Three points: NCAA Tournament goes on without Miller brothers

Two brothers accustomed to tournament runs in March will sit the rest of this one out.

“He feels probably even worse than I do right now,” Archie Miller said. “When the season’s over, you go into a dark place for a little bit, and then you get re-motivated. This tournament’s going to go on. There are going to be more magical moments. You’re going to watch the teams you played do well, and you’re going to want to get back.”

Here are three takeaways from Dayton’s 33rd and final game of the 2015-16 season:

1. Rebound machine: Tyler Roberson had 18 rebounds for Syracuse. That was only 10 fewer than Dayton had as a team.

“He’s really active,” Dayton guard Charles Cooke said. “Dyshawn (Pierre) tried to put a body on him at all times, but we lost him a few times, and he just ended up getting a few loose balls.”

2. Perspective: Dayton point guard Scoochie Smith said it was a blessing to be in the tournament. The Flyers have made the tournament in the first three seasons of Smith, Kendall Pollard and Kyle Davis. No Dayton class has ever done that because freshmen didn't play the last time UD made three straight tournaments (1965-67).

“There are a lot of teams that aren’t here that wish they were,” Smith said. “We just didn’t play the way we wanted to play today, and we tried to keep fighting, and unfortunately, we were on the wrong side of the scoreboard.”

3. Recruiting edge: Syracuse's Malachi Richardson ranked 23rd overall in the class of 2015, according to ESPN's recruiting rankings. He led all scorers with 21 points. Tyler Lydon, who had 14 points, ranked 76th overall.

Syracuse had the eighth-ranked class in the nation. Two years ago, its class ranked 24th. The 2013 class, which included Roberson, ranked sixth.

While Dayton beat Syracuse 55-53 in the 2014 tournament to reach the Sweet 16 for the first time in 30 years and was the higher-seeded team Friday, there’s no doubt the Flyers and Orange recruit different players. Richardson was the key for Syracuse in this game.

“He’s not like a freshman,” Miller said. “He’s got a green light. He’s big, and he’s a problem. I thought for most of the game we had bodies in front of him. You’re not going to hold those guys down.”