N/A
Kennesaw State has punched its ticket to the men's NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
With a 67-66 win over Liberty in the Atlantic Sun tournament championship game, the Owls have clinched an automatic bid to go dancing during March Madness this year.
Senior guard Terrell Burden, who had a team-high 19 points for Kennesaw State, made one of two free throws with one second left on the clock to give the Owls the one-point win. Three other starters scored in double figures, and the team shot 40 percent (6-of-15) from beyond the arc while holding Liberty to 21.7 percent (5-of-23) from three-point range.
Winning the conference title completes a massive turnaround for Kennesaw State under head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim. He was hired in 2019, and the team went 1-28 in his first season at the helm. Undeterred, he led the team to improvements in each of the next two years before the culmination of his efforts was realized this year.
Kennesaw State is 26-8 and went 15-3 in conference play this season, its first winning season in program history. Abdur-Rahim was named ASUN Coach of the Year.
The Owls have an experienced roster with all upperclassmen outside of just three freshman and one sophomore. Junior guard Chris Youngblood leads the team with 14.6 points per game, followed by Burden's 13.3 points per game.
Kennesaw State will have an entire week to celebrate before finding out its placement in the tournament bracket on Selection Sunday on March 12.
Former college basketball coach Joe Williams died of cancer at the age of 88 on Saturday, according to the Associated Press' Jim Vertuno.
Williams compiled a 336-231 record over spells at Jacksonville, Furman and Florida State. He began his coaching career with the Dolphins in 1966 and continued on until his final year with the Seminoles in 1985-86.
The Mississippi native is best remembered for guiding Jacksonville to the 1970 national championship game, where the Dolphins lost to the John Wooden-led UCLA Bruins.
That Jacksonville squad included Artis Gilmore, who averaged 26.5 points and 22.2 rebounds in 1969-70. Gilmore eventually embarked on a professional career that sent him to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Williams left Jacksonville on the heels of that NCAA tournament success.
During his time at Furman, the Paladins won five Southern Conference tournament titles. Their Sweet 16 run in 1974 remains the only time the program has reached the regional semifinals.
Williams added a seventh trip to the NCAA tournament with Florida State in 1979-80.
Beyond the wins and losses, Joe Williams Jr. spoke to Vertuno about how his father left a larger legacy through his willingness to recruit Black players and push back against segregation.
"He was one of the first coaches in the South to do that," Williams Jr. said. "When Dad would travel with the team, if there was a restaurant that wouldn’t let the whole team eat together, Dad just packed the whole team up and they went to a restaurant where they could."
Jacksonville enshrined Williams into its athletic Hall of Fame in 1994.
The Northern Kentucky Norse are going dancing.
Northern Kentucky earned a spot in the 2017 NCAA tournament Tuesday with a 59-53 victory over the Milwaukee Panthers in the Horizon League tournament championship game.
Rob Dauster of NBC Sports noted this was the first year the Norse were eligible for the Big Dance.
The team's official Twitter account shared the celebration:
Cincinnati Bearcats coach Mick Cronin congratulated the nearby program:
Lavone Holland II spearheaded the effort Tuesday with 20 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. Drew McDonald added a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Holland earned tournament MVP and was emotional afterward, as Joe Danneman of Fox 19 in Cincinnati captured:
Holland and McDonald were the only two Norse members to score in double figures Tuesday, but Northern Kentucky's defense set the tone. The Norse held the Panthers to 36.2 percent shooting from the field and 22.2 percent from three-point range while winning the battle of the boards, 38-30.
Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports juxtaposed Northern Kentucky's success in its first year of eligibility with Northwestern's historical failure to ever reach the Big Dance:
Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com projected the Norse to land a No. 15 seed and a date with No. 2 Louisville in his latest Bracketology. Beating any No. 2 seed would be a daunting challenge, but Middle Tennessee did the seemingly impossible last year with a victory over the No. 2 Michigan State Spartans as a No. 15 seed.
In 2013, Florida Gulf Coast advanced all the way to the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed with wins over No. 2 Georgetown and No. 7 San Diego State.
Northern Kentucky is battle-tested considering it played Illinois and West Virginia during the season, although it lost to both by double digits. The Norse team that will take the court in the NCAA tournament should have more confidence since it is riding a six-game winning streak and has won 10 of its last 11 games.
With an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on the line, the North Florida Ospreys didn't need a pregame speech to get fired up for their Atlantic Sun championship game Sunday against the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles.
That didn't stop head coach Matthew Driscoll from doing everything he could to try to pump up his players.
Before the game, Driscoll showed off an impressive set of lungs by screaming "Let's go!" at the top of his lungs for a solid five seconds. That's the type of coach every player should want to play for.
Unfortunately for the Ospreys, Dunk City was too much to handle. Florida Gulf Coast locked up the conference's automatic bid by cruising to a 77-61 victory.
[Twitter, h/t New York Daily News]
Not even the shot clock could properly process Rayjon Tucker's dunk.
During Sunday's Atlantic Sun tournament championship game showdown between Florida Gulf Coast and North Florida, the Eagles guard posterized Ospreys center Romelo Banks. He threw it down with enough authority for the backboard to tremble.
After the jam, the game clock and shot clock also went haywire:
Tucker finished with four points in FGCU's 77-61 victory. A slam like that will preserve the program's Dunk City moniker as it enters the NCAA tournament.
[Twitter]
Members of the Florida Gulf Coast University men's basketball team recently decided to get some unique exercise away from the gym.
One video released Tuesday shows an Eagles player dunking on an unsuspecting student in line, while another released Wednesday features a student riding his bike and getting posterized on a sunny day.
Florida Gulf Coast is 18-6 overall and sitting atop the Atlantic Sun Conference standings at 7-1, so the Eagles have earned a little fun outside of practice. Be on the lookout, FGCU students, because you could be next.
[Twitter]
Florida Gulf Coast made a splash in the NCAA tournament three seasons ago, upsetting Georgetown and San Diego State before falling to Florida in the Sweet 16, going 3-0 against the spread.
This year, the Eagles are back in the Big Dance, shooting for similar results when they face off with Fairleigh Dickinson in a First Four play-in game Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio.
Point spread: The Eagles opened as six-point favorites; the total was 149.5, according to sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark (line updates and matchup report).
March Madness pick, via Odds Shark computer: 76.2-68.4 Eagles
Why pick Florida Gulf Coast to cover the spread
The Eagles started just 6-7 this season but began the new year with a seven-game winning streak. A 4-6 finish didn't exactly provide inspiration heading into the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament, but Gulf Coast got hot, upsetting top-seeded North Florida and then outlasting Stetson in overtime in the title contest to secure its second-ever NCAA bid.
On the season, the Eagles are shooting almost 48 percent from the field and holding opponents to just 41 percent shooting. They're also out-rebounding foes by a handful per game. If FGCU can control the pace, defend the perimeter and hit its free-throws, it stands a good chance of winning this game and grabbing the cash.
Why pick Fairleigh Dickinson to cover the spread
Like their dance partners for Tuesday night, the Knights meandered through most of this season and, as of three weeks ago, languished below the .500 mark. But FDU closed the regular season with consecutive road victories and then won three games in six days in the Northeast Conference tournament, upsetting top-seeded Wagner in the title contest to earn its first NCAA tournament berth since 2005.
On the season, the uptempo Knights are averaging 78 points per game, with four players, led by guard Darian Anderson, averaging in double figures. They upped that to 81 PPG during their late-season run. If Fairleigh Dickinson can control the pace to its preference, hit some threes and hold its own on the boards, it could win this game outright.
Smart betting pick
FGCU owns the edge in experience, shoots the ball better than FDU, plays better defense and does a better job on the boards. So even while the line on this game is probably inflated by a bucket or so, the smart money here flies with the Eagles.
March Madness betting trends
All point spread and lines data courtesy of Odds Shark, and all quotes gathered firsthand unless otherwise noted. Check out Twitter for injury and line movement updates, and get the free odds tracker app for iOS or Android.
Every great story has to come to an end some time. America's latest feel-good sports story came to an end on Friday night at the hands of the now-villainous Florida Gators.
Florida Gulf Coast University may be out of the NCAA tournament after losing 62-50, but Dunk City players, fans and faculty shouldn't consider this a loss. It's all about the journey anyway, right?
In this case, it is.
The Eagles had one of the most impressive and surprising runs in recent sports history. They started their unlikely streak by winning the last five games of their regular season, earning the automatic bid from the Atlantic Sun conference.
It was their first-ever bid to play in the NCAA tournament, and they wouldn't waste the amazing opportunity.
They were matched up against No. 2 Georgetown in the South Region in a game that very few people even gave a second look. That is, until the game started.
All of a sudden, the other games kept cutting to what looked like a game on the AND1 Mixtape Tour. Fans were half expecting to see Hot Sauce or Half-Man, Half-Amazing come out and embarrass some poor Hoyas defender.
FGCU kept dunking and shooting until it had done the unthinkable, winning 78-68, a 10-point margin of victory. The Eagles did it in glorious fashion. They were throwing sick alley-oops, knocking down threes and throwing down thunderous slam dunks throughout.
The magic didn't stop there. They went on to beat San Diego State 81-71 in another improbable victory complete with all of the same fanfare and exciting play style.
Meanwhile, the small university from Fort Myers, Fla., was becoming famous.
The town took on the name Dunk City due to its team's high-flying antics. FGCU merchandise flew off the racks, and rightfully so. FGCU was just the seventh No. 15 seed to move on to the round of 32 and the first No. 15 ever to see the Sweet 16.
Yes, the Eagles would lose their Sweet 16 game to the Gators. And while winning is what this whole tournament is about, that's not necessarily what it was about for FGCU.
Sure, the Eagles wanted to win the game, but they had already won. If they won against the Gators, it was another crazy upset from a team which had no right being there. If they lost, big whoop, a No. 15 seed got beat.
This magical postseason run for the Eagles will go down in college basketball lore. It will be a team and a run that FGCU players, fans, families, students and faculty will talk about and remember forever.
Every year during March Madness, basketball fans will be reminded of the improbable run by a ragtag group of high-flying, fast-breaking, chicken-dancing madmen who played the game with reckless abandon.
And it worked.
The Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles might have been eliminated from the 2013 NCAA tournament, but they aren't eliminated from the highlight reels they filled with amazing plays, our memories or our hearts.
