BOWIE, MD---It will be a busy week for the No. 10 Bowie State University Bulldogs
as they prepare for their trip to the NCAA Division II Elite 8 being held in Lakeland,
Fl.
The Bulldogs will arrive in Florida on Monday, March 24, in preparation for
their Elite 8 matchup against the No. 6 River Hawks of Massachusetts-Lowell.
The contest on Wednesday, March 26, at 12 noon will kickoff a day of four
quarterfinals at the Jenkins Center on the campus of Florida Southern
University.
Should the Bulldogs advance past the River Hawks, they would face the
Kentucky Wesleyan/Cal Poly-Pomona winner at 6 p.m. on Thursday. A win
Thursday night would propel the Bulldogs into the Division II championship
game on Saturday, March 29, at 1 p.m.
There will be no official highlights available to the media until Thursday.
The highlights will be available first from 10-10:30 that night on KU Band
5B 56, transponder 08, with a downlink frequency of 11869. The second set of
highlights will be available from 12:30 to 1 a.m.
The Bulldogs will leave early Monday morning heading to Florida. They will
attend a reception on Monday, then have their first practice at the arena on
Tuesday morning. That practice at 10 a.m., will be open to the public and
the media. The Bulldogs will attend a pre-tournament banquet Tuesday night
then get ready for Wednesday's action.
In their first NCAA tournament appearance, the Bulldogs (29-4) advanced to
the national stage by winning the South Atlantic Region while the River
Hawks (28-4) emerged from the Northeast region.
While the Bulldogs and River Hawks were both ranked in the top 10 in
Division II's final poll of the year, that is about where the similarities
stop.
Head coach Luke D'Alessio constructed a team that has come into its own led
by its seniors, of which there are nine. All five starters are seniors and
all score in double figures. D'Alessio, who first coached at Catonsville
Community College has cultivated local talent and 10 of the 13 players on
the active roster are from the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.
For the River Hawks, head coach Ken Barer has a team for the future as well
as the present as they have just two seniors on the roster. Like America,
the River Hawks are a melting pot that Barer has blended into a cohesive
unit. Of his 13 players, just one is from Massachusetts. Four hail from
Israel, four are from New York and three are from Illinois.
