Bruins head to Omaha for Opening Round, will face Jamestown
Bellevue has been assigned to the Opening Round Bracket in Omaha, Neb. where they will face the University of Jamestown in the first round with the winner advancing to play LSU Shreveport.
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics announced today the Opening Round match-ups and sites for the 2021 NAIA Men's Basketball National Tournament.
Bellevue (20-13/9-5 NSAA), coming off their second North Star Athletic Association Tournament Championship, will be making their 20th National Tournament appearance overall. Their National Tournament quest begins as they travel to Omaha, Neb. for the 2020-21 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship Opening Round, presented by Ballogy.
The NAIA Opening Round Omaha Bracket B is being hosted by the Omaha Sports Commission with games being played at the D.J. Sokol Arena on the Creighton University campus.
There, they will be joined in a three-team pod by the University of Jamestown (19-8/14-6 GPAC), an at-large selection to the field and LSU Shreveport (16-1/6-1 RRAC), the winner of both the Red River Athletic Conference Regular-Season and Tournament Championships.
The Bruins are the third seed in the pod and will face second-seeded Jamestown on Friday, Mar. 12 at 2:00 p.m. The winner will advance to play #3 overall seed LSU Shreveport on Saturday, Mar. 13 with the winner of that game moving on to represent Omaha Bracket B in the 16-team final site from Mar. 18-23 at historic Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.
BU enters the National Tournament having won 14 of their last 18 games. Bellevue and Jamestown are familiar foes, having met eight times previously with the Bruins holding a 5-3 edge in the all-time series. BU won the most recent match-up, downing the Jimmies by a score of 76-73 on the Jimmies' home floor on Feb. 9, 2018.
In Bellevue's previous 19 appearances, all coming prior to the combining of Divisions I and II, they have reached the Elite Eight on six occasions, made four Fab Four appearances, and twice finished as National Runners-Up (2004, 2008).