7 CCC Hoop Teams To Play in NAIA National Championship Tourneys
Men's Field
Women's Field
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Seven Cascade Collegiate Conference basketball programs -- four on the men's side, three on the women's -- will be part of the NAIA's Division II national championship fields when the tournaments take place next week, the national office announced Wednesday. Complete brackets will be released on Thursday.
Both 32-team, single-elimination tournaments will be held March 11-17. The men's tourney will be held in Branson, Mo., the women's tournament will be staged in Sioux City, Iowa.
On the men's side, automatic qualifiers Oregon Tech (28-5) and Evergreen (19-11) will be joined by at-large selections Eastern Oregon (23-7) and Warner Pacific (21-8). OIT, the defending national champion, is making its 11th appearance in the tournament. Warner Pacific is making its fourth consecutive appearance (and fourth overall), and Evergreen and Eastern Oregon are making their second appearances.
All four advancing teams from the CCC were ranked in the NAIA's final Top 25 poll of the season -- No. 7 Oregon Tech, No. 10 Eastern Oregon, No. 15 Warner Pacific, and No. 23 (tied) Evergreen.
On the women's side, automatic qualifiers Concordia (28-3) and College of Idaho (29-4) will be joined by at-large selection Southern Oregon (25-6) in the championship field. Concordia is making its first-ever appearance in the national tournament; College of Idaho is making its fourth appearance, Southern Oregon is making its seventh.
Concordia was rated 10th in the NAIA's final Top 25 poll of the season. College of Idaho was listed No. 15 and Southern Oregon No. 23.