2015 NCAA Tournament Preview: North Florida Ospreys

The North Florida Ospreys clinched their first NCAA Tournament berth in school history with a narrow victory over USC Upstate in the Atlantic Sun Tournament title game.

Resume:

Record – 23-11 (12-2 in Atlantic Sun)

RPI – 171

Strength of Schedule – 341

Starting Lineup:

G Dallas Moore (So.) – 16.0 ppg, 3.7 apg

G Jalen Nesbitt (Sr.) –10.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg

F Beau Beech (Sr.) – 12.8 ppg, 5.6 rpg

F Chris Davenport (So.) – 11.6 ppg, 6.4 rpg

C Romelo Banks (So.) – 5.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg

Key Player:

Dallas Moore

Moore is North Florida's catalyst even though he's just a sophomore, leading the team in points and assists. He's excellent at penetrating the defense and either getting a good shot at the rim or dishing the ball to a big man down low. Moore needs to take care of the ball a little bit better (2.2 turnovers per game), but his production usually makes up for it.

Biggest Strength:

Offensive Efficiency

North Florida likes to play a run-and-gun, up-tempo style that focuses on fast breaks and creating easy shots around the rim. They shoot over 47 percent from the field as a team because of that, and they see the results on the scoreboard, where they rank 25th in the country in scoring (76.1 points per game).

Biggest Weakness:

Depth

Only seven players on North Florida's roster average over nine minutes per game, which leads to some tired, inconsistent play because of their up-tempo style.

Outlook:

North Florida could present problems to higher seeded teams because of their pace, but they're not good enough to pull off an upset.

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