MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT APPROVED

ROCK ISLAND, Illinois – The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin will institute a conference tournament to determine its automatic qualifier in men’s basketball for the NCAA Division III national tournament beginning with the 2005-06 season, it was announced today by conference commissioner Chris Martin. The tournament was approved on Monday, February 28 by a vote of the directors of athletics at the annual winter meetings, which were held in Wheaton, Illinois.

“Implementing the tournament is a significant step in the history of the CCIW,” said Martin. “We hope that showcasing our top teams in the tournament will help us get a second, at-large bid, to the NCAA field each year. The tournament will be a very exciting event for our men’s basketball programs.”

The conference tournament will only determine the automatic qualifier for the national tournament as the conference champion will still come from the regular season round robin schedule. The format approved by the directors of athletics has the top four teams from the regular season meeting at the site of the regular season conference champion with the winner garnering the automatic qualifying spot. The last Friday and Saturday in February, which will be February 24-25 in 2006, will be the date for the tournament. Bracketing for the tournament will break down with the number two and three seeds meeting in the first game on Friday followed by the one and four seeds in the second game. The winners will meet on Saturday night.

This will be the first time the CCIW has ever used a tournament to determine its national qualifier although the women went to the system during the 2002-03 season.