Springfield, Ohio — The Wittenberg University men's basketball team has earned an at-large berth into the 2012 NCAA Division III Tournament. The Tigers, who finished the 2011-12 regular season with a 21-6 overall record after losing to Denison in the semifinals of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament on Friday, Feb. 24, will face Birmingham-Southern College in the first round at 5:30 p.m. Friday, March 2, at Transylvania University in Lexington, Ky.
UPDATE: Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students and seniors, with a total of 125 tickets allotted to Wittenberg for pre-sale. Fans can buy tickets during business hours Thursday, March 1, in Legends Lobby of the HPER Center. Fans will also be able to buy tickets at the door on game day.
Wittenberg, ranked 17th in the latest d3hoops.com national poll, is making its NCAA Division III-record 26th appearance in the national tournament, and its second in a row after losing 63-62 on a last-second shot to Marietta in 2011. Wittenberg also made seven appearances in the NCAA College Division between 1959 and 1974, giving the Tigers 32 all-time national tournament berths.
Transylvania, which won the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) regular season championship before losing in overtime of the league tournament title game to Rose-Hulman, will host first and second round games. After the Tigers square off with Birmingham-Southern, regular season champion of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), the host Pioneers, ranked 16th in the nation, will tip off at 7:30 p.m. against Carroll College (Wisc.), champion of the Midwest Conference Tournament. The winners will play a second round game at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 3, for the right to advance to the Round of 16 at a site to be determined.
TOURNAMENT LINKS: Home Page • Wittenberg Audio • Transylvania Video • Live Statistics
Wittenberg is making its 11th NCAA Division III Tournament appearance in Head Coach Bill Brown's 18 seasons at the helm. His teams have won seven NCAC regular season titles and four NCAC Tournament championships, in addition to reaching a pair of NCAA Division III Tournament semifinals (1994 and 2006) and the 2006 national championship game. Wittenberg holds the NCAA Division III record with seven national semifinal appearances.
The Tigers started the 2011-12 season with a modest 5-3 record before catching fire, starting with victories over Monmouth (Ill.) and Marian (Ind.) in the Charles B. Zimmerman Memorial Classic Dec. 29-30 on their home floor. The Tigers maintained that momentum through most of the season, running up an NCAC regular season record of 14-2 to earn their first conference crown since 2004. After the loss in the conference tournament semifinals, Wittenberg enters the postseason with an overall record of 21-6.
Brown earned his sixth career NCAC Coach of the Year award, including five as Wittenberg's head coach. The Tigers' leading scorer and rebounder for a second straight year is Clayton Black, class of 2012 from Lancaster, Ohio. He earned first-team All-NCAC honors for a second year in a row.
The Tigers' first round opponent, Birmingham-Southern, is making its first NCAA Division III Tournament appearance after transitioning from NAIA membership. The ninth-ranked Panthers won NAIA national championships in 1990 and 1995.
Birmingham-Southern won the SCAC regular season title with a 15-1 record. The Panthers are led by first-year head coach Chris Graves, the SCAC Coach of the Year, and junior point guard Blaise White, the league's Defensive Player of the Year.
Wittenberg's all-time NCAA Tournament record is 62-33, including a College Division national championship in 1961 and an NCAA Division III championship in 1977. The Tigers' record in the NCAA Division III Tournament is 48-25, including a mark of 15-3 in first round games (excluding seven byes).
Written By: Ryan Maurer