Mar. 5—Cumberland’s men ended a long postseason drought Thursday when the Phoenix earned an at-large bid to the NAIA National Tournament for the first time since 2009.
The Phoenix made it to the national tournament for the fourth time in program history, though in a different format. In the past, only 32 teams advanced to the NAIAs, which have been held for years at Kansas City’s historic Municipal Auditorium. Beginning this year, the NAIA takes 64 teams and places them in 16 brackets for the Opening Round with the bracket winners advancing to KC. Coach Jeremy Lewis said the move was made because the NAIA has gone from two divisions to one.
It was probably a good thing the tournament expanded as after the automatic qualifiers from conference tournaments, the remaining at-large bids go to the ranked teams. Cumberland didn’t receive votes until the final rankings. The Phoenix’s long postseason drought is a big reason why.
“It’s hard to get in there because there are so many of the same teams who are in there every year,” Lewis said, noting such programs get the benefit of the doubt from raters from across the country who don’t regularly see most of those teams. “With our program here, it’s been so long since we’ve been relevant at that level.”
Lewis has been with the men’s program all four times it has advanced to the nationals — as a senior point guard in 2004 and as an assistant under Lonnie Thompson in 2008 and ’09. He’s been to five NAIA women’s tournaments, four as head coach highlighted by a Fab Four finish in 2013.
Cumberland earned the seven seed in the Talladega (Ala.) bracket, and No. 2 in the pod, and will take on West Virginia Tech at 5 pm March 11. The winner will advance to take on the winner of Talladega and Washington Adventist for a trip to Kansas City. Talladega is the host of the opening round.
“(Talladega’s) men’s program is spectacular,” said Lewis, who regularly took Cumberland’s women to face the Alabama team. “West Virginia Tech is a very good team. They’ve had a great year. Long, athletic. They look similar to us on film, play similar to us. It should be a pretty good matchup.”
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The Phoenix have posted their best record in over 10 seasons sitting at 21-8 and finished tied for third in the Mid-South Conference.
“It’s a good accomplishment for our guys,” Lewis said. “I don’t think they’re satisfied yet. I feel like we still have a lot to prove. We’re very excited about the opportunity. A lot of hard work, but I keep telling them the job’s not done.”
The MSC had the most bids in the tournament with six teams earning trips to the tournament. Thomas More and Georgetown each picked up the automatic berth to the national tournament from the Mid-South Conference. The Saints were the regular season Mid-South Conference champions and Georgetown defeated Thomas More in the tournament championship for the second bid.
The University of the Cumberlands, Freed-Hardeman and Tennessee Southern also made it in the national tournament with at-large berths.
The field consists of 38 automatic qualifiers and one host berth — given to conference regular-season champions, regular season runners-up, tournament champions or tournament runners-up, depending on the league. The number of teams in each league determines the number of automatic bids in each conference. Leagues with 10 or more schools receive two automatic berths, while conferences with less than 10 institutions receive one. If a conference has 15 or more schools, it receives three automatic berths.
The 2021-2022 NAIA Opening Round winners will meet up in Kansas City for the final site of the championships. The Round of 16 and on will be held at the Municipal Auditorium from March 17-22.
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