No one said being Cinderella would be easy.
The three locals receiving automatic bids will have to go against some of the nation’s most decorated programs. Princeton earned a No. 13 seed and a matchup with SEC champ Kentucky. Long Island University, the Northeast Conference champs, will be a No. 15 and face North Carolina in the second round. St. Peter’s, from the MAAC, gets a 14 seed and a game against Purdue.
Princeton won the Ivy League in a play-in game over Harvard after both teams finished the regular season 12-2 in the conference. The Tigers’ Doug Davis beat the Crimson on a buzzer beater to lift Princeton to a 62-61 win. It will be Princeton’s first trip to the Big Dance since 2004 when they were a 14 seed and got trounced by Texas, 66-49 in the first round.
LIU will enter the NCAA tournament as one of the hottest teams in the 68-team field with 13 consecutive wins and 21 in their past 22. That culminated with an 85-82 overtime victory over Robert Morris in the NEC Championship. The Blackbirds won the regular season title at 16-2 in the conference and 27-5 overall. Jim Ferry’s team has a balanced attack with four players averaging double digits, including junior forward Jamal Olasewere, who had a career high 31 points in the win over Robert Morris. It’s LIU’s first trip since 1997 when the Brooklyn school was a No. 13 seed and lost to Villanova, 101-91.
St. Peter’s made its return to the NCAA tournament thanks to back-to-back upsets over MAAC regular season champ Fairfield and second-seeded Iona in the conference championship game. Jeron Belin led them in scoring with 15 and 17 points in those two victories for the Jersey City school. The Peacocks finished 20-13 and fourth in the MAAC with an 11-7 record. St. Peter’s will depend on its defense; they are 12th in the nation giving up 59.9 points per game. They are 316th in offense at 61.4 points per game. It’s their first time in the tournament since when, as a No. 15 seed, they were hammered by Marcus Camby and Massachusetts, 68-51.
