INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – For the ninth time in program history the Lincoln Memorial University men's basketball team has earned a top-two seed for the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championship. The Railsplitters have been selected as the No. 2 seed for the 2021 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Southeast Regional Championship, announced via the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship selection show Sunday night on NCAA.com. The six-team Division II Southeast Regional Championship will be held inside B. Frank "Tex" Turner Arena for the fourth time in seven years Saturday and Sunday, March 13-14 and Tuesday, March 16. LMU was selected to host the regional championship for the fifth time in seven seasons on Friday, Feb. 12 with the NCAA Division II Championships Committee choosing predetermined regional sites for 2021 in light of the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic. Winning their league record ninth South Atlantic Conference regular season title in 11 years, the Railsplitters own a 16-3 record on the season and are on a 28-game home winning streak. After making eight-straight NCAA Championship appearances from 2011-18, LMU earns its 10th Division II Southeast Regional Championship bid in 11 seasons and second straight. Ranked No. 13 in the country according to the last National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Top 25 regular season poll, the Railsplitters are No. 15 in the D2SIDA Media Poll. Owning three top-25 victories in 2020-21, LMU has gone 15-3 against Division II opponents this season. Belmont Abbey College (18-4), who won the 2021 Conference Carolinas Championship earlier Sunday as the No. 2 seed, is the top seed in the Division II Southeast Regional Championship. Carson-Newman (16-5), who captured the 2021 SAC Pilot Flying J Men's Basketball Championship Sunday afternoon and is on an 11-game win streak, is the No. 3 seed in the regional championship. Conference Carolinas regular season champion Emmanuel College (15-6) is the No. 4 seed, while SAC regular season and tournament runner-up Queens (16-5) is seeded fifth. Tusculum (13-5) is the sixth and final seed in the Division II Southeast Regional Championship. The Railsplitters are the highest-ranked team in the regional championship with Queens checking in at No. 17 in the latest NABC Top 25. Belmont Abbey received votes in both national polls last week while Carson-Newman received four voting points in the NABC Top 25. Third-seeded Carson-Newman will take on sixth-seeded Tusculum at 6 p.m. on Saturday, March 13 to open up the Division II Southeast Regional Championship. Fourth-seeded Emmanuel will then face fifth-seeded Queens in the second game Saturday at 8:45 p.m. The top two seeds in the regional championship will receive quarterfinal byes with second-seeded LMU awaiting the winner of Carson-Newman and Tusculum and top-seeded Belmont Abbey awaiting the winner of Emmanuel and Queens.
As hosts of the Division II Regional Championship, the Railsplitters were able to choose their game time on Sunday, March 14 and will play in the first semifinal at 5 p.m. The Crusaders will take the court in the second semifinal Sunday at 7:45 p.m.
A regional champion will be crowned and a spot in the 2021 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Elite Eight will be clinched Tuesday, March 16 with the Division II Southeast Regional Championship title game scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip in Harrogate.
The complete 2021 NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championship schedule can be found below.
Saturday, March 13
Sunday, March 14
Semifinal 1 | 5 p.m. ET | Quarterfinal 1 Winner vs. #2 LMU
Semifinal 2 | 7:45 p.m. ET | Quarterfinal 2 Winner vs. #1 Belmont Abbey
Tuesday, March 16
Championship | 7 p.m. | Semifinal 1 Winner vs. Semifinal 2 Winner
LMU defeated three of the six teams in the regional championship field during the regular season, topping Carson-Newman 70-59 on Jan. 27, downing then 16th-ranked Queens 77-63 on Feb. 3 and blowing past then 24th-ranked Tusculum 103-82 on Jan. 2. All three wins came inside Tex Turner Arena.
The Railsplitters are 6-2 in NCAA regional championships in Harrogate, having won the 2016 Division II Southeast Regional Championship with a 103-80 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne. LMU was also triumphant at the 2017 Division II Southeast Regional Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, the following year, ousting the top-seeded host Royals, 82-68. Over their last three Division II Southeast Regional Championship appearances the Railsplitters have posted an 8-1 record, and LMU is 12-6 all-time in NCAA regional championships.
For the 2021 Division II Men's and Women's Basketball Championships, the traditional regional alignments were adjusted to a blended regional alignment to provide more equitable opportunity for teams to advance to their respective championship while attempting to maintain geographic proximity for the schools in the regional. The one-year regional alignment, which was implemented due to the scheduling complexities of the COVID-19 global pandemic, is made up of the SAC, Conference Carolinas and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) for the NCAA Southeast Region.
A NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championship page will become available later in the week on LMURailsplitters.com. The 2021 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship interactive bracket can be found here.
The attendance policy and ticket information for the 2021 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Southeast Regional Championship will be announced in the coming days.
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