The NCAA Tournament bracket was released on Sunday with the Florida Gators earning a 1-seed and learning their initial matchup–the Norfolk State Spartans.
There wasn’t any doubt that the Gators would be one the 1-seed line after knocking off Tennessee in the SEC Tournament Championship game, and they will now be positioned to go on a run–though it won’t be easy to start against a scrappy Norfolk State team.
The Spartans are in the 12th year under head coach Robert Jones, one of the great young coaches in the sport who is only 45 years old despite the fact he already has so many years of head coaching experience. He has accomplished incredible things with the Spartans taking them from a middle of the pack roster in the Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference and turning them into a perennial power. Their finishes in the last seven years are 1st, 1st, 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 1st, and 1st…so you get the picture–they are dominating this league. Unfortunately they haven’t had as much success in the MEAC Tournament which has limited their NCAA Tournament berths, though this will be their third NCAA Tournament in six years. Robert Jones has been a trendy name in coaching searches the last few offseasons and you can look again for him to get named in a bunch of job vacancies following March Madness.
A big reason why Norfolk State has had so much success under Jones is the fact that they play smart, they play hard, and they play with athleticism. This season was no different as they cruised to an 11-3 record in the MEAC showing multiple ways they can win. Playing against Norfolk State is like going against a pitcher in baseball that throws a four-seamer, a two-seamer, a sweeper, a curve ball, and a change up–you’re often in a position of guessing what they’re going to do defensively. Ultimately 30% of Norfolk State’s defensive possessions were played in zone this season and you can bet that they are going to use some zone to try to slow down the Gators–the question is just at what part of the game, and what zone they’re going to use.
Mid-major teams are always going to struggle to match up with Florida’s size given that, well, a lot of high-major teams struggle to match up with their size as well–but Norfolk State has some pretty good length and physicality. They’ll start 6’11”, 210 pound Kuluel Mading at center, and he’s backed up by 6’10”, 235 pound Tyrel Bladen–and that’s the type of size a lot of teams wish they had in their center rotation. Their frontcourt also features 6’8”, 200 pound Jalen Myers and 6’7”, 240 pound Chris Fields, so while they’ll certainly give up some size to the Gators they are going to battle. The Spartans also feature some nice physicality at the guard spots with a lot of players that love to initiate contact on drives and finish strong, something that you won’t see with many other teams on the 16-line.
Leading the way offensively for Norfolk State is Brian Moore, an outstanding 6’2” guard who is averaging 18.4 points and 3.1 assists per game. From Harlem, New York, Moore is a tough nosed, skilled guard that is relentless in his pursuit of the paint and when he gets there he will finish through contact and then let the defender know about it. Not a great outside shooter, Moore needs to be able to get downhill to be effective–but he is capable of doing that even against capable defenders that are focused on keeping him out of there.
As is the case with all the schools in leagues like the MEAC, Norfolk State has had to play a number of buy games against high-major opponents so they have had experience this year playing against the top of the sport. First, they played a tight game with Stanford that saw them lead in the second half before ultimately losing 70-63. Next, they lost 91-73 to Grand Canyon, a mid-major that’s on par talent wise with a lot of high-majors. They then lost big to Baylor (94-69) and Tennessee (67-52) though they did get a huge win at High Point–a team that’s 84th in KenPom and in the NCAA Tournament field as a 13-seed. While Norfolk State has been dominant against mid-majors and their league their style isn’t necessarily set up to play against high-major opponents, though head coach Robert Jones is certainly going to coach them up and have them prepared.
The winner of Florida and Norfolk State will go on to play the winner of UConn and Oklahoma. The second seed in this region is St. John’s and the third seed is Texas Tech, if you’re looking towards possible matchups down the line.