Three Teams To Watch During March Madness

With Selection Sunday just nine days away, college basketball junkies everywhere are printing NCAA Tournament brackets, breaking out their pencils, and learning everything they can about possible tournament teams, all in an effort to dominate their office pools.Yes, I’m one of those junkies. And just like the rest of you, I’m eagerly awaiting the announcement of the tournament field on March 13 so I can start filling out my bracket. But I do have some educated guesses about a trio of teams that have already secured their places in the field of 65 and are likely to hang around a while. There’s a common denominator among Charlotte, LSU, and Utah. All are well coached, willing to hunker down on defense and wielding multidimensional offenses with inside and outside scoring threats.No. 18 Charlotte (21-5, 12-3 Conference USA)Charlotte’s Bobby Lutz is one of the country’s most underrated coaches, probably because of his background. He’s not a former assistant of a successful coach (like Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski) and didn’t come from a coaching “family” (like the proteges of former North Carolina coach Dean Smith). Lutz earned his job the hard way, laboring in obscurity at the NAIA level as a head coach at Pfeiffer University. He later became an assistant to former Charlotte coach Melvin Watkins and took over the program when Watkins left for Texas A&M.In his six seasons as head coach, Lutz has guided the 49ers to four NCAA Tournaments and one NIT. His current team is the best yet, built for a deep tournament run.The talent starts with 6-foot-8 junior Curtis Withers, who leads Conference USA in scoring and averages 8.3 rebounds. He is joined in the frontcourt by defensive stalwart Eddie Basden, whose school-record 84 steals rank him fourth in the country. Charlotte can also trot out Martin Iti, a 7-foot Australian who erases defensive mistakes with his shot-blocking skill.There is little margin for error in the survive-and-advance format of the NCAA tournament, and Charlotte has a solid backcourt duo to handle the ball. Brendan Plavich has no conscience from the three-point line; the game-breaking shooter has launched 244 so far this year and has connected on 39% of them. Point guard Mitchell Baldwin has a 3-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in CUSA games and 5-1 in his last six games.This team plays with intensity on defense and has plenty of offensive punch. Despite their 94-82 loss at no. 9 Louisville last night, the 49ers have all the right attributes to be a scary team in the Dance.LSU (18-8, 11-4 SEC)This team is led by another coach who doesn’t come from a chic lineage. After kicking around the South for years as an assistant, John Brady finally landed a head-coaching gig at Samford and parlayed his success there into the LSU job. He took a program left in shambles by Dale Brown and turned it into a perennial postseason tournament entrant.No team in the country has more frontcourt beef. Brandon Bass, a 6-foot-8, 252-pound sophomore, is the kind of player who can go for 21 points and 17 boards, as he did two weeks ago in a win over Mississippi State. He averages nearly 18 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks. Glen “Big Baby” Davis, a 6-foot-9, 310-pounder, is much more nimble than those dimensions would suggest. Averaging 13.3 points, almost nine boards, and 1.2 blocks, the behemoth should be chosen the SEC’s freshman of the year.LSU also has firepower to spare in the backcourt, which is as tiny as its frontcourt is huge. Mercurial 5-foot-11-inch Tack Minor (11.1 points, 5.0 assists per game) is joined by 5-foot-11-inch Darrel Mitchell, who can explode at any time. Antonio Hudson is the fifth double-figure scorer (12.4) in the SEC’s most balanced starting five.The Tigers’ combination of size and quickness gives them a unique ability to clamp down defensively, which makes them a dangerous tournament foe.No. 16 Utah (24-4, 12-1 in the Mountain West)Considerable credit here goes to Ray Giacoletti, who succeeded a successful, well-regarded coach (Rick Majerus) and kept the program at a high level. He’s done so by placing the same emphasis on solid fundamentals as Majerus did, while also freeing up his better players to excel.Under Giacoletti’s guidance, 7-foot sophomore Andrew Bogut has become the most productive big man in the country. The Utes’ offense runs through the pivot, and Bogut averages 20.4 points and a nation-leading 11.9 rebounds. He’s a reliable shooter (63.9% field goal shooting) and defender (51 blocked shots) and is also the best passing big man in the country.Opposing teams must double-team Bogut to keep him from wreaking havoc in the paint, but if they do they run the risk of Bogut passing out to an open teammate. Utah’s team field goal percentage is an impressive 52%, and guard Marc Jackson, a 49% three point shooter, gives the Utes an outside threat to complement Bogut.Several other numbers validate the Utes’ lunch-pail rep: They are third in the nation in rebounding margin (+10.3) and sixth in scoring defense (56.9 points per game). NCAA games often revert to slug-it-out, half court struggles. With its rebounding might and defensive strength, Utah is equipped to play deep into March.Mr. Dortch is the editor of the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook.

Three Teams To Watch During March Madness

Three Teams To Watch During March Madness

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