KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Northwestern College and Dordt University men’s basketball team earned an at-large berth to the 2022 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) men’s basketball national tournament, while Briar Cliff earned an automatic bid by claiming a share of the GPAC regular season title.
Briar Cliff is the 12 seed in the Cramer bracket and they will play 5 seed Bethel on the 11th in Wichita, Kansas. The Raiders will also travel to Wichita, Kan. to face the No. 4-seed University of Saint Francis (Ind.) Cougars in the opening round on Friday, March 11, hosted by Visit Wichita and the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC).
The Cougars (23-8, 13-6 Crossroads) hails out of the Crossroads League with a 23-8 record on the year. Saint Francis earned an at-large bid to the national tournament.
The Raiders finished third in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) this season with a 13-7 mark in league play. They started the season on a seven-game winning streak and hold a 13-2 mark inside the Bultman Center. On the road, the Raiders are 8-8 this season and sit 3-1 in neutral site contests.
The Defenders will face IU Kokomo in the opening round while William Penn will face Bellevue. The winners will square off for the right to move on to the 16-team final site in Kansas City, Missouri.
The Defenders earned a spot in the field as an at-large pick and are the ninth seed in the 16-team Duer Quadrant of the bracket. IU Kokomo was an automatic qualifier after winning the River States Conference tournament championship and posted a 29-3 mark this season. This is the third berth in the national field for IU Kokomo and its first since 2020. Dordt is in the field for the sixth time and the first since 2014.
Other GPAC teams in the 64 team tournament include Concordia, and Jamestown.
Each opening round site will feature four teams and will play single elimination on Friday and Saturday, March 11-12. The winner of the final game will go to the NAIA National Championship Final Site in Kansas City, Mo.
