Kansas City, Mo. – (Bracket – PDF | Video Announcement| Schedule) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the 32 qualifiers for the 81st annual NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship. The event takes place at Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, March 14 – 20. For tickets, go to NAIAhoops.com/tickets.
This year's field consists of 14 automatic berths, one host berth and 17 at-large spots. Automatic qualification is given to conference regular-season champions, regular-season runners-up, tournament champions or tournament runners-up depending on the league. At-large teams were determined using the final regular-season Coaches' Top 25 Poll released today. To access the poll, click HERE.
The sixth ranked Cougars, who are a two seed, earned an automatic bid to the National Championships after finishing the regular season at the top of the AMC. This marks the 22nd time, and the eighth straight season, that Columbia College will compete in the national tournament. They will face the Campbellsvile (Ky.) University Tigers on Thursday, March 15th at 4 p.m.
The Cougars come into the tournament with a 27-4 overall record including a 19-3 mark in conference play. They currently rank second in the NAIA in 3-point field goal percentage (0.414), eighth in scoring margin (13.613), 10th in turnover margin (2.968), and 11th in both assist to turnover ratio (1.300) and field goal percentage (0.492). The Cougars are led by the AMC Player of the Year, Jackson Dubsinki, who is second on the team in scoring averaging 12.55 points per game and Nathan Biggs who leads the team in scoring averaging 14.45 points per game.
The Tigers, who are out of the Mid-South Conference, come into the tournament with an overall record of 23-10 including a 6-8 record in conference play. The currently rank sixth in the NAIA in both total blocks (136) and assist to turnover ratio (1.345) while also ranking 10th in total scoring offense (2803), 15th in total 3-point field goals made (289), and 17th in scoring offense per game (84.939). They are led by Andrew Smith who ranks sixth in the NAIA in total rebounds (293), eighth in total blocks (52), and 13th in field goal percentage (0.597) while leading the team in scoring at 14.82 points per contest.
The NAIA Network (www.NAIANetwork.com) – the association's official video streaming home – will broadcast the first 30 games leading up to the championship final on ESPN3. The video platform, powered by Stretch Internet, allows users access 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 $34.95. Click HERE for more information.
