2019 NCAA South Central Regional (hosted by St. Edward's)
First Round – Mines vs. Lubbock Christian, Friday, 7:30 p.m. Central [Live Video] [Live Stats]
Second Round – Mines vs. St. Edward's/Angelo State, Saturday, 7 p.m. Central [Live Video] [Live Stats link TBA]
Third Round – Tuesday, time and site TBA
 

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THE NCAA SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL
Colorado School of Mines begins NCAA Tournament play this Friday, taking on Lubbock Christian in the First Round at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas. The winner will advance to face the advancing team from the matchup between the second-seeded hosts and seventh-seeded Angelo State. In a first, the South Central regional is split into two sites, with West Texas A&M hosting the other side of the bracket; the two advancing teams from each site will meet Tuesday at the highest remaining seed in the regional final. That game could come back to Golden should Mines advance and face a team other than top-seeded West Texas A&M.

TICKET/PARKING INFORMATION
Tickets will be available for purchase at the door beginning at 3:30 p.m. CT on Friday and 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Adults are $10, students and seniors $5 and children 2 and under are free. Please note fans must obtain a free visitor's parking permit from St. Edward's; visit stedwards.edu for more information. Directions and more information can be found on the regional tournament central site.

MINES IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Mines is making its sixth consecutive NCAA Championship appearance and ninth in the last 10 years, all coming under Pryor Orser. The Orediggers' best NCAA showing was in 2017, when they won the South Central regional and advanced to the Elite Eight round for the first time.

THE CHAMPS ARE HERE
Colorado School of Mines won the outright RMAC regular-season championship and finished league play with a 21-1 record (25-5 overall), which is a program record for most conference wins in a season. It is their fifth regular-season championship under Pryor Orser.

IN THE RANKINGS
Mines enters the NCAA Tournament ranked #14 in the final regular-season NABC coaches' poll, and #21 in the last D2SIDA media poll. Mines' seeding in the South Central held true to the regular-season Regional Ranking polls at #3.

THE ROAD TO AUSTIN
Mines had an interesting trip to get to Austin - literally. With the "Bomb Cyclone" creating travel chaos in Colorado on Wednesday, the Orediggers' originally scheduled commercial flight on Wednesday was cancelled during the height of the blizzard (Mines itself was closed on Wednesday in a rare snow day). Two more flights on Thursday were also cancelled out of Denver International Airport on Thursday morning, and taking a bus was out of the question as every major interstate leading south and east of Denver - I-70, I-25, and I-76 - was still closed as of lunchtime on Thursday. Thankfully at the last minute, the NCAA found a charter flight from Centennial Airport south of Denver to get Mines to Austin by Thursday evening. 

SONNEFELD, CLARE, ORSER LEAD ALL-RMAC AWARDS
Led by Player of the Year Ben Sonnefeld, Colorado School of Mines was well-represented in the year-end all-RMAC teams announced last week. The Orediggers cleaned up the major awards as Sonnefeld was named Player of the Year, Ben Clare Co-Defensive Player of the Year, and Pryor Orser Coach of the Year. Sonnefeld and Mason Baker were named First-Team All-RMAC while Clare landed a Second Team spot and Michael Glen was named Honorable Mention All-RMAC. Sonnefeld is Mines' first Player of the Year since Brett Green in 2011-12, while Clare picked up the Orediggers' first Defensive Player of the Year honor since Gokul Natesan in 2015-16. Orser earned his fifth RMAC Coach of the Year honor, his most recent coming in 2016-17.

SONNEFELD NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA
Ben Sonnefeld was named to the Google Cloud/CoSIDA Academic All-America Third Team team last week, the fifth player in program history to earn the honor. Now a graduate student, Sonnefeld holds a 3.73 cumulative GPA having earned his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering last December, and he is now pursuing his master's degree in engineering and technology management. This season he is having a career year with 14.2 points, 4.5 assists, and 4.2 rebounds per game.

DURING THE REGULAR SEASON
Mines and Lubbock Christian met in the 2018-19 season opener on Nov. 9, a 70-62 win for LCU at St. Mary's in San Antonio. Neither team shot well with Mines held to .386 and LCU .467; Mason Baker scored 17, Ben Sonnefeld had 14 points/8 rebounds/6 assists, and Brendan Sullivan scored 13 in his career debut for Mines, while the Chaps were led by Rashaan Proctor's 16-point, 10-rebound double-double. Mines outrebounded LCU 40-35 but committed 15 turnovers in the game.

MINES QUICK LOOK
Mines enters the postseason at 25-5 overall after going 21-1 in RMAC play to win the conference regular-season championship. The Orediggers lost in the semifinals of the RMAC Tournament to Black Hills State. Mines averages a healthy 82.8 points per game with a +12.6 scoring margin per game, shooting an exceptional .500 as a team (11th nationally) including .402 for three (14th nationally) and .769 at the line (27th nationally). RMAC Player of the Year Ben Sonnefeld leads Mines from the point averaging 14.0 points, 4.6 assists, and 4.5 rebounds per game while leading scorer Mason Baker hits for 15.2 points per game and is an .880 foul shooter. The Orediggers also have RMAC Co-Defensive Player of the Year Ben Clare at center producing 12.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game, while Michael Glen leads the team with 6.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. Freshman Brendan Sullivan has been in the starting lineup all season long and averages 9.7 points and 3.8 rebounds.

LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN QUICK LOOK
Lubbock Christian enters the NCAA Tournament at 20-9 overall after going 11-5 in Heartland Conference play to finish third. The Chaps own some big wins this season including victories over each of the top three seeds in West Texas A&M (68-65 on Dec. 6), St. Edward's (68-60 on March 2), and Mines. They are led by a pair of First-Team All-Heartland selections in 6-7 post Brennen Fowler (19.0 ppg/10.3 rpg) and guard Isaac Asrat (16.0 ppg/4.0 rpg/2.1 apg). The Chaps average 74.0 points per game and hold opponents to just 68.6, including a .481/.408 shooting split; they also outrebound opponents by a +3.6 per game margin.
 

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2019 NCAA SOUTH CENTRAL REGIONAL
St. Edward's Tournament Central / West Texas A&M Tournament Central
First Round - Friday
[1] West Texas A&M vs. [8] New Mexico Highlands (at WTAM), 5 p.m.
[4] Texas A&M-Commerce vs. [5] Dallas Baptist (at WTAM), 7:30 p.m.
[2] St. Edward's vs. [7] Angelo State (at St. Edward's), 5 p.m.
[3] Colorado School of Mines vs. [6] Lubbock Christian (at St. Edward's), 7:30 p.m.

Second Round - Saturday
WTAM/NMHU winner vs. TAMUC/DBU winner (at West Texas A&M), 7:30 p.m.
CSM/LCU winner vs. SEU/ASU winner (at St. Edward's), 7 p.m.

Third Round – Tuesday
Regional Semifinal Winner #1 vs. Regional Semifinal Winner #2 (at higher seed), TBA

All times Central