division III tournament

SoCalHoops College News

D-III National Tournament Time: SoCal Comes
Up Big With Oxy--(Mar. 2, 2003)

All season we've been getting weekly e-mails from Occidental College head coach Brian Newhall telling us about the progress of the Oxy Tigers in the SCIAC Conference, and we have to admit, we've entirely neglected writing anything about the SCIAC in general, and Oxy in particular. But we can no longer ignore them, and what with UCLA and USC both going into the tank and both being on the verge of possibly missing the Pac-10 Conference tournament, it's nice to read about at least one SoCal team that's not in the WCC or Big West that is doing well. And Occidental is one program that is tearing it up this year. How good have they been? The Tigers are now 23-2 overall and 14-0 in the SCIAC. Those 23 wins represent the highest win total in the school's history, and the 14-0 SCIAC season represents the only undefeated team ever in conference history since the league became an 8-team conference 14 years ago.

Occidental is currently ranked No. 1 in the Western Region and No. 11 in the Nation in the NCAA Division III poll. The team this year consisted of the following players (links are to the official Oxy website with player profiles where available):

No.	Name	Year	Position	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown
2	Dan Murphy	jr	G	6'1"	195	Alamo, CA
5	Finn Rebassoo	sr	F	6'4"	215	Seattle, WA
11	Song Cun	sr	G	5'7"	155	Los Angeles, CA
20	Derek Renee	jr	G	6'0"	185	Billings, MT
21	Dallin Wilson	so	F	6'7"	215	Phoenix, AZ
22	Chase Young	sr	G	6'0"	185	Seattle, WA
24	Joey Cabarrus	sr	G	6'0"	180	Albuquerque, NM
30	Gavin Keohane	sr	F	6'4"	190	Coupeville, WA
33	Jelani Kelly	jr	F	6'1"	190	Oklahoma City, OK
40	Tyler Rogers	sr	F	6'4"	200	Portland, OR
42	Zach Phillips	fr	F	6'5"	200	Upland, CA
	Jamal Thornes					Oakland, CA
	Dan Morris					Seattle, WA
	Chris Wilson					Washington, DC

Head Coach: Brian Newhall
Assistant Coaches: Brad Hall, Jim Hennacy

So what's next for the Occidental Tigers after winning the SCIAC? The D-III NCAA Tournament, of course. Today, at 6:00 p.m. PST, the NCAA Seeding Committee will select the top 48 teams for the National D-III Men's Tournament, which will begin this week. Where are the games going to be played? The first and second-round games are held at the higher seed, on March 6 and 8. Obviously, those game will be played this coming week. There will be 16 first round games played (featuring 32 teams), and 16 second round games as well featuring another 16 teams that received byes in the first round, for a total of 48 teams in all. The first and second round games are held as "sectionals" and this year, four teams will play in each "Sectional" finals to be held at four different campus sites.

The Final Four will be held at the Salem Civic Center at Salem, Va., on March 21 and 22. The bracket has not yet been compiled, but it will be released later tonight at which point we'll have the matchups for the first and second rounds. Stay tuned.