March 7, 2005

Indianapolis, IN - The Winston-Salem State University Rams were one of 41 teams that received an at-large bid to the 2005 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship as the Rams will join the 23 teams that received automatic bids to comprise the national field of 64 teams vying for the 2005 national championship.

WSSU has earned a six-seed in the South Atlantic Region and will face the #3 seed Spartans of USC-Upstate on Saturday in a game that will take place at Bowie State University in Bowie, MD. Tip-off time has yet to be determined.

Seven of the regional tournaments, consisting of eight teams each, will be conducted March 12th, 13th, and 15th at regional sites. The regional will be conducted March 11th, 12th and 14th. The eight quarterfinalists will advance to the finals at Ralph Englestad Arena in Grand Forks, North Dakota on March 23rd, 24th, and 26th.

Conferences that received automatic qualification are as follows:
California Collegiate Athletic Association-Cal Poly Pomona
Carolinas-Virginia Athletic Conference-Pfeiffer
Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference-Bloomfield
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association-Virginia Union
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-Findlay
Great Lakes Valley Conference-Southern Indiana
Great Northwest Conference-Alaska Fairbanks
Gulf South Conference-Montevallo
Heartland Conference-St. Mary's (Texas)
Lone Star Conference-Texas A&M-Commerce
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association-Central Missouri State
New York Collegiate Athletic Conference-Queens (New York)
North Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-South Dakota
Northeast-10 Conference-St. Anselm
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference-Northern State
Pacific West Conference-Hawaii-Hilo
Peach Belt Conference-Columbus State
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Edinboro
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference-Metro State
South Atlantic Conference-Tusculum
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-Lane
Sunshine State Conference-Lynn
West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-Wheeling Jesuit

Those institutions receiving at-large berths are, in alphabetical order, as follows:
Adelphi
Alderson-Broaddus
Barry
Bentley
Bowie State
Brigham Young-Hawaii
Bryant
Cal State Chico
Cal State San Bernardino
Catawba
Central Arkansas
Central Oklahoma
Eckerd
Ferris State
Florida Gulf Coast
Fort Lewis
Gannon
Indiana (Pennsylvania)
Indianapolis
Kennesaw State
Millersville
Minnesota State-Mankato
Nebraska-Kearney
Nebraska-Omaha
Pittsburg State
QuincySalem International
Seattle Pacific
South Carolina-Upstate
Southern Illinois Edwardsville
Southern New Hampshire
Southwestern Oklahoma State
St. Rose
Tarleton State
Washburn
Wayne State (Michigan)
West Georgia
Western Washington
Winona State
Winston-Salem State

Kennesaw State defeated Southern Indiana 84-59 to win the 2004 NCAA Division II Men's Elite Eight in Bakersfield, California. The 49th annual championship game will be broadcast live on CBS at Noon Central time (1 p.m. Eastern). For more information about the championship, log on to www.ncaasports.com.