N.C.A.A. Tournament: Things to Know Going Into Selection Sunday

March 14, 2021
Sport

The last time Rutgers was in the N.C.A.A. tournament was in 1991, when Mariah Carey was topping the Billboard pop charts and Geo Baker had not been born.

Baker, a 6-foot-4 senior guard from Derry, N.H., appears to have led the Scarlet Knights into their first men’s N.C.A.A. tournament in 30 years. Coach Steve Pikiell’s team would have made the field a year ago but was heartbroken when the tournament was canceled because of the pandemic.

“My whole life I’ve kind of been underrated, and I think that Rutgers is underrated right now,” Baker told the Big Ten Network. “And I love to prove people wrong, and I think that’s what we’re going to do here.”

Among other fresh faces in the tournament will be the Ohio Valley Conference program Morehead State, which is making its first appearance since knocking off Louisville in 2011 as a No. 13 seed; the Sun Belt Conference’s Appalachian State, making its third appearance over all and its first since 2000; the Southern Conference’s U.N.C. Greensboro, back for the first time since 2018; and, from the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference, Mount St. Mary’s, returning for the first time since 2017.