The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

AS “Selection Sunday” draws near, Bahamian basketball players at the NCAA Division One level will spend the remainder of the week participating in their respective conference tournaments and vying for a berth in the men’s national tournament field of 68.

Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, Michigan State’s Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn, Ole Miss’ Dwight Coleby, Mississippi State’s Tavario Miller and Houston’s Danrad Knowles will all tip off in their conference tournaments beginning tonight and culminating on Sunday night.

Hield and the nationally ranked no.15 Sooners are assured of a spot in the national tournament but are looking to improve their regional seeding with a run at the Phillips 66 Big 12 title, hosted at the Sprint Centre in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Sooners, who finished the regular season with a 21-9 win-loss record - 12-6 in the Big 12 - are seeded third in the conference tournament and have earned a first round bye.

They will face the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the quarter-finals tonight at 9 local time. The game willl be broadcast live on ESPNU.

This will be the third meeting between the teams this season and Hield has led the way to a season sweep in the latest editions of the Bedlam series.

In two games against the Cowboys, the Big 12 Player of the Year, All-Big 12 first team selection and Wooden Award finalist has averaged 21 points per game.

If not for two misses at the free throw line, it would have been a perfect game for Hield in first meeting between the two, an 82-65 win for the Sooners in January.

Hield scored 27 points on 10-10 shooting from the field, including 4-4 from beyond three point range. He also added five rebounds, two assists and two steals. In the second meeting, Hield scored 15 points in a 64-56 road win.

The Sooners enter the Big 12 tournament as one of the conference’s hottest teams with wins in four of their last five games.

Oklahoma State finished the regular season at 18-12 overall and 8-10 in the Big 12 to enter the tournament as a sixth seed.

In the Big 10 tournament, Nairn and the Spartans will enter the conference tournament, hosted at the United Centre in Chicago, Illinois, as the third seed in the bracket. The Spartans finished the season at 21-10, 12-6 in the Big 12.

They will open their bid at a tournament run on Friday at 9pm local time against the winner of tonight’s game between the sixth ranked Ohio State Buckeyes and the winner of last night’s matchup between no.11 Minnesota Golden Gophers and no.14 Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

Nairn, the freshman guard, flourished against all three opponents in the regular season matchups.

He had arguably the best all-around game of his young collegiate career in a 59-56 upset win over the then nationally ranked no.23 Buckeyes last month.

He went 3-3 from the field, scored seven points, grabbed five rebounds and dished out four assists in 36 minutes. Nairn also made his first NCAA three-pointer in the contest.

He was also recognised by Buckeyes head coach, Thad Matta, for his defensive effort on freshman star and Big 10 leading scorer, D’Angelo Russell.

Nairn also had success against the Scarlet Knights. In a 71-51 win in January, Nairn scored a season high eight points on 4-4 shooting from the field in just 16 minutes.

Against the Golden Gophers, the Spartans suffered a 96-90 loss in overtime, but Nairn finished with five points and a season high eight assists in 37 minutes.

Every Big 10 tournament game will be nationally televised with coverage from CBS Sports, ESPN or ESPN2 and BTN.

The Southeastern conference tournament will field both Coleby and Miller when the event tips off tonight at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.

Their respective teams are “on the bubble” and will need a good showing at the conference tournament to gain entry to the field of 68.

Coleby and the Ole Miss Rebels are ranked sixth in the SEC bracket and will host a second round matchup tonight at 6 local time. They  will face the winner of the matchup between the no.11 South Carolina Gamecocks and no.14 Missouri Tigers.

In his sophomore season, Coleby has averaged 5.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in helping the the Rebels to a 20-11 record overall, 11-7 in the SEC.

Ole Miss are returning to Nashville, the site of their 2013 SEC tournament title,

with a strength of schedule ranking 28th in the nation according to ESPN.com. The Rebels have played 14 games against teams in ESPN.com’s top 50 basketball power index, posting a 6-8 win-loss mark.

The Rebels have won each of the last four games against the Gamecocks, including a season sweep last season. Ole Miss and Missouri have played five times, all in the last three years.

The Rebels won 67-47 on the road earlier this season and have won two-straight in the series.

Miller and the Aggies face an uphill battle after they lost their leading scorer Danel House to injury.

The Aggies will open the tournament today at noon against the winner between no. 13 Auburn Tigers and no.12 Mississippi State Bulldogs matchup.

In the American Athletic Conference tournament, hosted at the XL Centre in Hartford, Connecticut, Knowles will be the lone Bahamian player to participate in the tournament with both Mikhail McLean and LJ Rose sidelined by injury.

The Cougars enter the tournament as a no.10 seed and will face no. 7 Tulane Green Wave tonight at 6 local time, broadcast live on ESPNews.

The Cougars enter the post-season riding high on a three-game winning streak, their first since mid-December.

The opening round AAC matchup will be the second meeting against the Green Wave in eight day. Houston rallied from a 10-point deficit midway through the second half to take a 68-63 win in overtime in New Orleans on March 4 in the Cougars’ regular-season road finale.

In mid-January, Knowles finished with a career high 31 points in a 68-65 loss to the Green Wave.

The selection process determines which teams (68 men’s, 64 women’s) will enter the tournaments and their seedings and matchups in the knockout bracket.

Thirty-two teams gain automatic entry through winning their conference championship (commonly through winning a conference tournament or, in the sole case of the Ivy League, the regular season title).

The remaining teams (36 men’s, 32 women’s) rely on the selection committee to award them an at-large bid in the tournament.

The selection process primarily takes place on “Selection Sunday” and the days leading up to it. Selection Sunday is also when the brackets and seeds are released to the public.