Marlins Get First Round Bye, Jackets Headed to Ohio

NCAA Interactive Bracket

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- The ODAC will have two teams representing the league in the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament, which is set to begin this week.  Virginia Wesleyan College, the ODAC's automatic qualifier after winning the conference tournament, will be joined by Randolph-Macon College.  The Yellow Jackets earned an at-large bid into the national postseason.

Sixty-two teams make up the men's basketball D-III field, with the entire left side of the bracket 32 teams deep, while the right side features a pair of first round byes.  Virginia Wesleyan received one of those early passes, while #2 Amherst College garnered the other.

The Marlins (25-3), rated #7 in last week's D3hoops.com Top-25 Poll, will wait until Saturday, March 3, for its first NCAA contest as VWC will play the winner of unranked St. Mary's College (Md.) (25-3) and #25 Bethany College (W.Va.) (19-7).  That contest will be played at St. Mary's, most likely on Thursday, March 1.

Randolph-Macon (21-6), which received votes towards the top-25, will make the 465-mile drive north to Wooster, Ohio, and the College of Wooster, which will serve as host for one of the tournament's 14 four-team first and second round pods.  R-MC will square off with unranked Capital University Crusaders (18-9) in the first round, while the host #19 Scots (24-4) will take on unranked Maryville University (Tenn.) (18-9).

First round action begins on either March 1 or March 2 with all second round games slated for March 3.  For more information, visit the websites of any of the participating schools, or go to the NCAA's home on the Internet at www.ncaa.com.