University of North Carolina Athletics
Know Your Opponent: Jacksonville Sub-Regional
March 17, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Harvard (GoCrimson.com)
Rankings: No. 78 KenPom, NR AP
Location: Cambridge, Mass.
2014-15 Record: 22-7, 11-3 Ivy
Bid: Automatic (Defeated Yale in Ivy playoff, 53-51)
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Series tied 2-2 (UNC 96, Harvard 78, Dec, 27, 1971, Charlotte, N.C.)
Tommy Amaker's Harvard team is back in the NCAA tournament for the fourth straight year, but it took some extra work in 2015. After claiming outright Ivy League titles in each of the last three seasons, the Crimson needed a Dartmouth upset win over Yale to force a one-game playoff with the Bulldogs. The Big Green came through, and Harvard beat Yale 53-51 in Saturday's playoff at the Palestra, marking just the ninth time in Ivy history that the regular season did not produce a definitive champion.
Harvard features one of the nation's most experienced rosters, a core group that already owns tournament wins over New Mexico in 2013 and Cincinnati in 2014. Senior guard Wesley Saunders leads the Crimson with 16.3 points per game, and he is joined as a double-digit scorer in conference play by senior post Steve Moundou-Missi and junior point guard Siyani Chambers.
Saunders makes 42 percent of his 3s, but is third on the team in 3-point attempts behind Chambers (31.4%) and Corbin Miller (35.2%). He is also adept at getting to the line (he draws 5.4 fouls per game), where he makes 77.7 percent of his free throw attempts. When he's not looking for his own shot, Saunders is an accomplished distributor, ranking 59th nationally in assist rate.
As a team, Harvard is winning with defense. The Crimson offense ranks just 171st nationally in KenPom's adjusted efficiency, well down from last year's rating of 47th. Defensively, however, Harvard is 34th in adjusted efficiency, ahead of 46 of the other 67 NCAA tournament teams, including Carolina. Moundou-Missi is at the heart of it, as the 6-7 senior is 63rd nationally in defensive rebounding percentage and in the top 150 in block percentage.
Harvard is 317th nationally in adjusted tempo at 61.5 possessions per game. Only Virginia (58.2), North Carolina Central (59.9) and Pitt (61.0) were slower in 2014-15 among UNC opponents.
Arkansas (ArkansasRazorbacks.com)
Rankings: No. 29 KenPom, No. 21 AP
Location: Fayetteville, Ark.
2014-15 Record: 26-8, 13-5 SEC
Bid: At-large (Lost to Kentucky in SEC final, 78-63)
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): UNC leads 4-3 (UNC 108, Arkansas 77, March 23, 2008, Raleigh, N.C.)
With Kentucky's run to 34-0 dominating the headlines in the SEC, Arkansas stayed about as far under the radar as a 26-8 team with a top-25 offense and the conference player of the year possibly could. In his fourth season at Arkansas, Mike Anderson has led his Razorbacks to the prorgam's best season since the heyday of Nolan Richardson's "40 minutes of hell". The Hogs have won just one NCAA tournament game since Richardson was fired in 2002, but Anderson has increased his win total in each of the last three seasons, and this year's 26 victories are the most in Fayetteville since the national runners-up in 1994-95 finished 32-7.
And just as it did under Richardson, the 2014-15 group is winning with a lightning-fast offense and pressure defense. The Hogs are one of just nine teams nationally that rank above Carolina in adjusted tempo and their average offensive possession lasts just 15.7 seconds.
The primary weapon has been SEC Player of the Year Bobby Portis, a 6-11 sophomore who averages 17.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per game while shooting 55 percent from 2, 46 percent from 3 (albeit in just 28 attempts) and almost 75 percent from the line. He is also the top offensive rebounding threat on a team that ranks 37th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage. That's important, because the Hogs are among the worst defensive rebounding units in the county. Only Portis is a real threat to keep opponents off the offensive glass, something worth keeping in mind should Carolina and Arkansas meet in Saturday's round of 32.
Michael Qualls, Rashad Madden and Anthlon Bell have all attempted at least 116 3s on the year, but only Madden (44-116, 37.9%) makes better than 35 percent of his shots from deep. Despite ranking only 108th in the country in effective field goal percentage (weighted for 3s), they still find ways to score, due in large part to all five starters making 70 percent from the line. Combine that with a knack for limiting turnovers and opponent blocks, and you've got a tough out at any stage in the tournament.
Wofford (WoffordTerriers.com)
Rankings: No. 90 KenPom, NR AP
Location: Spartanburg, S.C.
2014-15 Record: 28-6, 16-2 SoCon
Bid: Automatic (Beat Furman in SoCon final, 67-64)
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): UNC leads 2-0 (UNC 41, Wofford 23, Jan. 14, 1926, Chapel Hill)
Wofford was easily the best team in the Southern Conference in 2014-15, but the Terriers still had to sweat out a 3-point win over league doormat Furman in the SoCon title game to grab the automatic bid. Mike Young's club dominated the conference by playing great defense, especially against the 3, and turning the ball over on a league-low 16.2 percent of possessions.
In addition to a better-than-average defense, the Terriers are dangerous because they've grown accustomed to winning. Since a 29-point setback at Duke on New Year's Eve, Wofford has lost just two games. They enter the tournament on an eight-game winning streak and have impressive non-conference victories over Iona, Sam Houston State and North Carolina State. Only a mid-January loss at The Citadel would fall into the "bad" category for a mid-major.
Senior guard Karl Cochran was the SoCon Player of the Year, and he takes a higher percentage of his team's shots than all but two players in the entire field of 68. At 33.2 percent, he ranks 20th overall in the country - by comparison, that's a full percentage point greater than the ACC leader in the category, BC's Olivier Hanlan. And a huge chunk of those shots are from behind the arc, where he is successful 36.9 percent of the time (90 for 244). Wing Spencer Collins and forward Lee Skinner join Cochran as double-digit scorers.
Despite the team's lack of size, Wofford is surprisingly effective on the defensive boards, limiting opponents to second chances on just 27.7 percent of their shots. Leading the way there is the 6-1 Cochran, who grabs nearly 20 percent of available defensive boards. A volume shooter who rebounds and plays tough defense without fouling? Go ahead and put Karl Cochran on your short list of potential breakout stars of the opening weekend.
