Posted: Mar 14, 2017

Richard Bland No. 5 Seed For NJCAA Division II National Tournament

32^nd Annual NJCAA Division II National Tournament Central

Official Tournament Bracket (PDF)

SOUTH PRINCE GEORGE, Va. -- Richard Bland College has earned the No. 5 seed for the 2017 NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship, March 21-25, at Danville Area Community College in Danville, Illinois. The District 15, Region 10 Champion Statesmen of fourth-year head coach Chuck Moore have an overall record of 28-4, and will play District 11, Region 12S Champion Cincinnati State (Ohio) (25-7) in the first round of the tournament on Tuesday night, March 21 at 9:30 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed live on njcaatv.com.

"Making it back to the national tournament is always a huge accomplishment for any program, and it's great to have the respect of the national committee in giving us the number five ranking," said Moore. "We have a tough opponent in Cincinnati State, who has beat some really good teams this year. Our plan as usual is to get out there and win a national championship.

"It's going to be a great experience for the team -- the players, the coaches and also the school. We hope to make everybody proud in our performance."

Southwestern (Iowa) (32-1) is the top seed for the national tournament, a 16-team field which guarantees each team playing a minimum of two games, and will play Southern Maryland (14-16). Other first round games include No. 2 South Suburban (Ill.) (21-11) against Dakota County Tech (Minn.) (14-14), No. 3 Louisburg (27-4), who Richard Bland defeated 78-75 in overtime to win the region championship, against St. Louis (Mo.) (21-12), No. 4 Parkland (Ill.) (28-3) against Johnson County (Kan.) (24-8), No. 6 Essex County (N.J.) (29-1) against Grand Rapids (Mich. (20-13), No. 7 Macomb (Mich.) (26-5) against Niagara County (N.Y.) (24-5) and No. 8 Pima (Ariz.) (21-11) against Waubonsee (Ill.) (25-8). Only the top eight teams are seeded in the field.

If Richard Bland wins the opening round game, the Statesmen will play the winner of the Parkland-Johnson County contest on Thursday, March 23, 7 p.m. ET. A loss on Tuesday would have Richard Bland playing on Wednesday, March 22, at 7 p.m. ET. Please check rbcathletics.com and follow the Statesmen on social media via Twitter (@GoRBCStatesmen) and Facebook (rbcstatesmen) for tournament progress and game times next week. All games played at the National Tournament will be streamed live on njcaatv.com.

Richard Bland will be making its second National Tournament appearance in three years, after winning the 2015 NJCAA Division II National Championship. The Statesmen defeated John Wood (Ill.) Community College 64-53 on March 21, 2015 at the Mary Miller Gymnasium on the campus of DACC in Illinois. Richard Bland finished its most memorable storybook 2014-15 campaign with a school-record of 32-4, winning the national title in only its second year back in action following a 20-year hiatus from competitive sports at the College. The Statesmen are now an impressive 102-29 (.779) over the past four seasons.