The bracket was released for the NAIA Division I National Tournament on Wednesday afternoon and the Lee Flames will be pitted against Olivet Nazarene (Bourbonnais, Ill.) on Thursday, March 18 at 10 a.m. (Eastern).
Coach Tommy Brown and his Flames (26-7) will be making their fifth straight appearance in the Kansas City event. For the third time in five appearances, Lee will be the tournament's 12th seed. Olivet (19-10) and a loser to St. Xavier (Ill.) in the semi-final round of the CCAC tournament, will be making its 14th appearance in the national tournament.
Over the years, the Flames and Olivet have tangled only twice. Lee has never won over the Chicago-suburb team. However, the Flames last faced the Tigers when each club was a member of the NCCAA.
Olivet is coached by Ralph Hodge, who is in his 32nd season as the leader of the Tiger program. Lee's opponent features a balanced scoring attack. Six-foot-seven Tyler Wallenfang (11.3 ppg) is the leader for the club that averages 77 points per game. A freshman, Jordan Marks, paces the Tigers in rebounding (6.7 per game).
Lee had a 13-game winning streak stopped by Southern Polytechnic State University in the final round of the SSAC tournament. On the other hand, Olivet has had an up and down season. The Tigers have scored two impressive wins over Union University, a victory over powerful Concordia (Calif.) and they also whipped Campbellsville. All three of those opponents are in the national tournament.
The Flames will join Southern Poly as the only clubs representing the SSAC. The Sooner Conference sends five teams to the event and the Golden State Conference is sending four.
Should the Flames win the opener against Olivet, they would return to action on Friday.