INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Gold Division Champion and Tournament Champion University of St. Thomas (26-1) earned its fourth-straight berth into the 64-team NCAA Div. III Men’s Basketball Tournament it was announced Monday afternoon. NCAA Release | Bracket
St. Thomas claimed its fourth SCAC Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship title on Sunday, defeating Concordia (Tex.), 92-74, pushing its win streak to 23 heading into the NCAA Tournament.
St. Thomas will host Belhaven (16-12) for its opening round contest, the automatic qualifier out of the Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS), on Friday in Houston, Texas. This will mark the first-ever meeting between the SCAC and the CCS in the NCAA Tournament. On the other side of the bracket, Northwest Conference (NWC) champion Whitworth (22-5) takes on Trinity (21-6) an at-large selection out of the Southern Athletic Association (SAA). Friday’s winners will play Saturday, March 7 with a berth to the round of 16 on the line.
Automatic qualification (AQ) is granted to 43 conference champions. The remaining 21 spots are selected from those teams in conferences with automatic bids that did not win their conference’s AQ. The teams are geographically paired, whenever possible.
16 sites will host four teams each for first- and second-round competition March 6-7. Second-round winners will advance to one of eight third-round sites March 13-14. Both weekends’ games will be played on campuses of competing institutions. The tournament then shifts to the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, IN, for the quarterfinals March 19, and semifinals March 21. Semifinal winners advance to the championship game, which will be staged at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on April 5.
