The Winthrop men’s basketball team is slated to face the Villanova Wildcats on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Eagles arrived in Indianapolis by plane on Saturday afternoon and were together on Sunday evening when it was revealed that they would be a 12-seed in the South region of the March Madness bracket.
The geographical region doesn’t bear any true importance this year in terms of travel (since all games will be played in Indiana in an attempt to eliminate negative impacts of COVID-19), but which teams are in the region are just as important as ever. The top seed in Winthrop’s quadrant of the bracket belongs to the Baylor Bears, who possess just two losses on their record.
Winthrop’s match against the Wildcats is already drawing national attention for having high potential to be a classic ‘12-5 upset.’ With Villanova’s best player Collin Gillespie unable to play due to a torn MCL, the Wildcats enter Friday’s contest on a two-game losing streak.
“This is as good as Winthrop could hope for,” said Dave Friedman, Voice of the Eagles, during Winthrop Athletics’ virtual selection show watch party. “If Chris Arcidiacono has to start because Gillespie is out, he’s a non-shooter. Winthrop can play off of him and dare him to try to score.”
While Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey didn’t let on that he had any knowledge of Villanova’s team this year, he did acknowledge that the Eagles are facing a team with a lot of historical success.
“It’s a hall-of-fame caliber coach and a national championship-caliber program. I’ve got a ton of respect for what they built in the Villanova mystique,” Kelsey said on Sunday.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us. We’re excited about opening the laptop and diving into film [to] start preparing to play the Wildcats.”
Kelsey said that even though the team is focused on winning and advancing in the tournament, he also hopes his players realize how special their time is in Indiana.
“As Skip Prosser used to say, this isn’t our eighth grade trip to our nation’s capital,” Kelsey said. “Our guys are here on a business trip. But at the same time, I want them to enjoy and soak in everything that this experience has to offer.”
If Winthrop beats Villanova on Friday, the Eagles would face either 4th-seeded Purdue or 13th-seeded North Texas in the Round of 32 on Sunday. Winthrop has never won a Round of 32 game, but should the Eagles do so this year, they would advance to the Sweet 16 and play on March 27 or 28.
The Eagles would most likely face Baylor if they were fortunate enough to play a third NCAA Tournament game, but their opponent could also be 8th-seeded North Carolina, 9th-seeded Wisconsin, or (highly unlikely, though never impossible) 16th-seeded Hartford, who Winthrop opened their 2019-20 season against.
Other teams in the South region of the bracket are Ohio State, Arkansas, Texas Tech, Florida, Virginia Tech, Utah State, Colgate and Oral Roberts. However, Winthrop would not face any of these teams until the Elite 8.
With a 9:57 p.m. tip-off on Friday, Winthrop fans best be ready to fire up the coffee pot and prepare themselves for a late night. However, for a guy who claims to “make coffee nervous,” Kelsey won’t need any extra caffeine to fire up his team for their biggest game so far this season.
