Read through the rest of the NCAA Tournament Cheat Sheets here.
Conference: Southern
Coach: Bob McKillop
Record: 25-7, 16-2 (1st)
Rankings and Ratings:
- Kenpom: 66
- RPI: 66
- AP/Coaches: Unranked
Seeding?: Davidson is probably looking at somewhere around a 13 or 14 seed. They are definitely one of the strong mid-major automatic bids -- their RPI of 66 and the win over Kansas had some discussion that they could be up for an at-large bid -- and that will show when they get seeded
Names to know: De’Mon Brooks (16.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg), Jake Cohen (14.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg), Nik Cochran (11.0 ppg, 3.7 apg)
Stats to know: Davidson can score, and probably better than you think. When you look at their team page on Kenpom, it says they are 36th in the country in offensive efficiency. That number is adjusted for strength of schedule, however. When you look at their raw PPP numbers, the Wildcats are 14th in the country at 1.124, which puts them directly behind Duke, UNC and Syracuse. How do they do it? Well, they don’t turn the ball over and they hit their free throws. Its simple.
Tendencies: Everything about the Wildcats is balanced. All five starters average in double figures. They all are able to step out on the perimeter and knock down a three. They all rebound the ball. They can all move it on the perimeter. Davidson can get out and run the floor and they do have some athletes in their mix, which makes this an entertaining group to watch.
Big wins, bad losses: Obviously, beating Kansas is the marquee win for this group this season. But losses to Samford, Charlotte and Charleston are as bad as that win was good.
How’d they get here?: Davidson was the No. 1 seed in the SoCon Tournament, but needed double-overtime to put away Western Carolina.
Outlook: Davidson has already proven that they can play with anyone in the country. When you go into Kansas City and knock off Kansas, there isn’t going to be a situation where you step onto the court and feel intimidated. As with any small conference team, it is all going to come down to the matchup. Who do they draw in the first round and is it someone that they can beat? Given that once you get past the top two seeds, the bracket looks like it may be a bit weak, Davidson will probably have a great opportunity to pull off an upset.
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.