Kennesaw State: 2022-23 Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball Champions

 

The Kennesaw State men’s basketball team is going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.

Terrell Burden hit a free throw with 0.7 seconds remaining to lift the Owls past Liberty 67-66 on Sunday in front of a school-record announced attendance of 3,805 to win the ASUN Tournament and earn their automatic invitation to the NCAA Tournament.

Supporters wearing gold and black were crammed into every possible space of the Convocation Center to witness Kennesaw State playing in its first conference title game in arguably the most important game in school history.

Despite having little experience with success in Division I basketball – the program went 1-28 in 2019-20 – the students and others turned the arena into a hostile environment Sunday.

After the victory, players ran around the court holding up their phones to record the moment. Parents and loved ones flooded the court to exchange hugs and handshakes.

The Owls will learn where they will go and who they will play on the March 12 NCAA selection show.

The victory was secured when Burden, a senior who went to Campbell High, was fouled driving to the basket by Liberty’s Isiah Warfield. Burden hit the first and missed the second. He finished with a team-high 19 points. Chris Youngblood followed with 16 points, Brandon Stroud 12 and Demond Robinson 10.

Kennesaw State built a five-point lead with 1:34 remaining.

Liberty’s Darius McGhee, the conference player of the year and one of the best shooters in NCAA history, hit an acrobatic layup to cut the Owls’ lead to three with 1:28 left.

Stroud was fouled by Ben Southerland. Stroud hit both free throws to give the Owls a five-point lead with 1:04 remaining.

Stroud fouled McGhee on Liberty’s next possession. He hit both free throws to again cut Kennesaw State’s lead to three with 56.8 seconds remaining.

Burden turned over the ball on Kennesaw State’s next possession.

The Flames took advantage with a 3-pointer by Colin Porter to tie the game at 66 with 25 seconds remaining.

With the shot clock turned off, Burden held onto the ball until his final drive.

Making the NCAAs caps a remarkable turnaround led by coach Amir Abdur-Rahim. He was the one who was at the helm for the one-win season in which the Owls finished 352nd out of 353 teams in Ken Pomeroy’s rankings.

Rahim, who played at Wheeler High, led the team to five wins the next season, 13 the next and 26, so far, this season.

Drake: 2022-23 Missouri Valley Men's Basketball Champions

ST. LOUIS — Drake men's basketball won the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament on Sunday, the Bulldogs' first league tournament title since 2008.

The Bulldogs beat Bradley, 77-51, to win the title and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Braves were the regular-season conference champions, beating Drake 73-61 in the finale. But it was all Bulldogs in the championship.

This will be Drake's sixth NCAA Tournament appearance. The previous trips were 1969, 1970, 1971, 2008 and 2021.

"You never know what will happen in the tournament," Drake's D.J. Wilkins said. "We didn't know if we'd get the opportunity to play Bradley again, so just to be able to do it on this stage for all the marbles, we wouldn't want to have it any other way."

Drake didn’t make a field goal for the first 4 minutes and 43 seconds of the game, and that drought ended when Darnell Brodie separated himself from Rienk Mast and sank a turnaround jumper.

After starting 0-for-5 from the field, the Bulldogs went on a 12-0 run to go up 14-3 on Bradley. Drake’s defense kept the Braves scoreless for 4 minutes and 28 seconds while building its lead.

Drake held a 41-21 lead at halftime. The Bulldogs’ 20-point advantage was the third-largest halftime lead of any MVC Tournament championship game. That was also the second-largest halftime deficit for Bradley this season; the largest was Drake’s 22-point lead when the Bulldogs beat the Braves, 86-61, in January in Des Moines.

But even a 20-point lead isn’t safe in tournament play. Drake was up by double digits in the semifinal against Southern Illinois, and the Salukis went on a 13-2 run to start the second half.

Zek Montgomery kicked off the scoring in the second with a 3-pointer, and Garrett Sturtz responded with two points for Drake. The Bulldogs were able to respond most times that Bradley scored, keeping the lead in the teens or twenties for all of the second half.

Bradley pulled most of its starters with under four minutes to play, as Drake held a 30-point lead.

"Really proud of our guys," Drake coach Darian DeVries said. "They had an unbelievable fight tonight. Played extremely well, maybe as complete a game as we've had on both ends of the floor. So, an incredible moment."

Tucker DeVries led the Bulldogs with 22 points. Sturtz and Brodie each added 12 points in the win.

Drake advanced to the championship game for the third straight year after beating Southern Illinois, 65-52, in the semifinal. Roman Penn led Drake with 16 points in the victory and Brodie pulled down 17 rebounds.

UNC Asheville: 2022-23 Big South Men's Basketball Champions

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Drew Pember had 29 points, Tajion Jones scored 16 in the final 7:35 and No. 1 seed UNC Asheville stormed back to beat seventh-seeded Campbell 77-73 on Sunday, winning the Big South conference tournament championship and advancing to the NCAA tournament for the fifth time.

Ricky Clemons hit a jumper to give Campbell a 66-52 lead, and then Jones took over. The senior guard scored 10 straight points for the Bulldogs (27-7) after Pember made two free throws to cut their deficit to 68-64 with 3:41 to go. Clemons and Jones traded 3-pointers and Pember followed with a three-point play to get UNC Asheville within 71-70.

Clemons hit a jumper with 1:44 to play but the Fighting Camels would not score again. Pember, who has attempted and made more free throws than anyone else in the country, sank a pair. Clemons was fouled but missed both free throws and Jones buried a 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs on top 75-73 with 55 seconds left. The last time UNC Asheville had had the lead the score was 13-11.

Pember, the Big South's Player of the Year, hit 9 of 19 shots but just 1 of 6 from 3-point range. He made 10 of 12 foul shots. Jones sank 9 of 14 shots, including 5 of 8 from beyond the arc. They each grabbed eight rebounds. Fletcher Abee hit three from distance and scored 11.

Jay Pal scored a career-high 26 points to lead the Fighting Camels. The senior made 11 of 18 shots and grabbed 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season. He added four assists and blocked two shots. Big South Freshman of the Year Anthony Dell'Orso scored 12 points -- just two after halftime -- and snagged seven rebounds. Clemons, a former walk-on who is now a senior, hit two 3-pointers and scored 17 before fouling out.

Pal had 16 points and eight rebounds by halftime to guide Campbell to a 38-35 lead at intermission.

The Fighting Camels (16-18) made their only trip to the Big Dance in 1992, losing to eventual champion Duke in the first round 82-56. Campbell is the sixth No. 7 seed to advance to the Big South title game. All six lost to the top seed.

UNC Asheville sports a 2-4 record in its four previous NCAA tourney appearances.

Southeast Missouri State: 2022-23 Ohio Valley Men's Basketball Champions

EVANSVILLE — Southeast Missouri State men’s basketball coach Brad Korn shared a teary-eyed embrace with his parents. After an emotional 89-82 overtime win over Tennessee Tech in the United Fidelity Bank Ohio Valley Conference Tournament championship, all the family could do was shed joyful waterworks. That clinched SEMO’s first NCAA Tournament berth in 23 years and the SEMO faithful showered the players and coaches with praise.

At long last, and after four games in as many days, the wait was over. A timeline concluded with a story fitting enough for tears.

“You don’t do anything on your own,” the third-year coach said. “They get to share in that moment as well. I heard a long time ago, that surround yourself with amazing people (and) you’ll be surprised how far they can take you. I know I’m extremely blessed with these guys, this university, my family.”

The emotions of the night can’t be summed by the numbers. The six lead changes and five ties don’t come close to showing why a family cried in the stands. The Golden Eagles were about one shoe size away from snapping their 60-year danceless run.

Fifth-seeded SEMO took a two-point lead with 2.2 seconds remaining in front of 1,728 fans at Ford Center, leaving TTU needing a miracle it was painfully close to achieving. Jaylen Sebree chucked a Hail Mary pass to Diante Wood, who turned and hit an off-balance shot he thought was for the win. It was a similar play to that which ended Eagles’ coach John Pelphrey’s playing career 31 years prior.

Bucket, but his foot was on the 3-point line — “buzzer tier,” Korn called it. He sent TTU to overtime instead of the dance. Korn’s tears were nearly for a loss and Tech’s wait was almost over.

SEMO players were in tears but quickly needed to dry them. There was still overtime.

“They said, ‘Hey, remember this feeling. We’ve got five minutes to not feel this way,’” Korn said of Phillip Russell, Chris Harris and Dylan Branson. “I give them all the credit in the world for that and having the perseverance and the grit and the toughness to get it done.”

Tears fell again, but for joy and accomplishment on the Redhawks’ end. Wood watched from the opposite baseline after being an inch from ending a generational waiting period.

“I wanted to soak it all in, see how it felt, the pain,” Wood said. “(I can) come back next year, know about the feeling. Don’t want to be in that position again.”

Four games in four days. Austin Peay in 2016 was the only other team to win the OVC tournament after playing on opening night. The odds were against SEMO. Korn knew it but presented a challenge to his team before departing for Evansville. 

Believe they can win the championship. Pack for four days.

Those were the options, or the players were instructed not to board the bus. That resulted in a 23-year wait ending and the Redhawks heading to March Madness.

“The guys have had a calmness, a steadiness about them all week,” Korn said. “The moment was not too big.”

“Everybody always had the right attitude,” Harris said. “We don’t want to be the outlier. It’s been so long since we actually won a championship and we see other teams winning championships all the time, so figured it’s our turn to step up.

It feels good to bring a basketball championship back home.”

A daunting task lies ahead for Korn and his Redhawks. They’ll likely be paired as a 16-seed against one of the tournament favorites or in the First Four to have the chance at playing one of the top teams. But Korn has experienced the Madness, albeit as an assistant at Kansas State.

“The balls are different, the floor is different, the arena — everything is different,” Korn said. “It’s going to be different coaching in the NCAA Tournament than it was as an assistant.

“This is what we do. This is what these guys do. To be able to have that, these guys are going to be able to see and experience, it’s at a different level. You literally walk around like royalty, people treat you so well. I’m looking forward to it.”

Amidst all the celebration, cheering and jubilation, it could be easy to forget how close it was to going the other way around. An inch, a shoe size, a step — one of those things changing is the difference between SEMO going to the tournament and watching the opposition celebrate; between tears in celebration and those in agony.

In essence, it was everything college basketball is supposed to be.

“If that’s not the definition of March Madness,” Korn said, “I don’t know what is.”

Fairleigh Dickinson: 2023 Northeast Men's Basketball Representative

Fairleigh Dickinson became the first team to punch its ticket to the 2023 NCAA tournament on Saturday -- and the Knights did it without winning their conference tournament.

Merrimack, the 1-seed in the Northeast Conference tournament, is still in the midst of its four-year reclassification process from Division II to Division I and is therefore ineligible for the NCAA tournament. However, the NEC announced last summer it would allow Merrimack to participate in the conference tournament this season. Merrimack winning the regular-season title meant the championship game runner-up would advance to the NCAA tournament should the Warriors make it to the title game.

That situation played out on Saturday. With Merrimack beating Sacred Heart in the first semifinal on Saturday, it meant the winner of the second semifinal between Fairleigh Dickinson and St. Francis (Pa.) would earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Fairleigh Dickinson, the 2-seed in the tournament, knocked off 3-seed St. Francis 70-50. Demetre Roberts led the way with 18 points and five assists, and Ansley Almonor (15 points) and Grant Singleton (12 points) also scored in double figures.

Merrimack and Fairleigh Dickinson will still face each other in the NEC tournament title game on Tuesday (7 p.m., ESPN2).

It's a huge accomplishment for first-year head coach Tobin Anderson, who took over a Fairleigh Dickinson team that finished 4-22 last season. Anderson, who had been the head coach at Division II St. Thomas Aquinas since 2013 before taking over at FDU, guided the Knights to a 15-win improvement.

The NEC's situation is similar to what happened in the ASUN tournament last season, with Bellarmine winning the conference tournament despite being ineligible for the NCAA tournament due to its reclassification status. Jacksonville State was the regular-season champion, so the Gamecocks earned the automatic bid even though they lost to Jacksonville in the conference tournament semifinals.

Genshin Impact: Genshin Misadventures - Windblume's Breath, Part 2.

#GenshinImpact #windblumesbreath