What Lies Ahead: The Minnesota State men's basketball team enters the 2010 NCAA Central Region Tournament as the #1 seed and will host the eight-team event beginning Saturday in Mankato. The Mavericks open the event against eigth-seeded Colorado School of Mines, Saturday at 6 p.m.
What's in a Win: A win Saturday would mark the 1,153rd win in program history...It would also mark the 191st win for head coach
Matt Margenthaler...A win Saturday would mark the first victory over Orediggers for head coach
Matt Margenthaler...It would also mark the first victory in school history against Colorado School of Mines...A win Saturday would move MSU's record in the NCAA tournament to 8-7.
The Rest of the Field: The 2010 NCAA Central Region Touranment features four schools from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and four schools from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The Mavericks are the #1 seed and are followed by #2 Mesa State (RMAC), #3 Augustana (NSIC), #4 St. Cloud State (NSIC), #5 Metro State (RMAC), #6 New Mexico Highlands (RMAC), #7 Winona State (NSIC) and #8 Colorado School of Mines (RMAC).
Augustana opens the event at noon, Saturday, against New Mexico Highlands. The second game of the day features Mesa State and Winona State at 2:30 p.m. The Mavericks and Orediggers will face off at 6 p.m., and St. Cloud State and Metro State play Saturday at 8:30 p.m. The winner of Mesa State/Winona State game plays the winner of the Augustana/New Mexico Highlands game Sunday at 5 p.m., in the first semifinal, while the winner of the Minnesota State/Mesa State game and the St. Cloud State/Augustana game will play in the second semifinal Sunday at 7:30 p.m. The winner of the two semifinals play for a berth into the NCAA Elite Eight Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Ticket Information: Each ticket for the 2010 NCAA Division II Men’s Central Regional Basketball Tournament will provide admittance on a round-by-round basis and the facility will be cleared after each session. There will be both reserved and general admission tickets available for each session.
Tickets are $15 for reserved general admission, $10 for adults and $5 for youth (ages 5-17), senior citizens and college students with school identification.
The ticket office and pass gates will open 90 minutes prior to the start of the first game of each daily session and the arena will open 60 minutes prior to the scheduled start of each game.
There will be no advance ticket sales by phone for the tournament. Instead, fans may order tickets online at
www.msumavericktickets.com (no service charges or convenience fees) beginning Monday, March 8 at 12:00 pm.
Tickets ordered online can be picked up in the MSU Athletic Office located at 135 Myers Field House beginning Tuesday March 9th at 8 a.m.
Office will be open for ticket pick-ups Tuesday-Friday between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Tickets ordered online will not be mailed and can be picked up at the “Will Call” window of Taylor Center on game day. Online ticket availability will close at 9:00 pm the day prior to each session.
Colorado School of Mines Minute: The Orediggers enter the regional tournament as the #8 seed and are the owners of a 17-11 record, including a 14-5, which tied them for the lead in the Eastern Conference of the RMAC with Metro State.
Sophomroe center Dale Minschwaner leads the team in scoring and rebounding at 16.8 ppg and 7.0 rpg. Junior guard Sean Armstrong is second in scoring at 15.1 points while junior wing Drew Hoffman averages 11.6 ppg.
As a team, CSM is averaging 75.6 points per game while giving up 70.7. The Orediggers are shooting 45.6 percent from the floor and 36.2 percent from downtown while connecting on 71.4 percent of their free throw opportunities. As a squad, CSM is owns a +3.4 rebounding advantage on its opponents.
Pryor Orser is in his 10th season with the program and owns a 137-138 record with the Orediggers.
MSU/CSM Noteables: Saturday's game marks the first ever meeting between the two programs...All-time, MSU owns a 14-8 (.636) record against members from the RMAC.
MSU Against the Field: Minnesota State owns a 3-3 record against the field of the NCAA Regional Tournament this season...MSU split its regular season series with St. Cloud State (#4 seed) and dropped both of its games against Augustana (#3 seed)...MSU won both of its games against Winona State, one of which was a nonconference game...Under head coach
Matt Margenthaler the Mavericks are 13-6 against Augustana, 9-11 against St. Cloud State, 1-1 against Metro State and 5-6 against Winona State...MSU has not played Mesa State, New Mexico Highlands or Colorado School of Mines under Margenthaler...In program history, MSU 53-45 against Augustana, 78-84 against St. Cloud State, 2-2 against Metro State and 78-37 against Winona State...MSU has never played Mesa State, New Mexico Highlands or Colorado School of Mines.
Tournament Information: All of the games for this weekend's NCAA Regional Tournament will be streamed live on www.ncaasports.com. The feed will feature Casey Lloyd on play-by-play and is free. Livestats for this weekends games can be found at
www.sidearmsports.com/mnsu/mbball.
All-Conference Picks: Four Mavericks earned All-NSIC selections this season. Junior guard
Jefferson Mason as a First-Team All-Conference choice and was named the league's
Defensive Player of the Year. Joining Mason on the first-team was senior center
Travis Nelson while seniors
Jesse Clark and Jermain Davis were
Second-Team All-Conference selections. Head coach
Matt Margenthaler was named the league's
Coach of the Year marking the first time he has won the award in the NSIC and the fourth time he has been tabbed coach of the year.
Regional Recognition: Minneosta State senior center
Travis Nelson has been named to the
First-Team All-Central Region by Daktronics. This marks the first time in his career that Nelson has been honored by Daktronics and he is now eligible for the national ballot. Junior guard
Jefferson Mason was a
Second-Team All-Region pick by Daktronics.
On the Air: Fans can follow Minnesota State men's basketball all season long on the Radio Mankato family of stations. Tune into FM 100.5 Oldies FM at roughly5:40 p.m., Saturday night for the pregame show featuring MSU Athletic Hall of Distinction member Casey Lloyd. Should the Mavericks advance, Sunday's and Tuesday's games will be aired on AM 1230 KYSM the Fan Mankato.
To view the full version of the game notes, click
HERE
To view the tournament website, click
HERE