March Madness: Norse ride again, a KU deja vu for Howard

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Northern Kentucky coachDarrin Horn might be looking forward to his team’s NCAA Tournamentappearance even more than his players.

The Norse won their fourth Horizon League championship since2016-17 but will play in March Madness for the first time since2019. They also won the league title in 2020, but there was no NCAATournament that year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

That denied Horn a chance to lead his first NKU squad in the BigDance, which makes this berth a bit more special. Especially afterthe Norse let an opportunity slip away in last year’s HorizonTournament.

“We kind of feel like we had one taken from us literally, whereyou qualify for the tournament and then the tournament just doesn’thappen,” Horn said in a phone interview. “So, to finally punch yourticket and know that there’s going to be games and you’re going tobe a part of the process, that’s really exciting.”

The No. 16 seed Norse (22-12) will face Midwest top seed Houstonon Thursday night in Birmingham, Alabama. NKU features the nation’sNo. 27 defense (63.6 points allowed per game) and the No. 42 scorerin junior guard Marques Warrick (19.1 points).

DEJA VU

Howard’s last NCAA Tournament appearance in 1992 was a 100-67loss to Midwest top seed Kansas. Back then, Kenneth Blakeney was a20-year-old Duke sophomore on a Blue Devils squad that repeated asnational champions.

Blakeney now coaches Howard and will lead the No. 16 seed Bison(22-12) against the defending national champion and top-seededJayhawks again, this time in a West Region first-round game. Howardtopped Norfolk State 65-64 for the Mid-Eastern Athletic ConferenceTournament championship, capping a remarkable turnaround from 4-29in Blakeney’s debut season in 2019-20 to their first regular-seasonand tournament titles since that last trip to the Big Dance.

“To represent Howard University is a big honor for me,” saidBlakeney, a Washington, D.C., native, via email. “I’m humble to bea mentor at a great university. Kansas is a national, traditionaland historic program. I’m excited.”

The D.C. school is one of two historically Black colleges anduniversities in the tournament. Texas Southern won the SouthwesternAthletic Conference title and will face Fairleigh Dickinson in amatchup of No. 16 seeds in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio.

CHARMED EXISTENCE

It’s been quite a year for West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.

Huggins was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hallof Fame in September. He became the winningest active Division Icoach last week when Jim Boeheim retired at Syracuse.

The Mountaineers (19-14) overcame a horrible start to Big 12play to reach the NCAA Tournament field as a No. 9 seed. They’llmeet No. 8 seed and state line rival Maryland (21-12) on Thursdayin Birmingham, Alabama.

“I never had any doubt that we wouldn’t play in the tournament,”Huggins said Sunday night. “I thought we were getting better andbetter.”

West Virginia lost its first five Big 12 games but rebounded tofinish 7-11 in arguably the nation’s toughest league. The NCAA bidwouldn’t have been secured without three wins in the Mountaineers’final four regular-season games, including over Iowa State and No.12 Kansas State.

“I’m good with it,” Huggins said. “Obviously we wanted to winmore games. We just had some things happen.”

RECONNECTING

Marquette’s first-round East Region matchup Friday againstVermont gave Golden Eagles guard and Big East player of the yearTyler Kolek a chance to catch up with an old friend.

Kolek began his college career at George Mason while playing fora coaching staff that included Bryson Johnson, who is now a Vermontassistant. As soon as the matchup of No. 2 and No. 15 seeds wasannounced, Kolek and Johnson began exchanging texts.

“We had some competitive fire going back and forth,” Kolek said.“We’d always shoot against each other (at George Mason). Heactually played at Bucknell and he was a pretty good player. Just alittle trash talk.”

Marquette beat Xavier 65-51 on Saturday to earn its first BigEast Conference title.

STAYING HOME

No. 1 overall seed Alabama and archrival Auburn, the Midwest No.9 seed, won’t have to go far for their tournament debuts.

Both schools will open in Birmingham, Alabama, a 58-mile hopfrom Tuscaloosa for the Crimson Tide, who on Thursday will face thewinner of the No. 16 seed matchup between Texas A&M-CorpusChristi and Southeast Missouri State.

The Tigers will travel about 110 miles for their first-roundmeeting with No. 8 seed Iowa, where Auburn coach Bruce Pearl was anassistant from 1986-92.

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AP Sports Writers Mike Marot, Steve Megargee, John Raby andStephen Whyno contributed to this report.