UC’s 29 wins slighted by committee; team travels to California as No. 6 seed
BY COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
Sitting in Hartford, Conn., less than an hour removed from a 15-point loss to SMU in the AAC Tournament championship game, Cincinnati found out it would have to travel to the opposite side of the country for its next game.
The Bearcats (29-5) earned the No. 6 seed in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament and will travel to Sacramento, Calif., for a Friday evening game against either Wake Forest or Kansas State.
After finishing the season with the second-most wins in school history, the Bearcats’ seventh-straight NCAA Tournament bid was not in doubt — and neither were Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin’s feelings about his team’s draw.
“We had an unbelievable year. We won 29 games and SMU won 30 games,” Cronin said. “I think it’s pretty obvious that nobody was really impressed by that. I don’t know what to say.
“A couple of my best friends in the world live on the West Coast, so that’s the only good thing. They’ll get to
go to the game.”
This is the third time in four years that the Bearcats have had to travel west for the first weekend of the tournament, with the added disadvantage of not knowing their opponent until after Tuesday’s NCAA First Four game.
Kentucky (No. 2 in the South), Northern Kentucky (No. 15 in the South), Dayton (No. 7 in the South) and Louisville (No. 2 in the Midwest) will all play in Indianapolis this weekend. As the No. 6 seed, Cincinnati was instead sent to Sacramento. The Bearcats’ opponent will also have similar travel woes — after playing at 9:10 p.m. on Tuesday, the winner of the Kansas State/Wake Forest game will travel from Dayton to Sacramento to prepare for the Friday tipoff.
“Three of four years, we’re in Spokane twice and Sacramento once, and that’s not easy for families to get to those games,” Cronin said. “Other than that — and that’s a big thing, but other than that — we don’t believe in excuses. So that won’t be talked about at all by our team.”
On Friday, Cincinnati hopes to find better luck out West than in recent years. Last year, in Spokane, Cincinnati lost its first game 78-76 to No. 8 seed Saint Joseph’s. In 2014, also in Spokane, Cincinnati was upset by No. 12 seed Harvard 61-57. Though they have made seven straight Tournament appearances, the Bearcats have made it out of the first weekend of play just once during that span, in 2012.
The Bearcats were one of the last teams in the nation to finish conference tournament play with their 71-56 loss to SMU on Sunday afternoon. The team looked sluggish and low-energy, starting 1-of-15 from the field and shooting just 31 percent for the game. SMU won its 16th-straight game and denied the Bearcats their chance for their first postseason conference championship since 2004.
“Of course, you have to put it behind you as a team,” Gary Clark said. “We need to know some of the parts we need help on and fix it, because the next couple of games, you win or go home. There’s no room for error.”
Sunday’s poor shooting performance was an anomaly for the Bearcats, who had previously averaged 75 points per game. The Bearcats are led by four players who average double-digit scoring: Jacob Evans (13.8 points per game), Kyle Washington (13.1), Clark (10.7) and Troy Caupain (10.2).
Regardless of Friday’s opponent, Cincinnati will rely most on its stingy defense (60.5 points allowed per game). If Wake Forest wins on Tuesday night, the Bearcats will face one of the most efficient offenses in the nation. The Demon Deacons were second in the ACC, behind North Carolina, in points per game (82.7). Kansas State, on the other hand, was ninth of 10 Big 12 teams in average points per game and seventh in field-goal percentage.
Cronin said Sunday evening that he has not watched Kansas State this season and had only watched Wake Forest once, when it lost to Xavier 69-65 in December.
Wake Forest (19-14), making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010, finished 9-9 in the ACC and was one of a conference-record nine ACC teams to make the NCAA Tournament. The Demon Deacons are led by sophomore John Collins, who averages 18.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game, and led the ACC in conference play with 20.3 points per game.
Wake Forest played 14 games against NCAA Tournament teams this season, with a 4-10 record against the field. It finished the regular season by beating No. 2 seed Louisville on March 1 and No. 9 seed Virginia Tech on March 4 before losing to the Hokies four days later in the ACC Tournament.
Kansas State (20-13) upset Baylor, a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament before losing to West Virginia, which ended up with a No. 4 NCAA Tournament seed. Senior Wesley Iwundu leads the Wildcats with 12.5 points, and four Wildcats have averaged over 10 points per game this season.
Kansas State only lost to No. 1 seed Kansas by two points in early January and by three points in February. The Wildcats also beat Baylor, West Virginia and Oklahoma State (No. 10 seed) in the regular season.
Even while knowing little about the team’s matchup immediately after it was announced Sunday night, Cronin said making a seventh-straight Tournament was a testament to the culture the Bearcats have worked to establish during his 11 years in Clifton.
“We take a lot of pride in the consistency and the way we try to operate our program,” Cronin said. “It hasn’t been easy to go get really good kids, graduate everybody and continue to win, so we take a lot of pride in the way we do things because we know how hard it is. When people think about the connotation of Cincinnati basketball, we’ve worked really hard to get that into a positive light.”
The Cincinnati Bearcats play the winner of Kansas State-Wake Forest in Sacramento, Calif., 7:27 p.m. Friday, March 15. TV: TruTV.
Xavier overcomes injuries to nail down its 11th NCAA Tournament bid in 12 years
BY COURTNEY RATKOWIAK
At this time last year, Xavier was celebrating its highest NCAA Tournament seed in school history — No. 2 in the East Regional — after a five-loss regular season.
On Sunday night, the Musketeers watched 67 teams’ names show up on the NCAA Tournament board before theirs, waiting and finally celebrating as they learned their season would continue in Orlando, Fla.
“They definitely made it dramatic, being the last ones,” Xavier guard and leading scorer Trevon Bluiett said. “It was just nerve-racking. We were holding our breath.”
Xavier overcame a rough end to the regular season with a strong Big East tournament showing last week and earned a No. 11 NCAA Tournament seed. The Musketeers (21-13, 9-9 Big East) will play No. 6 seed Maryland (24-8, 12-6 Big Ten) at 6:50 p.m. Thursday.
Xavier has now made four straight NCAA Tournaments and 11 of the last 12, with the 2012-13 season the only exception. Last year, with high expectations, Xavier fell in the round of 32 to Wisconsin on a three-point buzzer-beater by Badgers point guard Bronson Koenig.
“It really doesn’t matter what the number is in front of your team name, just like it didn’t last year when we played Wisconsin, and just like it didn’t for Syracuse when they made the Final Four (last year, as a No. 10 seed),” Xavier coach Chris Mack said. “We just have to be better than Maryland, which is easier said than done, on Thursday.”
Since last year’s shocking Tournament loss, the Musketeers have not had it easy. Only 4 of 16 players from last year’s roster were still in the lineup for last week’s Big East Tournament loss to Creighton. Fifth-year senior Myles Davis, who was suspended from Sept. 1 to Jan. 10, abruptly left the program on Jan. 20, announcing his decision on Twitter. After establishing himself as a leader on last year’s Xavier team, Davis played just 11 minutes and scored two points in three games before leaving the Musketeers.
Nine days later, in a win over St. John’s, sophomore guard Edmond Sumner suffered a season-ending ACL tear. At the time of his injury, Sumner was the team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 15 points per game. Xavier lost six straight games in February and entered last week’s Big East Tournament squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
“We’ve been hit with a lot of adversity. I think this is the most adversity I’ve been through since I’ve been here,” said Bluiett, who also missed two games in February with an ankle injury. “Just to be able to still be in the tournament after everything that’s happened this whole season, give a lot of credit to the guys for staying focused and not distracted with things that were going on or listening to outside people.”
With pressure to perform, the Musketeers beat DePaul 75-64 in the first round of the conference tournament last Wednesday. Xavier then upset No. 18 Butler, 62-57, in a game that likely sealed its NCAA Tournament bid. The teams were tied at 57 with less than a minute left in the game before Bluiett scored the go-ahead basket with 17 seconds remaining.
Against Creighton the next night, Xavier was set up for another close finish, with the teams tied at 72 and 16 seconds left. But this time, Creighton’s Marcus Foster hit a last-second three-pointer to hand Xavier a 75-72 loss.
After going 2-1 in New York, the Musketeers enter Thursday’s game against Maryland with more postseason momentum than the Terrapins. In last week’s Big Ten Tournament, held in Washington, D.C, Maryland squandered what was essentially a home-court advantage by losing its first game 72-64 to Northwestern.
“I don’t usually get on my guys right after a game, but I was upset Friday night and I let them know it,” Maryland coach Mark Turgeon said during Sunday night media availability. “We learned a lot, but I’d rather learn a lot in the Big Ten Tournament than the NCAA Tournament.”
Maryland’s disappointing Big Ten conference showing was more reflective of its performance of late than at the beginning of this season. The Terps started the season 20-2, their best start in school history, but went 3-5 last month with losses to non-NCAA Tournament teams Penn State and Iowa.
Xavier and Maryland will both be playing far from home on Thursday, but road arenas are comfortable territory for the Terrapins. They are 8-2 away from home and 3-0 on neutral courts this season, best in the Big Ten.
The Terrapins are led by junior guard and first team All-Big Ten selection Melo Trimble, who averages 17 points per game. Beyond Trimble, three freshmen — Anthony Cowan, Justin Jackson and Kevin Huerter — play more than 27 minutes per game. Cowan leads the team in steals with 39, and Jackson is the team’s leading rebounder (6.1 per game) and three-point shooter. Mack recruited Cowan and Huerter, Maryland’s second- and fourth-leading scorers, but said he hasn’t watched Maryland play this season.
The Musketeers will lean on Bluiett and J.P. Macura, who are averaging 18.1 and 14.5 points per game. Xavier will likely need to capitalize on its strong offensive rebounding and try to play off of Maryland’s inconsistencies on defense. If Xavier beats Maryland, it will play the winner of No. 3 seed Florida and No. 14 seed Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday.
“I feel really good and confident in our team right now,” Bluiett said. “I think we’re peaking at the right time. This is probably the best basketball we’ve played for awhile.”
The Xavier Musketeers play the Maryland Terrapins in Orlando, Fla., 6:50 p.m. Thursday, March 16. TV: TNT.
NKU relishes its shot at big-time UK
BY DANNY CROSS
Matching up against the University of Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Tournament is usually not cause for celebration. The Wildcats’ eight national titles are second only to UCLA all-time, and they’ve cut down the nets as recently as 2012. UK’s revolving door of blue chip recruits on their way to the NBA is not what any team wants to see between itself and a Sweet 16 appearance.
This year’s Northern Kentucky University Norse will relish the opportunity to go up against the powerhouse from 90 miles south, having earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament during their first year of eligibility after transitioning to the Division I Horizon League.
“Our mindset is going to be the same as going in against any other team that we played this year,” said senior guard Cole Murray after seeing his team announced on the selection show. “We’ll do the same things we’ve done all year to be successful. We’ll come and we’ll be prepared, our coaches will give us the right game plans. We’ll do our best to go out and execute it and show what we got out there.”
The Norse are only the seventh team all-time to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in their first year of eligibility and only the second program to do so since 1970. They’ll have their work cut out against Kentucky. John Calipari’s 2-seed this year is as dangerous as any team in the tournament. The Wildcats have been playing their best basketball of late, having won 11 in a row including the Southeastern Conference Tournament title on Selection Sunday.
UK is led by a trio of freshmen — Malik Monk, De’Aaron Fox and Edrice Adebayo — who could all be lottery picks in the NBA Draft come June.
As a 15 seed, the Norse are facing long odds of making it out of the round of 64, but such upsets have happened recently. Last year, 15-seed Middle Tennessee State knocked off No. 2 seed Michigan State in the first round, and Florida Gulf Coast did the same to Georgetown in 2013. In 2012, two 2-seeds went down in the first round: Duke lost to Lehigh and Missouri fell to Norfolk State. All told, 2 seeds are 120-8 all-time against the 15s.
If they’re going to shock the world, NKU will need big games out of leading scorers Drew McDonald and Lavone Holland II. McDonald, a sophomore Cold Spring native and Newport Central Catholic graduate, leads the Norse with 16.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game on the season. Holland is a junior point guard who averages 14.3 points and 4.1 assists per game. Holland and McDonald led the Norse with 20 and 14 points, respectively, in the Horizon League title game over Milwaukee.
Murray, a senior who averages 10.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, and freshman and Owenton native Carson Williams (10.5 points, 5.8 rebounds per game) round out NKU’s double-digit scorers on the season.
No matter the outcome, the Norse have wasted little time checking off an accomplishment other schools have waited decades for.
“I’m excited for our young men — for them to experience this,” said NKU head coach John Brannen. “I’ve experience it before and it’s a special feeling for your name to pop up on that (Selection Sunday) screen. It’s one of the most watched programs in the country year in and year out, and it really is like Christmas when you’re a basketball player or coach, and for our guys to experience that, I’m glad to enjoy it with them.”
Northern Kentucky University plays the University of Kentucky in Indianapolis 9:40 p.m. Friday. TV: CBS.
Regional Draws
University of Kentucky
Fresh off SEC regular season and tournament titles, John Calipari’s young bucks are peaking at the right time. Their road to the Elite Eight is fraught with dangerous teams and regional foes that could make each stop difficult in its own way — from a first-round matchup with NKU to a potential second-round game against Dayton or the under-seeded Wichita State Shockers, who have only four losses on the season. Then there’s the likelihood of UCLA or the University of Cincinnati as a Sweet 16 opponent, with North Carolina potentially one last step to get to the Final Four. Nothing easy here. UK vs. NKU, 9:40 p.m. Friday, CBS
Butler University
Butler played one of the country’s toughest regular season schedules thanks in part to the Big East Conference’s seven NCAA Tournament-bound programs. The Bulldogs beat 10 top-50 RPI teams along the way, with big out-of-conference wins over Arizona and Cincinnati. They’ve struggled down the stretch a bit, falling to Seton Hall in their season finale and Xavier in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals. According to ESPN Stats and Information, Butler is 8-0 as a higher-seeded team since the NCAA Tournament expanded in 1985, and nine of their 10 losses are to teams seeded 3 or higher. They’ve got Winthrop in the first round and a potential matchup with 5-seed Minnesota in the second. Butler vs. Winthrop, 1:30 p.m. Thursday, TNT
University of Louisville
There aren’t many teams more battle tested than the Louisville Cardinals heading into the NCAA Tournament. The ACC’s record nine tournament bids meant plenty of opportunity over the course of the season to shore up quality wins, and Louisville knocked off eight teams that finished in the RPI top 50, including No. 2 seeds Kentucky and Duke. Rick Pitino’s Cardinals earned a 2-seed themselves. They’re typically tough defensively and led on the other side by sophomore guard Donovan Mitchell’s 15.7 points per game. Louisville gets the 15-seed Jacksonville State Gamecocks in the first round and the winner of Michigan-Oklahoma State in the second, with potential second-weekend matchups with Oregon and Kansas. Louisville vs. Jacksonville State, 2:45 p.m. Friday, CBS
University of Dayton
Dayton entering the NCAA Tournament as a 7 seed seems about right — the Flyers won the Atlantic 10 regular season title and nine straight games between Jan. 31 and March 1, finishing 24-7 overall. The Flyers’ first-round opponent is 10-seed Wichita State, a team that many believe is under-seeded after going 30-4 and winning a share of the MVC regular season championship and conference tournament. But the Shockers only beat three top-100 RPI teams in seven tries — their strength of schedule ranked 186 in the country. Archie Miller’s crew, on the other hand, went 12-4 against top-100 RPI teams and will look to get past Wichita for a shot at Kentucky in the second round. Dayton vs. Wichita State, 7:10 p.m. Friday, CBS
This article appears in Mar 15-22, 2017.