn was hosting the Knicks on Friday, while Boozer made his Thursday afternoon. Dybantsa put on an all-time performance in BYU\u2019s loss to Texas, looking like a potential No. 1 overall pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to be a great player. People talk about comparisons to [Kevin Durant], Jayson Tatum, and it does look like it to me,\u201d Nets rookie Egor D\u00ebmin told The Post of his BYU successor. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of midrange, really aggressive driver, slasher, the transition game, physicality, crazy athlete. He\u2019s got everything to be able to play on the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dybantsa was spectacular, albeit in defeat. He put the full package on display Thursday, attacking the rim, putting on a midrange show, making a couple of questionable decisions against a defense bent on crowding the paint to stop him.<\/p>\n

They couldn\u2019t. His 35 points were the most ever by a freshman in an NCAA Tournament debut, with none even topping 30 in an opener since Stephen Curry in 2007.<\/p>\n

\"AJAJ Dybantsa scored 35 in BYU\u2019s loss to to Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 19, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Dybantsa\u2019s 894 points this season are the third-most by a freshman, behind only Chris Jackson\u2019s 965 in 1988-89 and Kevin Durant\u2019s 903 in 2006-07. <\/p>\n

On the TNT broadcast, Bruce Pearl and former All-Star forward Jamal Mashburn gushed over the wing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the kid I would take with the No. 1 pick in the draft just because of the intangibles. Plus, the other thing you just can\u2019t teach \u2014 that size and length,\u201d Pearl said. \u201cHe\u2019s got a chance to be a mismatch, even at the next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CameronCameron Boozer looks to lead Duke past TCU in their second-round matchup on March 21, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Dybantsa has drawn comparisons to Durant, whose Big 12 tourney scoring record he broke. And Mashburn was full of praise for the phenom.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to be special,\u201d Mashburn said before the Nets\u2019 heart-breaking 93-92 loss to the Knicks<\/a> on Friday night at Barclays Center. \u201cHe\u2019s going to learn. The kid\u2019s only 18, 19 years old. He\u2019s going to be something. He\u2019s a generational [talent], a franchise-changer for somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boozer was middling in his debut, with 22 points and 13 rebounds in Duke\u2019s unconvincing first-round win over Siena.<\/p>\n

Peterson debuted in Kansas\u2019 opener Friday against California Baptist. With questions about his health after constant cramping cost him 11 games and forced him out of others, he can help himself the most of the trio in this Big Dance.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super excited. This is something I\u2019ve dreamed of since I was a little kid. To be a part of it this year is huge for me and my family,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cNo [cramp] concerns anymore. The last I don\u2019t know how many games in a row I\u2019ve been getting through without any issues. I feel like the cramps are behind me. I\u2019ve been fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the first statement game of the Nets lottery targets was from Dybantsa, with ESPN analyst Sean Farnham saying the BYU star staked his claim to be the No. 1 pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been No. 1 all season for me. How do you watch him and not immediately close your eyes and believe that he\u2019s going to be a star at the next level? Sure there\u2019s holes in his game that he has to improve, but he\u2019s accomplished everything you could ask,\u201d Farnham said. \u201cHe\u2019s as elite as you will find in a draft that has a lot of elite players.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s loaded. But the energy AJ Dybantsa has played with this year separates him a little bit more, especially when you talk to NBA scouts. You talk to general managers, a lot of people you talked to down the stretch of the seasons, just the more they fell in love with his ability to draw fouls, lift defensive players; and they feel with the more open space of the NBA that he\u2019s going to have a lot more success even at that next level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With March Madness starting, Nets fans are going to be watching a lot of basketball on split screen.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3767],"tags":[7,670,247,3803,7456,84489,6,1400,671,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-670561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn-nets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-brooklyn-nets","11":"tag-brooklynnets","12":"tag-march-madness","13":"tag-march-madness-2026","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-ncaa-tournament","16":"tag-nets","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116266886881704054","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}