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NCAA Tournament Cheat Sheets: Get to know UNC-Asheville

J.P. Primm, Reggie Bullock

UNC Asheville guard J.P. Primm (3) looks to pass around North Carolina guard Reggie Bullock in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Nov. 13, 2011 in Asheville, N.C. North Carolina won 91-75. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond)

AP

Read through the rest of the NCAA Tournament Cheat Sheets here.

Conference: Big South

Coach: Eddie Biedenbach

Record: 24-9, 16-2 Big South (1st)

Rankings and Ratings:

- Kenpom: 123
- RPI: 125
- AP/USA Today: Unranked

Seeding?: As an auto-bid from one of the weakest conferences in the country, UNC-Asheville looks like a play-in game team right now. That will change depending on how many upsets there are during Championship Week.

Names you need to know: Matt Dickey (16.5 ppg, 3.5 apg, 1.4 spg), J.P. Primm (15.3 ppg, 4.1 apg, 1.8 spg), Chris Stephenson (13.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 2.7 apg)

Stats you need to know: UNC-Asheville is fourth in the country in free throw percentage and also fourth in free throw rate, which is a good combination because it means they are getting to the free throw line a lot and they are making a lot of their free throws.

Tendencies: The Bulldogs are a guard-heavy team that like to get out and run the floor, but unlike most guard-heavy teams, Asheville is not a great jump-shooting team. Instead, they thrive on the ability of guys like Primm, Dickey and Jeremy Atkinson to drive the ball.

Big wins, bad losses: The Bulldogs got smoked by both Western Carolina and Ohio, which is never a good sign. Statistically speaking, UNCA’s best win is over USC-Upstate, but they did beat Utah as well.

How’d they get here?: The Bulldogs rolled fairly easily through the Big South tournament, beating No. 7 VMI 80-64 to earn the auto-bid.

Outlook: Asheville has a talented perimeter attack, a veteran roster and NCAA Tournament experience after making the dance last year. Those are good qualities for a team to have. But Asheville looks headed for, at best, a No. 15 seed. Winning a game would be a massive upset. Enjoy the ride while it lasts.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.