[ Division II ] Seasiders invited Although Brigham Young-Hawaii was the only local team rewarded with a ticket to the NCAA Division II tournament yesterday, Seasiders coach Ken Wagner insists that part of the credit goes to the teams staying home.
to tourney
BYUH is the only Division II team
from Hawaii going to San BernardinoBy Jerry Campany
jcampany@starbulletin.com"The Hawaii teams were so good this year," Wagner said. "It was such a positive thing on our rating. I thought that anyone who can beat Hawaii Pacific, Chaminade and Hilo deserves to be there."
The Seasiders (19-9, 10-5) were awarded an at-large berth to the tournament by winning nine of their last 11 games. They wrapped up that stretch by beating Hawaii Pacific once and Chaminade twice on the road to win a share of the Pacific West Conference title with Montana State-Billings, who will join the Seasiders in the regional.
The tournament begins Thursday at noon, Hawaii time, in San Bernardino, Calif.
BYUH will play No. 9 Seattle Pacific in the first round and will face No. 5 Humboldt State on Friday if the Seasiders advance.
The Seasiders beat out Hawaii Pacific (18-9), Western Washington (20-6) and Cal Poly Pomona (17-8) for the last spot in the tournament. Wagner believes that it was his program's aggressive scheduling that helped it into its second NCAA Division II tournament.
"We believed we could make it," Wagner said. "We had a little party at my house waiting to get the call and the kids were upbeat. We played the toughest schedule of anyone in the country, and I thought once they examined that, they would see that we belonged."
The Seasiders opened the season with a trip through California in November and hosted two Top-25 teams after that. From there, they made it to the championship game of their annual Division I tournament before starting their conference schedule. And the conference was no easier, with five of the six teams rated in the Top 10 of the West Region at least once during the season.
The tough schedule not only gave the Seasiders a chance to win their first NCAA tournament game, it left them believing they have a real shot at advancing through the bracket to the elite eight in Evansville, Ind., March 20.
"We feel that we can beat anybody," Wagner said. "We've seen the best teams in the country, some of them in our own conference. We are young, but we are confident and really playing well right now. We have only had two bad halves in our last 11 games."
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