Four SAC Men's Basketball Teams Advance to NCAA Tournament
ROCK HILL, S.C. (theSAC.com) -- Four South Atlantic Conference men's basketball teams were selected to the field of 64 teams as the NCAA announced the DII Tournament brackets this evening. Lenoir-Rhyne earned the No. 3 seed with Lincoln Memorial at No. 4, Catawba at No. 7 and Carson-Newman as the eighth seed.
Lenoir-Rhyne earned the automatic bid by winning their first SAC Tournament title since 2003. The Bears are in the Big Dance for the first time since 2019 but advance to the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time in program history.
Lincoln Memorial is a March staple as the Railsplitters are in the NCAA Tournament for the 13th time in the SAC era. The Railsplitters have won a SAC-best 22 NCAA Tournament games and own a 22-12 mark in NCAA play. LMU lost in the First Round last year but made the Elite Eight in 2023 and a National Semifinal in 2021.
Catawba makes their 13th NCAA appearance. Catawba beat UNC Pembroke in overtime in the First Round last year before falling to North Georgia. This marks the third straight season the Rob Perron's squad has made the NCAA Tournament.
Finally, Carson-Newman is in for the 7th time in program history and first since 2021. The Eagles have won one NCAA game in their history and will be looking to pull an upset to improve their record. C-N shoots a conference-best 53.7 percent from the field and 42.8 percent from long range and is second in scoring per game at 89.5 points.
Columbus St. earned the top seed in the region and will host the 7-game regional.
Full Southeast Region seeds:
1. Columbus St.
2. USC Aiken
3. Lenoir-Rhyne
4. Lincoln Memorial
5. UNC Pembroke
6. Augusta
7. Catawba
8. Carson-Newman