#NAIADIIMBB Tournament tips off with IU East, IU Southeast and WVU Tech from RSC
#NAIADIIMBB Tournament tips off with IU East, IU Southeast and WVU Tech from RSC
NAIA DIVISION II MEN'S BASKETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP MARCH 8-14, 2017 AT POINT LOOKOUT, MO.
Live Video Live Stats Bracket Schedule All Time Eastern
First Round -- Wed., March 8
#2 IU East def. #7 Reinhardt (Ga.), 84-74 Box Score
First Round -- Thur., March 9
#2 Robert Morris (26-6) def. #7 WVU Tech (23-8), 86-81 Box Score
#4 Eastern Oregon (23-8) def. #5 IU Southeast (24-6), 92-90 Box Score
Second Round -- Fri., Mach 10
#2 IU East (27-7) def.. #3 Northwest Christian (25-5), 73-68 Box Score
Quarterfinals -- Sat., March 11
#1 Cornerstone (32-3) def. #2 IU East (28-7), 97-87 Box Score
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- The NAIA officially announced on Wednesday night the national qualifiers and bracket for the NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship via the NAIA Selection Show live online. The River States Conference had three teams make the 32-team national field with automatic qualifiers IU East (26-7) and IU Southeast (24-6) and at-large bid recipient WVU Tech (23-8).
The 32-team national tournament will get underway on March 8 in Point Lookout, Mo., on the campus of the College of the Ozarks. The national championship game is on Tuesday, March 14. For the complete bracket, schedule and to view the NAIA Selection Show, click the links above.
IU East (26-7), the RSC Tournament champion and RSC East Division winner, is making its fifth national-tournament appearance. The Red Wolves received a No. 2 seed in the tournament and will take on No. 7 seed Reinhardt (Ga.) (22-9) in the first round on Wednesday, March 8 at 8:30 a.m. CT, the very first game of the tourney. Reinhardt made nationals as the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament runner-up.
IU Southeast (24-6), the RSC Regular Season champ and RSC West Division winner, is in the national tournament for the 12th time. The Grenadiers received a No. 5 seed and will meet No. 4 seed Eastern Oregon (23-8) in the first round on Thursday, March 9 at 4 p.m. CT. Eastern Oregon, from the Cascade Collegiate Conference, received the second of eight at-large bids handed out.
WVU Tech (23-8) made it three RSC teams in the national draw by receiving the eighth-and-final at-large bid. The Golden Bears finished second in a rugged RSC East Division and were just one game shy in the regular season of claiming an NAIA automatic qualification as regular-season overall champ. WVU Tech earned a No. 7 seed and will play No. 2 seed Robert Morris (Ill.), the CCAC regular-season champ, in the first round on Thursday, March 9 at 10:15 a.m. CT.
This year's field includes 22 automatic qualifiers, nine at-large selections and one host berth (College of the Ozarks (Mo.)). Automatic berths were given to teams that either won their respective conference tournament title, regular-season championship, finished runner-up at the conference tournament. The at-large bids were determined by the final 2017 NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll announced Wednesday. The Top 25 can be found HERE.
The NAIA DII Men's Basketball Top 25 Poll released Wednesday once again had all three of the top teams from the RSC ranked. IU East moved up two spots to No. 7 with its conference tournament championship. IU Southeast moved up one spot to No. 17 with its runner-up finish. WVU Tech dropped down but remained ranked and high enough to get an at-large bid coming in at No. 24 this week.
The NAIA Network – the association's official video streaming home – will video-stream all 30 games live leading up to the final on ESPN3. The video platform, powered by Stretch Internet, allows users access to live video, statistics, and social interaction on a number of devices, including mobile. Single day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while an all-tournament package is available at $29.95. For more information and to pre-register, click here.