| March 14, 2004
Contact: Rick Nixon (210) 458-4551 UTSA and Stanford to meet in NCAA Tournament on Thursday
With a third trip to the NCAA Tournament already secure, the UTSA Roadrunners men's basketball team found out Sunday evening that they would be making a trip this week to Seattle, Washington where they would be meeting the Stanford Cardinal in a first round game to be played on Thursday, March 18, at KeyArena.
The game is scheduled to tip off 30 minutes following the completion of the Alabama-Southern Illinois game which will tip off at 1:40 CST. UTSA's game
will tip at approximately 4:15 p.m. CST and will be televised on CBS Television (KENS-TV, Channel 5). The game can also be heard on the
Roadrunner Radio Network (KSJL Radio 810 AM and www.goUTSA.com).
UTSA, 19-13, will enter the Tournament in the No. 16 seed position in the West Region, while Stanford, 29-1, is No. 1. The game will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs. The Roadrunners, who have won seven straight games, earned the Southland Conference's automatic bid to the Tournament with a 74-70 victory on March 12 over Stephen F. Austin. Stanford, which won the PAC-10 Tournament title for the first time in school
history this weekend, is making its 10th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
"To be able to achieve what we have this season and to see the fruits of victory is very rewarding," said UTSA head coach Tim Carter, who watched the
bracket announcement at a reception and press conference that took place at the Alamodome Sports Club on Sunday evening. "Our team all season long has
shown a lot of character and we have stuck to the goal of having this kind of success. We have great respect for the Stanford program and we know that
a number 16 has never defeated a number one. But our theme this week will be why not us? We are going there to win."
Stanford coach Mike Montgomery is busy at work preparing for the Roadrunners.
"We've got faxes, we've got Internet stuff, we've got rumors, and we've got tape," Montgomery said when asked what he knew about the Roadrunners, in the tournament for the first time in five years and winless in their two previous appearances.
Montgomery is happy his team won't have to travel far Seattle is less than a two-hour flight and if the Cardinal get through the first two rounds they'll be headed for Phoenix. This is especially important for Stanford because players have final exams starting Monday, and they will try to complete their tests before leaving.
"Frankly, they're a little bit fatigued," Montgomery said. |
