A Valiant Effort Falls Just Short

Notes, Highlights, and Tough Pills to Swallow from NKU's First Round Appearance

Photo credit: Lexington Herald Leader

Article by Kyle Craven

It was once said that there is no such thing as a moral victory in sports. While that may be technically true, especially when it comes to elimination games in the NCAA Tournament, this writer and fan will have to disagree slightly. But I understand why the term “moral victory” is a tough one to stomach. It seems kind of weak. In sports, there are two available outcomes (unless we’re talking about those weirdos in the NFL), you either win or you lose. So in that sense, the victor is the “winner” and the defeated is the “loser”. What’s so “moral” about that. I’m fine with conceding the term; “moral victory” is kind of silly and sounds pathetic. Let’s call it…. “something to build on”. Does that work for everyone?

Deep into the night on March 16, 2023, the Norse of Northern Kentucky were in hand-to-hand combat with the Houston Cougars. Both teams rank incredibly high in team defense on the year (Houston is #1 by many accounts and the Norse are in the top 30 by many of the same metrics), so we should have seen this coming from a mile away. However, you’d have reasons to be skeptical. The line on Tuesday for this game was at UH+18 but by game time it was hovering around UH+20.5 and the over/under was around 121.5. Vegas was essentially predicting a final score of around the following: UH: 71, NKU: 50. Among many other Norse fans who have watched our guys play, I was out there telling everyone I knew to hammer (bet hard on) the under. Both teams play great defense, I was almost certain neither team would break 70 points. Then I began thinking about the final score. If I am predicting Houston to score under 70, do I really think the Norse will score in the 40s? In an NCAA Tournament game? HELL NO. “Take the Norse to cover”, I told myself. In that regard, they didn’t let me down.

But this is real basketball: not Vegas. The results are decided on the court and at the end of the day, the Norse failed to defeat a Houston team who looked like they had better things to do than play basketball last night. In falling 52-63, the Norse showed a level of grit that impressed the entire nation. Very few people had Northern Kentucky being in the game for much of the game last night — and they were. In fact, it wasn’t until the under 8 minutes media timeout in the second half that Houston finally pulled ahead by double figures.

Will you humor me and look over some fun facts and stats from last night’s game?

Where Do We Rank Among other 16 Seeds?

The Norse lost last night by 11 points, which is actually tied for 19th among all 16 seed since 1985 in NCAA Tournament History. In the 152 NCAA 16v1 Matchups throughout history, the 16 seeds are 1-151, and the Norse’s loss by 11 would actually put them in the 13th percentile among all other 16 seeds in NCAA History.

The Norse led 6 different times, the score was even tied as late as the under 16:00 TV timeout in the second half, and Houston only pulled ahead by double digits after 32 hard-fought game minutes. NKU’s biggest lead was by 3 early in the first half.

Source: WaPo database

The Norse Did Some GOOD THINGS Out There

TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK: Without a doubt Houston is one of the best teams in the country this year. The lost their conference final by double digits and still retained the rights to a 1 seed, so they truly are no joke. They are boast a defense of HISTORIC ability and despite this, the Norse had the best game of any team this season against that defense when it comes to turnover percentage. The Norse were careful, methodical on offense. They often did shoot the first look that they felt comfortable with, many times that was a deep 3 pointer. But they were also poised, un-rushed and unaffected by a normally very physical and daunting Houston defense. That poise led the Norse to take care of the ball at a rate that no other team has done against Houston this year. (Turnover Percentage is defined by basketball-reference as an “estimate of turnovers per 100 plays.” The formula is 100 * TOV / (FGA + 0.44 * FTA + TOV). Looking merely at turnovers, or turnovers per game, is just fine, but there are some serious limitations.)

TAKING THE ROCK AWAY: On the polar opposite side of the coin, the Norse were thieving out there! Per the ESPN box score (basketball reference had a different number for some reason), Houston turned it over 17 times - which included 3 shot clock violations! You have to give credit to the Norse for the incredible defense that was played. Houston’s 17 TOs was the 2nd most they’ve had in a game all season. Houston’s offensive rating of 101.8 (calculated based on points per 100 possessions) was their 8th lowest of the season.

BASHING THE BOARDS: Houston, normally a strong defensive rebounding team, was baffled last night by the undersized Norse who just. WOULD. NOT. STOP. PLAYING. HARD. Houston’s defensive rebounding percentage of 62.2% was their 3rd worst of the season, and you can credit that 100% to the effort given by the Norse - all of them, but specifically Sam Vinson, Chris Brandon and Trey Robinson who were flying to the ball like a dog to their bone.

Acknowledging History, Yet Making Their Own

BOARD BEAST: The Norse have now played in 3 NCAA Tournament games at the DI level and history was set last night. Chris Brandon recorded 14 rebounds passing Carson Williams who nabbed 9 rebounds against a physically DOMINANT Kentucky Wildcats team (that had future NBA All-Star Bam Adebayo down low). Sam Vinson also made his way onto the Norse leaderboard, tying Adrian Nelson for 3rd with 8 rebounds. Dantez Walton and Drew McDonald round out the list with 7 and 6, respectively.

HE’S A BUCKET:

While the Norse struggled to score last night, it would be hard to imagine where they’d have been without Sam Vinson and his 15 points. Vinson’s scoring was good enough to rank 4th among all Norse in the DI era in a single NCAA Tournament game. Vinson joins Tyler Sharpe, Lavone Holland and Carson Williams among the top NKU scorers in March Madness. Tyler Sharpe had 23 points against Texas Tech in a similar “everyone hop on my back” type of game. (Vinson scored 29% of NKU’s points, Sharpe had 40% of NKU’s points in his game). Lavone Holland III (22) and Carson Williams (21) however combined forces to score 43 total points, good enough for 61.4% of NKU’s 70 points against Kentucky in what was still the Norse’s closest NCAA Tournament Game.

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY

I have an article in the drafts which will highlight some of our seniors and focus in on what needs the Norse have in order to find themselves in this tournament next year. Accompanying that article will be a discussion thread where I’d love to hear from you all - the subscribers, readers and listeners on what you think the Norse should be focused on. Until then, NORSE UP!