JOURNAL INQUIRER / THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021 A11 No. 9 Georgia Tech (17-8) No. 13 Liberty (23-5) MIDWEST REGION: BREAKING IT DOWN Coach: Josh Pastner. Conference: ACC. Bid: Automatic. Coach: Ritchie McKay. Conf.: Atlantic Sun. Bid: Automatic. Tournament History: 23-16, 2 Final Fours in 16 appear- Tournament History: 1-4 in 4 appearances. Lst appear- No. 1 Illinois (23-6) No. 5 Tennessee (18-8) ances. Last appearance: 2010, lost to Ohio St. in the ance: 2019, lost to Virginia Tech in the Second Round. Coach: Brad Underwood. Conf.: Big Ten. Bid: Automatic. Coach: Rick Barnes. Conference: SEC. Bid: At-Large. Second Round. Season Stats Tournament History: 40-31, 5 Final Fours in 30 Tournament History: 22-23 in 22 appearances. Season Stats Team Scoring: 74.9 ppg; 49.1 FG pct; 39.1 3-pt pct; 77.7 appearances. Last appearance: 2013, lost to Miami in Last appearance: 2019, lost to Purdue in the Sweet Scoring: 75.5 ppg; 47.4 FG pct; 34.9 3-pt pct; 72.7 FT FT pct. the Second Round. Sixteen. pct. Top Scorers: Darius McGhee 15.6, Chris Parker 10.3. Season Stats Season Stats Top Scorers: Moses Wright 17.4; Jose Alvarado 15.3; Rebounds: Blake Preston 6.4; Avg team margin (plus-3.8). Scoring: 81.1 ppg; 50.0 FG pct; 37.4 3-pt pct; 68.8 FT Scoring: 72.5 ppg; 44.3 FG pct; 33.7 3-pt pct; 74.6 FT Michael Devoe 15.1. Assist/Turnover Ratio: 1.65: Parker (3.5/2.0), 97 assists. pct. pct. Rebounds: Wright 8.0; Devoe 4.3; Avg team margin Last 10 Games: 10-0. Top Scorers: Ayo Dosunmu 20.9; Kofi Cockburn 17.6; Top Scorers: Jaden Springer 12.5; Keon Johnson 11.2; (minus-3.6). Best Win: 84-73 vs. Mississippi St. on Bov. 26. Trent Frazier 10.4. Victor Bailey Jr. 11.0. Assist/Turnover Ratio: 1.45: Alvarado (4.1/2.0). Worst Loss: 59-65 at Stetson on Jan. 15. Rebounds: Cockburn 9.6; Dosunmu 6.2; Avg team margin Rebounds: Josiah-Jordan James 6.2; John Fulkerson 5.5; Last 10 Games: 8-2. The Skinny: The Flames have won 12 in a row, the fourth- (plus-10.2). Avg team margin (plus-2.2). Best Win: 80-75 vs. Florida St. on Mar. 13. longest active winning streak in the nation, and became Assist/Turnover Ratio: 1.23: Dosunmu (5.4/3.3), 135 Assist/Turnover Ratio: 1.20) Santiago Vescovi (3.2/1.9), Worst Loss: 120-123 4OT at home to Ga. St. on Nov. 25. the first team in ASUN history to win the regular season assists. 83 assists. The Skinny: Don’t shortchange the Yellow Jackets for the and conference tournament titles in three consecutive Last 10 Games: 9-1. Last 10 Games: 6-4. fact Virginia withdrew from the Atlantic Coast Conference seasons. Coach Ritchie McKay, who left Liberty after set- Best Win: 76-53 at Michigan on Mar. 2. Best Win: 80-61 at home to Kansas on Jan. 30. tournament due to COVID-19 protocols. The ACC champs ting the program’s then-Division I record for wins (23) in Worst Loss: 72-81 at Michigan St. on Feb. 23. Worst Loss: 72-77 at Auburn on Feb. 27. went 2-1 against Florida State and set a conference tour- 2008-09 to join Randy Bennett’s staff at Virginia, went The Skinny: No. 3 Illinois claimed its first Big Ten The Skinny: The Volunteers will be making their third ney record with 15 steals against the Seminoles in the back to Lynchburg after the Flames went 8-24 under Dale Tournament title since 2005 by topping No. 9 Ohio State. straight NCAA Tournament appearance and 23rd all-time championship game. Walking in the footsteps of New York Layer in 2014-15. After going 13-19 in McKay’s first year Illinois has won seven straight, six in a row over top-10 after falling to eventual SEC champion Alabama 73-68. City’s point guards past, Jose Alvarado fills the bill with a back (2015-16), they have won at least 20 games in five foes and 14 of its last 15. The Illini are big, fast, and Tennessee is led by the SEC All-Freshman tandem of 2-to-1 assists to turnover ratio:, an average of just under consecutive seasons. This season, Liberty ranks in the strong and a legitimate national title contender. Kofi Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson, the Vols’ top scorers. three steals per game and seldom comes out of the game top-20 nationally in 11 statistical categories, including Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu both scored 16 points, both The Vols will be hoping for the return of John Fulkerson, a for rest. scoring defense (59.6, No. 3), fewest turnovers per game grabbed nine rebounds and both made key plays in over- senior forward who started all but one game this season (9.7, No. 5), and scoring margin (plus-15.2, No. 7). time against the Buckeyes. until floored with an elbow to the head in a quarterfinal No. 10 Rutgers (15-11) win over Florida. Coach: Steve Pikiell. Conference: Big Ten. Bid: At-Large. No. 14 Morehead St. (23-7) No. 2 Houston (24-3) Tournament History: 5-7, 1 Final Four in 6 appearances. Coach: Preston Spradlin. Conference: Ohio Valley. Bid: Coach: Kelvin Sampson. Conference: AAC. Bid: Automatic. No. 6 San Diego (23-4) Last appearance: 1991, lost to Arizona State in the First Automatic. Tournament History: 29-26, 5 Final Fours in 21 appear- Coach: Brian Dutcher. Conference: MWC. Bid: Automatic. Round. Tournament History: 6-8 in 7 appearances. Last appear- ances. Last appearance: 2019, lost to Kentucky in the Tournament History: 6-12 in 12 appearances. Last Season Stats ance: 2011, lost to Richmond the Second Round. Sweet Sixteen. appearance: 2018, lost to Houston in the First Round. Scoring: 70.0 ppg; 45.1 FG pct; 31.1 3-pt pct; 63.2 FT Season Stats Season Stats Season Stats pct. Team Scoring: 68.8; ppg; 46.1 FG pct; 35.1 3-pt pct, 68.2 Team Scoring: 77.1 ppg; 43.9 fg pct; 35.7 3-pt pct; 73.9 Team Scoring: 74.1 ppg; 45.5 FG pct; 37.5 3-pt pct; 72.3 Top Scorers: Ron Harper Jr. 15.4; Jacob Young 14.4. FT pct. FT pct. FT pct. Rebounds: Myles Johnson 8.7; Avg tm. margin (minus-1.2). Top Scorers: Johni Broome 13.9; Devon Cooper 12.2. Top Scorers: Quentin Grimes 17.9; Marcus Sasser 13.6; Top Scorers: Matt Mitchell 15.4; Jordan Schakel 14.3 Assist/Turnover Ratio: 1.22: Young (3.5/3.0), 90 assists. Rebounds: Broome 9.0; Avg team margin (plus-6.6). DeJon Jarreau 11.1. Rebounds: Mensah 6.1; Mitchell 5.5; Avg team margin Last 10 Games: 5-5. Assist/Turnover Ratio: 0.83: Ta’lon Cooper (3.6/1.8). Best Win: 91-88 at home to Illinois on Dec. 20. Rebounds: Justin Gorham 9.2; Grimes 6.1; Avg team mar- (plus-4.0). Last 10 Games: 9-1. Worst Loss: 51-72 at Nebraska on Mar. 1. gin (plus-9.3). Assist/Turnover Ratio: 1.23) Tyler Pulliam (3.4/1.5). Best Win: 86-71 vs. Belmont on Mar. 6. Assist/Turnover Ratio: 1.24: Jarreau (4.3/2.4), 107 Last 10 Games: 10-0. The Skinny: With their first NCAA Tournament selection in 30 years, led by former UConn Husky Pikiell, the Knights Worst Loss: 65-69 at home to SIU-Edwardsville on Dec. 18. assists. Best Win: 68-57 vs. Utah St. on Mar. 13. The Skinny: After stumbling to a 4-6 start, the Eagles Last 10 Games: 9-1. Worst Loss: 67-70 at home to Colorado St. on Jan. 2. realize an accomplishment they have been building up to for years. Now, the question turns to whether they can get have won seven in a row and 19 of their last 20 behind 6- Best Win: 64-53 vs. Texas Tech on Nov. 29. The Skinny: The 19th-ranked Aztecs are on a roll after foot-10 freshman Johni Broome, a first-team all-OVC selec- Worst Loss: 73-81 at East Carolina on Feb. 3. their 14th straight win, a 68-57 victory over Utah State in the first tournament win since 1983. During the Big Ten regular season grind, Rutgers demonstrated that it could tion. Morehead State beat back-to-back regular-season The Skinny: With a 91-54 win over Cincinnati in the cham- the Mountain West Tournament championship game. conference, and 2020 tournament champion Belmont in pionship game, the Cougars asserted American Athletic That’s the third-longest active win streak. Tournament play with anyone, most notably a 91-88 win against Illinois in December. But effort will be the key as the Scarlet the finale to snap a nine-game skid against the Bruins Conference dominance after losing to the Bearcats in the MVP Matt Mitchell and all-tournament pick Jordan and then again in the title game. Broome is averaging last two championship games in 2018 and 2019. Quentin Schakel have been part of four conference titles: two reg- Knights were outrebounded 44-19 by the same Illini in their 90-68 loss in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. 17.7 points, 12.1 rebounds and 2.2 blocks with eight dou- Grimes was the AAC Player of the Year as well as the tour- ular-season and two tournaments.