NCAA Tournament Team? LaSalle Explorers

LaSalle made big strides in filling out their resume this last week with wins over Butler and VCU, greatly enhancing the chances the Explorers make the NCAA Tournament this season. LaSalle has an RPI of 25 and SOS of 32, posting a 14-5 record along the way.

4 of LaSalle's 5 losses have come on the road, and while that's no excuse, the team's they have lost to are no set of slouches (Miami, Bucknell, Charlotte, Xavier) as they combine for a 57-19 record overall. The outlier not named here, according to the NCAA Selection Committee, would be an early-season home loss to Central Connecticut State, clearly not an NCAA Tournament-caliber team this season or any recent season in memory.

LaSalle has a trio of guards, Ramon Galloway, Tyreek Duren and Tyrone Garland, to light up any opponent on any given night, but the real story for success here is that of Garland. LaSalle was barely edging out teams like Rider, Delaware, Villanova and Northeastern early-on, but since Garland has become eligible as a transfer from Virginia Tech, he has been a force off the bench for the Explorers.

By NBA-DRAFT.com Staff Writer - 2 -10- 13