High Point Is A Deeply Weird School

A 12 seed upsetting a 5 seed is not the most unexpected NCAA tournament result, and yet it can still offer a chance to partake in one of March's most pleasurable traditions: learning about a school and program that 95 percent of viewers had never heard of prior to tip-off. Sometimes this process leads to charming discoveries (Florida Gulf Coast University's campus lake) and sometimes it doesn't (Oral Roberts University's whole deal). No. 12 High Point University prevailed over No. 5 Wisconsin, 83-82, on the first day of the tournament, which means it's time to learn about a school. HPU is a private Methodist university located in North Carolina. The basketball team won the Big South this year with a 31-4 record, and beat Winthrop in the conference championship game by 15 points. They've also got what every memorable tournament underdog needs: a quirky gimmick player. That would be senior guard Chase Johnston, who comes in off the bench and does nothing but attempt and hit threes at a ludicrous rate. I mean that literally: Johnston played 12 minutes per game this season and 138 of his 143 field goal attempts came from behind the arc, where he shot 49 percent. The fun little grace note here is that he hit the game-winning shot for High Point on Thursday, and it was his first two-point make of the season: https://youtu.be/aehwW9NSmwk?t=154