The Gold Rush (24-8) received an at-large bid Wednesday to the Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I National Championship. XULA will play Oklahoma City (23-8) at 3 p.m. March 14 — the first day of first-round games — at Municipal Auditorium (301 West 13th St., zip 64105) in Kansas City, Mo.
The Gold Rush qualified for the 11th time in 14 seasons and the 18th time overall.
"We've had a great year, and I liked our body of work. But you never know," second-year head coach Alfred Williams said. "We're grateful to be selected and continue our season. We're looking forward to competing hard and advancing."
XULA is one of four teams seeded seventh. Oklahoma City is a No. 2 seed.
The meeting of XULA and Oklahoma City will be their second. The Stars won 91-69 in the opening round of nationals in 2001. The Stars were Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season co-champion with Texas Wesleyan, then lost 78-75 to Wayland Baptist in the Sooner tournament semifinals.
XULA maintained its No. 25 ranking in this week's coaches poll after finishing second to Dillard in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Tournament. The Gold Rush and Bleu Devils shared the GCAC regular-season championship.
Oklahoma City is ranked fourth.
The GCAC is a multi-bid league for the 22nd consecutive season. Dillard, which climbed from 20th to 18th in the poll, is in the tournament for the third consecutive year.
XULA was 10-20 last season — ending a streak of six consecutive appearances at nationals — before producing the greatest positive turnaround (13 games) in program history in 2017-18.
Second-round games will be played March 16, followed by quarterfinals March 17, semifinals March 19 and the championship game March 20. The XULA-Oklahoma City winner will play Georgetown (Ky.) or Central Baptist (Ark.) at 9 a.m. March 16.
Gold Rush senior Joseph Williams will have double duty in Kansas City. He'll be one of four in the dunk contest of the NABC-NAIA Shoot & Slam, also in Municipal Auditorium March 17.
PDF Bracket
| NAIA Division I Men's Basketball Coaches' Top 25 Poll (first-place votes in parentheses — records through March 6) |
| RANK | PREVIOUS | SCHOOL | RECORD | POINTS |
| 1 | 1 | The Master's (Calif.) (9) | 29-2 | 219 |
| 2 | 3 | Pikeville (Ky.) | 28-4 | 209 |
| 3 | 2 | LSU-Shreveport (La.) | 27-4 | 208 |
| 4 | 4 | William Penn (Iowa) | 27-4 | 198 |
| 5 | 6 | Carroll (Mont.) | 27-5 | 189 |
| 6 | 5 | Columbia (Mo.) | 27-4 | 186 |
| 7 | 7 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 27-5 | 174 |
| 8 | 9 | Oklahoma City | 23-8 | 162 |
| 9 | 9 | Georgetown (Ky.) | 25-6 | 159 |
| 10 | 12 | William Carey (Miss.) | 25-5 | 154 |
| T11 | 11 | Montana Western | 25-7 | 143 |
| T11 | 8 | Hope International (Calif.) | 25-5 | 143 |
| 13 | 14 | Westmont (Calif.) | 24-7 | 142 |
| 14 | 13 | LSU-Alexandria (La.) | 25-7 | 139 |
| 15 | 15 | Texas Wesleyan | 22-10 | 120 |
| 16 | 16 | Dalton State (Ga.) | 24-8 | 107 |
| 17 | 17 | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 21-9 | 101 |
| 18 | 20 | Dillard (La.) | 20-9 | 97 |
| 19 | 23 | Graceland (Iowa) | 24-10 | 87 |
| 20 | 18 | Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) | 23-9 | 79 |
| 21 | 19 | Our Lady of the Lake (Texas) | 21-11 | 77 |
| 22 | 24 | SAGU (Texas) | 24-9 | 73 |
| 23 | 21 | Life (Ga.) | 20-11 | 65 |
| 24 | 22 | Central Baptist (Ark.) | 21-8 | 60 |
| 25 | 25 | Xavier (La.) | 24-8 | 45 |
Others Receiving Votes: Wayland Baptist (Texas) 39; Campbellsville (Ky.) 30; Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 29; Harris-Stowe State (Mo.) 26; Langston (Okla.) 13; Science & Arts (Okla.) 7; Vanguard (Calif.) 6.
Dropped Out: None
Dropped Out: None
Ed Cassiere, Assistant Athletic Director for Communications
XULAgold.com
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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