by Matt Cooke
For the second time this year, a West Georgia team sat waiting on a Sunday evening to see where they would end up in the NCAA Tournament. Wolves' basketball received the bid and will be the fourth seed in this year's NCAA South Regional, taking on fifth-seeded West Alabama in a rematch of the Gulf South Conference tournament semifinals. The tournament is scheduled for March 14-17, but exact game times for Saturday have not been released yet.
Photo credit: Michael Wade
The trip is the 15th in the history of the UWG program and the third since the magical run to the Elite Eight in the 2002 NCAA Championships. That year, the then-Braves reached the round of eight, playing in Evansville, Indiana before falling to Shaw in that round. This year's tournament looks familiar to that year, as the Wolves will take on West Alabama in Lakeland, Florida, at host Florida Southern in the hopes of reaching the Elite Eight in Evansville, Indiana.
The Wolves come into the weekend with a bitter taste in their mouth after a semifinal loss to West Alabama in the GSC tournament. West Georgia finished the season with a 21-8 record overall and are one of four Gulf South Conference teams to reach this year's NCAA tournament.
Top-ranked regionally and nationally, Florida Southern will be the host of the tournament, taking on eighth-seed Benedict in a matchup of the champions, as FSC won the Sunshine State Conference and Benedict the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Third-seed Alabama Huntsville was the other automatic bid, winning the Gulf South Conference championship this past Saturday over West Alabama, earning the right to play sixth-seed Lynn.
The fourth Gulf South Conference team in the bracket is Union, making an NCAA tourney appearance as the seventh seed in their first year in NCAA play. They will take on second-seeded Barry University, the runner-up from the Sunshine State Conference.
West Georgia's 15th bid to the NCAA tournament is head coach Michael Cooney's second in his eight-year tenure at the helm of the UWG program. His Wolves last made the NCAA tournament in the 2011-12 season as the sixth seed, bowing out to Eckerd in the first round of the tournament hosted by Alabama Huntsville in that season.
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