NAIA National Tournament Preview: Crestview Hills Bracket B

This Pod will come down to whether or not the Saints can protect their home floor or not. They have seen good scorers and players this season playing in the Mid-South, so you expect them to have a good game plan ready to go for Markell Turner and the Union Bulldogs. If Union can carry the momentum off of the AAC Tournament run, them they can hang with Thomas More and make it interesting. Neither team has seen a big like Trey Brown this season. While the Mid-South does have EJ Onu, but Ej is a different player than Brown is. This Pod will come down to two main keys:

1. Can anyone beat Thomas More on their home floor. 

2. What do teams do to take away Trey Brown on the inside for Morningside. 

This isn’t to discredit a fun Union team. They have an uphill fight in this one, but they may have a little March Magic left in their veins! Markell Turner is electric and is the best scorer in this Pod. The Bulldogs are well coached and will be ready for the fight. They have won 6 straight coming into the tourney and really are playing their best basketball.

Thomas More plays such a methodical game offensively. They space the floor, will play five out and beat you with spacing, cutting and shooting. They execute well and take advantage of mismatches. If they can win the 1st game against Union, they will look to pull Trey Brown away from the paint and Batte could get him in foul trouble by driving on him from the mid-post. When they control the tempo and get stops they are tough to beat.

Brown and Imig are legit! The Mustangs have been a bit inconsistent behind those two though. If they are going to get out of this 2 game losing streak they are going to have to have some guys step up! You got to think they will also be pumped up to try and go as deep as they can in the National Tournament for Coach Sykes in his last season!