No. 4-ranked St. Thomas men’s basketball will travel to Platteville, Wisconsin to play the St. Norbert College Green Knights from the Midwest Conference in round one of the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament on at 5 p.m. on March 6.
St Thomas (24-3) has had a winning season despite losing in the MIAC championship to St. John’s (25-2) 82-63.
St. Norbert (23-4) lost in the MWC championship to Ripon College (20-7) 84-71.
The Tommies have won two NCAA national championships in the past decade, winning their last one in 2016 against Benedictine University (Ill.) 82-76.
St. Thomas coach John Tauer will make his ninth trip to the NCAA tournament.
“We’re thrilled to be in the tournament for the 14th time in 15 seasons. Tremendous respect for their (St. Norbert’s) program,” Tauer said. “I know Coach Gary (Grzesk) well. He’s done a phenomenal job being at the top of their conference year in and year out.”
“We only had a few hours to look into St. Norbert, we’re more focused on ourselves,” assistant coach Will DeBerg said.
Tommies starting sophomore guard Anders Nelson will make his second appearance in the NCAA Tournament after last year’s trip to the Sweet 16.
“Last year we had a great experience out in Nebraska, beating the number one team (Nebraska-Wesleyan) in the country. That adds experience to our guys this year; having a lot of returners with experience will help us in the long run,” Nelson said. “We’re very excited to be in the tournament.”
Starting junior guard Ryan Lindberg knows how important these games are going into the tournament.
“At this point, everyone has the same record, 0-0. If you lose one game, you end up going home,” Lindberg said. “You got to focus up on each game like it’s your last one.”
This year’s tournament will be formatted differently. The first and second rounds will be hosted by the top schools. The second weekend of playoffs will have 16 teams with just one game instead of two at eight different locations.
The Elite Eight will be hosted in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Those games will be played March 20- 21 at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum for quarter and semifinal rounds.
The NCAA Championship game will be played at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on April 5.
“This team has been an absolute joy to coach, they are a perfect balance of competitive, talented, humorous, and they get along well,” Tauer said. “The team who wins six in a row is the champion.”
Link to TommieMedia story: https://www.tommiemedia.com/featured-news/mens-basketball-earns-ncca-tournament-bid-will-play-st-norbert/
Andrés Tejeda can be reached at teje4962@stthomas.edu.
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