The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament’s 68-team field has been selected and several Bahamians will have their programme’s featured in the bracket to chase the 2021 National Championship.

Graduate assistant Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn Jr and the Michigan State Spartans are the No. 11 seed in the East Region, assistant director for player development Mikhail McLean and the Houston Cougars are the No. 2 seed in the Midwest region, while Kai Jones and the Texas Longhorns are the No. 3 seed in the East Region.

The Spartans earned a bid to their 23rd consecutive NCAA Tournament. They will face UCLA Bruins in the First Four at 9:57pm Thursday, March 18, at Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, Indiana.

The game will be broadcast live on TBS. The winner will advance to take on the No.6 BYU Cougars.

Nairn played four seasons for the Spartans and joined the Spartans coaching staff as a graduate manager in the fall 2019 campaign.

The Cougars are nationally ranked at No.7 and the No.2 seed in the Midwest Region. They earned an automatic bid by clinching the American Athletic Conference title with a 91-54 win over the Cincinnati Bearcats on Sunday.

Houston will face the No. 15 seed Cleveland State Vikings on Friday, March 19 at Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana at 7:15pm local time and broadcast live on TruTV. The winner of Friday’s First-Round will face the winner of the Clemson and Rutgers winner on Sunday with a berth to the Sweet 16 on the line.

The Cougars are making their third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance.

Following his playing career with the Cougars, McLean joined the staff during the 2015-16 season. He has served in his current role as assistant director for player development for the 2016-17 season.

Jones and the Longhorns are nationally ranked at No.13 and earned a No.3 seed in the East Region. They will face the No. 14 seed Abilene Christian, Saturday March 20 at 9:50pm local time at Lucas Oil Stadium, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The game will be broadcast live live by truTV.

The Longhorns will enter the NCAA Tournament on a five-game win streak, all on the road or neutral-site contests.

Texas also comes off its first Big 12 title in programme history. Jones scored 13 points in the tournament finale.