Know Your Opponents: Columbus Subregional

By Bobby Hundley

Iona (ICGaels.com)
Location: New Rochelle, N.Y.
Rankings: No. 197 KenPom, NR AP
Record: 17-15, 12-6 Metro Atlantic
Bid: Automatic (Defeated Monmouth 81-60 in MAAC final)
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Carolina leads 3-1 (UNC 107, Iona 72, Nov. 18, 2007, Smith Center)

Now in his ninth year at the helm, head coach Tim Cluess has guided the Gaels to arguably their most successful run in program history. Iona has made the tournament in six of the last eight seasons, including earning an at-large bid in 2012. With a comprehensive win over Monmouth in the MAAC final, Cluess' club picked up its fourth straight automatic bid and the Gaels enter the tournament on a 10-game winning streak.

Those who follow the program say this has been Cluess' best coaching job to date - taking a team that returned just two players and started the season 2-9 to yet another conference title. One of those returners is senior point guard Rickey McGill, who on Friday will become the first player in MAAC history to play in four consecutive NCAA tournaments.

McGill is joined in the starting lineup by four juniors, including leading scorer E.J. Crawford. Crawford and 6-3 wing Ben Perez are the top outside shooters for a team that attempts 25 triples per contest. Eastern Kentucky transfer Asante Gist and juco product Tajuan Agee round out the starting five, and Agee is the team's top rebounder.

Utah State (UtahStateAggies.com)
Location: Logan, Utah
Rankings: No. 34 KenPom, No. 25 AP
Record: 28-6, 15-3 Mountain West
Bid: Automatic (Defeated San Diego State 64-57 in MWC final)
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Would be first meeting

Utah State carries a 10-game winning streak into the tournament, a run that helped the Aggies sweep the Mountain West regular season and tournament titles as well as earn the highest NCAA seed in program history. This standout season has come under the supervision of first-year head coach Craig Smith, who came to Logan after four seasons at South Dakota.

Junior combo guard and MWC Player of the Year Sam Merrill leads the offense with 21.2 points per outing and has hoisted 222 3-point attempts this season, making nearly 38 percent of them. Freshman Brock Miller is also a volume shooter, though he has only converted 34.9 percent of his 192 attempts. Merrill is also great at getting to the foul line and nearly automatic (90.7 percent) once he gets there. Neemias Queta, a 6-11 freshman from Portugal, is Utah State's top rebounder.

The Aggies are long and have plenty of experience, both on the court and in life. Seven players have completed a two-year LDS mission and six are either married or engaged, including 25-year-old senior Quinn Taylor. The lineup is also consistent - four of USU's five starters have started every game, and the Aggies have had the same starting five in each of the last 16 contests.

Washington (GoHuskies.com)
Location: Seattle, Wash.
Rankings: No. 51 KenPom, NR AP
Record: 26-8, 15-3 Pac-12
Bid: At-large (Lost to Oregon 68-48 in Pac-12 final)
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Carolina leads 2-0 (UNC 86, Washington 83, March 20, 2011, Charlotte Coliseum)

It didn't take long for Mike Hopkins to taste success in his first stint as a head coach. In just his second year at Washington, the longtime assistant under Jim Boeheim at Syracuse has Washington back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since Lorenzo Romar took the Huskies to the dance six times in an eight-year from 2004-11.

UW played a very challenging non-conference schedule, losing to Auburn, Minnesota, Gonzaga and Virginia Tech to enter Pac-12 play at 9-4. But Hopkins' squad opened with 10 straight league wins and won the league by three games over Arizona State. The Huskies closed the regular season with a home loss to Oregon and then fell to the Ducks by 20 a week later in the Pac-12 Tournament final.

Pac-12 Player of the Year Jaylen Nowell leads three Huskies in double figures with 16.2 points per game. The 6-4 sophomore makes almost 44 percent of his 3s and nearly 77 percent of his free throws. Matisse Thybulle won the league's defensive player of the year award and is a finalist for national honors thanks in large part to his No. 1 ranking in KenPom's steal percentage rankings. Overall, the Huskies are a defensive-minded group that ranks fourth nationally in opponent turnover percentage and 20th in adjusted defensive efficiency.

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