What To Expect From California Baptist Against Kansas In NCAA Tournament

The NCAA Tournament bracket was officially revealed Sunday evening, and Kansas received a No. 4 seed in the East Region with No. 1 overall seed Duke.

But before mapping out the Jayhawks' potential path to the Final Four in Indianapolis, first they'll have to get past No. 13 seed California Baptist (24-8) in the Round of 64. That game is scheduled for Friday at 8:45 p.m. CT on CBS, and it'll be played at Viejas Arena in San Diego, Calif.

Here's a full breakdown of Cal Baptist and how the Lancers match up against Kansas.

California Baptist's path to NCAA Tournament

Cal Baptist was picked to win the WAC in the preseason coaches poll, receiving five of seven first-place votes. That didn't come to fruition, as Utah Valley won the WAC regular season title at 14-4, but the Lancers got the last laugh by winning the conference tournament.

Utah Valley misses a wide-open dunk to lose the WAC championship and a chance at their first-ever tourney berth 🤯😳pic.twitter.com/id9erM3RfX
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) March 15, 2026

Cal Baptist opened the season with seven straight wins, most notably defeating UC Irvine (No. 117 in NET rankings) and Oregon State (170). That was followed by three straight losses to its first three power conference opponents: Colorado, No. 9 BYU and Utah. The Lancers lost by 31 points to BYU, but kept things competitive against Colorado and Utah, losing by eight and six points, respectively.

Conference play began poorly for Cal Baptist, losing three straight games to Utah Valley, UT Arlington and Tarleton State. But they bounced back well with nine consecutive wins, and avenged each of their first three losses in conference play.

A crucial factor in the WAC regular season title was Cal Baptist's 65-46 loss at Utah Valley on Feb. 19. Finishing with a 1-2 record against Utah Valley in the regular season, the Lancers fell one game short of the conference title.

However, they responded well to adversity yet again and rattled off six straight wins going into the NCAA Tournament. That included a 63-61 win over Utah Valley in Sunday's WAC Tournament title game, where Dominique Daniels Jr. scored a game-high 23 points to punch Cal Baptist's ticket to March Madness.

Here's a look at Cal Baptist's team metrics heading into the NCAA Tournament.

NET: 98
KenPom: 106
Torvik: 96
Wins Above Bubble (WAB): -2.3 (74th)
Basketball Power Index (BPI): 137
KPI: 83
Strength of record: 86
Strength of schedule (ESPN): 224
Quad 1 record: 0-1
Quad 2 record: 2-4
Quad 3 record: 5-3
Quad 4 record: 18-0

Cal Baptist's lone Quad 1 game of the season was a 91-60 loss to BYU on Dec. 3. Three of its four games against Utah Valley fell in the Quad 2 category, including the WAC Tournament title game, losses to Colorado and Utah, and a win at UC Irvine.

It's worth noting that the Lancers played all seven Quad 1 and 2 games away from home. At the same time, their 18 Quad 4 wins are tied for 11th most in the country,

Cal Baptist players to watch and style of play

The Lancers are led by 5-foot-10 senior guard Dominique Daniels Jr., the WAC player of the year. Daniels ranks fifth nationally with 23.5 points per game, which is second among players in the NCAA Tournament behind BYU's AJ Dybantsa.

Daniels scored 47 points in an overtime win over Utah Valley in January, and he had 41 points in the WAC Tournament semifinals against Utah Tech. He has four more games with 30-plus points and 15 total performances with at least 25 points, making him one of the nation's most prolific scorers.

Daniels enters the NCAA Tournament averaging 23.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 44.4% from the field, 32.4% from 3-point range on 5.6 attempts per game and 81.1% at the free throw line.

Cal Baptist's offense certainly runs through Daniels, but it also plays a deep rotation with other scoring threats. Another player to watch is 6-foot-3 senior guard Martel Williams, who made the All-WAC second team. He averages 12.8 points and shoots 33.7% from beyond the arc. Jordan Mueller, a 6-foot guard, made the All-WAC freshman team after contributing 4.6 points per game.

Daniels and Williams have been mainstays in the Lancers' starting lineup for all 31 games, but coach Rick Croy hasn't been afraid to switch up the starting lineup. Nine players have started at least one game, and 10 players average at least 10 minutes per game.

The rotation will likely be shortened a bit in a win-or-go-home game against Kansas, but Cal Baptist still played a nine-man rotation in both WAC Tournament games. Jayden Jackson –– a 6-foot-3 senior who averages 9.5 points per game on 36.3% 3-point shooting –– joins Daniels and Williams to form a guard trio that accounts for most of Cal Baptist's scoring.

Cal Baptist has good size and depth in the front court with 6-foot-11 junior Jonathan Griman, 7-foot sophomore Bradey Henige and 6-foot-10 junior Thomas Ndong. All three average between 4.7 and 5.9 points per game and between 5.5 and 6.5 rebounds per game. As for front court depth, 6-foot-9 Rene D'Amelio and 7-foot freshman Nate Garcia didn't play in the WAC Tournament, but they were counted on for significant minutes earlier in the season.

Despite having one of the nation's leading scorers in Daniels, the Lancers' strength comes on the defensive end of the floor. Cal Baptist ranks 50th nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom, but just 191st in adjusted offensive efficiency. They won't try to speed the game up, ranking 265th in adjusted tempo.

Kansas will also have to be ready to match Cal Baptist on the glass, where the Lancers rank 19th nationally with 40.1 rebounds per game and sixth nationally with 14 offensive rebounds per game. Their strength on the defensive end and rebounding makes them 40th in the country with just 67.8 points allowed per game.

As a team, Cal Baptist shoots 33.7% from 3-point range and ranks 321st nationally with just 18.8 3-point attempts per game. Its defense also limits 3-pointer, ranking 10th with 18.3 attempts allowed per game and seventh at 29.6%.

Cal Baptist coach Rick Croy's background

Croy, 48, has steadily grown Cal Baptist from a Division II program to the Division I NCAA Tournament in a 13-year span.

From 2013-18, Croy's Lancers were a dominant team in the Division II Pacific West Conference. They went 132-29 overall and 83-17 in conference play, leading to two regular season titles and one conference tournament title. They finished top three in the conference each season and made the Division II NCAA Tournament all five years, peaking with an Elite Eight run in 2018.

Cal Baptist made the jump to Division I for the 2018-19 season and joined the Western Athletic Conference. Croy guided the team to four top-five conference finishes in his first seven seasons in the WAC, but the Lancers never broke through to the NCAA Tournament until this season.

At the Division I level, Croy is 143-107 overall and 68-66 in the WAC. He reached the CBI during his first and fourth seasons, but has also gone below .500 in conference play in four seasons.

Prior to Cal Baptist, Croy was an associate head coach at St. Mary's, head coach at Citrus College, and an assistant coach at UC Riverside and Concordia University Irvine. He played at San Francisco State from 1996-99.

Betting odds and matchup predictor

Kansas is a 14.5-point favorite over Cal Baptist, and the over/under is 137.5 points, according to the DraftKings Sportsbook on Monday morning. The Jayhawks are -1200 favorites on the moneyline, while the Lancers' moneyline odds are +750. Ten Round of 64 games have a larger point spread.

ESPN Analytics' matchup predictor gives Kansas a 92.6% chance of victory.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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