SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg University men's basketball team believed all season that it was good enough to compete on a national level. Now Head Coach Bill Brown and his North Coast Athletic Conference regular season and tournament champion Tigers will get their opportunity to prove it.

Wittenberg, owners of a 25-3 overall record following Saturday's thrilling 58-57 NCAC tournament championship game win over archrival Wooster, will square off with Franklin (Ind.) College at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28 in an NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament first round game at the HPER Center. The winner will advance to play DePauw University at 7 p.m. on Saturday, March 2.

There will be no pre-sale of tickets this week. Instead, all tickets will be sold prior to the game on Thursday, starting at 6 p.m. No passes of any kind will be accepted. Prices are $3 for students and children under the age of 18, $4 for general admission and $5 for reserved seating.

Wittenberg's women's basketball squad, which was defeated in overtime by defending champion Ohio Wesleyan in the NCAC tournament title game on Saturday, was not invited to participate in the NCAA Division III tournament. The Tigers and Head Coach Pam Smith concluded their season with a 21-6 record and an NCAC regular season championship to their credit.

The Tigers were placed in an incredibly difficult 12-team regional bracket that includes seventh-ranked Ohio Athletic Conference champion Otterbein College, second-ranked University Athletic Association Washington (Mo.) University, sixth-ranked Randolph-Macon College and 24th-ranked Maryville (Tenn.) College. A year after the Tigers advanced to the round of 16 before losing to eventual Final Four participant Ohio Northern University, Wittenberg will have its work cut out to advance to an NCAA Division III record seventh tournament semifinals.

For Wittenberg Head Coach Bill Brown, being selected to compete is a good feeling, but one he has enjoyed before. He is ready for the next step, and his hope is that the Tigers, a deep, balanced team with a combination of youth and experience that has won 10 straight games, are also hungry for more. After three straight difficult NCAC tournament games last week, they are, if nothing else, battled-tested.

"We are playing with a lot of earned confidence, and we are playing at home," said Brown, who has a career record of 265-149 and a 205-50 mark in nine years at Wittenberg. "Those are two great things for us, and two positives that we hope to make the most of. No matter our draw, we're delighted to be in the NCAA tournament and will be prepared to play hard on Thursday."

Wittenberg is the winningest NCAA Division III basketball program of all-time with 1,437 victories, and has made the most NCAA Division III tournament appearances of all-time. The 2002 berth is the 21st for the program since the division was created in 1975, and the Tigers have an overall record of 41-20, giving them the most tournament wins of all-time. Including seven appearances in the old college division, Wittenberg has played in 83 NCAA tournament games, winning 55 and two national titles - in 1961 and 1977. The Tigers have also made eight national semifinal appearances, including a record six in NCAA Division III. The last trip to the championship tournament came in 1994, Brown's first year as head coach of his alma mater, and the Tigers finished third.

Franklin is 20-8 overall and champion of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference. Franklin defeated No. 1 seed Hanover College in the HCAC semifinals on Friday and then upended defending tournament medalist Defiance College on Saturday to earn the automatic bid. It was the school's third HCAC tournament title in the last four years and the NCAA Division III appearance will be Franklin's fourth in the last five seasons.