Primarily a collection of news links about all 11 Horizon League teams on a daily basis, culled from online newspapers, school athletic websites, the conference website, and school newspapers, plus some other content from time to time.
Since Dwyane Wade came aboard with the No. 5 pick in 2003, it can be argued that the Heat's best draft pick was a player they dealt away on draft night (Marcus Thornton) and arguably their best draft-night acquisition (Patrick Beverley) was a player who never wore the team's uniform during the regular season (although perhaps that designation should go to two-time-champion Norris Cole).
Jason Calliste and Joseph Young, Oregon-via-Detroit and Houston
Joseph Young is a scorer, and that was evident from the first moments he took the court for the Ducks, but the ultimate surprise of all these up-transfers is Calliste. The ex-Detroit guard was a good shooter in the Horizon League, but Calliste’s accuracy has completely transformed in Euegene. He is leading the nation in true shooting percentage, and several of his offensive statistics rank within the top percentile for KenPom.com. While occupying a similar percentage of shots attempted as he did in Detroit, Calliste is converting more than 50 percent of his threes.
With reserves like Cook stepping up for Moser and solid guard play from Joseph Young, Jason Calliste, Johnathan Loyd and Dominic Artis, the Ducks are confident heading into Saturday’s game against Wisconsin.
Cook also regained the nickname his teammates gave him earlier this season.
“He’s our X factor,” senior guard Jason Calliste said. “He’s why we won this game.”
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Calliste and Amardi are just the latest in a line of Ducks who have raved about Cook’s athleticism and potential, and he showed off both of those qualities against the Cougars. What the Ducks see in practice was on display for the nation.
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Joseph Young added 19 points as the Ducks (24-9) shot 50 percent from the field despite making just 2-of-13 three-pointers. Cook helped Oregon get a season-high 49 points from its bench, and Calliste added 14 points. Amardi had five points and eight rebounds.
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BYU (23-12), a No. 10 seed, led only when Tyler Haws opened the game with a jumper before the Ducks ran off the next six points. They built their lead to 39-24 on two free throws by Calliste with 3:07 left in the first half before the Cougars scored the final seven points of the half to get within 39-31 at the break.
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“We knew they’d go on a run, that is a good offensive team,” Calliste said. “We had to weather the storm, stick to our principles. We tightened up a bit on defense.”
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Oregon followed with a 22-6 run starting with Cook’s three-point play which marked the first of eight straight possessions when the Ducks scored. Calliste made two free throws and a three-pointer to give Oregon a 78-59 lead with 6:38 left in the game.
Jason Calliste and Mike Moser both had NCAA Tournament experience but had not been part of a tournament victory before arriving at Oregon.
Calliste’s sophomore year at Detroit ended with a 65-50 loss to second-seeded Kansas in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Calliste was 1-for-6 from the field, missed all four three-point attempts and scored three points in the loss.
Two years later, Calliste had 14 points and four assists to help Oregon defeat BYU 87-68 on Thursday afternoon at the Bradley Center.
“I wanted to get that bad taste out of my mouth,” Calliste said. “I finally did it.”
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“Me and Jason kept saying to each other throughout this game, ‘We need this one’,” Moser said. “It makes it easy to forget the losses we had. It is desperation at its finest.”
Calliste and Moser were motivated by not wanting their college careers to end without a win in March Madness.
“I would never get another chance at it,” Calliste said. “It’s satisfying, but I am not satisfied so on to the next one.”
There were four games at the First Niagara Center, and I needed Dayton, Western Michigan, Saint Joseph’s, or Milwaukee to win one of them because my very existence depended on it. Because if all four failed - and all four would enter as underdogs - there would be no TMM games here for the second day, Saturday. And although I’ve eaten plenty of complimentary food over the course of the season, I’m no freeloader. If we didn’t have a dog or a hawk or a bronco in the hunt, I wasn’t hanging around.
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Anyway, from my selfish perspective, things were still ascending, Dayton would play Syracuse, and if Saint Joseph’s or Milwaukee could win, I would still have two games to watch.
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Milwaukee led for much of the first half in the finale, and with some better shooting could have given Villanova a run, but it ended up like most 2 vs 15 NCAA games finish, 73-53 for the higher seed.
#2 Villanova vs. #15 Milwaukee – East Region Second Round (at Buffalo, NY) – 9:25 PM ET on TBS
These two teams enter the NCAA tournament on considerably different notes. Second seeded Villanova blew its chance for a one seed by losing to Seton Hall in the Big East quarterfinals while Milwaukee salvaged a 7-9 regular season with four consecutive wins in the Horizon League tournament. In fact, three of the Panthers’ wins in that event came away from home with two being true road games. It was a special March run for a team that otherwise would have been an afterthought. If Villanova is to right the ship and get back to playing good team basketball as it has for most of the year, the Wildcats have to do a better job on the perimeter. Villanova’s Achilles heel all year long has been three point defense, significantly exposed in all four of its losses to aforementioned Seton Hall (42 percent), Creighton (60 percent in each of two losses) and Syracuse (54 percent). While Milwaukee is not a great three point shooting team, Rob Jeter’s squad attempts just over 21 threes per game. If they get hot, the Wildcats could have a tougher game than they might expect. Jordan Aaron was phenomenal in the Horizon tournament and is fully capable of putting the Panthers on his back. Austin Arians is also another deep threat for Milwaukee. The bad news for the Panthers is getting hot from three is probably their only chance of pulling this one off. Milwaukee is not very efficient on either end of the floor and it would take its best game, combined with a sloppy game from the Wildcats, in order for Jeter’s team to win. While Milwaukee is a respectable opponent, Villanova has been too good all year long to slip up here.
NOTABLES
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East Region No. 2 Villanova didn’t get off to the best of starts against No. 15 Milwaukee, but the Wildcats woke up in the second half to beat the Panthers 73-53 in Buffalo. The Wildcats will face former Big East foe UConn Saturday.
Villanova (-16.5) over Milwaukee: Milwaukee is a "happy to be here" team. They were 7-9 in Horizon League play and below the conference average in both offensive and defensive efficiency. The only way they cover this spread is if Villanova, as a team that relies heavily on threes, goes ice cold.
19: That's the number of 3-pointers Villanova missed in its 73-53 win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The Wildcats were 0 for 11 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes and finished 4 of 23. Still, they cruised -- mostly because they were 24 of 39 on 2-pointers.
#3 Kentucky Wildcats 106, #14 Wright State Raiders 60
MVP: DeNesha Stallworth was just a dominating force in the post today. She finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and blocked five shots as the Wildcats led 51-25 at halftime and continued to pour it on in the second half to show why they are a 3-seed.
Bench was big... 56 points from the reserves for the Wildcats and that could prove to be a really big confidence boost going forward in the tournament. If you can get that production from any bench, you're going to win a lot of games. Jennifer O'Neill scored 21 off the bench for Kentucky.
It was over win... After Wright State tried to climb back into the game, cut it to 34-22. The Wildcats would close the first half on a 17-3 run and never look back, pushing the lead doubling the point production of the Raiders.
NCAA Tournament Locks (35): Arizona, Florida, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Kansas, Duke, Villanova, Virginia, Creighton, Michigan, San Diego State, Iowa State, Michigan State, Louisville, North Carolina, Saint Louis, Cincinnati, UCLA, Texas, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Kansas State, Vcu, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Iowa, Ohio State, George Washington, Memphis, Arizona State, New Mexico, Oregon, Baylor, SMU, Oklahoma State
Clinched NCAA Tournament Auto-Bids (12): Harvard (Ivy), Eastern Kentucky (OVC), Wichita State (MVC), Mercer (ASUN), Coastal Carolina (Big South), Manhattan (MAAC), Wofford (SOCON), Milwaukee (Horizon), Mount St. Mary’s (NEC), North Dakota State (Summit), Gonzaga (WCC), Delaware (CAA)
Bracket Math:
How many spots are still available for bubble teams hoping to win their way into the NCAA Tournament? Let’s break it down with a little bit of simple math.
I have 35 locks above, but when you consider nine conferences figure to have at least three bids or more (American, ACC, A10, Big East, Big 12, Big Ten, Mountain West, Pac 12, SEC) it’s fair to assume that in MOST — if not all — of those leagues, the automatic bid will also come from an already “locked in” team. Therefore, we subtract nine from 35, which leaves us with 26 “true locks”. Add in the 32 automatic bids awarded to teams that win their conference tournament (which is where the nine conference champs we discounted a second ago will end up) and you’ve got a total of 58 locks.
Since 68 teams make the NCAA Tournament, that leaves us with 10 spots remaining for bubble teams. Now, let’s take a look at the bubble:
Projected Bubble Spots Left: 10
Bubble In (10): Colorado, Stanford, Nebraska, Saint Joseph’s, Dayton, Xavier, California, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Tennessee
Bubble Out: Byu, Arkansas, Georgetown, Providence, Green Bay, Florida State, St. John’s, Belmont, Missouri, Indiana, West Virginia
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The NIT Picture
Automatic NIT Bids (7): Belmont (OVC), Florida Gulf Coast (ASUN), Davidson (SOCON), Vermont (America East), Green Bay (Horizon), Iona (MAAC), Robert Morris (NEC)
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The CBI/CIT Picture
Projected CBI Field (16): Penn State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, San Francisco, Boise State, New Mexico State, Siena, Illinois State, Ole Miss, Buffalo, Tulsa, Western Kentucky, Cleveland State, Saint Mary’s, Houston, Missouri State
Teams we know won’t accept CBI bid: Miami FL (link)
Projected CIT Field (27): Grand Canyon (rumored to accept), American, UCSB, Towson, IPFW, William & Mary, Quinnipiac, Princeton, South Dakota State, Holy Cross, Montana, Charlotte, Bucknell, Winthrop, Wagner, VMI, Chattanooga, Hartford, High Point, Drexel, UAB, Radford, USC Upstate, Albany, Hawaii, St. Bonaventure, Wright State
Accepted CIT Bids (5): San Diego (accepted), Valparaiso (accepted), Nebraska-Omaha (accepted), Brown (accepted), Murray State (accepted)
Horizon
G: Kendrick Perry (Youngstown State)
G: Keifer Sykes (Wisconsin Green Bay)
G: Kelsey Barlow (Illinois Chicago)
F: Juwan Howard, Jr. (Detroit)
C: Alec Brown (Wisconsin Green Bay)
Player of the Year: Keifer Sykes (Wisconsin Green Bay)
Rookie of the Year: Alec Peters (Valpariaso)
6th Man of the Year: Jon Harris (Cleveland State)
Coach of the Year: Brian Wardle (Wisconsin Green Bay)
Green Bay seemed to have the Horizon by the tail, playing the conference tournament at home and finishing two full games clear of the rest of the league. Milwaukee had other ideas and won their third game of the tournament with a thrilling overtime victory. On the other side of the bracket Wright State snuck by Cleveland State to earn the right to host the championship game tonight. Both teams scored less than 1 point per possession during the Horizon League season, so expect a slug fest in Dayton.
HORIZON
Player of the Year: Keifer Sykes (Green Bay)
Coach of the Year: Brian Wardle (Green Bay)
Newcomer of the Year: Kahlil Felder (Oakland)
All-Horizon
Keifer Sykes (Green Bay)
Kendrick Perry (Youngstown State)
LaVonte Dority (Valparaiso)
Travis Bader (Oakland)
Alec Brown (Green Bay)
IMPORTANT OUTCOMES
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2) Milwaukee 69, Wright State 63
Picked to finish dead-last in the Horizon League in the preseason, the Panthers pulled off another road win on Tuesday after winning at Green Bay in the semifinals. Since senior guard Jordan Aaron returned from suspension, the Panthers haven’t lost and with two consecutive road wins against solid opponents, this team will be a scary 15 or 16 seed in the field of 68.
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH FOR:
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3) A CIT matchup that should be entertaining is Cleveland State taking on Ohio in Athens. Ohio’s Nick Kellogg and Maurice Ndour lead the way offensively for the Bobcats, who are scoring nearly 72 points per game. Cleveland State’s a slightly better offensive team, and guard Bryn Forbes is averaging 15.4 points per game for a team that has lost just two games since January 22.
Spurred on by James, the Heat’s superb ball movement in the final minutes of the game found the open man. More often than not, that player was Allen, who had 14 points in the fourth quarter. Wade added nine points and Norris Cole, who played all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter, had five points. Combined, Allen, Wade and Cole outscored the Rockets by five points.
In the wake of a slump that had seen him scoreless in two of his three previous appearances, backup point guard Norris Cole was particularly pleased with Sunday's fourth-quarter contribution, when he made both of his shots and had two assists and no turnovers as the lone Heat player to go all 12 minutes in the final period.
"It was good to see some shots go in, good to see some positive plays," he said. "I'm a pretty positive player, so eventually I knew it couldn't get any worse the way I was playing. I knew it couldn't get any worse."
Jason Calliste is cold-blooded; literally. It’s why he wears long sleeves for every game and has earned the nickname, “The Sleeved Reaper” from Duck fans. One of the best pure shooters in the conference, Calliste has come up clutch at numerous moments throughout the year, including just this weekend when he hit the go ahead and-one jumper against third-ranked Arizona. The Detroit transfer has become arguably one of the top sixth mans in the Pac-12 and will be exciting to watch in the final month of the season.
"I always tell the guys, the spoils kind of go to the winners," Oregon coach Dana Altman said. "We didn't win enough. I thought some of the guys were maybe more deserving, but if you don't finish 1-2-3 in the league, I guess we were third but we caught up at the end. Mike, Joe, Jason (Calliste), Johnny (Loyd), I thought they were all deserving of something. I thought Johnny should have been on the all-defensive team with his steals and nobody is better on the ball than Johnny."
Jason Calliste provided his usual production off the bench with 17 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the field, including 3-for-4 on three-pointers. Point guard Dominic Artis, who was 1-for-12 from the field in his last seven games, had 10 points and six assists in 23 minutes while Carter had six points, his second-highest total of the season, and three assists, which matched his total from the previous nine games, in 20 minutes.
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Oregon State scored the first nine points of the game culminating with a jumper from Devon Collier before Oregon finally scored on a three-pointer by Mike Moser after the Ducks missed their first nine shots. OSU led 15-7 when Altman put Carter, Artis, Calliste and Elgin Cook in the game with Damyean Dotson.
You may have noticed during the season that Oregon basically makes Joe Young, Mike Moser, Damyean Dotson, Jason Calliste, and Johnathan Loyd as its spokesmen. Waverly Austin and Nicholas Lucenti were made available once late in the season.
Oregon has seven players with NCAA experience including five back from last year when the Ducks reached the Sweet 16. Mike Moser went to the NCAA Tournament with UNLV last season while Jason Calliste went with Detroit two years ago.
"Elgin is pretty excited about going back to Milwaukee," Oregon coach Dana Altman said. "Richard (Amardi) and Jason (Calliste) were hoping for Buffalo. Joseph (Young) and Dot were hoping for San Antonio. Elgin had Milwaukee and I didn't care. We're in, we're playing, so I am excited about that."
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Calliste, who had a career-high 31 points while shooting 7-for-13 from the field, including 4-7 on three-pointers, and made all 13 of his free throws. He suffered an injury to his side in Oregon's 82-63 loss to UCLA at the Pac-12 Tournament on Thursday.
Three players received Madness 2013-14 Horizon League All-Conference honors from the Oakland University women’s basketball team. Bethany Watterworth and Elena Popkey were named to the third team, and Kim Bee was named to the fourth team. Meanwhile, the Horizon League announced that Bethany Watterworth was named to second team all-conference and Kim Bee was named to the all-defensive team. The Grizzlies will play Youngstown State in the opening round of the Horizon League Tournament on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
After setting a school record for wins, the Wildcats saw their chances for a No. 1 seed disappear with a stunning 64-63 loss to Seton Hall in the Big East tournament. The Panthers went 7-9 in Horizon League play but have been a different team since Jordan Aaron (15 ppg) returned from a four-game suspension in late February.
It has been March for a while now, but it didn’t really feel like until Friday night when teams started receiving NCAA Tournament automatic bids. The first team to do so was Harvard by virtue of winning the Ivy League regular season title. They were soon joined by Mercer, Coastal Carolina, Wichita State, and Eastern Kentucky. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the weekend was Milwaukee beating Green Bay in the Horizon League semifinals, but we wouldn’t necessarily call them a bid thief because we doubt that Green Bay will be able to get an at-large bid.
Five Others
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Keifer Sykes – Guard – Green Bay. Sykes emerged as one of the best point guards in America, featuring an explosive offensive game, true point guard instincts and a knack for winning. Averaged 20.4 points, 5.0 assists and 4.4 rebounds in the regular season. Combined for 79 points against top-tier opponents Wisconsin, Harvard and Virginia.
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O26 Upset of the Year
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Honorable Mentions: Green Bay over Virginia (75-72); North Carolina Central over North Carolina State (82-72); Northern Colorado over Kansas State (60-58).
Green Bay: The mid-major darling of the at-large field, many fans and pundits were hoping the committee would let the Horizon League regular season champs into the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team. It didn’t happen for the Phoenix (24-6, 14-2) , as an overtime loss to Milwaukee in the Horizon League Tournament semifinals ended Green Bay’s NCAA Tournament hopes. It was the second loss of the season for Green Bay to Milwaukee, but the Phoenix still owned a home win over No. 1 seed and ACC champion Virginia and a respectable three-point loss to Wisconsin. Horizon League Player of the Year Keifer Sykes wasn’t healthy during the Horizon League Tournament, but the committee didn’t seem to notice that Green Bay was playing at less than full strength.
70. Green Bay (24-6, 14-2): The downside of conference tournaments for mid-major league champs is that an entire season's worth of good work can unravel in one night. Such is the case for Green Bay, which fell behind by 13 points in the first half against Milwaukee in the Horizon League semis, rallied to force overtime and then ran out of steam. The chances of Green Bay surviving that loss and earning an at-large bid are slim even though the Phoenix's two best players, Alec Brown and Keifer Sykes, both were far from 100 percent healthy that night. What gives the Phoenix hope is they do have a similar profile to the Middle Tennessee team that received a spot in the First Four last March. Green Bay has a great win over Virginia and a respectable No. 57 RPI, but the Phoenix's next best win came against Tulsa, and it has a few bad losses in league play too.
Green Bay (24-6, 14-2): The Phoenix were the most deserving small-conference regular season champion not to get a bid. Their season unraveled when stars Keifer Sykes and Alec Brown both sustained injuries in Horizon League semifinals against Milwaukee, contributing to a surprising loss that dashed Green Bay's hopes of an automatic bid and ultimately excluded it from the NCAA tournament. Green Bay coach Brian Wardle had hoped the committee would consider the injury factor as well as that his team dominated the Horizon League and beat ACC champion Virginia in November. Alas, it wasn't enough to outweight a resume lacking other quality wins.
What they got wrong: the 68th team (and BYU's placement)
Judging from the reaction of NC State players to hearing their name called during the selection show, they were as surprised as anyone to make the field, and they should have been. Little about their profile suggested they were worthy of beating out an SMU team ranked in the Top 25 as recently as Monday or a Green Bay team that dominated its league, beat Virginia in non-league play but stumbled in the Horizon semifinals.
Do Keifer Sykes and Green Bay have an at-large shot?. (USAT)
Green Bay (24-6, #63 RPI). This is just a real shame. Green Bay had the potential to be the next Cinderella that America fell in love with. But then the Phoenix lost to Milwaukee in the Horizon League semifinals, which pretty much sealed their fate as an NIT team. It’s really too bad. Diminutive point guard Keifer Sykes is a scoring machine with major hops, and 7-footer Alec Brown can drain 3s with the best of them. Green Bay’s argument is a 75-72 home win against ACC champion Virginia. But that was way back on December 7, before Virginia got their stuff together. The Phoenix also hung tough with Wisconsin before losing by three at home in mid-November. But they have bad losses to Eastern Michigan, Valparaiso and now two to Milwaukee. That might be one or two bad losses too many for an at-large bid.
For the bubble teams, I think I'm more or less in the consensus on the teams getting in. If one of my teams in ends up in the NIT, the most likely are SMU, Dayton and Nebraska. Who's the first team out? Honestly, I think it's Green Bay.
It's not that I necessarily think Green Bay will end up the first team out, but because Green Bay's resume is so different from the other teams, I can see the argument that could be made in the Selection Committee for them. For comparison, you may think Minnesota deserves in before Green Bay, and they may end up being in contention in the Committee room longer than Green Bay, but I don't see an argument anybody could make for Minnesota over Nebraska. Across the board, Nebraska has a better case. I can see an argument for Green Bay over Nebraska or Dayton.
Southern Miss, Louisiana Tech, Green Bay -- y'all never really had a chance. Ditto for Toledo, Belmont and Iona. Middle Tennessee? That was so last year.
The most surprising exclusion from the field of 68 was, of course, SMU, but who got the last coveted at-large in its stead? North Carolina State. Sure, the Wolfpack beat Syracuse in the ACC tournament to seal the deal, but that's only because they had the opportunity to play Syracuse on a neutral court three days before Selection Sunday. The Little Guy doesn't get those chances. You know the saying: Can't make it unless you take it.
Mark Gottfried can play just about anyone he wants outside the ACC. He knows this, which is why he went about scheduling so smartly. N.C. State's nonconference strength of schedule was ranked 108th in the country -- not great, but not awful, either. The Wolfpack played road games at Tennessee (which it won) and Cincinnati (lost), and it also lost to Missouri at home. The reason those games are smart is because if the Pack wins, they look good, but if they lose, there's not a whole lot of damage. Gottfried also scheduled a home game against North Carolina Central, which the Wolfpack lost. I'm guessing he won't make that mistake again.
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This is not to blame Gottfried. It's his job to get his team to the NCAA tournament, which he did, barely. But it does give us a window into the challenges the Green Bays of the world face in the superconference era. The Phoenix are one of those programs where playing them becomes a lose-lose. If you beat 'em, you're supposed to. If you lose to 'em, you must be bad. Green Bay was lucky this year because Virginia coach Tony Bennett, who is an alum, was crazy enough to take his team to the Resch Center on Dec. 7. The Phoenix won the game, and Virginia went on win the title in the same conference where N.C. State plays. Yet, despite winning the Horizon League regular season title by two games and amassing 24 wins, Green Bay was left out, and N.C. State scooped up the last at-large. Little Guy luck.
Green Bay made a case for an at-large bid but wound up with a spot in the NIT. The Phoenix have the benefit of playing at home, and they will face OVC regular season champion Belmont.
The Wildcats (28-4) will play Milwaukee (21-13) Thursday in Buffalo, N.Y. With a win, the Wildcats would face a familiar team in the next round: Ex-Big East beast Connecticut or Philadelphia's Saint Joseph's.
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And Milwaukee won the Horizon League tournament title after posting a 7-9 league record during the regular season.
Milwaukee, a team that had won just seven Horizon League games all season, won four in a week to earn a ticket to the Big Dance. They had to beat Green Bay for a second time this year (in the semifinals) – something that possible #1 seed Virginia could not do once – to accomplish the feat. The Panthers will be a part of the Tournament for the first time since 2006 — the year after Bruce Pearl departed UW-Milwaukee (as they were then know) for Tennessee. Between that 2006 appearance and a Sweet 16 run the year prior, Milwaukee won three Tournament games, but this year’s team will need to find some serious magic if they hope to make it three straight winning trips to the Dance for the program.
If nothing else, Milwaukee is equally average on both ends. The Panthers are almost right on the D-1 average for offensive and defensive efficiency, ranking 173rd in each category. Offensively, Rob Jeter’s team shoots a lot of threes (30th nationally in 3PA/FGA), but they aren’t especially accurate from distance, making just 33% of those attempts. They also get to the line a good amount (55th nationally in FTA/FGA), where they actually do shoot the ball well. On the season, the Panthers are converting 73.3% of their charity stripe efforts. Jordan Aaron is the team’s leading scorer at 14.6 points per contest, but it’s senior big man Kyle Kelm (12.4 PPG) who is the most efficient Panther when it comes to putting the ball through the hoop.
A year ago, the Panthers went just 8-24 (3-13 in the Horizon). Their 7-9 conference season isn’t exactly the stuff that March sleepers are made of, but overall, this is a vastly improved team. With a pretty similar personnel base (four Panther starters were key parts of last year’s team) and no individual players seeing massive statistical improvements, it’s hard to figure where Coach Jeter made up all the extra wins (and efficiency, for that matter). The Panthers likely won’t win a Tournament game, but for a team picked to finish last in the Horizon in the preseason, making an appearance on college hoops’ biggest stage should be accomplishment enough.
Best Case Scenario: Close loss in Round of 64. Depending on how other conference tournaments shake out, the Panthers should find themselves as either a #15 or #16 seed on Selection Sunday. But no matter which seed line it is, this Milwaukee team simply isn’t built to play the role of giant-killer. Bruce Pearl ain’t walking through those doors!
East Region
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Milwaukee respects Villanova, but knows that the game can be won on the defensive end, particularly outside. Panthers coach Rob Jeter boils it down to a simple question: ”Can we match up with Villanova’s quickness on the perimeter?”
Milwaukee (#15, East) – Milwaukee went on an improbable run in the Horizon League Tournament, notching road victories over prohibitive favorite Green Bay and Wright State to clinch the automatic bid. The unlikely trek probably ends there for Rob Jeter’s scrappy bunch, though. Unless they are clicking on all cylinders, Villanova’s great balance and depth will likely prove too much for the Panthers over the course of 40 minutes. Forwards Kyle Kelm and Matt Tiby have some size and aren’t lacking in confidence – both flashed demonstrative swagger throughout the conference tournament – but they might really struggle against the Wildcats’ solid interior defense. Jeter’s guards will have to knock down shots, and I just don’t seem them doing that on a consistent enough basis to advance.
Looking for something more improbable than Bob Knight's successor taking Texas Southern to the NCAA tournament in a year the Hoosiers didn't go? Try Cal Poly (67) earning its first-ever tournament bid with a 13-19 record. Or maybe Mount St. Mary's (66) finishing 16-16 but blowing out established NEC power Robert Morris to get here. Or Weber State (65) making an NCAA tournament appearance two years after Portland Trail Blazers Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard departed the school. Or a center from Coastal Carolina (64) named El Hadji Ndieguene being recognized by fans in an Orlando Wal-Mart? Or Wisconsin-Milwaukee (63) being picked to finish last in the Horizon League before knocking off Green Bay en route to the Horizon tourney crown? Or Louisiana-Lafayette (62) upsetting previously dominant Georgia State? Or Albany (61) going dancing despite wearing -- or maybe because of? -- the goofiest purple-and-yellow uniforms in the sport.
Thoughts:
Don't worry about the 1/16 game, of course. Some day we'll have a 16 seed over a 1, but it won't be Coastal Carolina over Virginia. The 2/15 game requires little more thought, as Milwaukee didn't even make it to .500 in Horizon League play. They're going to have a nightmare trying to score against the Villanova defense.
62. Milwaukee: Winning at Green Bay twice means you can be a threat in the Round of 64. Jordan Aaron's return from suspension completely changed the team.
36. Rob Jeter, Milwaukee -- Jeter starred under Bo Ryan at Division III Wisconsin-Platteville,captaining the team to the 1991 NCAA Division III title. Jeter, who started 89 consecutive games, played professionally in Portugal for a year before becoming an assistant coach at his alma mater.
No. 2 Villanova vs. No. 15 Milwaukee (9:25 p.m., TBS): Milwaukee made a great run through the Horizon League tournament, but that momentum likely stops here. The last time we saw Villanova, it lost to Seton Hall in the Big East quarterfinals. This one should help the Wildcats get their confidence back.
Last appearance:2006, lost to Florida in second round.
Coach:Rob Jeter, 1-1 in 1 appearance.
Overview:The Panthers claimed the Horizon title a year after finishing 8-24 and after being picked last this preseason. The No. 5 seed won four games en route to the title, including in overtime at top seed Wisconsin-Green Bay. They got a boost with the return from suspension of leading scorer Jordan Aaron in time for the Horizon tournament.
Twitter:@MKEPanthers
Did you know?Jeter's father, the late Bob Jeter, played for the NFL's Green Bay Packers — he is a member of the team's Hall of Fame — and Chicago Bears from 1963 to 1973.
Starters:G Jordan Aaron, 5-10, Sr. (14.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 80.6 FT%); F Kyle Kelm, 6-9, Sr. (12.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 52.5 FG%); F Matt Tiby, 6-8, So. (12.2 ppg, 6.7 rpg); F Austin Arians, 6-6, So. (11.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 78 FT%); G Steve McWhorter, 6-2, Jr. (8.1 ppg, 3.9 apg, 3.8 rpg).
No. 2 Villanova Wildcats vs. No. 15 Milwaukee Panthers
Milwaukee struggled in the regular season but caught fire from three to take down a talented Green Bay team in the Summit League final. Despite their recent play, the Panthers likely won’t have what it takes to upset coach Jay Wright’s offensive juggernaut in Villanova. The Wildcats ranked 30th in the nation in scoring, averaging 78.5 points per game, and 20th in assists, with 15.6 per game.
When the diminutive Aaron was suspended, the Panthers struggled mightily. But the senior guard returned and averaged over 20 points a game in the Horizon League tournament.
He’ll remind you off: Tu Holloway, Xavier, 2008-12
No. 2 Villanova vs. No. 15 Milwaukee, 8:25 p.m. CT on TBS, East Region
Milwaukee is already a Cinderella story even without yet playing a NCAA Tournament game. The Panthers were picked to finish dead last in the Horizon League, and even after actually finishing fifth they were not considered much of a threat to win the Horizon League Tournament. After beating Detroit at home and Valparaiso on a neutral site, the Panthers won road games against first-place Green Bay and third-place Wright State to earn a bid to the Big Dance.
The Cinderella streak will likely not carry over into the NCAA Tournament, though. The Panthers have not been consistent enough to go against Villanova for a full 40 minutes. They’ll need all five of their starters to be on their game if they are going to have any shot.
One thing Milwaukee does have that many mid-majors do not is good size with 6’9″ senior Kyle Kelm and 6’8″ sophomore Matt Tiby. And if Villanova has weak spots, they are in the Wildcats’ frontcourt.
#2 Villanova vs. #15 Milwaukee (Buffalo, New York)
Jay Wright has his Villanova squad playing great basketball again after some not-so-stellar seasons of late. They are a high scoring team with great balance. They have been a pillar of consistency all year. Outside of their miraculous loss to Seton Hall in the Big East tournament, they have outworked and outplayed their opponents all season. They have three players averaging more than 14 points per game and their ability to run and spread the wealth should be too much for Milwaukee to handle. Plus, the Wildcats will want to get rid of the bad taste in their mouth from the Big East tournament. They have rebounded well from losses this year and there is no reason to suspect that would change now.
11. Valparaiso's Bryce Drew hits buzzer-beater to upset No. 4 seed Ole Miss, 1998 first round. The play drawn up by his father, Homer, worked perfectly to get the superstar son an open 3-pointer. But it still was a hard shot. Drew had to catch the ball, worry about the clock, release the ball against the closing defense and assure that he was on target. No wonder it’s still a big deal.
#3 Kentucky vs. #14 Wright State (Lexington, Kentucky)
This is the first time since 1983 that the Wildcats have earned this high a seed in NCAA play, and the beauty of this seed is Kentucky would play the first two rounds at home should the Wildcats advance this far. Although Kentucky faces Wright State for the first time in school history, an ominous stat awaits Kentucky’s neighbors to the north. Kentucky has gone 14-0 against Horizon League opponents in the history of the program, including eight wins against the University of Detroit. Kentucky, led by senior DeNesha Stallworth (12.3 points per game), reached the Elite Eight each of the past two seasons. Wright State won 26 games this year, including a Horizon League title, and this is Wright State’s first trip to the NCAA tournament. Despite the fact junior Kim Demmings (22.7), Ivory James (17.2) and Tay’ler Mingo (15.7) average almost 55 points per game, Kentucky’s 82.4 scoring average should overcome that.
