The NCAA News - News and Features

March 2, 1998

Division III Men's Basketball

Unbeaten teams lead race for title

Event: 1998 Division III Men's Basketball Championship.

Overview: The only two remaining unbeaten men's college basketball teams are in Division III, and they're both tied atop the West region rankings. One is Nebraska Wesleyan, runner-up last year and 23-0 this season. Kipp Kissinger, a 1997 GTE Academic All-America honoree, is averaging more than 16 points per game and is the school's third-leading career scorer. Nate Thomas is a 65 percent shooter and averages more than 19 points per game. The Plainsmen have won their last three games by 30 points each. Their 23-game winning streak broke an 84-year old school record .... The other unbeaten squad is Wisconsin-Platteville (22-0), which isn't a surprise given the Pioneers' record in the 1990s. They are the most victorious college team this decade with a 228-25 mark, and coach Bo Ryan is Division III's most victorious active coach by percentage at .810 (315-74). The Pioneers led Division III last year in points allowed per game with 47.5, the lowest since the advent of the shot clock and three-point stripe. They're at it again this year, giving up a scant 49.2. Offensively, it's a balanced attack, with five players in double figures. Ben Hoffmann leads the way with 12.7 points per game. Merrill Brunson, a nonstarter, averages 11.8 and is shooting nearly 60 percent (35-59) from three-point land. The Pioneers haven't won a game by fewer than 10 points since December .... Other regionally top-ranked teams include Salem State, Springfield, St. Lawrence, Catholic, Hunter, Christopher Newport, Ohio Northern, Wooster and Chicago.

Field: Forty-eight teams from eight regions will compete for the title. Six teams will be chosen from each region. Twenty-five conferences have been granted automatic qualification. The remaining teams will be selected at large.

Dates and sites: All preliminary-round games will be conducted at campus sites. First-round games will be played March 5 and second-round games will be played March 7. Four sectionals will be conducted March 13-14. The semifinals and final will be March 20-21 at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Virginia.

Information/results: The Fax-on-Demand telephone number is 770/399-3060 (passcode 1915); request numbers are 1252 for bracket/schedule, 5059 for semifinal box scores, 5060 for the third-place game box score and 5061 for the championship game box score. Game scores and pairings also will be available on the World Wide Web at www.ncaa.org. First- and second-round results will appear in the March 16 issue of The NCAA News. Sectional results will be published March 23. Championship results will appear in the March 30 issue.