Just what IS a Jackrabbit?
In this case, it’s a basketball player from South Dakota State University, who were winners of the Summit League and automatic qualifiers into the Midwest Region of this week’s NCAA Tournament.
These Jackrabbits enter the tournament with the longest active winning streak in Division 1 basketball with 21 straight wins and they were the first team in Summit League history to hit 30 wins in a season. They are also ranked #1 in the country in three-point shooting percentage, firing away at a 45% clip against their opponents.
But they’re facing a Providence team that claimed the Big East regular season championship and might be smarting ever-so-slightly after getting spanked by Creighton in this week’s Big East semifinals.
“It’s a great day for Providence College and a great day for our program,” head coach Ed Cooley told assembled media from the Friars’ on campus Ruane Development Center Sunday. “We hung onto that 4-line which is really, really important. It’s short preparation but we’ll learn a lot about them (SDSU) as quick as we can.”
The Friars did receive the 4-seed in the Midwest Region and will play 13th seeded South Dakota State in Buffalo, NY Thursday. That was the spot most often mentioned by bracketologists everywhere prior to selection and could have been a different story following the Big East Tournament. “Anytime you can get a low seed, it offers you a greater opportunity to advance by the numbers,” Cooley reasoned. “I’m not an analytics guy, but what I am is a realist and throughout the years a quality seed has allowed you to move forward.”
Providence will travel to Buffalo with a 25-5 overall record, and wins over NCAA Tournament teams in Wisconsin, St. Peter’s, Texas Tech, Vermont, UConn, Seton Hall (twice), Marquette and Creighton. The Jackrabbits don’t have the same resume as the Friars, holding a home win over NCAA invitee Montana State a neutral win over George Mason out of the Atlantic-10, plus losses to high-major opponents Alabama (away) and Washington (neutral).
“I just know they’re the best three-point shooting team in the country,” Friar senior center and all-Big East 2nd team center Nate Watson said. “We’ll have to be well prepared for that.”
For Friar grad senior Al Durham, who was born in Buffalo and expects plenty of family to attend Thursday, it was a particularly sweet moment to see Providence’s name on the selection board after previous disappointment in his career at Indiana. “There’s nothing like hearing your name called and going dancing, they say it’s something special so we’ll try to make this a special ride for everybody.”
Especially for the rest of his Friar teammates, who will be hunting Jackrabbits…undoubtedly for the first time in their careers.
TOURNAMENT NOTES
For the curious…a jackrabbit is a large “rabbit” that can weigh as much as 10 pounds and stand over two feet tall. They live primarily in the south and west regions of the country, preferring warmer regions than their name sakes at South Dakota State.
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Rhode Island has TWO NCAA tournament teams, with Northeast Conference tournament champ Bryant facing Wright State in a “play-in” game featuring two 16-seeds, and the winner getting top seed Arizona in the South region. Bryant will play its’ first-ever NCAA tourney game Wednesday night in Dayton, OH. “When I took over four years ago I had a vision of what we could become,” Bryant head coach Jared Grasso said Sunday, “and we brought in some tough, competitive, edgy guys. They bought into what we were doing, they kept fighting and working and we played peak basketball down the stretch.”
Bryant’s Peter Kiss led all Division I basketball in scoring during the regular season at 25.1 points per game. Should the Bulldogs win against Wright State, they’ll advance to Friday’s first round in San Diego, CA against the Wildcats.
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Six Big East teams reached the NCAA’s, tied for second-most among all leagues (with the Big 12 and SEC), with the Big 10 placing nine teams in the tournament…Villanova is a two-seed in the South facing Delaware, Providence a four in the Midwest, UConn a five in the West facing New Mexico State, Seton Hall an eight against TCU in the South, Creighton a nine in the Midwest against San Diego State and Marquette is a nine in the East, facing North Carolina.