This week marks the start of March Madness, the NCAA Tournament that is annually filled with major programs falling to mid-major universities that are unknown to the masses. While teams like Florida Gulf Coast running to the Elite Eight is exceedingly rare, there are typically double-digit seeds that make impressive progress.
Sports World News guide to March Madness Bracket games
At Sports World News, we will profile the potential bracket busters this year, so that you know what you're getting into when you plug in your Cinderellas. We’ve already covered the Mercer Bears—next up is another lively No. 14 seed, the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns.
Louisiana-Lafayette engages in run-and-gun basketball, no ifs, ands or buts about it. They rank 13th in the nation in points per game (81.4), have scored 100-plus points five times throughout the season, and boast three players scoring in double-figures.
The lead dog for the Cajuns is junior guard Elfrid Payton who contributes across the board. Payton scored 19.1 points per game this year to go with 5.9 rebounds and six assists.
His main partner in crime is sophomore big man Shawn Long, who averaged a double-double for the year—18.7 points and 10.5 rebounds.
Should Creighton be worried?
Thanks largely to Long, the Ragin’ Cajuns are eighth in the nation in terms of total offensive rebounds, and are capable of getting physical with just about any team. Defensively, however, Louisiana-Lafayette leaves much to be desired. Against upper-tier competition they’ve appeared out of their depth as well, getting pounded 113-74 vs. Louisville, as well as suffering back-to-back double-digit losses early in the season to Arkansas and Baylor.
Creighton is heavily reliant on a single player, Doug McDermott, and if he falters then Creighton could easily be buried by the Cajun offense. On defense though, Lafayette must not allow themselves to get done in by McDermott’s hot shooting.
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