For the first time since the 1988-89 season, the Augustana men's basketball team has qualified for the NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament. The Augie women were not as fortunate as they were not chosen to the women's tournament. The NCAA announced the 64 teams during a selection show Sunday night.
Augustana, which will be making its seventh appearance overall in the NCAA Tournament, earned the No. 6 seed for the North Central Regional Tournament. The Vikings, 21-8, finished second in the North Central Conference during the regular season and made it to the semifinals of the NCC Tournament where they were eliminated by North Dakota 82-68 on Saturday.
The Viking women, who were ranked eighth in last week's regional rankings, were bumped from the tournament field when Colorado State-Pueblo, who was not ranked in the regional top 10 last week, won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Tournament and earned an automatic bid to the regional tournament.
The Viking men are 1 of 4 NCC teams to make the 8-team regional tournament field. They join Minnesota State University, Mankato, Nebraska-Omaha and South Dakota.
Also making the field are Winona State and Northern State of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and Ft. Lewis and Colorado Christian of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
Augustana will face Minnesota State, the No. 3 seed, in the first round on Saturday in Winona, Minn. Winona State, the 2-time defending regional champion, earned the top seed and will host the regional tournament.
Game times will be announced on Monday.
North Central Regional Tournament Field#1 Winona State (32-1)
#2 Northern State (27-3)
#3 Minnesota State (22-6)
#4 Ft. Lewis (24-5)
#5 Nebraska-Omaha (24-6)
#6 Augustana (21-7)#7 South Dakota (22-6)
#8 Colorado Christian (18-12)
North Central Regional Tournament PairingsMarch 15-18 at Winona, Minn.#6 Augustana vs. #3 Minnesota State#7 South Dakota vs. #2 Northern State
#8 Colorado Christian vs. #1 Winona State
#5 Nebraska-Omaha vs. #4 Ft. Lewis
