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Introducing Cinderella: LeVelle Moton gets North Carolina-Central back to the dance

North Carolina Central v UC Davis

DAYTON, OH - MARCH 15: Head coach LeVelle Moton of the North Carolina Central Eagles reacts in the second half against the UC Davis Aggies during the First Four game in the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 15, 2017 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

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It wasn’t pretty, but North Carolina Central got the job done.

The No. 3 seed in the MEAC tournament, NCCU erased a 10 point halftime deficit and held top seed Norfolk State to just 15 second half points in a 50-47 win in the MEAC tournament title game on Saturday.

The Eagles were led by 10 points and eight boards from senior big man Zaccary Douglas in a game that featured plenty of defense.

CONFERENCE: MEAC

COACH: LeVelle Moton

RECORD: 18-15

RATINGS


  • KENPOM: 308
  • NET: 305

PROJECTED SEED: The Eagles are a lock to end up as a No. 16 seed, and I would be shocked if they don’t end up in one of the play-in games.

NAMES YOU NEED TO KNOW: The best player on the floor for NCCU is almost always going to be star center Raasean Davis, a 6-foot-8 senior from Chicago that has averaging 15 points and eight boards over the course of the last two seasons.

BIG WINS, BAD LOSSES: NCCU has won 17 games this season. Two of them came against non-Division I competition. The other 15 wins came against teams that are Q4 opponents. This was the third-place team in the MEAC, they aren’t going to put up 25 wins against a murderer’s row schedule.

STATS YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Eagles rank 340th nationally in offensive turnover rate and 294th nationally in three-point shooting. That’s not a good competition of things for teams looking to pull off an upset.

HOW DO I KNOW YOU?: The Eagles are the best program in the MEAC and LeVelle Moton is the best coach in the conference. This is the third straight year and the fourth time in six seasons that NCCU has won the MEAC tournament.