While many VSU students are enjoying the spring break vacation, the VSU men’s and women’s basketball teams will be competing in the NCAA South region tournament, which will be held in Russellville, Ark. starting Friday.
The Blazers were tabbed the fourth seed on the men’s side, while the Lady Blazers were tabbed the sixth seed.
“I feel great about it,” Lady Blazer head coach Kiley Hill said. “I’m excited about the opportunity and I feel like we have a great draw in Fort Valley and I believe they are someone we can be very competitive with and have a chance to move on.”
The men will open the tournament against fifth seed Clark Atlanta on Saturday night as the ladies will play the second seeded Fort Valley Lady Wildcats, who enter the tournament with a 26-2 overall record, on Friday night.
The Lady Blazers head into the tournament following their first loss in 16 games, as they fell to Delta State in the Gulf South Conference tournament while the men enter the tournament with a 2-2 record in their last four games.
With an opening round win, the Blazers will face either top seeded Arkansas Tech or Tuskegee. The Blazers were eliminated from the GSC tournament in the semi-finals when they fell to Arkansas Tech 58-47 as they shot a season low 30.9 percent from the floor.
“We have to make sure that we stay focused on Clark because Clark is very good,” Blazer head coach Mike Helfer said. “We have to make sure that we take care of our preparation for them and not talk about playing Arkansas Tech in the second round.”
Much like the Blazers, the Lady Blazers are in line to meet the team that eliminated them from the conference tournament. The Lady Blazers could see the Lady Statesman of Delta State in the second round.
“Anytime you face a team for the second or third time you know everything about them,” Hill said. “They know a lot about you too but Delta spent a major amount of energy to get by us. I give them full credit; they beat us in the GSC tournament.”
All the South region games can be heard on Talk 92.1 F.M. and can be read about online at VSUspectator.com.