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OMAHA, Neb. - Norfolk State (25-9) will make its first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament appearance this week and will be the No. 15 seed in the West Region. The Spartans, winners of seven straight, face No. 2 seed Missouri (30-4) in a second-round tournament game beginning at approximately 4:40 p.m. Eastern (3:40 Central) on Friday at the CenturyLink Center Omaha in Omaha, Neb., or 30 minutes following the conclusion of the No. 7 Florida vs. No. 10 Virginia game. The winners of those two games will square off on Sunday for the right to go to the Sweet 16.

MEDIA COVERAGE
TV: Live on TNT (Play-by: Marv Albert; Color: Steve Kerr; Sideline: Craig Sager)
Radio: WNSB 91.1 FM (Play-by-Play: Ross Gordon; Color: Joe Cook)
Westwood One/NCAA (Play-by-Play: Kevin Kugler; Color: Tom Brennan)
Live Audio: www.nsuspartans.com (Click “Live Audio” link under Inside Athletics tab) - note that there will NOT be a live audio stream from WNSB per NCAA rules. The Westwood One audio stream is available on the NSU web site
Live Stats: www.ncaa.com/sports/basketball-men/d1

HISTORY-MAKING SPARTANS
Fifteen years into its Division I history and after 12 failed tries, the NSU basketball team won its first MEAC title last week in Winston-Salem, N.C. The school moved up to the Division I level in 1997-98 and did not play in the 1998 or 1999 conference tournaments. The Spartans didn't make it to their first MEAC final until 2009, when they lost to Morgan State. NSU was a regular in the NCAA Division II Tournament when the Spartans played in the CIAA. NSU made 15 Division II tourney appearances, advancing to the national quarterfinals on five occasions and making the 1995 Final Four. This season, NSU has already set school Division I-era records for most overall wins (25), most MEAC wins (13), longest winning streak (eight games, from Dec . 20-Jan. 21), highest MEAC regular-season finish (second) and first MEAC Tournament title.

15 vs. 2 MATCHUP
No. 15 seeds are 4-104 all-time against No. 2 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, but two of those upsets have been turned in by Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference schools. Hampton beat Iowa State 58-57 in 2001, and Coppin State topped South Carolina 78-65 in 1997. Those wins represent two of the MEAC's three Division I Tournament wins, with the other coming by Florida A&M over Lehigh in the 2004 play-in game. MEAC teams are 3-31 all-time in the Division I tourney. The other 15 over 2 upsets were Santa Clara over Arizona in 1993 (64-61) and Syracuse over Richmond in 1991 (73-69).

MEAC TOURNEY REVISITED
NSU was impressive last week in coming away with its first-ever MEAC Tournament title, though the Spartans were tested in each game. Here is a quick recap:
• Quarterfinals: #2 NSU 71, #10 Howard 61: Pendarvis Williams scored 22 points and Kyle O'Quinn added 18 for the Spartans, who led by as many as 19 in the first half. NSU shot 56.5 percent from the floor in the half with Williams hitting a trio of 3-pointers. Howard hit its first seven field goals of the second half before the Bison tied it at 54 on a Glen Andrews 3-pointer with 6:47 left. But Williams hit two more 3's in a 9-0 NSU run that helped the Spartans regain control. Williams was 7-of-9 from the floor and 5-of-7 from 3-point range, O'Quinn had nine rebounds, and Marcos Tamares had 13 points.
• Semifinals: #2 NSU 58, #11 Florida A&M 46: O'Quinn had 13 points and eight rebounds, and NSU held FAMU to 34 percent shooting and forced the Rattlers into 19 turnovers. NSU led 23-22 after a slugging first half for both teams. FAMU took its final lead of the game at 29-28 on an Amin Stevens layup with 15:39 left. But the Spartans answered with a 7-0 run, which was capped by five straight points by Rob Johnson, to seize the lead for good. Johnson had 12 points and five boards, and Quasim Pugh had season highs of 10 points and four assists.
• Final: #2 NSU 73, #4 Bethune-Cookman 70: O'Quinn had 18 points and seven rebounds while Williams added 17 for the Spartans, who built a double-digit lead in the first half but had to hold off a furious B-CU rally. The Wildcats trailed by as many as 14 in the second half, but scored on seven straight possessions in the final three minutes to whittle their deficit down to three. But Garrius Holloman missed a 3-pointer in the closing seconds as NSU held on. Johnson scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half to earn all-tournament team honors. O'Quinn was named Tournament Most Outstanding Player and is the first MEAC player since Hampton's Tommy Adams in 2002 to earn MEAC Player of the Year and tourney MOP in the same year.

TOURNAMENT TESTED
A big catalyst for NSU's season was an impressive showing in the Paradise Jam back in November. After opening the tournament with a 99-68 loss at Marquette in Wisconsin, the tide turned for NSU once reaching the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Spartans upset CAA regular-season champion Drexel 61-56, then rolled past TCU 66-53 in the next round. That set up a rematch against then 16th-ranked Marquette in the championship. NSU went toe-to-toe against the Eagles and had a chance to win it in the final seconds, but Kyle O'Quinn missed a 3-pointer that would have given NSU the lead. Including the games in the Paradise Jam and the MEAC Tournament, the Spartans are 5-1 in neutral-site games this season.

SIZING UP THE COMPETITION
NSU is 5-3 this season against teams that were selected for postseason play. The Spartans have wins over Long Island (NCAA qualifier), Drexel (NIT), Savannah State (NIT), TCU (CBI) and Toledo (CIT). The Spartans went 0-2 against Marquette (NCAA qualifier) and also lost to Illinois State (NIT).

"MAC" IS BACK IN THE NCAAS
While this is NSU's first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, it is not the first trip to the tourney for every member of the Spartan basketball team. Senior swingman Chris McEachin helped Radford make the “Big Dance” in 2009. McEachin, then a sophomore, scored seven points in the 16th-seeded Highlanders' 101-58 loss to eventual national champion North Carolina. McEachin, who averaged 5.3 points in two seasons at Radford, transferred to NSU and sat out the 2009-10 season. The Norfolk, Va. native has averaged 11.9 points in his two seasons at NSU.

MEMORABLE YEAR FOR NSU
The 2011-12 school year is shaping up to big an historic one for the NSU Athletics Department. The Spartans have won the first four MEAC men's championships to be contested so far: cross country, football, indoor track and basketball. The MEAC titles in football and men's basketball are the first of their kind in the school's Division I era (since 1997-98). Only Lehigh and NSU have qualified for both the Division I FCS playoffs and the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament this academic year. The success may remind older NSU fans of the 1974-75 school year, when then Norfolk State College won CIAA (D-II) conference titles in men's and women's basketball, football, men's track and field, and baseball - every sport the department sponsored that year.