March 7, 2007

OLATHE, Kan. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has released the 32-team bracket for the 70th Annual Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship, which will be held March 14-20 at the historic Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, Mo.

The championship field comes from 17 automatic qualifiers from post-season qualification tournaments and the remainder of the tournament is comprised of 15 at-large bids, which are selected based on the season's final rating, released last Wednesday, Feb. 28.

Highlighting day one of the tournament will be No. 1 Robert Morris (Ill.), who takes on Westmont (Calif.) in the first round at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, while Kansas City's lone metropolitan-area qualifier, Park (Mo.), tips off against Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday. The tournament's No. 2 seed, Oklahoma City, also plays Wednesday, taking on Wiley College (Texas) at 8:45 p.m.

Thursday's first-round games include third-seed Georgetown (Ky.) taking on Xavier (La.) at 4:30 p.m., No. 5 Southern Nazarene (Okla.) and Westminster (Calif.) at 2:15 p.m. and McKendree (Ill.) against No. 6 Mountain State (W. Va.) at 6:15.

The first 30 games of the tournament will be video streamed live on the Internet, while the Semifinals and National Championship Game will air live nationwide on College Sports Television (CSTV), with Jonathan Coachman calling the action and collegiate coaching legend Pete Gillen providing in-depth analysis.

Automatic Qualifiers
American Midwest Conference - University of Illinois-Springfield
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference - Robert Morris College (Ill.)
Frontier Conference - Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho)
Golden State Athletic Conference - Azusa Pacific University (Calif.)
Golden State Athletic Conference - Concordia University (Calif.)
Gulf Coast Athletic Conference - Louisiana State University-Shreveport
Gulf Coast Athletic Conference - Tougaloo College (Miss.)
Independent Qualifying Tournament - Park University (Mo.)
Mid-South Conference - Georgetown College (Ky.)
Red River Athletic Conference - Wiley College (Texas)
Red River Athletic Conference - Houston Baptist University (Texas)
Sooner Athletic Conference - Oklahoma City University
Sooner Athletic Conference - Southern Nazarene University (Okla.)
Southern States Athletic Conference - Auburn University-Montgomery (Ala.)
Southern States Athletic Conference - Faulkner University (Ala.)
TranSouth Athletic Conference - Union University (Tenn.)
TranSouth Athletic Conference - Crichton College (Tenn.)


At-Large Berths
At-Large 1 - Mountain State University (W. Va.)
At-Large 2 - San Diego Christian College (Calif.)
At-Large 3 - Oklahoma Baptist University
At-Large 4 - University of the Cumberlands (Ky.)
At-Large 5 - Lambuth University (Tenn.)
At-Large 6 - California Baptist University
At-Large 7 - Campbellsville University (Ky.)
At-Large 8 - Jarvis Christian University (Texas)
At-Large 9 - Northwestern Oklahoma State University
At-Large 10 - Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.)
At-Large 11 - Lee University (Tenn.)
At-Large 12 - McKendree College (Ill.)
At-Large 13 - Xavier University (La.)
At-Large 14 - Westminster College (Utah)
At-Large 15 - Westmont College (Calif.)

NAIA

A leader in the development of student-athletes, the NAIA is committed to changing the culture of sport through Champions of Character. Founded in 1937, the NAIA continues to be a pioneer in implementing exceptional standards for academics, diversity, and character. Today, the NAIA sponsors 23 collegiate championships in 13 sports for its nearly 300 member institutions throughout the United States and Canada. To learn more about the NAIA visit www.naia.org.