American Eagles
Record: 20-12
Head coach: Mike Brennan (1st season)
Season summary: Any opponent facing the Eagles should prepare for a slow, low-scoring game. American reeled off three straight victories to win the Patriot League Tournament without scoring more than 60 points in any of its wins and allowed just 36 in the championship game against Boston University. For the season, the Eagles average only 63.9 points per game—which ranks 316th in the nation—but compensate for their low scoring outputs with the country’s eighth-ranked scoring defense, allowing just 58.6 points per contest. Given the scoring struggles, American is surprisingly efficient on offense, shooting 49.5 percent as a team. That clip is good for seventh in the nation, indicating that the deliberate pace of play is a matter of choice, not offensive futility. Brennan, a Princeton alumnus and Pete Carril disciple has instituted his own version of a backdoor-cut offense that has helped the Eagles to become so efficient. Facilitating American's version of "the Princeton offense," junior point guard Darius Gardner has been remarkably consistent, logging 37.0 minutes per game for the Eagles and dishing out 4.2 assists per game. Beside him in the backcourt, sophomore guard Jesse Reed leads American in scoring, at 13.9 points per game, and hits an impressive 46.8 percent of his 3-point attempts.
How they make a run: Working well into the shot clock to shorten the game, the Eagles' defense puts the clamps on a Wisconsin team that is sometimes similarly challenged on offense, and Reed leads American with enough scoring to pull off the huge upset.
How they falter: The physical Badgers are too much for the Eagles, who struggle to get anything going on the offensive end, and Brennan's run ends in the Round of 64.
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