OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Hands on his head with the front of his jersey pulled up to cover his face, Baylor Scheierman was the picture of Creighton's raw emotion in the immediate aftermath of its crushing loss in the NCAA Elite Eight last year.

That loss to San Diego State denied the Bluejays of their first Final Four and made Scheierman's decision to come back to college for a fifth year a lot easier.

If third-seeded Creighton beats No. 2 Tennessee in the Sweet 16 in Detroit on Friday night, the Bluejays would be in the same position as a year ago. No one has played a bigger role in making it to this point than Scheierman.

He ranks in the top five in the Big East in scoring, rebounding and free-throw shooting and in the top 10 in 3-point shooting and assists. He was an All-Big East first-team pick by The Associated Press and the conference’s head coaches and a third-team AP All-American.

“He’s truly a complete player, and I’d probably say the most complete player I've been around,” Utah State transfer and fourth-year point guard Steven Ashworth said.

Creighton leaned hard on Scheierman to get through the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament with an 86-73 double-overtime win over No. 11 Oregon in Pittsburgh on Saturday.

The Bluejays were down four points with under 30 seconds left in regulation when Scheierman made two free throws to halve the deficit. After Oregon missed the front end of a one-and-one, Scheierman came off a screen and hit a fade-away jumper to tie it at 64 with nine seconds left.

“I always want the ball in that situation,” Scheierman said. “My coaches and teammates obviously trust me a lot because they gave me the ball. The season’s on the line, and that’s what I’ve worked for since I was in eighth grade.”

Scheierman grew up two hours west of Omaha in Aurora, Nebraska, where he was a star quarterback and a two-time all-state pick in basketball. He was a bit undersized in high school and didn't attract recruiting attention from power-conference programs. He accepted an offer to South Dakota State and was named Summit League player of the year in his third, and final, season with the Jackrabbits.

Scheierman went through an NBA draft evaluation and was told he would be served well by staying in school and playing against higher-level competition, getting faster and stronger and working on shooting off screens and quickening his release.

The 6-foot-7, 205-pounder said he has accomplished what he set out to do in his two years at Creighton. He leads the team with 18.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game and is averaging 4.0 assists. His 16 double-doubles lead the Big East, and he had Creighton's first triple-double since the 1980s. He's made a 3-pointer in 22 straight games and in 80 of his last 81.

“I felt like I wanted to go into my professional career being the most prepared I could be,” Scheierman said. “I wanted to get better as an individual and help this team make another run in March.”

Here are some numbers that will help you get your March Madness fix for the Sweet 16

Sixteen may be sweet, but it isn’t the only relevant number as the NCAA Tournament heads into the regional semifinals.

Here are some other numbers worth knowing for each team. These statistics will help you learn more about each of the remaining teams and could explain how some of them got this far.

EAST REGION

UCONN: In UConn’s second-round victory over Northwestern, Donovan Clingan became just the third player in tournament history to get 14 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks in a game. The others to do it were Hakeem Olajuwon for Houston in 1983 and David Robinson for Navy in 1986. The blocks also were the most ever by a UConn player in a tournament game.

SAN DIEGO STATE: The Aztecs’ Sweet 16 matchup with defending national champion UConn will mark the fourth time that two teams have faced each other in the tournament a year after meeting in the final. The losing team from the championship won the rematch in one of the three previous instances, when Duke beat UNLV in a 1991 semifinal. Cincinnati won two straight championship games over Ohio State in 1961-62. Florida beat UCLA in the 2006 championship game and in a 2007 semifinal.

ILLINOIS: Illinois has won six in a row, and Terrence Shannon Jr. has scored at least 25 points in each of those games. The 6-foot-6 guard has averaged 30.5 points and has shot 52.8% (56 of 106) from the floor during that stretch. He also shown an uncanny knack for drawing fouls during the streak. Over his last five games, Shannon has gone 51 of 58 on free-throw attempts.

IOWA STATE: Iowa State is allowing just 61.2 points per game to rank fourth among all Division I teams in scoring defense. Since falling 73-65 to Houston on Feb. 19, the Cyclones haven’t allowed any of their last 10 opponents to exceed 65 points. The Cyclones next face Illinois, which ranks ninth in points per game (84.6) and has averaged 91.3 points over its last four contests.

WEST REGION

ALABAMA: Mark Sears and Aaron Estrada were the first set of Division I teammates since 1996-97 to both have at least 410 points, 125 assists, 120 rebounds, 50 3-point baskets and 40 steals during the regular season. Sears is averaging 21.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.7 steals. Estrada has 13.3 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

NORTH CAROLINA: Armando Bacot had seven straight tournament double-doubles and six consecutive tourney games with at least 15 rebounds before he ended up with 18 points and seven boards in a second-round victory over Michigan State. His seven straight NCAA double-doubles matched Tim Duncan and Olajuwon for the NCAA record.

ARIZONA: Arizona’s first-round triumph over Long Beach State marked the 19th time this season the Wildcats had five different players score in double figures. No other Division I team had that many games this season in which five different players had at least 10 points.

CLEMSON: Each of Clemson’s first two tournament opponents has shot below 40% against the Tigers. Clemson won its first-round game by limiting New Mexico to 29.7% shooting, the lowest percentage the Tigers had ever allowed in an NCAA tourney game. Clemson now faces Arizona, which shot 52.8% in its second-round victory over Dayton.

MIDWEST REGION

CREIGHTON: Baylor Scheierman is the first Division I men’s player in history to have at least 2,000 career points, 1,000 rebounds, 500 assists and 300 3-point baskets. Scheierman, who is in his second season at Creighton after playing three seasons at South Dakota State, has 2,208 points, 1,250 rebounds, 578 assists and 352 3-pointers.

TENNESSEE: Tennessee is making its 10th Sweet 16 appearance – including its seventh in the last 18 years – but the Volunteers have never reached the Final Four and earned their lone regional final berth in 2010.

GONZAGA: Gonzaga is in the Sweet 16 for the ninth straight time, the longest active streak of any Division I team. Going back to 1975 – the first year that all teams had to win at least one game to reach the Sweet 16 – the record for consecutive Sweet 16 appearances is owned by North Carolina with 13 straight from 1981-93.

PURDUE: Zach Edey is the first player since Kareen Abdul-Jabbar (then known as Lew Alcindor) in 1968 to have at least 50 points and 35 rebounds while shooting 65% from the field in his first two games of an NCAA Tournament. Edey has shot 67.9% (19 of 28) and has totaled 53 points and 35 rebounds in victories over Grambling State and Utah State.

SOUTH REGION

DUKE: Jared McCain has gone 10 of 17 from 3-point range through the first two rounds. In the Blue Devils’ second-round blowout of James Madison, McCain became the first freshman to score at least 30 points without committing a turnover in an NCAA Tournament game since the event expanded to 64 teams in 1985.

HOUSTON: The Cougars showcased their depth by surviving a second-round matchup with Texas A&M in overtime even after four of their five starters fouled out. They became the first team to win an NCAA game while having at least four players foul out since 1987, when UTEP overcame foul trouble to beat Arizona.

MARQUETTE: Marquette owns a 75-29 record under coach Shaka Smart despite posting a negative rebound margin in each of his three seasons. The Golden Eagles have been outrebounded in each of their last eight games but have gone 5-3. They’re getting outrebounded by 3 boards per game this season. The only other Sweet 16 team with a negative rebound margin is North Carolina State (minus-0.8), which faces Marquette on Friday.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE: Mohamed Diarra has 6.4 points and 7.7 rebounds per game this season, but he’s averaged 11.7 points and 13.5 rebounds over his last six. Michael O’Connell scored in double digits three times and totaled 14 3-point baskets in 31 regular-season games. He’s reached double figures in six of seven postseason games and has gone 12 of 22 from 3-point range during that stretch.

Crowns, chest bumps and swagger: In March Madness, the handshake isn't just for high fives anymore

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Amani Bartlett doesn't know exactly how she got the job as LSU's hype woman. She didn't apply for it. No one asked her to do it. It just kind of happened.

So when the lights go down and the music comes up right before the Tigers' starting lineup is introduced, the junior forward runs onto the floor and runs through a quick mental checklist, trying to remember who's coming when and — more importantly — who's got what handshake.

Sounds simple. It's not.

As the Tigers make their way to Bartlett one by one, they offer a glimpse into their wildly varying personalities.

Angel Reese's ends with Bartlett placing a “crown” on the star's head since, as Bartlett put it, her electric All-American teammate is “the queen.”

Flau'Jae Johnson and Bartlett count to four with their fingers and seal it with a chest bump. Aneesah Morrow and Bartlett clasp their hands together up high before swinging them down and dancing.

The whole production takes a minute, maybe less. Still, the ritual plays a small but essential role in getting the Tigers in the right frame of mind ahead of the highly pressurized test that awaits.

“Like it's kind of that amp," Barlett said. "‘Let’s get you hype for a second, then it's time to get into it.'”

In a perfect world, Bartlett would be receiving the handshake, not giving it. That would mean she's starting. That's not happening at the moment and that's fine. Bartlett understands she offers the Tigers a very particular set of skills she is only too happy to share.

So when third-seeded LSU faces second-seeded UCLA in the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 on Saturday in Albany, New York, Bartlett will jog out to her post to provide the five women taking the court a few seconds to cut loose before the ball is tipped and things turn decidedly more serious.

Bartlett is hardly alone. Nearly every team across the sport — from middle school to the pros and everywhere in between — seems to have at least one player (sometimes more than one) who greets the starters during introductions and provides a dash of energy and a splash of swagger.

“It’s part of the culture of basketball,” Louisville guard Merissah Russell said. “I don’t think I’ve ever watched a game where there was no handshake or anything like that.”

North Carolina State sophomore guard KJ Keatts — who figures he got the gig with the ACC champion Wolfpack because his role is to “make guys laugh, make guys smile” — keeps it simple. The starters all get dapped up the same.

“We've been going 30-something games strong with it,” Keatts said.

Considering the run N.C. State has been on over the last two weeks to reach the South region semifinals, hard to blame them.

Kentucky's Kareem Watkins takes a different approach. The senior came up with a unique handshake for every teammate and most of the Wildcats' support staff.

“It's just like a brotherhood thing,” Watkins said.

And a chance to stay engaged during a game even when you know your number isn't going to be called, whether you're the one dishing out the handshakes or serving as your team's comic relief.

Creighton's Sterling Knox is redshirting this season. The freshman guard sat near the end of the bench in a light blue long-sleeved shirt last weekend as the third-seeded Bluejays reached the Sweet 16 for the third time in four years.

Knox believes his day will soon come when he's out on the floor. Until then, he's happy to serve as Creighton's lead choreographer/hoops historian.

“I'll find a TikTok or something, just like old college basketball players and I'll find a dance to bring it back,” said Knox, whose personal social media accounts are a mix of basketball highlights and only semi-serious attempts at dancing.

When the Bluejays faced Providence in the Big East tournament, Knox unearthed Toronto Raptors star Scottie Barnes' pregame routine when he was in high school and brought it back during introductions. It's not the first — and won't be the last — time Knox will dig into the vault in search of a way to mix it up.

“It could become a brand,” Knox said with a laugh.

Even if the brand might require a bit of cultural translation. Creighton senior guard Francisco Farabello is from Argentina, where whatever you want to call what Knox does for the Bluejays is decidedly not a “Thing.”

“That's not something we do overseas, but I respect it,” Farabello said. “The season gets really long and it's good to have guys like that, just the simple fact by dancing they can lift your energy up and bring good energy.”

Energy that extends beyond a mere gesture.

Oregon guard Gabe Reichel is a senior walk-on who inherited the role before this season and made it a point to take requests from teammates, one of the reasons his handshakes ranged from what he called “subtle” to John Cena's “You Can't See Me” face wave.

“I just kind of go with the flow, whatever they want to do,” said Reichel, who was also noticeably the first one off the bench during timeouts to greet the guys coming off the floor during Oregon's gritty double-overtime loss to Creighton in the second round. “I've just got to help them get ready for the game.”

And how they get them ready can evolve on a whim.

Iowa junior forward AJ Edinger greeted superstar teammate Caitlin Clark with a fake jump and then a handshake earlier this season.

They've since ditched the jump for something that Edinger described as something more akin to a formal “business deal,” fitting perhaps for a player currently serving as the face of her sport.

Edinger, Bartlett, Keatts and every other player in their hiding-in-plain-sight role wouldn't mind being the one running out onto the court with the spotlight focused, however briefly, on them.

Maybe it'll happen one day. Maybe it won't. For now, they're only too happy to fill a very specific need, one that adds a hard-to-quantify but vital ingredient to the kind of team chemistry necessary to thrive in March.

“I love it (doing it) every time,” Oregon State's Susana Yepes said. “I get the chills every time.”