Holy Cross will play Southern University on Wednesday in a First Four game in Dayton, Ohio, to decide who advances into the main bracket of the NCAA Tournament.
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The Crusaders earned the Patriot League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winning four road games as the No. 9 seed in the Patriot League Tournament.
Southern, a historically black school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was ineligible for post-season play the past two years because a problem with its academic reports to the NCAA.
The Jaguars (22-12), on the other hand, had a few satisfying nonconference wins and reeled off eight consecutive Southwestern Athletic Conference wins.
Four players are averaging at least 8.7 points, they are: Malachi Alexander (12.0), Robert Champion (11.5), Karl Charles (10.8) and Cullen Hamilton (8.7). When the Jaguars did get started, no one could stop them as they dispatched the No. 5 seed (Alabama State), the No. 1 seed (Texas Southern) and the No. 3 seed (Jackson State).
COMING TOGETHER: Holy Cross coach Bill Carmody said that before the conference tournament, he never expected his team would be on the national stage now. It seems unlikely they’ll be able to have success playing to another team’s style given that they haven’t seemed to master their own yet. “It’s all been pretty much like a fantasy, just because you envision that growing up”. Southern will certainly have its hands full with Alexander, because if the Patriot League Tournament showed us anything, it was that the man can flat-out shoot.
That approach served Banks and the Jaguars well in their only previous NCAA tournament game in Banks’ five-year tenure, even though it didn’t result in a victory.
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The Crusaders then held Army to 38 points in the semis and totally befuddled Lehigh in the title game. The last appearance was 2013.
