Guilford College to Play Manhattanville in NCAA Tournament Opener

Quakers to play Manhattanville, Friday, March 2, at Johns Hopkins (Baltimore, Md.).

GUILFORD’S INVITATION: The Guilford College men’s basketball team (21-4, 15-3 Old Dominion Athletic Conference) has been selected for the NCAA playoffs. The Quakers, who received one of the 18 at-large bids to the NCAA playoffs, will play in a four-team regional tournament hosted by Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md.. Guilford faces Manhattanville College (23-5) in the first round Friday at 6:00 p.m., with Johns Hopkins (23-4) playing Villa Julie (20-7) at 8:00 p.m., in the other bracket. The winners of both games will meet Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in the second round. All first- and second-games will be played this weekend at Johns Hopkins’ Goldfarb Gym.

Guilford is one of a league-record three ODAC teams in the field, joining defending national champion Virginia Wesleyan and 2007 ODAC Tournament champ Hampden-Sydney. The ODAC also sent three teams to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in 1997 and 1998.

TICKET INFORMATION: Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for senior citizens and students of the participating schools (with ID). Children under two years old will be admitted free.

SERIES RESULTS: The Quakers face Manhattanville, of Purchase, N.Y., for the first time in the school’s basketball history. Guilford is 0-1 against Villa Julie. The only meeting between the two teams was a loss in the VJC Roundball Tournament in Stevenson, Md., December 2, 2001. Guilford and Johns Hopkins have no recorded hardwood meetings, despite their long basketball histories.

GUILFORD VS. 2007 NCAA PLAYOFF FIELD: The Quakers faced three other NCAA playoff teams this winter. Guilford took on Virginia Wesleyan, Averett, and Hampden-Sydney in regular-season play. The Quakers have a 2-0 record against Hampden-Sydney, 1-0 with Averett, and went 0-2 versus Virginia Wesleyan.

GUILFORD IN NCAA PLAYOFFS: The Quakers are making the first men’s basketball appearance in the NCAA playoffs. Before joining the NCAA Division III ranks in 1991, Guilford competed in the NAIA and posted an 8-8 record in seven national tournament appearances. Led by future NBA players M.L. Carr ‘73, World B. Free ’76 and Greg Jackson ‘74, the Quakers won the 1973 NAIA men’s basketball championship. Guilford placed fourth in the 1970 NAIA Tournament.

THE 2007 NCAA PLAYOFFS: The Division III championship provides for a 59-team field. The NCAA granted 37 conference champions automatic qualification for the 2007 championship. Four independent teams and 18 other at-large teams from the remaining independent teams and automatic qualifying conferences who did not receive their conference automatic qualification were selected with specific selection criteria approved by the Division III Championships Committee. Five two-team, first-round games will be conducted Thursday, March 1 with the winners advancing to play five teams that received first-round byes Saturday, March 3. Eleven sites will host four teams for first- and second-round competition Friday-Saturday, March 2-3. Second-round winners advance to one of four sectional-round sites March 9-10. Winners of the four sectional games move on to the finals March 16 and 17. All games, except the finals, will be played on the campuses of competing institutions. The finals will be conducted at the Salem Civic Center in Salem, Va.

GUILFORD LEADERS: Coach Tom Palombo’s Quakers opened the year with 10 straight wins for the first time in the team’s 93-season history. Guilford’s 21 wins mark their most since 1977-78 and its 21-4 record is the best 25-game standard since 1974-75. The Quakers also set a school record with 15 ODAC wins. Palombo, who took Defiance to the NCAA Division III men's basketball playoffs in 1999 and 2001, won the ODAC's Coach of the Year Award for the second time in his four years last week.

Junior Ben Strong, the Quakers’ first Old Dominion Athletic Conference Player of the Year, leads the way for Guilford. The 6-11, 220-pound center has been integral to the Quakers’ best campaign in nearly 20 years. He has a school-record five ODAC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week awards this season, which gives him eight weekly honors in his career. Strong leads the ODAC and ranked fifth in NCAA Division III as of Feb. 18 with 23.6 points per game. He also tops the conference and ranked seventh nationally with 11.1 rebounds per contest. His league-leading 2.44 blocks per game stood 12th in the country as of Feb. 18. Strong ranks sixth in the league with a .785 free-throw percentage and is seventh in field-goal percentage .571. He has a career-high 16 double-doubles this season and has led Guilford’s scorers 16 times. Strong scored a Guilford Division III-record 41 points in a Dec. 30 win at Methodist, one of his five 30-point games this season. He has 15 20-point games this year and averaged 23.8 points and 10.9 rebounds in 18 ODAC contests.

Fellow First Team All-ODAC pick Jordan Snipes, a 6-4, 190-pound senior guard, stands fourth in the league in scoring and ranks 85th nationally with a career-best 17.7 points per game. He is the only Guilford student with NCAA Tournament experience as he was a reserve on Methodist's 2004 NCAA club. An honorable mention All-ODAC pick last year, Snipes ranks among the league’s best in seven different categories, including rebounding (5.3 rpg., 13th) and steals (1.32 spg., t12th). He has a club-high 36 three-pointers and stands second on the club in rebounds and free-throw percentage (.740). Guilford’s scoring leader in eight games, Snipes has eight 20-point games, including a Guilford-Division III record 41-point effort in the Quakers’ 130-114 win over Emory & Henry Jan. 13. He averaged 18.2 points and 5.2 boards in 18 league games this season.

Junior forward Eric Belkoski stands third among the team’s scoring leaders with a career-high 8.4 points per game. He stands 11th among ODAC field-goal percentage leaders (.516).

Junior point guard Caleb Kimbrough, Strong's high school teammate, tops the Quakers and ranks fourth in the league with 3.48 assists per game. His 1.38 assist/turnover ratio stands eighth in the conference, behind senior teammate Thomas Burge (1.60). Kimbrough scored a career-high 20 points in the Quakers’ ODAC Tournament quarterfinal loss to Bridgewater and ranks fourth on the team with 6.7 points per game. Rookie guard Justin Strickland leads Guilford's reserves and ranks fifth on the team with 6.3 points per game.