Loyola-Chicago: 2021 Missouri Valley Men's Basketball Champions

The Ramblers are going dancing again this March. After a 75-65 win over Drake to win the Missouri Valley conference tournament, Loyola Chicago earned an automatic bid to this year’s March Madness tournament.

This will mark Loyola’s second tournament in the last four years. Back in 2018, they were the underdog darlings of the bracket. They knocked off Miami, Tennessee, Nevada and Kansas State en route to their first Final Four appearance since 1963, when the Ramblers won their one and only NCAA Championship. The 2018 team also charmed the nation with their enthusiastic superfan, Sister Jean.

This year’s team is led by leading scorer Cameron Krutwig, who averages 14.8 points a game. And while Sister Jean wasn’t able to attend the MVC tourney this year, she told the Loyola Phoenix that she was “with them in prayer and in spirit.”

“I ask God to bless their hands so that they have control of the ball to get it into the baskets,” Sister Jean said via the Phoenix. “To keep it from turnovers, to get the rebound and convert the rebounds to points.”

Winthrop: 2021 Big South Men's Basketball Champions

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- — D.J. Burns scored 22 points and Winthrop took off in the second half to a 80-53 victory over Campbell on Sunday for its second straight Big South tournament championship and automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

Burns finished the first half with consecutive baskets for a six-point lead and the Eagles (23-1) made their first eight shots of the second half in running away from Campbell for their 13th championship in 17 title-game appearances. They will be making their 11th NCAA Tournament appearance.

By the time the top-seeded Eagles missed a shot in the second half they led 36-21. The blazing shooting continued as the lead reached a high of 31 and they eased to their seventh straight win during a season when they had a 21-game win streak before a two-point loss to UNC Asheville. They are 43-4 in their last 47 games.

Burns, a 6-foot-9 sophomore, forward finished 11 of 12 from the floor with the Eagles shooting 79% in the second half and 63% overall. Kyle Zunic added 13 points with 3-pointers. Chandler Vaudrin, who has three triple-doubles this season, had 10 rebounds and six assists to go with eight points.

Winthrop won the tournament title last year only to see their NCAA Tournament bid dissolve with the COVID-19 crisis.

"Oh man, it's so great to be back here, knowing the opportunity we had last year and unfortunately events took it away from us," said Burns, who transferred from Tennessee two years ago. "It feels good to back here and have a second shot to do it again.

"We work as hard or harder than anybody in the country and we're gonna to go out and go play our game, play our style to speed them up or slowing down if you need to. We're all gonna do whatever it takes to win. That's a part of our culture that the coaches instilled in us from Day One."

Third-seeded Campbell (17-10) came in on a nine-game win streak and looking for its first NCAA appearance in 29 years. Though the Camels lost a two-game series at Winthrop during the regular season, one of those losses came by just a point. But this time, they led only once — at 2-0.

Jordan Whitfield scored 18 points and Ricky Clemons 10 for Campbell.

Winthrop won its three tournament games by an average of nearly 26 points.

------

Morehead State: 2021 Ohio Valley Men's Basketball Champions

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- — Johni Broome scored a career-high 27 points on 12-of-19 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds and Morehead State cruised to a 86-71 win over top-seeded Belmont on Saturday in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament championship game.

Skyelar Potter made 7 of 11 from the field and finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds for No. 2 seed Morehead State (23-7). DeVon Cooper scored 14 points and Ta'lon Cooper added 10.

The Eagles clinched their first berth in the NCAA tournament since 2011 and won their fifth OVC tourney title.

Nick Muszynski led Belmont (26-4) with 23 points, Luke Smith scored 15, and Grayson Murphy added 13 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

Broome score eight points in a 16-5 spurt that gave Morehead State, which never trailed, a 38-26 lead late in the first half and the Eagles led by double figures throughout the second.

The Bruins have won at least a share of three straight OVC regular season titles and won the conference tourney last season but, due to the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA tournament caused by the coronavirus pandemic, haven't appeared in the Big Dance since earning an at-large bid in 2017.

------

Liberty: 2021 Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball Champions

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- — Chris Parker scored 16 points and Liberty beat Stetson 77-64 on Friday in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament semifinals and later earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament when North Alabama reached the title game.

North Alabama, a 96-81 winner over Florida Gulf Coast, is ineligible for the NCAA Tournament because it is in a four-year Division I transition period.

Blake Preston added 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Darius McGhee added 13 points and nine assists to help Liberty (22-5) reach a conference championship game for the fourth straight season.

Christiaan Jones had 20 points for the Hatters (11-14). Chase Johnston added 16 points.

----

For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://twitter.com/AP--Top25