Men's Basketball News
Centre to host first two rounds of NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament
DANVILLE, Ky. — Centre College has been chosen to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament Friday and Saturday, March 7-8. The first round will feature Ohio Wesleyan University (Ohio) squaring off against Heidelberg College (Ohio) at 6 p.m. and then Centre playing Franklin College (Ind.) at 8 p.m. The winners of Friday night's games will then face off in the second round Saturday at 7 p.m. All games will be played in Alumni Gymnasium located in Sutcliffe Hall.
Ticket prices are $6 for adults and $3 for senior citizens and students. Children under 2 are admitted free of admission.
The No. 2 Colonels, which played in its third consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Tournament Championship game, dropped only their second game of the year in a 69-60 loss to No. 22 Millsaps College. Even though the loss ended the nation's longest winning streak at 25 games, Centre received an at-large “Pool C” bid, the first in school history. The Colonels have appeared in the NCAA Tournament 10 times in school history prior to this year, winning the conference tournament each year to qualify. This will be the second straight appearance in the tournament and the first time since 1989 in which Centre has been selected to host. The Colonels advanced all the way to the Final Four that year.
Franklin, which defeated Defiance College (Ohio) in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Tournament Championship game on Saturday, March 1, advanced to the NCAA tourney with an automatic bid. The Grizzlies are making their first appearance in the NCAA tournament since 2002 and their fifth trip overall (beginning in 1998) since becoming affiliated with Division III in 1992-93.
Heidelberg is making its third appearance in the NCAA Tournament, joining the 1983-84 and 1994-95 teams. Over the weekend, Heidelberg won the program's first conference tournament title against Capital University (Ohio), which included an automatic bid to the championship. Under the guidance of head coach Duane Sheldon, the DIII News February Coach of the Month, the Berg stands at 23-5 overall heading into the tournament. The 23 wins include a 20-5 mark in the regular season, which ties for the best regular season since the inception of the program in 1903. Heidelberg is one win shy of tying the school record for wins in a season.
Ohio Wesleyan (20-7) won the North Coast Athletic Conference tournament championship, defeating Wabash, 89-72, in the title game on Saturday. The Bishops finished in a second-place tie with a 12-4 record during the NCAC regular-season race. Ohio Wesleyan is making its first NCAA Division III playoff appearance since 1988, when the Battling Bishops won the national championship. This is Ohio Wesleyan's second NCAA Division III tournament appearance.
The NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament consists of 59 teams. Thirty-eight schools receive automatic “Pool A” bids for winning their conference championship while 17 non-conference championship winners receive an at-large “Pool C” bid. In addition, four schools who are independents or whose conferences do not qualify for an automatic bid receive “Pool B” bids.
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