Interactive Bracket, NCAA Division III Tournament
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin rivals will square off in the third round of the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament on Saturday (March 16) as Illinois Wesleyan travels to face North Central in Naperville, Ill., at 7 p.m.
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Making their fourth straight NCAA tourney appearance, the No. 10-ranked Titans improved to 23-5 with a 71-67 win at Washington U. on Saturday. The Titans have an NCAA Division III tournament record of 49-21 in their 22nd overall NCAA tournament appearance, including a national championship in 1997, third place finishes in 1996, 2001 and 2006 and a semifinal appearance in 2012. This is the 16th time for IWU to advance to the round of 16.
Winners of 10 straight games, North Central is 26-3 and ranked No. 3 in the D3hoops.com poll. The Cardinals moved into the tournament's round of 16 for the second straight year with a 64-60 victory over the No. 5-ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the defending Division III national champions.
North Central won the CCIW tournament title and IWU was the regular season league champion.
Each team won on its own home court this season - IWU beat the Cardinals on Jan. 23 at the Shirk Center, 69-61, before North Central handed the Titans their only CCIW regular season loss, 87-83 in overtime on Feb. 19 at Gregory Arena. Illinois Wesleyan has a 112-37 edge in the all-time series against the Cardinals.
In addition to all of the CCIW meetings through the years, the teams have met twice before in NCAA Division III tournament play, both in second round games, and are 1-1 against each other.
The Cardinals downed IWU by an 82-77 score in the 1984 tournament and the Titans won, 71-63, at Naperville in 1990.
The winner of the IWU/North Central game will play in the quarterfinals in Salem, Va., at 8 p.m. (ET) on Friday (March 22) against the winner of the 4 p.m. Saturday game between Ithaca (21-8) and No. 7-ranked Middlebury (24-3) in Middlebury, Vermont.
