Bracket

KANSAS CITY, Mo. --- The 2008 Buffalo Funds NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship bracket was released today, and California Baptist is one of 32 teams that will compete for the national title in the 71st edition of the tournament.

The Lancers (23-8), who earned an automatic bid by virtue of being the GSAC Tournament Runners-Up, are the tenth seed and will play Xavier (La.) Thursday (March 20) at 9:45 p.m. (Central) in the final game of the opening-round.

All 31 games of the tournament are played in the famed Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City, Mo., from March 19-25.

“We’re so excited to be able to go to the tournament again,” said CBU head coach Tim Collins. “It’s great for our program to make our third trip in the last four years. Some people may think it's not a good thing, but I think it’s nice to have that late game, because that gives us a lot of time to watch the other teams. We can see almost everyone play and see what it’s going to take to win back there. I’m just so thankful to be considered in the top 10. I appreciate the committee giving us that much respect."

CBU is making its fourth appearance all-time and second straight. It is the first time the Lancers, who finished the season ranked No. 13 in the final NAIA Top 25 poll, have made consecutive national tournament appearances. The Lancers are 2-3 all-time with a pair of Sweet 16 appearances, including one in 2005.

The Lancers are coming off an 87-64 loss to No. 6 Concordia in the GSAC Tournament finals Tuesday night.

The Gold Rush, out of New Orleans, La., were the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC) Tournament Runners-Up as well, losing, 80-76, to LSU-Shreveport. They are making their 11th appearance all-time and are 4-10 in the tournament. Last year, Xavier upset third-seed Georgetown (Ky.), 82-79, in the opening round of the 2007 NAIA Tournament. They returned 10 players and all five starters from that team.

"I’m not sure what to expect out of Xavier," said Collins. "I’m a little familiar with the teams from the south from coaching at Tennessee Temple. My thoughts are they will be a really athletic team. We will just have to see how we match up.”

The winner of the California Baptist/Xavier game gets the winner of defending champion Oklahoma City and Cumberland (Tenn.), which play Thursday at 8 p.m., right before the CBU/Xavier game.

GSAC regular-season and tournament champion Concordia is the sixth-seed and will play Campbellsville (Ky.) Thursday (March 20) at 2:15 p.m. Azusa Pacific is the 13th seed and plays Columbia (Mo.) Wednesday (March 19) at 2:15 p.m. Point Loma Nazarene will play ninth-seed Southern Nazarene (Okla.) Wednesday at 10:30 p.m. All start times are central time.

Undefeated Georgetown (Ky.) is the No. 1 seed. Lee (Tenn.) is No. 2. Lambuth (Tenn.) and LSU-Shreveport round out the top four seeds.

The first 28 games of the Championships will be video-streamed live on the Internet at www.naia.org, while the Semifinal round (March 24) and National Championship Game (March 25) will air live nationwide on CBS College Sports Network (CSTV).

In addition to the live video-stream, which is on a pay-per-view basis, CBU will provide a free audio stream of its own at www.cbulancers.com.

In all, there are 31 games spanning seven days. The first three days pack in eight games each day starting at 9 a.m. The Championships are a single-elimination tournament featuring 15 automatic qualifiers from eleven Division I affiliated conferences, one independent and 16 at-large berths.