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North Carolina and Duke are the bluest of bloods in the Tar Heel State, but UNC-Wilmington will be joining them in the NCAA tourney next week. On Monday Craig Ponder scored a team-high 20 PTS to help beat Hofstra in OT in the Colonial tourney title game to earn an automatic bid. The Seahawks were in the CIT last year, but bounced back this week to claim the school’s 1st NCAA tourney bid in a decade. Yesterday HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with Craig about setting a school record for STL and being unstoppable in OT.
You played at Hargrave Military Academy: which of your teammates impressed you the most (PJ Hairston, Dez Wells, other)? I have to say Dez: I have never seen anyone compete the way he did. He was a physical specimen who had such a hunger for the game.
Last March in the CIT you scored 17 PTS in a loss to Sam Houston State: what did you learn from that game that you think will help you in the postseason this year? You need to have the will to win. We prepared well last year but did not have the right focus at tipoff and were a little complacent about just making it to postseason play.
In December you set a school record with 9 STL in a win over Coker: what is the secret for being a great defender? You have to really put your mind to work. I cannot take all the credit because Coach Keatts puts us in the right place to win.
You play for Coach Kevin Keatts who was also your coach at Hargrave: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you ever learned from him? He taught me to stay true to myself. I have known him for awhile and he communicates well with everyone on the team and knows how to keep us all motivated.
On Monday you scored a team-high 20 PTS to help clinch a 7-PT OT win over Hofstra to snap their 8-game winning streak: what is the key to winning games in OT (as your team is now 6-0 in OT games during the past 2 years)? We put in a lot of work during the preseason on our conditioning: we are so used to being tired from our practices that we can push through it during long games.
The win was your 25th of the year: when your team lost 20+ games for 3 straight years from 2012-2014, could you have ever imagined tying the school record for most wins in a season? I could never have imagined being at this point. We always dreamed about it but could never string together enough wins.
You are the only senior among the top-7 scorers on your team: how much pressure has there been on you to be a leader this season? We help each other in that aspect so there is not that much pressure on me. I try to lead by example in both working hard and playing hard, as that is all that I can control.
You and UNC Asheville have already earned spots in the NCAA tourney, Duke and UNC are locks to make it, and Davidson is still alive in the A-10 tourney: how do you describe the college basketball scene in North Carolina for people who live outside the Tar Heel State? The atmosphere here is tremendous. Back when we were losing some people had a lot of negative things to say about us, but a lot of people kept faith in us and now that we are winning we have received a lot of support.
Your brother Ansel played football at Western Michigan: who is the best athlete in the family? I would say he is the better athlete by far: he could have even played D-1 basketball.
What kind of seed do you think you deserve, and what kind of seed do you think you will get? I feel we deserve a 12-13 seed but I think they might give us a 13-14 seed.
Hoops HD Mock Committee Report – Friday, March 11
Click here for Jon Teitel’s interview with Holy Cross’s Eric Green; also click here for Jon’s daily NCAA bracket prediction AND bonus audio commentary with David Griggs.
On Day 2 of our Mock Selection Committee meetings at Hoops HD, we were able to accomplish 3 things today – the number of teams Under Consideration shrunk down to 18 (including Centenary Winner Chicago State), the top 8 seed lines were voted into the seed list, and 4 more teams were voted into the At-Large field.
After debating the merits of the top-ranked teams in the field, each of the committee members submitted their top 12 teams for consideration. (The real committee would submit 8 teams, but we did 12 teams as a time-saving measure.) The next step was to rank each of those teams 1 through 12 (the real Committee would seed the top 8 teams 1 through 8). The top 8 vote-getters (top 4 for the real committee) became the teams seeded 1 through 8 on the overall seed list. After more debate, our committee then individually submitted the next 8 teams for consideration (top 4 for the real committee). These teams, in addition to the 4 carryover teams from the prior step, were then ranked 1 through 12 (ranked 1 through 8 by the real Committee). The top 8 vote-getters (top 4 for the real committee) became the teams seeded 9 through 16 on the overall seed list. This process was repeated until we had 24 teams on the seed list.
Once we got final results from the evening games, we debated on 4 more teams to add to the at-large field. Using the same process that was used last night to vote in at-large teams, our committee added Connecticut, Cincinnati, Michigan and Saint Joseph’s to the field. With Michigan’s inclusion to the field (along with the 3 other remaining Big 10 teams already voted in), we are now assured of another at-large spot opening up courtesy of the Big 10. This leaves us with a minimum of 2 more at-large teams to vote into the field tomorrow night; there could be as many as 5 teams depending on who wins the SEC, Atlantic 10 and American conferences. However, since either Tulane or Memphis is guaranteed to be in the American championship game on Sunday, we are guaranteed at least one contingency team. Another potential contingency lies in the A-10 depending on whether Davidson or VCU get to their championship game. Another spot could open up if Texas A&M and Kentucky play each other for the championship on Sunday, although either Georgia or LSU can also play the role of bid thief.
After the 4 additional teams were added to the field, we added 8 more teams to the Master Seed list and finished our meeting with 32 teams seeded. You can view the list below:
Tomorrow night, we will begin scrubbing the seed list to adjust for additional game results through Saturday night. We will vote in the 2 remaining guaranteed at-large spots and also choose additional contingency teams as necessary. The two remaining Sun Belt teams will be included in the master seed list as well as part of any multiple contingencies that would arise on Sunday. The remaining teams will also be voted into the seed list as well.