March 5, 2011

Watch Live | NCAA Championship Central

The UMass Lowell men's basketball team, in the midst of a 20-9 season, is expected to be chosen among the 64 teams Sunday night on the NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament Selection Show on www.ncaa.com.

The show is slated for 10:00 p.m.

UMass Lowell, which suffered a 71-60 loss to Adelphi Thursday night in the Northeast-10 Conference Tournament semifinal, was ranked No. 6 in the latest NCAA East Region Poll.

Bentley (22-7), despite being upset Saturday in the NE-10 Tournament Championship by Adelphi (78-72) Saturday, has been the No. 1 seed in the East virtually the entire season and is expected to be the site of the East Region bracket.

Through winning the NE-10 Tournament Championship, Adelphi receives the Conference's automatic bid to the NCAAs.

The East Region poll is dominated by NE-10 schools as Stonehill College (21-7) held firm at No. 2 this week and was followed by No. 3 American International College (20-8), No. 4 Saint Anselm (19-9), No. 5 Saint Rose (21-8) and UMass Lowell.

Bloomfield College (20-8) and Post University (17-11) of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) came in at No. 7 and No. 8 while Bridgeport (18-8) of the East Coast Conference and Goldey-Beacom (19-10) of the CACC rounded out the poll.

The pending invitation to the NCAA Tournament would be UMass Lowell's ninth all-time, third straight and eighth in the last 11 years. UMass Lowell won the 1988 NCAA Championship and captured the regional crown in 2003 and 2004.

More recently, the River Hawks advanced to the East Region final in 2006, but were first round casualties in 2009 and 2010.