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The Rest Of The Best
The following are the 39 other schools that SI projects will
fill out the NCAA tournament field. Of the 64 invitations to be
awarded on March 12, Selection Sunday, 30 will be automatic bids
to conference champions, and the remaining 34 will be for
at-large berths.
Rank Team Conference
26 Siena Metro Atlantic
Skinny The Saints go marching up and down the floor: Nation's
third-highest scoring team last year--86.6 points per game--has
four starters back
27 Louisville Conference USA
[Skinny] Three returning starters--forwards Nate Johnson and
Tony Williams and guard Marques Maybin--all averaged between
12.1 and 12.3 points
28 Stanford Pac-10
[Skinny] Bad news: Cardinal has only one starter back. Good
news: He's league player of the year candidate Mark Madsen (13.1
ppg, 9.0 rpg, 60.5 FG%)
29 Miami Big East
[Skinny] Hurricanes will rely heavily on Big East's most
improved player last season, guard Johnny Hemsley, who increased
scoring from 14.1 to 17.8
30 Maryland ACC
[Skinny] Terps must find help for Terence Morris, who last year
was lone player in ACC top 10 in scoring, rebounding, blocks,
steals, FG% and FT%
31 New Mexico Mountain West
[Skinny] Lobos will no longer follow their Bliss (coach Dave was
replaced by Fran Fraschilla). Instead they'll rely on guard
Lamont Long (16.8 ppg)
32 Oregon Pac-10
[Skinny] Conference's most prolific three-point shooting team
hopes 7'2" center Chris Christoffersen can improve on so-so
freshman year
33 Wake Forest ACC
[Skinny] Junior point guard Robert O'Kelley can score
(17.5-point average, tops in ACC) but needs to improve his
playmaking (2.0 assists)
34 Fresno State WAC
[Skinny] Return of senior guard Courtney Alexander (21.4 ppg)
plus fact that league tournament is in Fresno equals return to
NCAAs for Tark
35 Indiana Big Ten
[Skinny] Hoosiers have won just two games in last four NCAA
tournaments; senior guard A.J. Guyton (16.0 ppg) lacks the help
needed to add to that total
36 Weber State Big Sky
[Skinny] Forward Harold (the Show) Arceneaux (22.3 ppg) and
point man Eddie Gill return from team that shocked North
Carolina in 1999 NCAAs
37 Georgia Tech ACC
[Skinny] Seven-foot Jason Collier and 6'11" Alvin Jones, who
combined for 29.9 ppg and 17.0 rpg last season, give Tech
formidable Twin Towers
38 Tulsa WAC
[Skinny] Realigned WAC won't get automatic NCAA berth, but
center Brandon Kurtz (11.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg) should lead Hurricane
to sixth bid since 1994
39 Missouri Big 12
[Skinny] Expectations are high for new coach Quin Snyder, who
will up the tempo to capitalize on talents of sophomore star
Keyon Dooling
40 Michigan Big Ten
[Skinny] Knee injury to forward Brandon Smith (out until
January) will give top recruit LaVell Blanchard a chance to
develop into a star
41 Alabama SEC
[Skinny] New coach Mark Gottfried's bumper crop of recruits is
led by junior college All-America forward Schea Cotton (25.8 ppg)
42 Penn Ivy
[Skinny] Senior guard Michael Jordan (15.3 ppg) leads deep
Quakers, who will face Kentucky, Kansas and Temple in
nonconference games
43 New Mexico State Big West
[Skinny] Eight of the top nine players--including senior point
guard Billy (the Kid) Keys (13.7 ppg)--are back from a team that
won 23 games
44 N.C. State ACC
[Skinny] Freshman Damien Wilkins (Gerald's son and Dominique's
nephew) counted on to end Wolfpack's eight-year NCAA tournament
drought
45 Oklahoma Big 12
[Skinny] Forward Eduardo Najera (15.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg) is a star,
but Sooners will miss Ryan Humphrey (7.5 rpg), who transferred
to Notre Dame
46 Toledo Mid-American
[Skinny] The MAC should once again get two NCAA bids if the
Rockets' 6'8" junior Greg Stempin (15.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg) continues
to improve
47 Vanderbilt SEC
[Skinny] Lanky 6'11", 220-pounder Dan Langhi is as dangerous on
the perimeter as he is inside (17.7 ppg, 7.3 rpg, .385
three-point FG%)
48 Bradley MVC
[Skinny] All five starters are back, led by 6'4" guard Eric
Roberson, who led the Braves in rebounding and had nine steals
in one game
49 Kent Mid-American
[Skinny] Golden Flashes have top six scorers back from team that
won 23 games but still must find a point guard to lead them
50 Xavier A-10
[Skinny] Hopes for 11th NCAA tournament bid in last 15 years
rest on surgically repaired right knee of Darnell Williams (17.3
ppg in 1997-98)
51 Detroit Midwestern Collegiate
[Skinny] Coming off upset of UCLA in the NCAAs, Titans will
again rely on defense that held opponents to 55.3 ppg, third
best in the nation
52 Indiana State MVC
[Skinny] Sycamores could win a second NCAA bid for conference
behind all-around talent Nate Green, who led league in assists
with 4.6 per game
53 Samford TAAC
[Skinny] With Reed Rawlings leading all five starters back from
a 24-6 team, the Bulldogs may run Princeton's offense better
than Princeton
54 Delaware America East
[Skinny] Will again rely on 1999 conference player of the year,
6'5", 240-pound forward Mike Pegues, who bulled his way to 21.8
ppg and 7.2 rpg
55 Appalachian State Southern
[Skinny] The buzz on coach Buzz Petersen's team: It's deep
enough to end College of Charleston's stranglehold on conference
title
56 Murray State OVC
[Skinny] Racers have won conference regular-season championship
11 times in last 12 years, and six returning seniors should
ensure another title
57 Lafayette Patriot
[Skinny] Leopards boast a lineup that contains two former
conference players of the year, center Stefan Ciosici and guard
Brian Ehlers
58 Arkansas State Sun Belt
[Skinny] Chico Fletcher is only 5'6" but ranked second in nation
in assists, with 8.3 a game, and led Indians in scoring, with
17.0 points a game
59 East Carolina Colonial
[Skinny] Evaldas Jocys, 6'9" senior forward, averaged 13.8 ppg
and made 42.5% of his treys on a bum leg last year--and now he's
healthy
60 Md.-Baltimore Cty. Northeast
[Skinny] With four starters back, the Retrievers, who won their
first 15 league games last year but lost in the conference
tournament, look golden
61 Louisiana-Monroe Southland
[Skinny] This school figures to improve on woeful 41.8%
marksmanship to earn first NCAA bid since 1996, when it was
called Northeast Louisiana
62 Norfolk State MEAC
[Skinny] Damian Woolfolk (23.2 ppg, fifth-best in country)
should put former Division II powerhouse in NCAAs in its first
year of eligibility
63 Southern SWAC
[Skinny] Jaguars are smiling thanks to 6'7" Adarrial Smylie
(19.0 ppg), the consensus choice to win conference player of the
year honors
64 Winthrop Big South
[Skinny] Lost a lot of frontcourt firepower, but senior point
guard Tyson Waterman (11.5 ppg) should make the Eagles fly again
