March 12, 2007

First Timers Dot 2007 Elite Eight Field

Six No. 1 Seeds & Two No. 4 Seeds Make it to Kearney

      Kearney, Neb. –  The 2007 Elite Eight field features six teams that were the top seed in their respective region and four schools making their first-ever trip to the National Quarterfinals.

      The University of Nebraska at Kearney will host the Elite Eight March 21-22 & 24 at the Health & Sports Center.

      UNK just hosted the 2007 NCAA Division II Wrestling championships (March 9-10), which drew record crowds and a national television audience.

       Making up the quarterfinals this year are:

       Texas A & M-Commerce (28-8/South Central), Clayton State of Georgia (28-5/South Atlantic), North Dakota (32-3/North Central), Florida Gulf Coast (32-0/South), Glenville State of West Virginia (33-2/East), UC San Diego (26-4/West), Southern Connecticut State (31-2/Northeast) and Drury U. of Missouri (25-8/Great Lakes).

       Drury and Commerce were No. 4 seeds in their regions; the other six were No. 1 seeds and served as regional hosts.

      Making the Elite Eight for the first time are Commerce, Clayton, FGCU and UCSD.

      The Owls of Southern Connecticut are back in the quarterfinals for the first time since 1983 – the second year there was a D2 women’s basketball tournament -- while Glenville is last made the Elite Eight in 2002.  

      North Dakota will be making a seventh trip to the Elite Eight and has three national titles (1997-99) and a national runner up (2001) finish on its resume. The Sioux, like the Eagles of FGCU, will soon be making the jump to NCAA Division I.

     Drury started up a women’s basketball program in 2000-01 but is in the Elite Eight for the second time. In 2004, the Panthers finished as national runners up.

      On the same page, Gulf Coast has fielded a women’s basketball team for just the past five years but has gone 59-2 since the beginning of the 2005-06 campaign. They also have no conference affiliation and are one of the few remaining independent schools in Division II.

      Finally, UC San Diego has recently made the jump from NCAA Division III to Division II. The Tritons made five D3 tourney appearances, including four in a row from 1995-98.

National Rank/School/Record           Region                    Location                        Nickname               Colors

# 3 North Dakota (32-3)                      North Central          Grand Forks, N.D.        Fighting Sioux          Kelly Green & White

# 1 Florida Gulf Coast (32-0)              South                      Fort Myers, Fla.            Eagles                     Blue & Green

Texas A & M-Commerce (28-8)         South Central         Commerce, Texas       Lions                        Blue & Gold

# 16 Clayton State (28-5)                   South Atlantic          Morrow, Ga.                 Lakers                      Navy Blue & Orange

# 2 Glenville State (33-2)                    East                         Glenville, W.V.             Pioneers                  Blue & White  

# 12 UC San Diego (26-4)                 West                       San Diego, Calif.         Tritons                     Blue & Gold

# 7 So. Conn. State (32-2)                 Northeast                New Haven, Conn.       Owls                       Blue & White

Drury (25-8)                                        Great Lakes            Springfield, Mo.            Panthers                 Scaret & Gray