2021-22 NCAA DII Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket
The matchup is set for the Hillsdale College men's basketball team as it heads into the first NCAA DII Elite Eight in program history.
The Chargers (23-7) earned the seventh seed in the Elite Eight round reseeding and will play 2nd-seeded Indiana (Pa.) (32-2) in a quarterfinal matchup at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 22 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.
An elite program in the last decade of DII men's hoops, the Crimson Hawks reached the NCAA DII title game in both 2010 and 2015 and are aiming to bring home their first national title in program history next week. Indiana (Pa.) finished the regular season ranked third in the nation in the NABC Coaches Poll and second in the D2SIDA Poll, and won the Atlantic Regional title with a 68-59 victory over rival California (Pa.) this past Tuesday.
The Chargers claimed their first-ever NCAA Regional crown with a 73-63 win over Missouri-St. Louis on Monday and are looking to continue a historic run for the program. If Hillsdale can pull the upset on Tuesday, it would match the deepest run by the program in a national tournament, joining the 1980-81 team that reached the NAIA Final Four. Hillsdale has been a NCAA DII member since 1990.
Hillsdale is led by 2021-22 Midwest Regional Player of the Year and two-time G-MAC Player of the Year Patrick Cartier (Brookfield, WI/Brookfield East) who earned Midwest Regional MVP honors after averaging 24.3 points per game in Hillsdale's three tournament wins. The Chargers are also paced by 2021-22 G-MAC Freshman of the Year Joe Reuter (Chippewa Falls, WI/Chippewa Falls), three-time All-G-MAC honoree and senior Austen Yarian (Cleveland, OH/St. Ignatius) and Midwest Regional All-Tournament Team honoree and junior Jack Gohlke (Pewaukee, WI/Pewaukee).
Also on Hillsdale's side of the bracket are third-seeded Augusta and sixth-seeded Chico St., who will meet in the 9:30 p.m. quarterfinal following the Chargers' clash with Indiana (Pa.). On the other side of the bracket, top-seeded Nova Southeastern plays eighth-seeded Black Hills St. at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and fourth-seeded Bentley plays two-time defending national champion and fifth-seeded Northwest Missouri St. at 1 p.m.
The semifinals will take place on Thursday in Evansville, with game times set for 4 and 6:30 p.m. ET. The national championship game will be played on Saturday, March 26 at 3 p.m. ET and broadcast on CBS.
You can purchase tickets to attend Tuesday's game in person at this link. The quarterfinal game also will be broadcast for free on ncaa.com. You can find both those links and additional information as it becomes available on the Hillsdale College men's basketball team's schedule page.
Photo Courtesy of Walsh Athletics