Franklin Men and Manchester Women Set for NCAA Tournament
March 5, 2008
GREENWOOD, IN – The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference received two bids into the NCAA Division III tournaments, sending an automatic qualifier to both the men’s and women’s tournament. Manchester earned the conference’s automatic bid on the women’s side after earning the conference tournament title, while Franklin claimed an automatic bid into the men’s tournament field after winning the HCAC men’s tournament title.
For the third straight year, Manchester (19-8, 12-4 HCAC) earned a spot in the NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball tournament field. The Spartans will travel to Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois to take on Wisconsin-Whitewater in the first round of the tournament. The Warhawks (24-3) come into the contest ranked eighth in the country and will be making their 11 th postseason tournament appearance and first since 1995. Whitewater shared the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship and was ranked among the top ten teams in the national polls throughout the second half of the season.Manchester fell to Washington-St. Louis in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year, 54-52, when the Bears were ranked ninth in the land. The black and gold are coming off an exciting 52-50 win over Anderson in the HCAC tournament championship game and have won five of their past six games heading into the dance. The Warhawks will look to get back on track after falling 79-71 in the second round of the WIAC tournament to UW-Stevens Point. Manchester and UW-Whitewater will tip off at 6:00 PM Friday, March 7 from Illinois Wesleyan University. The winner will tangle with host Illinois Wesleyan or Maryville ( Mo.) in the second round Saturday.
In the men’s tournament, Franklin earned an automatic bid after claiming the HCAC tournament championship last weekend. Kerry Prather and his Grizzlies (18-9, 10-6 HCAC) travel to Centre ( Ky.) (25-2) to take on the Colonels who are ranked fourth in the latest Division III polls. Centre, the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference champions, fell in the conference tournament championship game to No. 14 Millsaps 69-60. Before that loss, the Colonels ran off a national-best 25 wins in a row.
Franklin has won eight of its last nine contests heading into the NCAA Tournament and will be making the school’s first appearance in the dance since 2002 and fifth overall. Centre will enter the tourney for the second consecutive season and will be making their 11 th trip overall. Franklin and Centre will tip off at 8:00 PM Friday, March 7 from Danville, Kentucky. The winner between the Grizzlies and Colonels will advance on to meet the winner of Heidelberg (23-5) and Ohio Wesleyan (20-7) in round two.
The round of 16 games will be played on campus sites on March 14-15 with the Final Four set for March 21-22. The men’s championship will be held in Salem, VA, with the women playing at Hope ( Mich.) College.
Men's Tournament Page / Click for Men's Bracket