Men's Basketball | 3/8/2020 9:44:00 PM

(2020 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament Selection Show/Information)
(2020 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket - Interactive / PDF)
(2020 NCAA South Central Regional Tournament Central)

Dixie State men's basketball earned its ninth NCAA Division II Tournament berth in the program's 14^th-season of four-year competition as the NCAA announced its 64-team tournament field on Sunday night.

This season's NCAA D-II Tournament appearance will also serve as the last one for the Trailblazer program, which will begin its transition to NCAA Division I status and join the Western Athletic Conference next season.

The No. 23-ranked Trailblazers, who this season tied the program's NCAA-era school record for wins with 23 games (23-7), were awarded the South Central Region's No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 seed and fellow RMAC member Colorado School of Mines (22-10) this Saturday, March 14 (time TBA) in Canyon, Texas, on the campus of South Region top-seed No. 3 West Texas A&M.

DSU and Mines met only once this season in RMAC play, with the Trailblazers dropping a heart-breaking 80-79 overtime decision to the Orediggers in the Burns Arena this past Jan. 4.

Dixie State, which won its first RMAC regular season championship (and seventh conference title overall – six in the Pacific West Conference) in its second year and final year of league membership, earned one of the six regional at-large bids (41 at-large bids overall).

DSU has now qualified for the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament nine times in 11 seasons since 2010, including six-straight appearances from 2010-15, and advanced all the way to the West Regional final (Sweet 16) in 2011. Overall the Trailblazers are 2-8 in NCAA tournament play, with both victories coming in that 2011 appearance.

"This is great – this was something we set our minds to do this year and we wanted to go out of [NCAA] Division II with a bang," DSU Head Coach Jon Judkins said. "I thought we'd be OK after we lost [in the RMAC semifinal] on Friday, our guys were pretty down, but I thought we had a pretty good change of making [the NCAA Tournament field].

"Now it shows us that we're there, the [NCAA selection committee] was thinking of us and how good we are, and I think we can go in there and do some damage," Judkins added. "I like the bracketing, I like where we are, and are guys are excited."

The top seed in the NCAA South Central Regional field is Lone Star Conference champion No. 3 West Texas A&M (32-1), which will square off against RMAC Tournament champion #8-seed Colorado Mesa (21-10). Meanwhile, LSC members #2 seed St. Edward's (27-4) and # 7 seed Dallas Baptist (21-9) will play each other, as will #4 seed Angelo State (20-8) and #5 seed Texas A&M-Kingsville (21-9). In all, three RMAC schools and five LSC members make up the regional field.

All South Central Regional games will be played at the First United Bank Center, with the four quarterfinal games to be played on Saturday, March 14. The two semifinal contests will take place on Sunday, March 15, and the regional final will be played on Tuesday, March 17.

2020 NCAA DIVISION II SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL SCHEDULE (all times Central)
Saturday, March 14 (Quarterfinals)
Game #1 – No. 6 Colorado School of Mines vs. No. 3 Dixie State, 12 noon
Game #2 - No. 7 Dallas Baptist vs. No. 2 St. Edward's, 2:30 p.m.
Game #3 - No. 8 Colorado Mesa at No. 1 West Texas A&M, 6 p.m.
Game #4 – No. 5 Texas A&M-Kingsville vs. No. 4 Angelo State, 8:30 p.m.

Sunday, March 15 (Semifinals)
Game #5 - Winner 1 vs. Winner 2 , 5 p.m.
Game #6 - Winner 3 vs. Winner 4, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, March 17 (Championship)
Game #7 - Winner 5 vs. Winner 6 , 7 p.m.

"We know Mines and they know us and I think it will be a pretty fun game," Judkins noted. "Mines is always tough and they are smart, and it's always hard to go that far to play someone you know, but that's how the [NCAA] tournament goes. The best eight teams go and you don't know who you're going to play and when and where. But we are excited that we are going and we want to take advantage of that."

Eight teams were selected from each of the following eight regions for the 64-team tournament: Atlantic, Central, East, Midwest, South, South Central, Southeast and West.

The winners of each of the eight regionals will advance to the 2020 NCAA Elite Eight, which will be held March 26-28 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. The NCAA Division II National Championship game will be played on Sunday, April 5, at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Ga. That game will be played on the off day between the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Final Four and national title game, which will also be held in Atlanta.

Visit www.ncaa.com for complete NCAA Division II Men's Basketball tournament information.