NCAA Selection Shows Sunday Night

Indianapolis, Ind. - The 2008 NCAA Division II Men's and Women's Basketball Championships selection brackets will be announced exclusively Sunday, March 9 it has been announced.

The men's and women's brackets will be revealed beginning at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time.

Audio and video streaming of both shows can be accessed by logging on to www.cstv.com/ncaa/divii/ or http://www.ncaa.com/.

The Stonehill men at 18-14 overall are looking to secure an at-large bid following a run to the Northeast-10 semifinals. They are currently ranked 9th in the Northeast Region, but that ranking doesn't take into account a win over Pace or the loss at Bentley because the most recent regional rankings came out on Monday prior to those contests being played.

One team ahead of the Skyhawks, Bryant (17-12), was swept by Stonehill and another squad, Merrimack (17-11) was upset in the first round of the NE-10 tournament. However, several factors play into whether or not teams receive at-large bids. Those factors include:

1. Overall Division II win-loss record;
2. Regional win-loss record;
3. Head-to-head competition;
4. Overall strength-of-schedule;
5. In-region strength-of-schedule; and
6. Eligibility and availability of student-athletes for championships competition.

The following components will also be considered as secondary criteria:
-Performance against Division II teams above .500;
-Performance against Division II teams below .500;
-Performance versus regionally-ranked teams in their region;
-Performance versus regionally ranked teams in all regions; and
-Common opponents.

The Stonehill women, meanwhile, at 25-4, can wrap up an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament with a win over the Bryant women in the Northeast-10 Championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m. Win or lose, the Skyhawks are almost guaranteed to receive an invitation to the field of 64. They enter the title game riding a season-long 12 game winning streak and are ranked second in the Northeast Region behind undefeated Holy Family. The Tigers (27-0) wrapped up the CACC Championship on Saturday and will most likely host the Northeast Regional.

Both 64-team brackets will be posted online at http://www.ncaasports.com/ immediately following the selection show.