KANSAS CITY, MO. (March 16, 2016) – (Press Book – PDF) (Bracket - PDF) The Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) men's basketball team is set to debut in the 79th annual Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I Men's Basketball National Championship on Thursday, March 17.
The tournament tips off Wednesday, March 16 inside Municipal Auditorium. The single-elimination championship begins at 9 a.m. CDT and runs through March 22. Coined college basketball's toughest tournament, the national champion must win five games in a seven-day span.
OLLU will begin its participation against American Midwest Athletic Conference regular season champion Freed-Hardeman University from Henderson, Tennessee on Thursday at 9:45 p.m. Because students will be on spring break, there will be no watch party for the men's game.
Head Coach Ryan Wall said, "It's a great accomplishment to make it to nationals. We have a goal in mind and we know what it will take to get there. Hard work and playing harder than anyone here is the key to our success. This first game will be a high octane one. Both teams like to score a lot of points. Freed-Hardeman is a very tough team and we must be ready."
The first 30 games of the national championship will be video-streamed live at www.NAIANetwork.com, the NAIA's official video-streaming platform powered by Stretch Internet.