Behind another great all-around season from senior guard Chaz Williams, the Massachusetts Minutemen are nearing their first NCAA Tournament berth in 16 years. Could they make the most out of their rare appearance in the tourney by taking down some higher-seeded teams and becoming one of this year’s March Madness cinderella teams?
Read on for everything you need to know about the Minutemen’s scrappy team that could be a sneaky smart pick for your March Madness bracket this season.
[sc:MarchMadness ]Massachusetts Minutemen Preview
Key to Success – Rebounding
[sc:NCAAB240banner ]Securing the ball off misses has been one of the top priorities of the Minutemen. Massachusetts is a high scoring team, lighting up the scoreboard with 76.1 PPG, but without their blue-collar approach beneath the boards, scoring opportunities would be harder to come by. The Minutemen are hauling down 38.7 rebounds a game, 25th-ranked in the nation and the best in the Atlantic 10 conference.
MVP – Chaz Williams
If not for senior guard Chaz Williams, the Minutemen wouldn’t have so much as a sniff at a NCAA Tournament berth. Williams is the team’s leading scorer (15.6 PPG) and also creates scoring opportunities for his teammates. Williams is averaging 7.0 APG, almost half of the team’s total of 15.3 dimes a game.
Achilles Heel – Free Throw Shooting
Coaches at every level stress the point of the importance of making free throws. Coach Derek Kellogg sure needs to put more emphasis on it if he doesn’t want his team to fall in the NCAA Tournament because of poor free throw shooting. The Minutemen draw 23.9 free throw attempts per game but only convert 16.2. Their conversion rate of 68% is 250th in the nation and sixth-worst in the 13-team Atlantic 10 conference.
Season Highlight – Derrick Gordon Lifts Minutemen Past Providence
Back in December, Derrick Gordon found himself at the right place and at the right time when he scored on a put back off Trey Davis’s miss with 1.1 seconds left in overtime, giving the Minutemen a 69-67 win over Providence in one of the craziest finishes of the season.
Prediction
The Minutemen will be an interesting team in the Madness, but ultimately lack the fundamentals elements that their higher-ranked competition will bring to the table. Pick them to go no further than the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
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