NCAA Tournament Preview (Part 2) by Matt Reaves and Adam Faughn

We began yesterday with the least likely team to win the tournament. We’ll continue our countdown now with team 61, and continue today through team 45.

#61: Central Connecticut State Blue Devils

• Why they will win: Don’t the Blue Devils have a great history in this tournament?
• Why they won’t win: Oh, yeah, they aren’t those Blue Devils!
• One interesting fact: Keith Closs is a former player, and Wikipedia lists him as an “NBA superstar.”

#60: North Texas Mean Green

• Why they will win: Rebounding. UNT has 200 more rebounds than their opponents this year, an average of over 6 per game.
• Why they won’t win: Free-throw shooting. The Green shoot just over 65% as a team from the line.
• One interesting fact: The sports teams were formerly the eagles, but one former football player was so famous that his NFL nickname was adapted for the teams: Mean Joe Green.

#59: Belmont Bruins

• Why they will win: They have outscored opponents in both the 1st and 2nd halves this season, and they hold opponents to 28% from the 3-point line.
• Why they won’t win: They have a turnover margin of -2.1 (yes, that’s minus 2.1).
• One interesting fact: Located in Nashville, Tennessee, Belmont boasts the Mike Curb college of Entertainment and Music Business. It is the only college of entertainment and music business in the world.

#58: Weber State Wildcats

• Why they will win: They shouldn’t have to play another team from the state of Utah. The Wildcats, in succession, lost to Utah State, Utah and BYU this year.
• Why they won’t win: It’s not a good sign when you have to go to overtime to beat Division-II Alaska-Fairbanks.
• One interesting fact: The staff writer for the Weber State “Spirit Squad” (the cheerleaders who compete in NCAA judged events) knows how to stretch a sentence. After a recent 3rd-place finish, the website said, “The Wildcats earned third place in the event for the second-straight year, having finished in the same position at the competition last year.” Amazing! They finished third two consecutive straight years–in a row!

#57: Pennsylvania Quakers

• Why they will win: It’s Penn..what can we say? Smarts!!
• Why they won’t win: It’s Penn..what can we say? Non-athletes!!
• One interesting fact: Among a zillion other jobs, Benjamin Franklin found time to be the provost of the school from 1749-1754. It was then known as the Academy of Philadelphia.

#56: Texas A&M at Corpus Christi Islanders

• Why they will win: They can shoot! TAMU-CC shoots 52.4% from the field, including 39.9% from the 3-point line.
• Why they won’t win: The Islanders are 0-2 against teams in this year’s field, having lost to both Purdue and UNLV.
• One interesting fact: This is just the 8th year that TAMU-CC has had basketball as a sport, and the first year they were in the Southland Conference.

#55: Albany Great Danes

• Why they will win: U-Albany has proven they can play. In last year’s tournament, as a 16-seed, they led #1 overall seed UConn with just 6 minutes to play.
• Why they won’t win: That was last year. This team is athletic, but heavily overseeded at 13. Even the committee chairman couldn’t explain why the Great Danes were seeded that “highly.” If “highly” is used and you are a 13–that’s not good.
• One interesting fact: U-Albany is the home of the training camp of the New York Giants.

#54: Miami (Ohio) RedHawks

• Why they will win: Strength of schedule. The RedHawks played Kentucky, Illinois, Xavier, Rutgers and Michigan (among others) in their non-conference schedule.
• Why they won’t win: They went just 1-4 in those games, with the win coming against Rutgers.
• One interesting fact: (from Wikipedia) The 1991 film Little Man Tate with Jodie Foster was largely filmed on the Oxford campus.

#53: Wright State Raiders

• Why they will win: DeShaun Wood. He was honored as the MAC Player of the Year, averaging just under 20 points per game.
• Why they won’t win: They might play like they did at the beginning of the year, when they lost to Chicago State, Marshall and Coastal Carolina, or they might play like MAC champions. Too inconsistent.
• One interesting fact: In 1964, the school asked the students to vote for a mascot. It wanted something that tied in to the parent schools (Miami-Ohio, then the Redskins; Ohio State Buckeyes). The students voted for Raiders, which had nothing to do with either one.

#52: New Mexico State Aggies

• Why they will win: Two words: Reggie Theus. The best-dressed man in all college basketba
  ll. Is he a Brooks brother?
• Why they won’t win: They lost by 25 to an 8-seed in the tournament, Arizona.
• One interesting fact: If you’ve ever thought that the NMSU mascot and the Cowboy from Oklahoma State looked the same, it’s because they are. Both are based on Frank Eaton, better known in the Old West as Pistol Pete.

#51: Oral Roberts Golden Eagles

• Why they will win: For a fairly undersized team, they play great defense, averaging 4.5 blocks per game.
• Why they won’t win: As mentioned above, they are heavily outsized.
• One interesting fact: The sports teams were originally known as the Titans because so many students at ORU came from the East Coast and were New York Titans fans. That team is now the Jets.

#50: Holy Cross Crusaders

• Why they will win: This is a sports-crazed school. Fully 25% of the entire student body plays varsity sports.
• Why they won’t win: Well, they just won’t, but they team that beats them will be happy. In 2002 Kansas knocked off the Crusaders, and in 2003 Marquette did. Both went on to the Final Four.
• One interesting fact: Ralph Willard, the head coach, is the 7th Holy Cross graduate to come back and coach the men’s team. They have only had 14 coaches in their history.

#49: Davidson Wildcats

• Why they will win: Stephen (pronounced “steffen”) Curry. He wanted to play at a high-major (Virginia Tech), but they didn’t want him. Motivation, baby!
• Why they won’t win: This team had a great record, but when they played high level competition (Michigan, Missouri and Duke), they lost. Their only high level win was over Arizona State, who went 2-16 in the Pac-10.
• One interesting fact: Davidson has made a serious tournament run before. They went to the Elite 8…in 1969.

#48: Arkansas Razorbacks

• Why they will win: Steven Hill (C) and Sonny Weems (G/F) are two of the most difficult match-ups in the country.
• Why they won’t win: Their ticket to the tournament was beating Southern Illinois and Vanderbilt twice. That’s not exactly a huge number of quality wins.
• One interesting fact: In 1895, the current red color that is the school color was chosen for the sports teams. It barely beat out heliotrope, a shade of purple.

#47: Stanford Cardinal

• Why they will win: If this team plays to potential, they have talent that is as good an anyone else’s in the country. The Lopez twins, Brooke and Robin, are 7-foot towers. They also played a very tough schedule, playing 14 games against tournament teams, and 3 more against “bubble” teams.
• Why they won’t win: Their shooting is awful. Stanford shoots just 44.9% from the field, and only 35.1% from 3.
• One interesting fact: Why the tree? The Stanford band, long known for weird behavior, voted for the tree as the mascot. It barely beat out, we promise we’re not making this up, a french fry.

#46: Old Dominion Monarchs

• Why they will win: They’ve already proven they can play with the big boys. ODU went to Georgetown and won earlier this season.
• Why they won’t win: Language barrier. The Monarchs have players on their roster from Finland, Lithuania and the Ivory Coast.
• One interesting fact: The school’s first name was the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary (go NDOTCOWAM!!).

#45: Illinois Fighting Illini

• Why they will win: Many people thought they should not have been in, but we have seen “last teams in” make seriously deep runs before (see George Mason 2006).
• Why they won’t win: Way, way, way too inconsistent. This team could play right with anyone in this tournament (see win over Indiana and close loss to Wisconsin) or get blown out on any given night (see huge loss to Purdue).
• One interesting fact: Adam’s uncle made the first basket ever scored in a competitive game at Assembly Hall. He was playing in a state high-school title game.

The “Final 44” tomorrow.