INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. ? The Tarleton Texan men's basketball team has been invited to its seventh South Central Regional Tournament in nine seasons.
“It is our goal every year to get back to the regional tournament, because you can't compete for a national championship without getting into the NCAA Tournament,” Tarleton head coach Lonn Reisman said. “With such a young team this year, with only two seniors and playing for a conference championship on Saturday – getting the opportunity to play in the national tournament is an extreme accomplishment.”
The Texans (23-7) earned an at-large bid and the No. 4 seed in the south central region and will play the No. 5-seeded Nebraska-Omaha Mavs (22-8) in the first round on Saturday, March 13 at D.L. Ligon Coliseum in Wichita Falls.
“This just goes to show you the quality of wins that we had in both our conference and in the region,” Reisman said. We played some good teams in the conference tournament this past weekend, including the No. 1 team in the region. It was our third time to play Midwestern State and so I think our strength of schedule is what put at the No. 4 seed.”
Midwestern State earned the region's No. 1 seed and will host the regional tournament after winning the Lone Star Conference Championship and the south central region's automatic bid. The Mustangs will play the No. 8-seeded Incarnate Word Cardinals who earned an automatic bid into the tournament after winning the Heartland Conference Championship on Sunday.
Central Missouri earned the No. 2 seed and will face No. 7 Missouri Western. In the final bracket of the region, No. 3-seeded Fort Hays State will play No. 6-seeded Central Oklahoma. Both games will be played in Wichita Falls on Saturday as well.
The last three times Tarleton were invited to the NCAA tournament, the Texans claimed back-to-back regional titles in 2005 and 2006 and a sweet-sixteen appearance in 2008.
The Tournament will be held Saturday-Tuesday, March 13-16, with the first two rounds being played Saturday and Sunday. The finals will be played on Tuesday. Game times will be released on Monday.
