North Carolina ends Baylor’s reign; son of the ‘Rocket’ rises

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After one of the most deliciously discombobulated and outrageously epic games in NCAA tournament history, one that bolstered the tradition of a blue-blooded program and sent the defending national champions home early, RJ Davis thanked his father.

“I mean, shout-out to my dad,” North Carolina’s precocious sophomore guard told reporters in Fort Worth. “He was a big-time scorer in college. They called him Rocket.”

The son of the Rocket proved to be something special, in his own right, on Saturday afternoon. RJ Davis scored a career-high 30 points and passed for six assists as the Tar Heels downed the Baylor Bears, 93-86, in overtime at Dickies Arena.

North Carolina advanced to the Sweet 16 of the East region in Philadelphia next week despite blowing a 25-point lead in a crazy 10-minute stretch that left the game tied at 80-80 after regulation.

In overtime, Davis sank an extremely difficult driving layup and converted a three-point play with 1:18 remaining. When he sank the free throw, the Tar Heels led by six. The Bears couldn’t get closer than five the rest of the way.

As such, Baylor became the first No. 1 seed in the tournament to fall this weekend, and eighth-seeded North Carolina, criticized earlier this season for being soft, found its tournament mojo. At just the right time.

Davis credited his father, Rob Davis, a former 2,100-point career scorer at Mercy College, for all the guidance, all the rides to the youth tournaments — everything. For helping him along on his journey to the NCAA Sweet 16.

“He just always stayed on me,” said Davis, from White Plains, N.Y. “Even when I had good games or bad games, it was just good criticism, just to get me to the position where I’m at now. Give credit to him just for everything he’s done for me, you know, from workouts to, you know, (AAU), him spazzing on me in car rides. So shout-out to Big Rob.”

In defeat, Baylor’s Drew lauds his players for their character

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Coach Scott Drew lauded the character of his players after the top-seeded Baylor Bears’ reign as national champions came to an exhausting end on Saturday afternoon in Fort Worth.

East region No. 8 seed North Carolina downed No. 1 Baylor 93-86 in overtime, ousting the Bears in a wild, round-of-32 game at the NCAA tournament.

At this time last year, the Bears were rolling toward their first title in men’s basketball and the first by a team from the state since Texas Western (now UTEP) won it all in 1966.

Today, Baylor’s season is over after finishing 27-7, which included a tie for first in the Big 12 regular season with Kansas.

The Bears won their first 15 games this season, before injuries and adversity caught up with them.

They forged a 14-4 record in Big 12 play, and then knocked off Norfolk State (Va.) in the NCAA’s first round.

In the Round of 32, they fell behind early against the Tar Heels, who were led by guard RJ Davis and forward Brady Manek

Ten minutes into the second half, the Bears’ deficit expanded to 25 points. With a pressing defense, they rallied furiously into an 80-80 tie at the end of regulation, only to see the Tar Heels escape in the five-minute extra period.

Davis had 30 points and Manek, who was ejected on a flagrant foul in the second half, finished with 26.

“Really proud of (our players’) effort and just how they carried themselves all year long,” Drew said in the post-game press conference at Dickies Arena. “15 and zero, (we) face a bunch of injuries, adversity. We could have gone away, end up (winning) conference.

“Same with today, you get down 25, it’s easy to fold. These guys don’t.

“It’s a joy to coach them every single day. We might be losers on the scoreboard today … Give North Carolina a lot of credit.

“Coach (Hubert) Davis is a great coach, does a lot of great things. They got a lot of great players and a great program. But I’m proud of these guys (with the Bears) and how they represent Baylor University.”

In the Bears’ season finale, guard Adam Flagler led with 27 points. James Akinjo produced 20 points, five assists and three steals. Jeremy Sochan produced 15 points off the bench, and Matthew Mayer scored 10.

Drew called his players “great young men” who had good attitudes about how to practice and play. “They really represented the school the right way,” he said.

The coach touched on the spiritual, as well, spelling out the theme of the team.

“What is impossible with man is possible with God,” Drew said. “I mean, to win back-to-back conference (championships) with three season-ending injuries, that’s phenomenal, along with all the other injuries these guys have overcome.

“And I know Adam will be excited to finally rest his body and get 100 percent healthy. He hadn’t been 100 percent healthy in six weeks or so. But it just shows you the toughness the guys have.”

Baylor played in the tournament without injured Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua, and LJ Cryer.

Freshman Langston Love, from San Antonio-area Steele High School and Montverde (Fla.) Academy, was lost to the team for the season in October, before the first game. Love is rehabilitating a knee injury.

‘The first time I’ve seen my play card all night’

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Here we are, on Saturday morning, and I’d like to throw out some NCAA tournament ‘Best of the Round of 64’ awards.

First, the best quote:

“I mean this is the first time I’ve seen my play card all night. It felt like they were guarding me. I couldn’t even see my play card.” — Montana State coach Danny Sprinkle, commenting on the defensive performance by the Texas Tech Red Raiders against his Bobcats in a Round of 64 game Saturday in San Diego.

Third-seeded Texas Tech won in a rout, 97-62, and advanced to the West Region’s R32 to meet the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Red Raiders and Irish will play Sunday.

Next, best performance by a player from San Antonio:

Arkansas senior Stanley Umude, from Warren High School, a grad transfer from South Dakota. Umude, who had 21 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots and zero turnovers in a 75-71 victory Thursday night against Vermont.

Arkansas coach Eric Musselman on Umude’s zero turnovers:

“It’s hard to turn it over when you shoot it when you got it,” Musselman joked.

Asked to elaborate on Umude’s game, Musselman said, ‘Stan was awesome. He keeps getting better and better and better with each game.”

Musselman said he remembered the 6-foot-6 Umude doing ball-handling drills all summer after he arrived on campus.

“He has basically gone from a power forward/small ball five to playing the two-three for us. He has improved so much defensively and improved on valuing the basketball as well. He has become a complete player,” the coach said.

Arkansas plays New Mexico State Saturday in Buffalo Saturday for a chance to advance to the Sweet 16 in the West region. Tipoff is at 7:40 p.m. on TNT.

And, finally, the best in Texas:

Five teams from the state of Texas remain in the tournament. Baylor plays North Carolina today at 11:10 a.m. in Fort Worth.

On Sunday, TCU will take on Arizona and Texas Tech will meet Notre Dame in San Diego. Also Sunday, Houston will battle Illinois in Pittsburgh and Texas will take on Purdue in Milwaukee.

Both TCU and Houston, bracketed in the South region, are looking to play next week in San Antonio. The South region Sweet 16 is next Thursday at the AT&T Center. The Elite Eight game is next Saturday.

North Carolina will challenge top-seeded Baylor in Fort Worth

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The top-seeded Baylor Bears and the No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels will open the Round of 32 in the NCAA tournament on Saturday at 11:10 a.m. when they meet in an East Region game in Fort Worth at Dickies Arena.

On Thursday, Baylor, the defending national champions, advanced with an easy 85-49 victory over Norfolk State (Va.), while North Carolina also dominated, taking out ninth-seeded Marquette, 95-63.

First-year Tar Heels coach Hubert Davis suggested on Friday that just because the Bears have lost center Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua to an injury, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are vulnerable on the inside, an area where North Carolina excels with big man Armondo Bacot.

“Baylor is the defending national champions and the No. 1 seed because they have more than one guy,” Davis told reporters in Fort Worth. “They’re an outstanding team. And one of the areas that they are terrific at is rebounding the basketball on both ends of the floor.

“It’s something that we have talked about, you know, yesterday, today, in terms of trying to limit Baylor to one shot every possession. Because we know that a huge part of their offense is getting second-chance opportunities,” Davis said.

Davis said the same is true for the Tar Heels in terms of how they stress the need to hit the offensive boards.

“I always say, ‘Let’s get shots, let’s get good shots,’ ” he said. “But if we get good shots, we’re either going to make them. And if we miss, because of our pursuit of the offensive glass, we’re going to get second-chance opportunities.

“So it’s a great matchup of two teams that — talented teams that like to get out in transition, they like to get second-chance opportunities, that get after it on the defensive end.”

Baylor coach Scott Drew told reporters that injured guard LJ Cryer, who also sat out the opener, will not play against North Carolina.

“I wish I could tell you otherwise, but I can’t,” he said.

Notable

The NCAA posts transcripts of all press conferences for credentialed media. The JB Replay gained access to the transcripts Friday afternoon.

Charting the top seeds

After Friday’s games, the top four seeds in each region produced a 15-1 record against lower seeds in the Round of 64. The only one to lose was East Region No. 2 seed Kentucky, which lost to Saint Peter’s Thursday night.

In the South Region, with the games cycling though San Antonio next week, top-seeded Arizona, No. 2 Villanova and No. 3 Tennessee all won in blowouts. Fourth-seeded Illinois was taken to the wire before downing Chattanooga, 54-53, Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh.

Five from Texas stay alive

Five of the seven teams from the state of Texas that made the 68-team tournament field are still alive going into the Round of 32. After Baylor won easily on Thursday, while Texas Tech, Houston, Texas and TCU all won on Friday to advance.

Texas Tech, Houston and Texas all hit double-digits in 3-pointers made on Friday. The Red Raiders had 12 and the Cougars and the Longhorns both made 10. Texas Tech hit 12 of 20 from beyond the arc in a 97-62 victory over Montana State in the West Region.

In the South Region, fifth-seeded Houston opened the tournament in Pittsburgh and nailed nine from long distance in the first half alone. The Cougars held off the UAB Blazers, 82-68, on Friday night to set up a Sunday game against Illinois.

Also in the South, the ninth-seeded TCU Horned Frogs blew out the Seton Hall Pirates, 69-42. With the victory, TCU earned a Round of 32 game Sunday in San Diego against Arizona.

Sixth-seeded Texas won its first tournament game since 2014 with an 81-73 East Region victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies. The Longhorns will also play next on Sunday, drawing the third-seeded Purdue Boilermakers.

Meanwhile, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was eliminated from the tournament on Tuesday. The Islanders lost to the Texas Southern Tigers.

The Tigers advanced to play Kansas on Thursday. The Jayhawks won, 83-56.

Illinois, a No. 4 seed in the South, escapes Chattanooga

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Coleman Hawkins blocked a shot and then rebounded when the last shot of the game misfired, boosting the fourth-seeded Illinois Fighting Illini to a 54-53 NCAA tournament South region victory over the No. 13 seeded Chattanooga Mocs.

Illinois led for only 25 seconds in the Round of 64 game played at Pittsburgh but managed to survive and advance to the R32. The Illini will play the No. 5 Houston Cougars on Sunday. The Cougars defeated the 12th-seeded UAB Blazers, 82-68.

Another victory would boost the Illini into a Sweet 16 game in San Antonio next week at the AT&T Center.

“It’s relief,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “It’s relief. I told (Chattanooga coach) Lamont (Paris) they played better than us. And we just happened to have more points than them at the end, and we led at the right time.

“But it’s also encouraging, and very encouraging to be very honest, to know that, let’s see, Trent Frazier is 0 for 6, (Andre) Curbelo is 1 of 7, Da’Monte (Williams) was 1 of 3, and (Alfonso) Plummer was 5 of 12.

“And to know that we’re really good shooting team, and you guys all sat there and watched us shoot yesterday. You know we’re a really good shooting team, and we had a bad day, Kofi (Cockburn) is 50 percent from the free throw line, and we found a way to win.

“We held them to 20 second half points.”

Hawkins, a 6-10 sophomore from Sacramento, came up with some big plays at the end to bail out a team that tied Wisconsin for first place in the Big Ten Conference’s regular-season race.

Chattanooga blasted out of the chute to take a 20-6 lead nine minutes into the game. An upset looked likely until Hawkins and Cockburn, an All-America center, helped rally the Illini.

With two minutes remaining, Hawkins ran the floor and took a lob pass from Trent Frazier that he dunked to bring Illinois within one point of the lead.

With 48 seconds left, Hawkins missed a free throw but Cockburn rebounded and tossed in an 8-footer in the lane, putting his team up 52-51 with 46 seconds left.

On the next possession, Chattanooga’s Malachi Smith was fouled, hit two free throws and boosted the Mocs back in front, 53-52.

Illinois came back down court and got the ball to 3-point specialist Alfonso Plummer on the perimeter. Plummer drove, drew contact and sank two free throws with 12 seconds left for the last points of the game.

Trying to win on the last possession, Chattanooga went to Smith who drove and hoisted a shot that was blocked by Hawkins.

Smith retrieved the ball and shot again but missed. Hawkins snared the game-clinching rebound, and the final horn sounded.

It was sweet relief for fans of the Illini, who suffered last year when their team had an elite team and a No. 1 seed and was beaten by Loyola-Chicago in the second round.

Raising the roof: Saint Peter’s upsets second-seeded Kentucky

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Bedlam broke out in Jersey City, N.J., on Thursday night after the Saint Peter’s Peacocks shocked the Kentucky Wildcats 85-79 in overtime in the NCAA tournament.

Immediately, veteran broadcaster Dick Vitale called it “one of the biggest upsets ever in March Madness.”

In an East Region game played at Indianapolis, the Peacocks entered with a No. 15 seed and little notoriety.

The Wildcats, a two seed, came in with one of the highest-salaried coaches in college basketball and NBA prospects up and down the roster.

The Peacocks prevailed, with Daryl Banks III scoring 27 points and Doug Edert coming off the bench for 20, including five points in the final 1:26 of regulation and five more in the overtime.

Saint Peter’s won for the first time in four trips to the tournament. In addition, the Peacocks became the 10th No. 15 seed to win a first-round game — and the second in two years — since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

Last year, No. 15 Oral Roberts knocked off Ohio State, 75-72. Oddly, both games were decided in overtime, and both were also played in Indiana. Oral Roberts’ victory came in West Lafayette.

Kentucky had never lost in the first round under coach John Calipari, who reportedly makes $8.5 million a year.

Oscar Tshiebwe produced 30 points and 16 rebounds for the Wildcats, who led by six points with 4:13 remaining in regulation and couldn’t finish off the victory.

The eight-time NCAA champion Wildcats were making a record 59th appearance. They entered with 26 victories, the 39th time they have won at least 25.

St. Peter’s had a more modest reputation. They had won only 19 games this year and had played in only three previous tournaments, in 1991, 1995 and 2011.

15 seeds over 2s

1991: Richmond beats Syracuse 73-69
1993: Santa Clara beats Arizona 64-61
1997: Coppin State beats South Carolina 78-65
2001: Hampton beats Iowa State 58-57
2012: Lehigh beats Duke 75-70
2012: Norfolk State beats Missouri 86-84
2013: Florida Gulf Coast beats Georgetown 78-68
2016: Middle Tennesse State beats Michigan State 90-81
2021: Oral Roberts beats Ohio State 75-72
2022: Saint Peter’s beats Kentucky 85-79 (overtime)

Thursday’s upsets

(12) Richmond defeats (5) Iowa in the Midwest, 67-63.
(12) New Mexico State defeats (5) Connecticut in the West, 70-63.
(11) Michigan defeats Colorado State in the South, 75-63.

UIW women fight to the end but fall in first NCAA appearance

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The NCAA women’s basketball tournament opened Wednesday afternoon in Columbia, S.C., featuring a battle between No. 16 seeds — the University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals and the Howard University Bison.

Spoiling UIW’s historic first appearance in the NCAAs, Howard prevailed when Brooklynn Fort-Davis hit a couple of layups in the final 1:20 to break open a close game, lifting the Bison to a 55-51 victory.

With the victory, Howard (21-9) will advance to play Friday against the South Carolina Gamecocks, the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s tournament. UIW (13-17) led by five points once in the first half and was in the game until the end.

Tiana Gardner led the Cardinals with 16 points and six rebounds. Jaaucklyn Moore had 14 points and five boards. Defensively, UIW played well, holding Howard star Destiny Howell to 4 of 17 shooting and 11 points.

But the Bison dominated with a 53-34 lead on the boards, including 22-2 on the offensive glass.

Fort-Davis led Howard with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Krislyn Marsh had 14 points and 17 rebounds. Both pulled down six offensive boards.

Records

UIW 13-17
Howard 21-9

Coming up

The winner moves on to play on Friday against South Carolina, the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s tournament.

Pre-game

For the first time in history, San Antonio-based UIW has reached the Division I women’s basketball tournament. They secured the bid by winning their first Southland Conference championship.

As the No. 5 seed, the Cardinals played the SLC tournament in Katy and defeated four teams in four days to win it all. They beat Nicholls State on Thursday, McNeese on Friday, Houston Baptist on Saturday and Southeastern Louisiana in the title game Sunday.

Tiana Gardner was named SLC tournament MVP following a 22-point performance with 12 rebounds in the championship game. Gardner pushed UIW into overtime with a pair of free throws, then secured the win with another pair from the charity stripe.

Destiny Terrell carried the Cardinals to the victory over McNeese with 24 points and 19 rebounds. She has pulled down 42 rebounds in the last four games. Jaaucklyn Moore, the SLC’s leading scorer in the regular season, hit a game-winning 3-pointer to lift the Cardinals to a 74-73 victory over Nicholls.

The Bison are playing in the NCAA ournament for the first time since 2001. They won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) championship with a 61-44 win over Norfolk State in the championship game on Saturday. Howard limited three MEAC tournament opponents to fewer than 50 points. The Bison have won nine of their last 10 games. Howard is located in Washington, D.C.

Texas Southern rallies late to oust A&M-Corpus Christi, 76-67

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The Texas Southern Tigers are coming back to the Lone Star State to play another game in the NCAA tournament.

Texas Southern rallied past the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders 76-67 in an NCAA First Four game at Dayton, Ohio, Tuesday night.

With the victory, the 16th-seeded Tigers advanced to a Round of 64 game in the Midwest Region against the top-seeded Kansas Kayhawks. The Tigers and the Jayhawks will play Thursday at 8:57 p.m. in Fort Worth at Dickies Arena.

The Islanders, making their first NCAA appearance in 15 years, led by four points with eight minutes remaining and by two with 6:07 left on the clock.

In the end, the Islanders couldn’t hold on, as the Tigers outscored them 17-6 down the stretch to seize the victory.

Guard Bryson Etienne led the Tigers with 21 points. John Walker III added 16 and PJ Henry 14. All of those points came off the bench. Starting center Brison Gresham had 14 rebounds and six blocked shots.

Trevian Tennyson led Texas A&M-Corpus Christi with 18 points. Simeon Fryer added 12 and Terrion Murdix 10. Point guard Jalen Jackson, from San Antonio Wagner High School, had five points, three assists and a steal.

For the Islanders, they may remember the game as one of lost opportunities.

They hit only 9 of 19 free throws and couldn’t convert on a number of field goal attempts at the rim, including one after the second of back-to-back steals on inbounds passes in the final minute.

Then again, it will also be remembered as a game that capped a memorable season, one in which they improved from a 5-19 record last year to 23-12.

First-year coach Steve Lutz, a native of San Antonio, led his team into the Southland Conference tournament as the No. 4 seed and won three games in three days to win the championship.

Records

Texas Southern 19-12
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 23-12

NCAA tournament opener has a San Antonio flavor

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A&M-Corpus Christi guard Jalen Jackson playing at the UTSA Convocation Center on Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021. - photo by Joe Alexander

San Antonio’s Jalen Jackson leads the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders into the NCAA tournament today. Jackson is a junior guard from Wagner High School. — File photo by Joe Alexander

When the first game of the 2022 NCAA tournament tips off at 5:40 p.m. today, a couple of familiar faces from the Alamo City will step into the spotlight for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders.

A little more than 30 years ago, the coach of the Islanders, Steve Lutz, was scrapping around in a high school gym and playing for the East Central Hornets.

Only three years ago, Jalen Jackson, the Islanders’ starting guard, was playing in the backcourt for the Wagner Thunderbirds.

Today, they will try to make history when the Islanders face the Texas Southern Tigers in an NCAA First Four game at Dayton Arena in Ohio.

They’ll try to lead the Islanders in their 23rd year as a basketball program to their first NCAA victory. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi started basketball in 1999-2000. The Islanders were independent until 2006-07, when they made their debut in the Southland Conference.

That season, the Islanders also made their NCAA debut and lost a heartbreaker, falling 76-63 to Wisconsin.

Taking the floor at the United Center in Chicago, the 15th-seeded Islanders were led by another Alamo City standout — center Chris Daniels from Sam Houston High School — and they stunned the crowd by surging to a 25-7 lead with five minutes left in the first half.

The lead didn’t last long. The Badgers rallied behind All-American Alando Tucker’s 23 points to win going away. At the time, the NCAA tournament consisted of 64 teams. Today, it is a 68-team field.

That is the reason that the Islanders and the Tigers are playing, essentially, in a bracket outside of a bracket. The four winners in the First Four games move on to play in the Round of 64.

In the case of the Islanders and the Tigers, the winner will fly out of Dayton on Wednesday and head to Fort Worth, where they will face the Midwest Region’s No. 1 seeded Kansas Jayhawks in an R64 game on Thursday.

According to rosters examined by The JB Replay, 10 players from the San Antonio area are on NCAA men’s basketball tournament rosters.

Jackson, Texas Tech’s Kevin McCullar (Wagner), Arkansas’ Stanley Umude (Warren) and Wyoming’s Brendan Wenzel (O’Connor) have started games this year, though Wenzel has been coming off the bench lately.

Freshman Langston Love (Steele) was projected to play a significant role this season for the top-seeded Baylor Bears, but he suffered a season-ending knee injury in October.

Love is sitting out as a redshirt.

S.A. players to watch

Adam Benhayoune, a 6-5 LSU freshman from O’Connor.

Jalen Jackson, a 5-11 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi junior from Wagner. Jackson averages 6.6 points, 2.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.4 steals.

Kijana Love, Baylor, 6-1 senior guard from Steele; transfer from New Hampshire and St. Edwardโ€™s

Langston Love, Baylor, 6-5 freshman guard from Steele and Montverde Academy (Fla.).

Kevin McCullar, Texas Tech, 6-6 redshirt junior guard from Wagner. McCullar averages 9.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.4 steals.

Stanley Umude, Arkansas, 6-6 senior from Warren; transfer from South Dakota. Umude averages 11.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.1 steals.

Ethan White, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 6-3 grad student guard from East Central

Brendan Wenzel, Wyoming, 6-7 sophomore guard from Oโ€™Connor; transfer from Utah. Wenzel averages 5.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.3 steals

Players from San Antonio area who attended high school out of the area, now on rosters for NCAA tournament teams

Zach Clemence, Kansas, 6-10 freshman forward, hometown listed as San Antonio, from Findlay Prep (Nev.) and Sunrise Christian Academy (Kan.)

Micah Peavy, TCU, 6-7 sophomore forward, hometown listed as Cibolo, from Duncanville; transfer from Texas Tech

Arizona draws No. 1 seed, favorite’s role in the NCAA South

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The NCAA South Region will cycle through San Antonio, with second-weekend games scheduled on March 24 and 26 at the AT&T Center. Here is a look at the top four seeds in the South:

(1) Arizona

Record: 31-3

Streak: Won six straight

Last 10: 9-1

At a glance: Arizona won the Pac-12 regular season and postseason tournament championships en route to the No. 1 seed in the South.

Route to San Antonio: The Wildcats are playing in San Diego on the opening weekend, taking on either Bryant or Wright State on Friday. Both are 16 seeds vying for a spot in the Round of 64. If the Wildcats reach the second round, they’ll play either (8) Seton Hall or (9) TCU in the Round of 32.

Names to watch: Tommy Lloyd, in his first year in Tucson, was named Pac-12 Coach the Year. Guard Bennedict Mathurin was Pac-12 Player of the Year. Seven-foot-one center Christian Koloko is the Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player and first-team all conference. Six-foot-11 forward Azuolas Tubelis is first-team all conference, while guard Pelle Larsson is Sixth Man of the Year. Guard Dalen Terry made the all defensive team.

(2) Villanova

Record: 26-7

Streak: Won five straight

Last 10: 9-1

At a glance: Villanova drew the No. 2 seed in the South. The selection came after it finished 16-4 and a game and a half behind Big East regular-season champion Providence in the regular season. Villanova went on to win the conference’s tournament title at Madison Square Garden with victories over St. John’s, Connecticut and Creighton.

Route to San Antonio: Villanova will play in Pittsburgh on the opening weekend of the tournament. The Wildcats will take on 15th-seeded Delaware (22-12) in the first round on Friday. If they advance, they’ll draw either (7) Ohio State or (10) Loyola-Chicago in the Round of 32.

Names to watch: Coach Jay Wright led Villanova to the 2018 NCAA title at the Alamodome. Point guard Collin Gillespie is the Big East Player of the Year. Averaging 15.9 points and 42 percent from 3-point territory, he came up big in the tournament final, sinking a couple of threes in the last few minutes to secure a 54-48 victory over Creighton. All-Big East, scond-team member Justin Moore averaged 15 points and 5 rebounds. Other starters are Jermaine Samuels, Eric Dixon and Brandon Slater.

(3) Tennessee

Record: 26-7

Streak: Won seven straight

Last 10: 9-1

At a glance: The Volunteers finished 14-4 in the SEC regular season to tie Kentucky for second place, one game behind Auburn. After winning the SEC tournament title last weekend in Tampa, Fla., defeating Mississippi State, Kentucky and Texas A&M along the way, they earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA South.

Route to San Antonio: They’ll play in Indianapolis on Thursday against 14th-seed Longwood, Va. (26-6). Two days later, the winner of that game will face either (6) Colorado State or (11) Michigan.

Names to watch: Former Texas coach Rick Barnes has led Tennessee to a fourth NCAA appearance in his seventh season at the school. Barnes reached the round of 32 in 2018. He made the Sweet 16 in 2019 and then lost in the first round last year. Guard Kennedy Chandler leads the team at point guard, averaging a team-best 13.8 points and 4.6 assists. Chandler was MVP of the SEC tournament. Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi were named to all-tournament.

(4) Illinois

Record: 22-9

Streak: Lost one

Last 10: 6-4

At a glance: Illinois tied with Wisconsin for the best record (15-5) in the Big Ten regular-season. The Illini opened in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament and lost by two to the Indiana Hoosiers. Illinois on Sunday earned the No. 4 seed in the South.

Route to San Antonio: The Illini are on their way to Pittsburgh. They’ll open the tournament Friday against No. 13 seed Chattanooga (27-7). If they win, they’ll move on to the round of 32 against either the (5) Houston Cougars or the (12) UAB Blazers.

Names to watch: Fifth-year Illinois coach Brad Underwood has had 20-win seasons in his last three seasons in Champaign. This is his second-straight NCAA appearance after last year when the top-seeded Illini were upset by Loyola-Chicago in the second round. Junior Center Kofi Cockburn made first-team all conference. Guard Trent Frazier was a second team pick. Forward Alfonso Plummer shoots 40 percent from 3-point territory.