Alfred Men, Hartwick Women Set to Compete in Upcoming NCAA Basketball Tournaments
2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Bracket
2019 NCAA Women's Basketball Bracket
Hartwick to Play Just Over 100 Miles from Campus in Opening Rounds
The Alfred men's team and the Hartwick women's team each earned bids to the upcoming NCAA Basketball Championships as the fields for both were announced earlier today. Both championship tournaments will begin later this week.
MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
Alfred (23-4) returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997 and the Saxons will travel to Christopher Newport University for Rounds One and Two of this year's championship. The Saxons will take on Ramapo College representing the New Jersey Athletic Conference in the opening round of the tournament. That game is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start Friday evening.
This year's Men's Basketball Final Four and Championship Final will take place March 15-16 in Fort Wayne, Indiana at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.
Ramapo enters with an 18-9 record, but have lost four of their last seven games. Alfred, meanwhile, has won 13 in a row including the Empire 8 Conference Championship. Ramapo advanced to the Final Four a season ago.
If Alfred wins their First Round game, they'll take on the winner of Chistopher Newport and Albertus Magnus in the Second Round. The Saxons feature a balnced attack that includes E8 Defensive Player of the Year,
Sage Brown and the conference's Rookie of the Year in
Elliot Bowen.
WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP
E8 Champion Hartwick (23-4) will take on Emmanuel, which won the Great Northeast Athletic Conference title over the weekend. The Hawks defeated Stevens and St. John Fisher to claim their first-ever conference title this past weekend. Hartwick won't have to travel far for this weekend's NCAA Tournament action as they'll play the First and Second Rounds at SUNY New Paltz. That campus is just over 100 miles away from Hartwick.
This year's Women's Basketball Final Four and Championship Final will take place March 15-16 at the Cregger Center in Salem, Virginia.
Hartwick will be making their 10th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and their first since 2014. Their game against Emmanuel will feature two of the hottest teams in the sport. Both not only won their respective conference tournaments, but each has won 15 of their last 16 games overall. Emmanuel is led by legendary head coach
Andrew Yosinoff, who is currently in his 42nd season and is the winningest head coach among active NCAA Division III women's basketball programs with 831 victories.
If Hartwick were to defeat Emmanuel, they would await the winner of SUNY New Paltz and Rutgers-Newark in Round Two.
ABOUT THE EMPIRE 8 CONFERENCE
The members of the Empire 8 Conference are committed first and foremost to the pursuit of academic excellence and the league is regarded as an outstanding NCAA Division III conference. The membership has distinguished itself among its peer group for its quality institutions, spirited and sportsmanlike competition, outstanding services and highly ethical policies and practices. Its commitment to serve the educational needs of its student-athletes is the hallmark of the E8. For more on the Empire 8 visit
www.empire8.com and
https://youtu.be/wzL4HcDoUUQ