New Orleans, La. (GCAConf.com) – The Gulf Coast Athletic Conference announced on Wednesday the brackets for the 2015 GCAC Men’s Basketball Championships, with Talladega earning the men’s No. 1 seed for the first time in school history. The 2015 tournament will be played Friday through Sunday, March 6-8, at the Xavier University Convocation Center in New Orleans.
Talladega finished their GCAC schedule with a 13-1 conference record to win their first regular season Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Championship since re-joining the league in 2011. The Tornadoes are the defending GCAC tournament champions and are currently ranked No. 1 in the latest NAIA Division I Coaches’ Top 25. Xavier University enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed, with Tougaloo and Philander Smith rounding out the top four. The Gold Rush have claimed a top-four seed in each of the last five tournaments. Tougaloo College and Philander Smith ended the season tied for third with 9-5 conference records, but the Bulldogs earn the higher seed by virtue of their win over Talladega in the regular season finale.
The men’s tournament will tip off at 12 pm. CT on Friday, March 6, with No. 4 Philander Smith taking on No. 5 Edward Waters, followed by No. 3 Tougaloo versus No. 6 Voorhees. The second session features No. 1 Talladega facing No. 8 Southern University at New Orleans at 5 p.m. CT, and ends with No. 2 Xavier squaring off with No. 7 Dillard.
Saturday’s semifinals tip off with the winner of Philander Smith/Edward Waters playing the winner of the Talladega/SUNO game at 2 p.m. CT. The second semifinal will be played at 7 p.m. CT and will pit the winner of the Xavier/Dillard matchup against the victor of the Tougaloo/Voorhees game.
The GCAC championship game tips off at 5 p.m. CT on Sunday.
The winner of the tournament will gain the GCAC’s automatic bid to the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men’s Basketball National Championship. Last season the conference sent three teams to the tournament, as Talladega (automatic), Xavier (at-large) and Philander Smith (at-large) all represented the GCAC in Kansas City, Mo.
Courtesy: GCAC
