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NCAA Basketball: 2019 Charleston Classic preview and predictions

By Cody Gerena

ARLINGTON, TX - APRIL 05: The Florida Gators huddle before the NCAA Men's Final Four Semifinal against the Connecticut Huskies at AT&T Stadium on April 5, 2014 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TX - APRIL 05: The Florida Gators huddle before the NCAA Men's Final Four Semifinal against the Connecticut Huskies at AT&T Stadium on April 5, 2014 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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CINCINNATI, OH – NOVEMBER 15: Quentin Goodin #3 of the Xavier Musketeers looks back out on the court after colliding into the bench during the second half against the Missouri State Bears at Cintas Center on November 15, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OH – NOVEMBER 15: Quentin Goodin #3 of the Xavier Musketeers looks back out on the court after colliding into the bench during the second half against the Missouri State Bears at Cintas Center on November 15, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

Bottom Half Bracket Preview

#18 Xavier Musketeers (4-0)

The Musketeers enter this year’s tournament as the only team that is undefeated and ranked in the AP Poll. This has led them to emerge as the clear favorite for this tournament. They will be facing the Towson Tigers at 7 PM on ESPNU.

Even though they are undefeated they have still suffered a few scares just in their last two games with the Missouri State game mentioned before and an overtime game against Missouri who was picked in a preseason poll to finish 13th in the SEC this season, but that same Missouri still has a high KenPom rating.

Xavier is led by the 2019 All-Big East Second Team and Preseason All-Big East First Team junior forward Naji Marshall. Marshall leads the team in points and assists with 16.5 points and 3.8 assists per game. With him in the frontcourt will be senior Tyrique Jones whose second on the team in points and first in rebounds with 14.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. It should also be noted that he is shooting .590 so far this year which leads the team.

Towson Tigers (2-2)

Towson is the only team here that is coming into the tournament with two straight losses, but the more recent loss was one to Florida 66-60 at Florida. They even had the game tied with two minutes left so the upset was definitely possible. A win of that caliber could have made them a team that could make some big waves in this tournament thanks to momentum but it was not meant to be.

The Tigers will be led by All-CAA Second Team Sophomore guard Brian Fobbs who leads the team in points with 13.5 points per game and would’ve beaten Florida if he had been hotter from behind the arc. They also have Allen Betrand who is second on the team in points with 12.8 per game.

UConn Huskies (2-1)

The Huskies have arguably the most momentum coming into this tournament. They went from a team that could have been seen being bounced from the championship bracket in the first round to the dark horse/wild card of the tournament. All it took was a 62-59 win against a ranked Florida at home to have done this. After failing to make the tournament for three straight seasons and announcing this year as the last in the AAC, this tournament will be an indicator if the “old” UConn is back. Their first test to see if that’s true is Buffalo at around 9PM  on ESPNU.

UConn’s scoring is led by All-AAC Preseason Second Team senior guard Christian Vital with 19.3 points per game and leading in rebounds with 9 per game. With him will be junior forward and last year’s AAC Most Improved Player winner Josh Carlton who is second in those same stats with 133 points and 8.3 rebounds per game which is an improvement over last year’s stats in these categories so far.

Buffalo Bulls (2-1)

Buffalo comes into the tournament as the only team to make it into the NCAA Tournament the prior year. They will look to make their third straight appearance this season but as they are apart of a one-bid MAC they need to get any and all momentum that they could to continue the streak.

They stumbled out of the gate to start the season with a 68-63 loss vs Dartmouth at home, but they had made up for that loss by beating Harvard 88-76 on a neutral court.

A player to watch from them will be sophomore guard Ronaldo Segu who is second on the team in scoring and first in assists with 14.3 points and 5 assists per game. Another player to watch out for on this team is the junior Preseason All-MAC East guard Jayvon Graves who leads the team in scoring with 16.3 points per game and is second in rebounds with 6.3 rebounds per game.

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