(15) Northern Kentucky (24-10)
From only an hour and a half north of Lexington, Northern Kentucky is in only their fifth season as a basketball program, and they’re making their first appearance in the NCAA tournament.
In just his second season as a head coach, John Brannen was named the Horizon League coach of the year. In 2015 he served as the interim coach at Alabama for two games.
Drew McDonald made first-team all-conference in the Horizon League. The 6’7 sophomore averaged 16.4 points and 7.7 rebounds, and also steps out and hits threes.
West Virginia was the only RPI top 50 team the Norse played this year, and they Mountaineers beat them 92-61.
I think the Norse are just glad to be here and if they can keep this game under 20 points, that should be considered a victory. If somehow the Norse did pull an upset, they would go from unknown to the most hated team in the Bluegrass State.