Vincennes granted at-large bid, consecutive appearance streak extended
Much to the delight of Blazer fans, and particularly Head Coach Todd Franklin, Vincennes received the good news during Sunday’s live NJCAA Selection Show that they would be playing in the 2021 National Tournament as an at-large team.
The Tournament will be held at the Sports Arena in Hutchinson, KS, and runs April 19-24.
Following the Blazers loss in District finals to John A. Logan, on the radio post game show, Coach Franklin was adamant about his team deserving an at-large bid. The selection committee must have been listening (like I was) as Franklin pleaded the case for his team.
The announcement will extend the Blazers consecutive appearance streak to 9 years, breaking the record of eight they shared with Moberly Area CC (MO).
Since 2013, when the NJCAA changed the National Tournament format, Vincennes has auto-qualified five times as District Champs. In 2015, they were invited to participate as a zone rotation qualifier (which was abolished in 2017), and the last three years the Blazers have been an At-Large selection.
Vincennes, a perennial National Tournament contender, was Central District runners-up the last two seasons, losing to rival John A. Logan College (IL) in both title games. During those seasons VU compiled a record of 45-11. In 2019, the Trailblazers lost to Kaskaskia in the District semifinals, but went on to win their fourth National Championship as an At-large entry, finishing with a 30-2 record.
Overall, this will be their 36th trip to Hutch, breaking the record they set last year.
The 20th ranked Trailblazer (17-6), will enter play as the No. 15 seed and are paired against No. 18 seed Holmes CC (MS) (15-3), the Gulf District Champ. That game will be played Monday, April 19, at 2:00 CDT.
The winner will meet up with #2 seed Northern Oklahoma – Tonkawa (23-1), the South Central District Champions, who finished #7 in the final regular season poll. That game is set for Tuesday, April 20, at 6:30.
Vincennes is actually the defending champion. They won the National Championship in 2019, the last time the tournament was held. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the covid.
The Trailblazers are one of three teams having won four national championships. They other titles came in 1965, 1970, & 1972). The other two are, San Jacinto Central (TX) and Moberly Area CC (MO). Vincennes will certainly have their sights being the first to #5 as San Jac dropped their men’s program a few years ago, and Moberly did not make this year’s field.
All 23 tournament games of the 2021 tourney will be available for viewing online (for a small fee) on NJCAATV at http://njcaa.org/network
