The men's NCAA Tournament is just over a week away, but teams are already securing automatic bids to the big dance. In the Atlantic Sun, Lipscomb defeated North Alabama to officially reach March Madness in the final. The Bisons were beneficiaries of a consistent scoring effort courtesy of Joe Anderson, who had 23 points, Will Pruitt (17 points), Gyasi Powell (16) and Jacob Ognacevic (14).
The Bisons were favored by nearly six points entering the game against North Alabama despite being the No. 2 seed. Half of the fun in March Madness is watching small schools like Lipscomb make a run to the NCAA Tournament and face off against Power-5 opponents. While it is unclear who Lipscomb will play as of this writing, they have played the likes of Arkansas and Kentucky this season. They even defeated Duquesne, and A-10 team which made the tournament last year, to open the season.
Where is Lipscomb College? A brief education
Lipscomb is actually in Nashville, Tennessee, and isn't too far from the likes of Vanderbilt University. The Bisons leading scorer is Ognacevic, who averages over 20 points per game inside. Ognacevic also leads the team in field goal percentage at nearly 60 percent. Lipscomb is a private Christian university in Tennessee, and boasts some famous athlete alumni especially in baseball. Casey Bond, Rex Brothers and Caleb Joseph – who all enjoyed notable MLB careers – all went to Lipscomb.
Lipscomb NCAA Tournament history: When was their last March Madness run?
This is only Lipscomb's second NCAA Toournament appearance. The last time the Bisons were a part of March Madness was in 2018, when they played North Carolina in the first round as No. 15 seed. Lipscomb lost that game by 18 points, but put up a valiant effort.
Lipscomb has also made the NIT on several occasions, losing to UTEP in 2006 and making a run in 2019, defeating the likes of Davidson, UNC Greensboro, NC State and Wichita State before losing to Texas by 15 points. What Lipscomb lacks in postseason experience they more than make up for in surprise factor. This team should not be taken lightly this March, and they project as a 13 seed this season. In Joe Lunardi's latest bracketology, they would face No. 4 seed Clemson in the first round.
Clemson is on the rise per Lunardi, but the ACC is one of the weaker Powe-5 conferences this season. If the Bison were to face the Tigers, they'd be a popular 4-13 upset selection.