As announced on the NCAA Selection Show, the Green Bay men’s basketball team will be the No. 14 seed in the West Region and will face No. 3 seed Texas A&M in the First Round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. The game will be played on Friday, March 18 in Oklahoma City, Okla., at a time still to be announced.
Green Bay is 1-0 all-time against the Aggies, defeating Texas A&M in the only other meeting in program history on Dec. 1, 1995, 60-49 – a game that was played in Milwaukee as part of the First Bank Classic. Ironically enough, later that season marked the Phoenix’s last NCAA Tournament appearance under first-year coach Mike Heideman.
The winner will face the winner of No. 6 seed Texas and No. 11 seed Northern Iowa in NCAA Third Round on Sunday.
The other pod of teams competing in Oklahoma City includes No. 2 seed Oklahoma vs. No. 15 seed Cal State Bakersfield, No. 6 seed Texas vs. No. 11 seed Northern Iowa and No. 7 seed Oregon State vs. No. 10 seed VCU.
The rest of the West Region is comprised of No. 1 seed Oregon vs. No. 16 seed Holy Cross/Southern (play-in game), No. 4 seed Cal vs. No. 13 seed Hawaii, No. 5 seed Maryland vs. No. 12 seed South Dakota State, and No. 8 seed Saint Joseph’s vs. No. 9 seed Cincinnati.
Green Bay is making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance all-time and its first in 20 years. The Phoenix is 1-4 all-time in NCAA Tournament games, earning its only victory on Mar. 17, 1994 as a No. 12 seed knocking off No. 5 seed California.
The Phoenix is led by seniors Jordan Fouse and Carrington Love, who both earned All-Tournament and All-League honors earlier this season. Fouse was named 2016 Horizon League Tournament MVP, while both he and Love landed on the league’s All-Defensive Team. Junior Charles Cooper also garnered All-Tournament Team honors.
Green Bay has posted three-consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time since the 1990-1992 campaigns, while first-year head coach Linc Darner joined Mike Heideman (1995-96) as the only other Phoenix head coach to win 20 games in his inaugural season. Additionally, the team has won eight of its last nine games, including its four wins in four days in Detroit to capture the 2016 Horizon League Championship.
