Rush drop to 21st, earn at-large berth in national tourney

NEW ORLEANS — Xavier University of Louisiana is 21st in the NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll announced Wednesday afternoon. About two hours later the NAIA announced that the Gold Rush (23-8) received an at-large bid to next week's national tournament.

Xavier was 1-1 in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament at Jacksonville, Fla., this past week and lost 66-65 to SUNO in the semifinals Friday. SUNO then beat Tougaloo 79-58 in the championship game Saturday to earn the GCAC's automatic bid to the tournament.

Xavier is in the top 25 for the 10th consecutive time and the 23rd time in 24 polls dating to the start of the 2010-11 season. The Gold Rush were 17th in the final poll before the 2011 national tournament.

Tougaloo remained 24th in the poll and also received an at-large bid. The NAIA will announce the bracket and game times by 6 p.m today.

The 75th-anniversary Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship will begin next Wednesday at Kansas City, Mo., with eight first-round games. The other eight first-round games will be played the following day.

NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses — records through Tuesday, March 6)

Rank Team Record Points Last
1 Shorter (11) 31-2 312 2
2 Oklahoma Baptist (1) 28-4 301 1
3 Robert Morris (Chicago) 27-4 293 tie-4
4 Concordia (Calif.) 26-6 279 tie-4
5 Martin Methodist 27-6 269 6
6 Southern Poly 24-6 266 3
7 Our Lady of the Lake 26-7 246 7
8 Lindsey Wilson 21-9 230 9
9 Rogers State 22-8 217 10

10 Biola 24-8 216 19

11 Mountain State 23-8 215 8

12 LSU-Shreveport 25-7 205 14

13 John Brown 24-8 194 13
14 Georgetown (Ky.) 24-8 189 12
15 Columbia (Mo.) 26-6 167 16
16 Point Loma Nazarene 20-9 146 11
17 Lee (Tenn.) 20-8 142 15
18 Montana State Northern 27-6 132 21
19 Texas Wesleyan 25-7 131 20
20 Montana Western 24-9 122 17
21 Xavier 23-8 109 18
22 MidAmerica Nazarene 24-8 88 25
23 Campbellsville 21-11 73 RV
24 Tougaloo 23-8 72 24
25 Southern Nazarene 22-10 70 23

Others receiving votes: Azusa Pacific 59, Olivet Nazarene 50, Cumberlands 50, Freed-Hardeman 48, Cumberland 42, Saint Xavier 14, Westminster (Utah) 10, Evangel 8, Cal State San Marcos 7, Southwestern Assemblies of God 5, Westmont 3, Voorhees 1, Baker 1.

By Ed Cassiere, Sports Information Director

VISIT: XULAATHLETICS
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA