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Get to know seven teams Marquette could face in the NCAA men's basketball tournament

jr radcliffe, milwaukee journal sentinel
·6 min read

Several conference tournaments have been settled in NCAA Division I men's basketball, and it's highly possible Marquette's first-round opponent in the NCAA Tournament already has punched its dance card.

With Marquette trending toward a No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the tournament, it means the Golden Eagles will face a team seeded No. 15 or, even more likely, a No. 14. Get to know seven potential first-round foes.

Colgate guard Tucker Richardson, left, is defended by two Lafayette players.
Colgate guard Tucker Richardson, left, is defended by two Lafayette players.

Colgate

  • Record: 25-8

  • Conference: Patriot

  • Location: Hamilton, New York

This will be the fourth straight NCAA Tournament featuring the Raiders. Fans of Wisconsin basketball will remember the program well; it gave UW all it could handle in a first-round game at Fiserv Forum last year before ultimately falling 68-60. Colgate never has won a first-round game but has proven competitive.

This is the nation's best 3-point shooting team at 40.83% (and second best in overall field goal percentage), so you can imagine how the Raiders beat teams. They also take care of the ball, with the second-best assist-to-turnover ratio in the country (Marquette is fourth).

What's more is that three starters from that team are back this year, though leading scorer Nelly Cummings transferred to Pitt. Tucker Richardson, last year's second-leading scorer, has seen an uptick in points and assists this year to lead the team in both departments, on his way to Patriot League Player of the Year (and Defensive Player of the Year). Keegan Records, who averaged close to 10 points last year, is up to 12.8 this year and shooting 67% from the field. Ryan Moffatt also scores in double figures and shoots the lights out with a 46% 3-point percentage, though on only 133 attempts, so he doesn't officially make the NCAA leaderboard.

But Oliver Lynch-Daniels does, and he's the best 3-point shooter in the entire nation at 50.68%, with 75 makes in 148 attempts. The 25-year-old senior came off the bench last year but not this time around, and he averages 12.2 points per game. All five starters (along with Braden Smith) average double figures in scoring.

Furman guard JP Pegues leaps to the basket against Chattanooga.
Furman guard JP Pegues leaps to the basket against Chattanooga.

Furman

  • Record: 27-7

  • Conference: Southern

  • Location: Greenville, South Carolina

For the first time since 1980, Furman punched its ticket thanks to a win in the SoCon Tournament, one year after losing to Chattanooga on a buzzer-beater in the championship game.

The Paladins have two fifth-year seniors making a ton of noise in Mike Bothwell, who averages 18.0 points per game, and SoCon Player of the Year Jalen Slawson, who averages 15.7 with 7.1 rebounds and a 56% shooting mark.

This program has been waiting for a breakthrough, having achieved single-digit losses in four of the past five years under coach Bob Richey and even reaching the Associated Press national rankings back in 2019 at No. 23. Running a spread ball-screen offense has helped the team rank among the top 10 in the country in assists, and it ranks first in the country in 2-point percentage at 60.1%.

Kennesaw State head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim reacts to fans as he holds the net after defeating Liberty for the Atlantic Sun Conference title.
Kennesaw State head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim reacts to fans as he holds the net after defeating Liberty for the Atlantic Sun Conference title.

Kennesaw State

  • Record: 26-8

  • Conference: Atlantic Sun

  • Location: Kennesaw, Georgia

The Owls are in the NCAA Tournament for the first time after winning a thriller over Liberty in the conference-tourney final. It's the program's first Division I winning season, part of a rapid revolution orchestrated by coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, who arrived in 2019 and oversaw a 1-28 season in 2020.

Four players average 9.4 points or better, led by Chris Youngblood (14.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 41% from 3-point range). The Owls are decent at taking the ball away (50th in the nation in steals per game) and are reasonably good at shooting (36.8% from three, also 50th). None of the regulars stand taller than 6-8.

Vermont's Aaron Deloney dribbles against Binghamton.
Vermont's Aaron Deloney dribbles against Binghamton.

Vermont

  • Record: 22-10

  • Conference: America East

  • Location: Burlington, Vermont

The Catamounts still need to win the American East championship against UMass-Lowell on Saturday, but the program has won 14 straight games (many in convincing fashion) and has rebounded from a 2-7 start to the year.

A decent shooting team at 47.6% overall despite an undersized roster, Vermont is looking for a second straight NCAA Tournament after giving fourth-seeded Arkansas a scare last year. This year's team is full of new faces, however, with only one full-time starter and one part-time starter back. Dylan Penn (transfer from Bellarmine) leads the way with 13.2 points per game.

Louisiana's Jordan Brown (21) looks to pass against South Alabama.
Louisiana's Jordan Brown (21) looks to pass against South Alabama.

Louisiana

  • Record: 26-7

  • Conference: Sun Belt

  • Location: Lafayette, Louisiana

Back in the tournament for the first time since 2014, the Ragin Cajuns won the Sun Belt title after finishing second in the regular season.

It has one of the top-20 field goal percentages in the nation (48.4%), thanks in large part to 6-11 junior Jordan Brown, who averages 19.4 points and 8.7 rebounds this season, while shooting 57% from the field. The transfer from Arizona is a former Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year. He also racks up 1.2 blocks per game.

The Ragin Cajuns also rank in the top 20 in the nation at disallowing 3-point attempts and also put up a strong fight on the offensive glass.

Montana State guard RaeQuan Battle shoots against Northern Arizona.
Montana State guard RaeQuan Battle shoots against Northern Arizona.

Montana State

  • Record: 24-9

  • Conference: Big Sky

  • Location: Bozeman, Montana

The Big Sky Conference winners are making a second straight tournament after last year represented the first trip since 1996. This is a largely new cast, led by RaeQuon Battle, who jumped up from 8.5 points per game last year after transferring from Washington to 17.2 this year. The Bobcats get to the free-throw line a ton, making 17.4 shots from the line per game (seventh in the nation) on 23 attempts (16th).

Darius Brown II, a 6-2 guard, was named the league's defensive player of the year and Great Osobor, a 6-8 sophomore who averages 10.1 points and 4.4 rebounds, was named the league's sixth man of the year.

UC Irvine guard DJ Davis reacts after scoring against USC.
UC Irvine guard DJ Davis reacts after scoring against USC.

UC Irvine

  • Record: 22-10

  • Conference: Big West

  • Location: Irvine, California

Take this one with a grain of salt since Irvine is only at the semifinal stage of the conference tournament Friday and didn't even win the conference outright, sharing the title with UC Santa Barbara but earning the tourney's No. 1 seed.

A decent 3-point shooting team at 37.5% and a team that shares the ball (14.8 assists per game) while playing good defense (66.7 points allowed per game), Irvine is looking for its third NCAA appearance in school history and first since 2019. Dawson Baker (15.4 points per game on ) and DJ Davis (15.2 points per game) provide a healthy chunk of the scoring

Racine Prairie alumnus J.C. Butler comes of the bench, scoring 3.6 points per game.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Seven possible Marquette opponents in first round of NCAA Tournament