More than a year after suffering the biggest upset in the history of this event, No. 1-seeded Virginia finally returns to the NCAA Tournament and opens play today against No. 16-seed Gardner-Webb (approx. 3 p.m., truTV).
The Cavaliers (29-3) come into today's matchup with the Runnin' Bulldogs making their school-record sixth straight appearance in the Big Dance. A No. 1 seed for the fourth time in six years, Virginia is obviously hoping to bounce back from last season's 74-54 loss to UMBC.
A win over Tim Craft's Gardner-Webb team would give the Hoos a second game in Columbia with a chance at a return to the Sweet 16 on the line. UVa, which finished the regular season No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25, comes in as a heavy favorite over G-W but as last year showed: Nothing can be taken for granted.
Check out our 3-2-1 on the South Region pod here in Columbia.
Three Things We Know
1. Virginia opens the Big Dance with Gardner Webb, the champions of the Big South.
Today UVa begins it 2018-2019 season, at least according to the general public, when the Cavaliers open up NCAA Tournament play in Columbia. Awaiting the top-seeded Wahoos is Gardner-Webb, which won the Big South Tournament more than a week ago. The Runnin' Bulldogs earned the league’s automatic bid as the No. 4 seed in the conference tournament, upsetting the league’s top two teams, Radford and Campbell, on their respective home courts to punch their first ever ticket to the Big Dance. They have already tasted success against ACC teams this season, with wins over Georgia Tech and Wake Forest. Gardner-Webb also opened the season against VCU and Virginia Tech, but lost both of those games by double digits. Craft’s team ranks No. 167 in KenPom, just four spots behind Wake. The Runnin’ Bulldogs are a solid outside shooting team, making 37.7 percent of their 3-pointers on the season. Led by senior guard David Efianayi and stretch forward D.J. Laster, Gardner-Webb will likely live and die by the 3 today against the Cavaliers. The Bulldog defense is substantially weaker than their offense and UVa will have a big size advantage in the post. The Runnin’ Bulldogs don’t start a player taller than 6-foot-6, the aforementioned Laster.
2. Ole Miss is the No. 8 seed in the South Region in its first year under Kermit Davis.
If UVa is able to get by Gardner-Webb the Hoos will advance to play the winner of the 8/9 game on Sunday. The lower of those two seeds is Ole Miss, which is a bit of a surprise team this season. The Rebels hired MTSU head coach Kermit Davis in the offseason and were picked to finish dead last in the SEC preseason poll. Ole Miss ended up 20-12 and finished 10-8 in league play before losing to Alabama in first SEC Tournament. In fact, the Rebels head into the NCAA’s without much momentum, losing four of their last five and five of their last seven, with the only wins coming against mediocre Missouri and Georgia. Ole Miss isn’t the best shooting team but the Rebels have a decent offense overall, led by star guard Breein Tyree (18.2 ppg). If their games come down to the wire, they are an excellent free-throw shooting team at 78.3 percent, which is best among the tournament's 68-team field.
3. Oklahoma earned the No. 9 seed after adjusting to life without Trae Young.
The Rebels will face on Oklahoma today, another team that exceeded expectations for at least part of this season. The Sooners lived under the microscope last season with Young running the show but weren’t able to beat Rhode Island in their first-round game a year ago. This season, OU went 12-1 in non-conference play, which included wins over tourney teams Wofford and Florida. In Big 12 play, the Sooners finished below .500 at 7-11 and lost their first game in the conference tournament to West Virginia. They only won a single game against a tournament-bound team in league play, when they beat Kansas in the final week of the regular season. Oklahoma is much stronger on defense than on offense, ranking 23rd nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency. OU allows opponents to make just 45 percent of their two-point tries, which is 21st best in the nation. The Sooners boast an experienced team that starts three seniors, one junior, and a sophomore, and is led by Christian James, who averaged 14.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game this year. James has cooled off quite a bit down the stretch, however. The senior guard scored 20 points seven times in the first 20 games of the season but didn’t do it once in the final 12 contests, which included four single-digit scoring performances.
