Morris: March Madness — The NCAA tournament from A-to-Z

A Albany. The Great Danes wear a patch on their jersey honoring the late mother of guard Peter Hooley, whose 3-pointer at the buzzer gave Albany a 51-50 victory against Stony Brook and trip to the tournament.

B Belmont. The university of 7,200 students in Nashville bills itself as the largest Christian school in Tennessee. It also boasts some smart basketball players, having had 14 consecutive seasons with a team GPA of 3.0 or better. Every player has graduated the past 12 seasons.

C Collinsworth, Kyle. The 6-foot-6 BYU junior point guard has an amazing six triple-doubles this season, an NCAA single-season record and tied for the most in a career with Michael Anderson (Drexel, 1985-88) and Shaquille O’Neal (LSU, 1990-92).

D Defense is the name of the game in the tournament, and the best defender in the country is Kentucky’s 7-foot forward Willie Cauley-Stein. He not only can block shots but also can go man-to-man against guards.

E Ellis, Cliff. Including Coastal Carolina team for a second consecutive season, Ellis also has taken South Alabama, Clemson and Auburn to the NCAA tournament.

F Full-court press. Arkansas could cause problems for opponents because it is one of the few teams in the field who apply the press on defense.

G Gill, Anthony. Virginia’s 6-8 redshirt junior played one season under Darrin Horn at South Carolina. He is the Cavaliers’ leading rebounder with seven per game and is averaging 12 points per game.

H Harvard. This makes four tournament appearances in a row for the Crimson.

I Iowa State. Following USC’s win over Iowa State in early January, the Gamecocks were 9-3 and the Cyclones were 10-2. USC went 8-13 the rest of the way. Iowa State went 15-6 and captured the Big 12 tourney championship.

J Jaspers. The best nickname in the field belongs to Manhattan. The nickname comes from one of Manhattan’s most-revered figures, Brother Jasper, who served at the college in the late 19th century.

K Kaminsky, Frank. The 7-foot Wisconsin center does not get the national publicity of others, but he has proved to be the best player in the country. He leads one of the nation’s best teams in points, assists, rebounds, steals and blocks.

L Left out. Only five of the original NCAA programs when the tournament began in 1939 have not played in the Big Dance. They include Army, The Citadel, Northwestern, St. Francis (N.Y.) and William & Mary.

M McDonald’s All-Americans. Duke’s roster is reduced to eight scholarship players, all of whom are McDonald’s All-Americans.

N Ndiaye, Mamadou. It is worth watching UC Irvine just to see Ndiaye, a 7-foot-6, 300-pound center from Senegal.

O Oregon. The Ducks are making their second consecutive tournament appearance under Dana Altman, one of the most underrated coaches in the country.

P Peak, L.J. The 6-foot-5 Gaffney High product averaged 8 points per game as a freshman starter for Georgetown.

Q Quinton Chievous. The 6-6 forward and son of former Missouri standout Derrick Chievous is one of Hampton’s leaders.

R Rawls, Lou. The best name in the tournament goes to Michigan State guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr.

S Sleeper. If you are looking for a mid-major sleeper that could make noise in the tournament, consider Northern Iowa. The Panthers returned all five starters and top six scorers from a club that won 16 games last season.

T Texas Southern. In three seasons as coach, Mike Davis’ Tigers were first banned from NCAA tournament play, then won back-to-back SWAC tournament titles to get in.

U Underwood, Brad. The former USC assistant coach is 61-7 in two seasons at Stephen F. Austin, including two Southland Conference tournament titles. Former USC player and coach Michael Boynton is one of Underwood’s assistants.

V Villanova. Perhaps the most overlooked team in the country despite a 32-2 record that included Big East regular-season and tournament titles.

W Wyoming. Former Clemson coach Larry Shyatt has his Cowboys in the tournament for the first time in 13 years.

X Xavier. Coach Chris Mack fended off overtures from Wake Forest and California during the offseason to remain at Xavier for a sixth season.

Y Young, Mike. The Wofford coach has it going in Spartanburg with four tournament appearances in the past six seasons.

Z Zags. It is Gonzaga’s annual appearance in this A to Z column.

This story was originally published March 15, 2015 at 7:38 PM with the headline "Morris: March Madness — The NCAA tournament from A-to-Z."