2021 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball West Regional (at Lockridge Arena) [Tournament Central]
First Round – [6] Fresno Pacific vs. [3] Biola, Friday, 6 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats]
First Round – [5] Northwest Nazarene vs. [4] #24 Point Loma, 8:45 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats]
Second Round – [2] #6 Colorado School of Mines vs. Biola/Fresno Pacific, Saturday, 6 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats]
Second Round – [1] #1 Colorado Mesa vs. Northwest Nazarene/Point Loma, Saturday, 8:45 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats]
Regional Final – Second Round winners, Monday, 7 p.m. [Live Video] [Live Stats link TBA]
 

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THE MADNESS COMES TO GOLDEN
For the second time in five years, the NCAA Division II Championship comes to Golden as Lockridge Arena hosts the West Regional this weekend. The six-team bracket will see Fresno Pacific take on Biola and Northwest Nazarene play Point Loma on Friday, with top two seeds Colorado Mesa and Colorado School of Mines earning first-round byes. The second round is set for Saturday night with the regional final on Monday, but fans should be on the lookout for possible schedule changes due to the incoming snowstorm in Colorado. The tournament central page on minesathletics.com has the complete schedule and coverage links for all games.

NO-SPECTATORS POLICY FOR POSTSEASON
The NCAA has announced that there will be no spectators at the West Regional. All games will be streamed live and for free on the RMAC Network at minesathletics.com/tv, which is also available on the AppleTV, Roku, and AmazonFire app stores by searching "RMAC".

HOW THEY GOT HERE
Mines qualified for its 11th NCAA tournament overall and eighth in a row as an at-large selection, earning the #2 seed; the Orediggers' best national finish was the 2017 Elite Eight. #1 seed Colorado Mesa is the RMAC's automatic qualifier and is making its eighth appearance overall; their best showing is the second round. Point Loma earns its fourth consecutive bid after making it to the 2019 national final. The other three participants – Biola, Northwest Nazarene, and Fresno Pacific – are all dancing for the first time in NCAA Division II. Biola is the Pacwest's automatic qualifier; all others are in as at-large picks.

MINES IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
Mines (16-2) is making its 11th NCAA Championships appearance overall and eighth in a row, 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.

IN THE POLLS
Mines is #6 in this week's final NABC coaches' poll. The Orediggers are joined by two other ranked teams in the regional – Colorado Mesa is the nation's new #1 team, while Point Loma is ranked #24. Northwest Nazarene and Biola received votes, as well.

MINES VS. THE BRACKET
The Orediggers and Colorado Mesa are of course plenty familiar with each other - but more on that later. As for the rest of the field, Mines and Northwest Nazarene have played seven times, but not since 2010; the Orediggers lead that series 4-3. Mines has never played the three PacWest entrants to the bracket: Biola, Point Loma, and Fresno Pacific.

SULLIVAN EARNS RMAC'S TOP TWO HONORS
Brendan Sullivan took home the RMAC's two highest honors last week, being named the 2021 RMAC Player of the Year as well as the Academic Player of the Year. Sullivan was joined as First-Team All-RMAC by Kobi Betts, with Michael Glen on the second team and Ben Boone and Austin Means both named honorable mention. On the academic teams, Sullivan was a First-Team All-Academic selection along with Glen and Boone, with Trent Dykema earning an honor roll spot. Sullivan is the first RMAC Player of the Year since Ben Sonnefeld in 2019, and first Academic Player of the Year since Gokul Natesan in 2017.

LAST TIME OUT
The Orediggers advanced to the RMAC Tournament final last weekend with a 71-64 win over Black Hills State on March 5, with Austin Means and Michael Glen leading the way with Means scoring a team-high 15 points with five rebounds and Glen posting 13 points and seven boards. The final was a classic despite the scoreline as then-#4 Colorado Mesa outlasted the Orediggers 75-74 in overtime. Brendan Sullivan led Mines with 22 points, including 14 in the second half and overtime, while Kobi Betts hit 20 and Titus Reed provided 11 off the bench. Tournament MVP Ethan Menzies led all scorers with 23 and Georgie Dancer scored 18 for CMU.

BITS AND PIECES
Mines owns the RMAC's best defense in terms of scoring (61.4 ppg) … The Orediggers also rank #3 in NCAA Division II in scoring defense … Brendan Sullivan (Dec. 21, Offensive), Kobi Betts (Dec. 2, Offensive and Feb. 8, Defensive) and Austin Means (Dec. 2 and Feb. 1, Defensive) have been RMAC players of the week this season … Brendan Sullivan is the only player in the RMAC to rank in the top 10 in both blocks (0.9 bpg, 4th) and steals (1.4 spg, 9th) … Michael Glen leads the team at 5.8 rebounds per game, with Austin Means right behind at 5.6 … Kobi Betts (12.8 ppg) and Glen (10.7 ppg) are both over 10 points per game along with Sullivan … Titus Reed (7.6 ppg) has been an effective sixth man this season, leading all bench scorers … Mines also ranks in the national top 20 in field goal percentage (17th, .493) and field goal percentage defense (13th, .406) … With 157 career blocks, Michael Glen is five behind Trevor Wages for the Mines record … He cracked the RMAC career top-10 earlier this month at tenth in career blocks … Glen is the only player in program history with 1,000+ points, 700+ rebounds, and 150+ blocks in his career … His 737 career rebounds rank sixth all-time.

TWO DECADES AT THE HELM
The 2020-21 season marks the 20th on the bench for Mines head coach Pryor Orser. Under Orser, Mines has gone 377-200, won five RMAC regular-season championships and two RMAC Tournament titles, qualified for 11 NCAA Tournaments, and currently has 17 consecutive winning seasons. He is second all-time in RMAC history in conference wins with 268, trailing only Fort Lewis and Western Colorado legend Bob Hofman's 296 victories.

LOOKING AHEAD
The regional winner will advance to the Elite Eight, set for March 24-27 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.