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ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The No. 17 Washington University in St. Louis men's basketball team is set to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, March 7 and Saturday, March 8. WashU will take on Central at 6:40 p.m. CT on Friday evening.
 
Joining the Bears in the Field House are Denison University, Franklin College and Central College. The winner of the St. Louis, Mo. bracket will face the winner of the pod hosted by UW-Platteville which also features Grinnell, Wisconsin Lutheran and Calvin.
 
Where to Follow
All games will be streamed live on ncaa.com. You can find Denison against Franklin HERE and WashU against Central HERE. All games will feature play-by-play from Jay Murry.
 
Additionally, all games will have live stats HERE.
 
The game will also be available on the NCAA Championships Pass app on ROKU.
 
About the Bears – Schedule | Roster | Stats
WashU enters the tournament with a 19-6 record after finishing third in the UAA with a 9-5 record. The Bears earned an at-large bid to the tournament, marking the 29^th time in program history WashU has been in NCAA Tournament.
 
Three players earned UAA honors, highlighted by first-year Connor May who was named UAA Rookie of the Year and earned an Honorable Mention nod. It is the fifth time in program history a Bear has been the Rookie of the Year. Senior Hayden Doyle earned a First Team nod while senior Drake Kindsvater earned a spot on the Second Team.
 
Doyle leads the Bears with 17.3 points per game to go with 4.9 rebounds. Kindsvater is averaging 13.6 points and a team-high 7.1 rebounds per game and leads the team with 36 steals while May is at 11.8 points per game to go with 6.0 rebounds and has 16 blocks on the season.
 
Scouting Central – Schedule | Roster | Stats
Central won the American Rivers Conference tournament last weekend, beating Nebraska Wesleyan for the title and earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the 12^th time in program history. The Dutch enter the tournament with a 17-11 record and finished 9-7 in conference play.
 
Central saw four players earn postseason honors: Josh Van Gorp (first team), Owen Schipper (second team), Kaleb Brand (honorable mention) and Karson Wehde (honorable mention).
 
Van Gorp, who recently became Central's all-time leading scorer, leads the Dutch with 22.9 points and 10.8 rebounds per game and as well as 19 blocks on the season. Schipper is at 11.9 points and 6.1 rebounds per game to go with 72 assists and Brand is averaging 10.4 points and 4.9 rebounds to go with a team-high 154 assists.
 
Scouting Franklin – Schedule | Roster | Stats
Franklin earned its bid to the NCAA tournament after winning the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, upending the top-seeded Anderson in the final. The Grizzlies enter the NCAA Tournament with a 21-7 record and went 14-4 in conference play.
 
Four from Franklin earned all-conference honors; Lynn King (second team), Jessie Morgan III (honorable mention), Cody Samples (honorable mention) and Cooper Matthews (honorable mention).
 
King leads the Grizzlies with 11.7 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Braden Flanagan sits at 11.6 points per game with 37 assists and 36 steals while Matthews is averaging 11.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game and leads the team with 53 steals on the year. Morgan III and Samples are both averaging 10.9 points per game.
 
The Bears and the Grizzlies have two common opponents in Rose-Hulman and Wabash. The Bears defeated RHIT 84-59 while Franklin split with the Fightin' Engineers in conference play, first winning 68-61 before losing 61-63 in the next match up. WashU defeated Wabash 68-60 and Franklin won 82-68.
 
Scouting Denison – Schedule | Roster | Stats
The Big Red earned the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winning the NCAC title for the second time in program history, defeating Wooster. Denison also won the regular-season title for the first time in program history. The Big Red enter the NCAA Tournament with a 24-3 record after going 14-2 in conference play.
 
Ricky Radtke earned a spot on the All-NCAC First Team while Trevor Reed was named to the Second Team and Darren Rubin to the Third Team. The Denison coaching staff earned NCAC Coaching Staff of the Year.
 
Rubin leads the team with 12.7 points per game while Radtke is at 12.2 points and a team-high 5.9 rebounds per game. Reed is also in double-figures with 11.9 points per game to go with 4.0 rebounds.
 
Denison, who played in the 40^th Annual Lopata Classic this season, has five common opponents with the Bears. WashU defeated Carnegie Mellon twice (99-74, 78-54) and Denison beat CMU 79-78. The Big Red fell to UC Santa Cruz in the Lopata Classic 80-83 and WashU beat the Banana Slugs 91-72. Also in the Lopata Classic, the Big Red topped Colby 86-76 and the Bears won 89-77. Denison beat Case Western Reserve University 80-72 and the Bears won twice (104-66, 86-68). Finally, WashU defeated Wabash 68-60 and Denison won twice (64-58, 53-51).
 
WashU vs. the NCAA Playoff Field
The Bears have faced four teams that reached the NCAA Tournament – Illinois Wesleyan along with UAA foes Chicago, Emory and NYU.
 
The 2025 Championship
The 64-team, single-elimination tournament consists of 43 automatic qualifiers and 21 at-large bids. The semifinals and championship will be held at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on March 20 and 22.