News
Wed, Mar 03 - [Basketball]
The NAIA officially released the qualifiers for the 2010 men's and women's basketball national tournaments Tuesday night and the Mid-Central College Conference will send four representatives to each site, the only league in the country to do so. The eight total teams is tied with the Great Plains Athletic Conference for the most of any league in the country.
Both tournaments will be held from March 10-16 at their respective locations. Brackets for each tournament will be released on Wednesday, March 3, at 4:30 EST. College Fanz Sports Network, the world's largest online college sports community launched by ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen, will offer live video streaming broadcasts of the tournament selections. This broadcast will be available, live, free and on-demand at http://www.CollegeFanz.com/.
On the men's side, Indiana Wesleyan earned the league's automatic bid by winning the MCC tournament championship 78-68 over Bethel (Ind.) on Tuesday. The Wildcats finished the year winning 23 of their last 25 games and ranked No. 3 in the final NAIA Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 poll. They are making their third trip to the national tournament (2007, ‘09).
No. 10 Bethel, No. 15 Saint Francis (Ind.) and No. 21 Spring Arbor (Mich.) will join Indiana Wesleyan in Point Lookout, Mo., on the campus of the College of the Ozarks, the host of the 19th Annual Division II Men's Basketball National Championship, as at-large selections.
Bethel is making its ninth trip to the tournament and has three NAIA national championships to its credit (1995, ‘97, ‘98). Saint Francis will make its third appearance (2000, ‘07) while Spring Arbor is making its second (1997).
The four schools representing the MCC is tied with the Cascade Collegiate Conference (Eastern Oregon, Evergreen State, Oregon Tech and Warner Pacific) for the most of any league in the country.
The 32-team field is comprised of 20 automatic qualifiers from NAIA affiliated conferences and association of independents, plus the host and 11 at-large selections, which are determined using the final Top 25 rating released on Feb. 22.
On the women's side, Saint Francis collected the automatic bid by defeating Marian (Ind.) in the conference tournament championship on Monday, 78-62. Ranked No. 12 in the final NAIA Women's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 poll, the Cougars were the runners up in the 1999 national tournament and will make their 12th appearance overall.
No. 7 Indiana Wesleyan, No. 18 Huntington and No. 25 Taylor will join Saint Francis in Sioux City, Iowa, the host of the 19th Annual State Farm-NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship, as at-large selections. The four teams representing the MCC is the second most of any conference in the country trailing only the Great Plains Athletic Conference's five teams.
Indiana Wesleyan is making its eighth appearance at the national tournament. In 2007 the Wildcats won the NAIA national championship with a perfect 38-0 record and is the only team outside of the GPAC to win the championship since that league was formed in 2000-01. Huntington is joining the field for the third time (1994, ‘09) while Taylor is making its sixth trip (1997, '98, '05, '07, '09).
The 32-team women's field is comprised of 20 automatic qualifiers from NAIA affiliated conferences and Association of Independent Institutions and 12 at-large selections, which are determined using the final Top 25 rating released on Feb. 22.
You can follow each MCC school's progress throughout the tournament on the Championship Central page of this site.