The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

WHEN the dust settled on “Selection Sunday,” three Bahamian players and their respective universities received bids into the 68-team field for the NCAA Men’s Division I Tournament, commonly referred to as “March Madness.”

Dwight Coleby and the Kansas Jayhawks and Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn’s Michigan State Spartans received at large bids while Stephen Strachan and the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders received an automatic bid as a conference tournament champion.

The Jayhawks were named the No.1 seed in the Midwest region, hosted in Tulsa, Oklahoma and are the No.2 overall seed in the field. They will face the winner of the No.16 seed play in a game between North Carolina Central and University of California Davis on March 17.

The Jayhawks finished the season at 28-4, won their 13th straight Big 12 regular season title but were upset by the TCU Horned Frogs in the conference tournament quarter-finals.

Coleby averaged 1.7 points and 1.8 rebounds per game in his first season in a Jayhawks uniform after transferring from Ole Miss and sitting out last season due to transfer rules and a knee injury.

With two of the Bahamian players in the same bracket, it has created the possibility for them to meet in the second round.

The Spartans are ranked No.9, also in the Midwest Region and will play the No. 8 ranked Miami Hurricanes, March 17 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

A win for both the Jayhawks and Spartans would mean a meeting between the two next week.

It marks the 20th straight NCAA appearance for the Spartans and head coach Tom Izzo. The Spartans finished the regular season at 19-14, but lost three of their last four games.

In the Big 10 tournament, the Spartans won the opener over Penn State before they lost in the quarfer-finals to Minnesota.

Nairn averaged 3.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and 3.7 assists as a junior this season.

Friday’s game will mark the second-ever meeting between Michigan State and Miami. The Hurricanes defeated the Spartans (67-59) on November 28, 2012, in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge in Miami.

The Blue Raiders come into the South Region as the No.12 seed and will face the No.5 ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers, March 16 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The Blue Raiders are making consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in school history after they won their second consecutive Conference USA Tournament championship.

Middle Tennessee has a current record of 30-4. They were one of the Cinderella stories in last year’s tournament when as a No.15 seed, they upset the No.2 seed Spartans.

This will be the sixth meeting between the two programmes. The Golden Gophers lead the all-time series 4-1, and the last meeting was on March 21, 2012, in the National Invitation Tournament, a 78-72 Minnesota win.

The NCAA tournament is scheduled to begin on March 16 and will conclude with the championship game on April 3 at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Phoenix Arizona.

Several other Bahamian players competed in conference championships this week. However, they did not advance.