Gannon's basketball programs join rare company this weekend, as both the men's and women's teams will host a split regional in their Division II tournaments as the No. 1 seeds in the Atlantic regional.
While a regional host typically hosts eight teams, the split regional means four men's teams and four women's teams will travel to Gannon. The other four men's teams in the Atlantic region will play at No. 2 seed California (Pennsylvania), and the other four women's teams will play at No. 2 seed Fairmont State.
Since 2014, when the split-regional model was put into place, this marks only the third time that a school has earned the No. 1 seed in a regional for the men's and women's Division II tournaments. Most recently, Indiana (Pennsylvania) earned the No. 1 seeds on both sides in 2020, but never got to see it through as all championships were canceled soon after due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, both West Texas A&M programs hosted.
"I've been part of hosting six times, this being seven, and never seen this," said first-year Gannon men's basketball coach Jordan Fee, a former Division II standout at West Liberty, where he was part of two Elite Eight teams. "I've never been part of a split, but I like it because it means our women are hosting, too. I'll take that any day. It's going to be neat — our men and women here together as it should be."
"I'm so excited," added Samantha Pirosko, a redshirt senior for Gannon's women who scored 40 and 32 points in their last two wins. "Our fans, our boosters, I just know all of our fans are going to show up, and it's going to be a packed house, especially with the men and women hosting."
For the Gannon women's team, which will face West Virginia State in the first round Friday, reaching the NCAA tournament is nothing new. This berth marks the Golden Knights' fourth in a row — excluding the 2021 tournament, when the field was reduced from 64 to 48 teams. That stretch also includes being named the No. 1 seed for the 2020 tournament, which never got started. The last time the Gannon women were able to host a regional was in 2013, which included a trip to the Elite Eight.
"It never gets old, that's for sure," said Cleve Wright, Gannon women's basketball head coach, who's in his 16th year leading the Golden Knights. "Really happy that we're going to be here at home. We can play in front of our fans and are looking forward to that environment."
The Gannon men's run to this point is the latest in an amazing turnaround. Last year, the Golden Knights went 3-23. With a 29-2 record this year, the team is making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2018 and will face Lincoln (Pennsylvania) on Friday.
"It feels really good (to be in the NCAA tournament)," said Nigel Haughton, a graduate student who transferred to Gannon for his last season. "Coming into this year, we felt like we had the talent and the experience to really make a push for the end of the year and make the NCAA tournament. So it's really cool to get that opportunity."
"It's amazing. I came from a place where we didn't make it out of our conference a lot, so it's a blessing to be here with these guys and to compete at a high level," fellow graduate transfer Lyle Tipton added. "To be here with these guys and to find success and win a conference championship, it was more than I could have dreamed of."
Double duty
Gannon's double hosting situation is rare, but the Golden Knights are joined by 25 other Division II schools (see list below) to have their men's and women's teams represented in both brackets. Additionally, there are three sets of exact first-round matchups on both sides: Catawba vs. UNC Pembroke, Cal State LA vs. Azusa Pacific, and Montana State Billings vs. Chico State.
- West Virginia State, Atlantic region
- California (Pennsylvania), Atlantic region
- Pittsburg State, Central region
- Minnesota State Mankato, Central region
- Fort Hays State, Central region
- Northwest Missouri State, Central region
- Thomas Jefferson University, East region
- Southern New Hampshire, East region
- Daemen, East region
- Northern Michigan, Midwest region
- Kentucky Wesleyan, Midwest region
- Ferris State, Midwest region
- Nova Southeastern, South region
- Lee, South region
- Embry-Riddle (Florida), South region
- Catawba, Southeast region
- UNC Pembroke, Southeast region
- Wingate, Southeast region
- Colorado School of Mines, South Central region
- Colorado Mesa, South Central region
- Lubbock Christian, South Central region
- Cal State LA, West region
- Azusa Pacific, West region
- Montana State Billings, West region
- Chico State, West region
Streaming info
NCAA Championships Pass will stream 120 Division II men's and women's basketball tournament games (all games from the first round through the quarterfinals) live on ncaa.com. Games will be available on ncaa.com; school sites that stream through Hudl and opt to co-distribute the livestreams; and the NCAA Championships Pass app available for Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Google TV.
Prices for viewing (first round through quarterfinals)
- $9.95 per game.
- $29.95 per championship.
- $49.95 for all games.
Semifinals and finals viewing
- Women's Semifinals: Wednesday, March 27, on CBS Sports Network (7 and 9:30 p.m. Eastern time).
- Women's Championship: Friday, March 29, on CBS Sports Network (8 p.m. Eastern time).
- Men's Semifinals: Thursday, March 28, on CBS Sports Network (2 and 4:30 p.m. Eastern time).
- Championship: Saturday, March 30, on CBS (3 p.m. Eastern time).
