Two potential NCAA Tournament bracket busters
Championship week is upon us, with teams on the bubble aiming to claw their way into one of the coveted 68 NCAA Tournament spots. For those fortunate to hear their schools called on Selection Sunday, a new season will begin with records wiped clean.
With the NCAA Tournament beginning soon, here are two potential bracket busters.
Furman Paladins (27-7)
The Paladins, one of the country's hottest teams, are dancing for the first time since 1980 following their win over Chattanooga in the Southern Conference title game.
A last-second buzzer beater by Chattanooga in last season's conference tournament kept Furman out of the NCAAs.
“They thought last year was gonna push us back,” Furman coach Bob Richey said, per the Greenville News. “But instead all it did was motivate us to come together.”
Furman has won 17 of its past 19 games. Early season victories over South Carolina and Belmont, plus a narrow loss against Penn State, proved that the Paladins can hold their own against legit competition.
Furman relies heavily on a veteran duo of Mike Bothwell and Jalen Slawson, both in their fifth year, who have played a combined 306 games. Slawson (15.7 PPG, 7.1 RPG) is SoCon Player of the Year and Bothwell (18 PPG) joined him on the all-conference first team.
The Paladins, while undersized, have two guards (JP Pegues and Marcus Foster) who average 10-plus points per game. As a team, Furman averages 82.1 points and shoots 34.7% from three.
Drake Bulldogs (27-7)
Fresh off a 77-51 drubbing of Bradley in the Missouri Valley championship game, Drake will make its second NCAA Tournament appearance in three years. Like Furman, it will enter the dance with momentum, having won 13 of its past 14 games.
The Bulldogs are led by Missouri Valley Player of the Year Tucker DeVries, son of head coach Darian DeVries.
DeVries is a gifted scorer who can beat opponents at all three levels offensively, but others must step up to alleviate pressure for their star, who averages 19 points -- roughly a quarter of the team's per-game total (75.3).
The most likely candidate is do-it-all guard Roman Penn, a fifth-year player who stuffs the stat sheet (12.6 PPG, 5.4 APG, 4.6 RPG) and runs an offense that has averaged 82 points over the past month.
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