(From Guilford College Athletics)
GUILFORD RECEIVES FOURTH STRAIGHT NCAA DIVISION III MEN’S BASKETBALL PLAYOFF BID
Quakers host Christopher Newport, John Carroll and Maryville (Tenn.) March 5-6
GUILFORD’S INVITATION
The Guilford College men’s basketball team (26-2, 14-2 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC)) has received its school-record fourth straight berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs. The Quakers, who earned one of 40 automatic bids to the 61-team field by winning the ODAC Tournament title, will host a four-team regional tourney March 5-6. Guilford plays Christopher Newport University (15-12) Friday at 8:00 p.m. The game is preceded by John Carroll University (20-6) versus Maryville (Tenn.) College (23-4) at 6:00 p.m. The winners of both games meet Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in the second round. All first- and second-games will be played in Guilford’s Ragan-Brown Field House.
Guilford is one of a league-record four ODAC teams in the field, joining regular-season league champion Eastern Mennonite University, 2010 ODAC Tournament runner-up Randolph-Macon College and Virginia Wesleyan College. The ODAC has sent at least two teams to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in 20 of the last 22 years.
TICKET INFORMATION
Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for senior citizens and students of the participating schools (with ID). Children under two years old will be admitted free. Tickets may be purchased in 101 Alumni Gym on Guilford’s campus Wednesday, March 3 from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Tickets will also be available there Thursday, March 4 from 9:00 a.m. – noon and Friday at the door.
SERIES RESULTS
The Quakers face Christopher Newport, of Newport News, Va., for the third time in their recorded basketball history. The only meetings between the two schools took place over a two-week span in 1987. The Quakers scored an 88-87 overtime win in the final of a season-opening tournament hosted by Christopher Newport and the Captains claimed an 83-80 decision two weeks later at Guilford. Christopher Newport won the 2010 USA South Athletic Conference title to earn its 17th NCAA Tournament appearance, its first since 2006.
Guilford won the lone meeting with John Carroll, 78-73, last March in an NCAA Division III sectional contest on the Spartans’ home floor. The team hails from University Heights, Ohio, in suburban Cleveland and plays in the Ohio Athletic Conference. One of 19 Pool C at-large selections to the tournament, John Carroll makes its 12th NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament appearance and is ranked 26th in this week’s D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll.
Guilford won its only meeting with Maryville, 83-53, last Dec. 16 in the Ragan-Brown Field House. The Scots won the Great South Athletic Conference (GSAC) Tournament, but enters the NCAA field as a Pool B selection since the GSAC lacks an automatic bid. Maryville is no stranger to the national playoffs as it makes its 12th straight NCAA appearance and 17th overall.
GUILFORD VS. 2010 NCAA PLAYOFF FIELD
The Quakers faced four other NCAA playoff teams this winter: Eastern Mennonite, Maryville, Randolph-Macon and Virginia Wesleyan. The Quakers have a 2-0 record against Randolph-Macon, a 2-1 mark versus Virginia Wesleyan, won the Dec. 16 contest with Maryville, and lost to visiting Eastern Mennonite Feb. 10.
GUILFORD IN NCAA PLAYOFFS
The Quakers are making their fourth NCAA playoff appearance in as many years and have an 8-3 record in NCAA games. A year ago, Guilford reached its first national semifinal game with wins over Transylvania University (71-67 OT), Averett University (91-81), John Carroll (78-73) and the University of Texas-Dallas (64-59 OT). The Quakers fell to eventual national champion Washington University in St. Louis (58-77) before ending the year with a 79-67 win over Franklin & Marshall College in the national third-place game.
Guilford lost to St. Mary’s College of Maryland, 89-77, in an opening-round 2008 NCAA Tournament game, its lone home NCAA game in school history. The Quakers reached the 2007 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals with wins over Manhattanville College (101-81), Johns Hopkins University (80-73) and Lincoln (Pa.) University (129-128, 3OT). Virginia Wesleyan ended the Quakers’ 2007 season with an 81-71 decision in Virginia Beach, Va.
Before joining NCAA Division III in 1991, Guilford competed in the NAIA and posted an 8-8 mark in seven national tournament appearances. Led by future NBA players M.L. Carr ‘’73, World B. Free ’76 and Greg Jackson ’74, the Quakers won the 1973 NAIA men’s basketball title.
THE 2010 NCAA PLAYOFFS
The Division III championship provides for a 61-team field. The NCAA granted 40 conference champions automatic qualification for the 2010 championship. Two independent teams and 19 other at-large picks from the remaining independent teams and automatic-qualifying conferences who did not receive their conference automatic qualification were selected with specific selection criteria approved by the Division III Championships Committee. Three two-team, first-round games will be played Thursday, March 4 with the winners advancing to play three teams that received first-round byes Saturday, March 6. Thirteen sites host four teams for first- and second-round competition March 5-6. Second-round winners advance to one of four sectional-round sites March 12-13. Winners of the four sectional games move on to the finals March 19-20. All games, except the finals, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. The finals will be conducted at the Salem (Va.) Civic Center.
GUILFORD LEADERS
Coach Tom Palombo’s Quakers enter the tournament having won 22 of their last 23 games, including three at the ODAC Tournament to win its second league title in three seasons. Guilford’s 23-2 regular-season record is the best in its distinguished men’s basketball history and its four straight 20-win seasons mark a unique feat in the program’s 96 recorded campaigns. The team is ranked third in this week’s D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll and first in the final NCAA Division III South Region Poll.
Palombo, who took Defiance College to the NCAA Division III men’s basketball playoffs in 1999 and 2001, is making his sixth NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament appearance. He is in his seventh year at Guilford and a three-time winner of the Bob Johnson ODAC Men’s Basketball Coach of the Year Award.
Center Tyler Sanborn received the ODAC’s 2010 Kurt Axe Men’s Basketball Player of the Year honor and averages a career-high 19.5 points per game. The senior leads the ODAC and ranks third nationally with 13.6 rebounds per contest. He stands eighth in Division III with an ODAC-best .642 field-goal percentage. Sanborn has a league-high 25 double-doubles and 15 games of 20 or more points. A 2009 D3hoops.com Fourth Team All-American and First Team All-ODAC pick, he recently became Guilford’s sixth men’s basketball player to compile 1,000 points and rebounds in his career.
Senior Clay Henson became Guilford’s first two-time First Team All-ODAC guard this year after averaging 17.6 points and 2.93 three-pointers per game. He ranks sixth among ODAC leaders in scoring, second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.80) and sixth in assists (3.21). Henson has scored in double figures 25 times this year, including 30-point games versus Roanoke College (Jan. 18) and Lynchburg College (Feb. 13). Guilford’s ninth all-time leading scorer, Henson has 1,622 points and a school-record 271 three-point goals.
A two-time Second Team All-ODAC pick, Rhett Bonner ranks third on the team and 13th in the league with 14.3 points per game. The senior guard stands second in the conference with an .872 free-throw percentage that ranks 24th nationally. He also carries the ODAC’s second-best three-point percentage (.438) and stands 11th in the league with 2.75 assists per outing. Bonner has 22 double-figure scoring contests and ranks 27th among Guilford’s all-time scoring leaders with 1,046 points.