Dancing with the Stars: Bucknell Bison

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Conference: Patriot

Record: 25-8, 13-1

Rankings: 90 (KenPom), 87 (Sagarin), 81 (RPI)

Potential Seed: 14/13. More than likely to be a 14, but with some help from bid-theives, they could get a 13 seed

Best Players: Mike Muscala (14.9 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 2.1 bpg), Bryson Johnson (11.7 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 46% 3PT), Darryl Shazier (8.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 5.6 apg, 1.5 spg)

Big Wins, Bad Losses: The Bison have a descent strength-of-schedule for a low-major school. They have a win over America East champions Boston, a road-win over Richmond and won all but one of their conference games. The one conference loss was their worst loss of the season, losing at home to Army by 20 points. They also had a three-game losing streak in which they lost to Princeton, James Madison and Wagner.

Tendencies: Bucknell is very good at creating points. They are in the top-50 in assists and are above the NCAA average for offensive efficiency. The Bison's problem is that they do not have a lot of size. Mike Muscala, the Patriot League Player of the Year and Tournament MVP, is about the team's only source of rebounds. Bucknell is ranked 215th in overall rebounding, and if they can't make their shots, could get outworked on the glass against a bigger, more physical team.

How They Got There: The Bison were the preseason favorites to win the conference. They were in first place for every week and only lost one league game. In fact, they have only lost one game since Christmas and are currently riding a ten game win streak. In their last five games, they have been winning by an average margin of 14.6 points.

Outlook: This program does have NCAA tournament success, best known was their stunning upset of No. 3 Kansas in 2005. But the Bison won a first round game in 2006 as well, when they defeated No. 8 Arkansas. Not much is the same about this current Bucknell team. The Bison do have a player talented enough to take over (Muscala) and they are an efficient team in terms of shooting percentages. A first round upset victory is not out of the realm of possibility, depending on the matchup. A trip to the Sweet Sixteen however, probably is.

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Dancing with the Star: Northern Colorado

Conference: Big Sky

Record: 21-10, 13-3

Rankings: 121 (Kenpom), 99 (RPI), 122 (Sagarin)

Potential Seed: 15

Best Players: Devon Beitzel (21.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1.5 spg), Neal Kingman (10.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg), Elliott Lloyd (7.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.3 apg)

Big Wins, Bad Losses: The bears don't have a single win over a team in the RPI 100. In fact, they only played three games against teams in the RPI 100, and lost by an average of 15 points. Their worst defeat was a 78-75 loss at Lousiana-Monroe, the 328th-ranked team in the country. Their best win was an 18-point win over Montana during Big Sky regular season play.

Tendencies: The Bears like to shoot and they like to score. Unfortunately, most of their scoring came against low-major competition. But regardless of who the opponent is, one thing is for certain: Devon Beitzil will get buckets. The senior guard has scored more 20 or more points in 20 games this season, including the last nine games in a row. He has been held to under ten points just twice, against Arizona (2) and Weber State (5).

How They Got There: The Bears won their first seven conference games in a row before suffering back-to-back losses. Since the final day in January, the Bears have won 10 of 11, including the Big Sky Championship.

Outlook: This is the program's first tournament bid in school history, so just being part of March Madness is special. The Bears will more than likely have to play a #2-seed, so the odds are not in their favor to get past the first round. But with a player like Beitzel and in a setting like March Madness, anything could happen. Think Ben Woodside and North Dakota State from 2009. Continue reading...

Dancing with the Stars: Butler Bulldogs

Conference: Horizon

Record: 23-9, 13-5

Rankings: 54 (Kenpom), 34 (RPI), 46 (Sagarin)

Potential Seed: 10/11

Best Players: Matt Howard (16.7 ppg, 7.8rpg, Shelvin Mack (15.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.6 apg), Andrew Smith (8.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 63% FG)


Big Wins, Bad Losses: Butler's bad losses probably out-weight their good wins. They lost to Evansville, Youngstown State, and twice to Milwaukee, one of which was a 24-point drubbing. However, they do have neutral court wins over Florida State and Washington State after whiffing on their marquee games in the non-conference, and Milwaukee on the Panther's home court in the Horizon League finals.

Tendencies: The Bulldogs aren't the biggest team, and they certainly aren't the fastest team either, but they are tough, hard-nosed team who won't won't beat themselves. They are not the same team as the one that made the finals last season simply because they are not as tough defensively. We went in depth into Butler's defensive issues earlier in the season, so we will just direct you there.

How They Got There: Butler was one of the most-hyped teams coming into the season, and rightfully so. They returned much of the roster from a team that was national runner up. But the Bulldogs floundered against top-tier competition during their non-conference portion of the season. During Horizon League play, the Bulldogs had an ugly three-game losing streak in which they lost to Milwaukee, Valparaiso and Youngstown State, all by less than two points. But since the loss to Youngstown State, Butler has been rolling, having won nine in a row, including back-to-back victories over the top two teams in the league.

Outlook This is the Bulldogs fifth straight NCAA tournament birth and 10th in 15 years. There is something to be said for their experience with guys like Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack leading the way. They could do well in a favorable bracket against a team that fell into the six or seven spot, but anything more than a second round win would have to be considered a stretch. As they did earlier in the season, this team will struggle against teams with size and athleticism.
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We Have Our First Auto Bid

The Cornell Big Red got 25 points from Ryan Wittman as they clinched their second straight Ivy League regular season title. The Ivy League is the only league that doesn't have a conference tournament.

It will be the second straight season that Cornell is dancing, and just the fourth time in the program's 110-year history. Cornell came into this season with a bunch of injury questions, as reigning Ivy POY Louis Dale missed a good chunk of the season and Adam Gore, another starter, tore his acl during the offseason and is still not back to where he was.

Cornell fans stormed the floor after their auto-bid clinching win versus Penn.
(photo credit: Kevin Rivoli/AP)

But Ryan Wittman has had a great year for the school in Ithaca, NY, averaging 18.5 ppg, and Dale, once he returned, was as good as advertised.

Long story short, Cornell back in the dance. We can officially start slotting in auto bids with the Big Red. Continue reading...