The NCAA News - News and Features

March 2, 1998

Division II Men's Basketball

Jackrabbits hop into title chase

Event: 1998 Division II Men's Basketball Championship.

Overview: South Dakota State coach Scott Nagy hasn't wasted any time in building a winner in Brookings. Now in his third year at the helm, his teams have won 71 of 82 games, including 24-5 and 25-5 slates the last two years and a 21-0 start this season. The Jackrabbits currently are 22-1 and ranked second behind Cal State Bakersfield in the NABC/Division II Bulletin top 25 poll. They feature four players in double figures, including senior center Kurt Meister (15.9 points per game) and junior guard Casey Walker (12.5 ppg). Meister, a 1997 all-North Central Conference selection, is the 32nd South Dakota State player to score at least 1,000 points. Walker doesn't start but has posted double figures in 17 games .... Cal State Bakersfield, defending champion and winner of three titles in the past five years, is 22-2 and clinched at least a share of the California Collegiate Athletic Association title with an 85-80 win over Cal State Los Angeles. Senior forward Marco Brown scored 24 points in the win and was named the conference's player of the week. Brown averages more than 13 points and five rebounds per game. First-year coach Henry Clark is three wins shy of the school record for victories by a rookie skipper .... Kentucky Wesleyan, 23-1, is ranked fourth and is trying to make the trip to Louisville for the first time. Though the Panthers have made 26 tournament appearances, they haven't advanced to the Elite Eight since 1990, when they won it all. Antonio Garcia is Division II's leading rebounder with more than 13 per game. He became the second player in school history to record a triple double with 11 each in points, rebounds and assists against Quincy.

Field: Forty-eight teams. Six qualifiers in each of eight regions will play to determine the quarterfinalists that will advance to the Elite Eight. Twenty-two conferences have been granted automatic qualification. The remaining teams will be selected at large.

Dates and sites: Regional tournaments will be March 5-7 or 6-8 at campus sites. The Elite Eight will be March 18, 19 and 21 at the Commonwealth Convention Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

Television coverage: The championship game will be broadcast at 12:30 p.m. (Eastern time) March 21 on CBS.

Information/results: The Fax-on-Demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 1244 for bracket/schedule, 5056 for quarterfinal box scores, 5057 for semifinal box scores and 5058 for the championship game box score. Game scores and pairings also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. Regional scores will appear in the March 16 issue of The NCAA News. Elite Eight results will be published March 30.