No. 13 ranked Bruins receive at-large invite to National Championship
reposted with permision- SLCC athletic department – Jonathan.Oglesby@slcc.edu
TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (April 11, 2021) – The No. 13 Salt Lake Community College Men’s Basketball team has received an at-large bid to the 2021 NJCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament in Hutchinson, Kan.
A day after falling to Southern Idaho in the Region 18 championship game, the Bruins were announced as an at-large bid in the NJCAA Selection Show on Sunday. Salt Lake concluded the season with a mark of 20-4 overall, after finishing as the Scenic West Athletic Conference runner-up with a record of 12-3.
“I’m thrilled for everyone in our program to be selected with an at-large bid,” said Bruins coach Kyle Taylor. “I’m thrilled for our players, who have been phenomenal all year and battled through a ton of adversity and injuries; I’m thrilled for our coaching staff, who works tirelessly to make our players and program successful; and I’m thrilled for our administration, who is ultra-supportive of me, our players and our entire program, and that has provided us with the resources that make this level of success possible.”
It is poetic justice that Salt Lake will get the opportunity to play in the national tourney, a season after the Bruins entered as a high-seed and were denied the opportunity due to the tournament being cancelled in the wake of COVID-19 risk mitigations and cancellations. This season, SLCC will enter as the No. 12 seed, facing off against No. 21 seed South Georgia State at 8:30 CDT, Monday, April 19 in the Sports Arena. The winner will advance to play No. 5 South Plains College (TX).
It will be the second straight year the Bruins have qualified to play in the National Tournament as District Champions, and their ninth appearance overall. SLCC has two National Championships in its history, winning it all in 2009 and again in 2016. Salt Lake also took home a second place trophy in 2008.
Taylor said his team is deserving of the opportunity to play at ‘Hutch’ after a year like 2020.
“I truthfully haven’t thought much about having last year’s national tournament canceled due to COVID-19,” he said. “However, last night after we lost to Southern Idaho, it hit me that we could miss out on (playing in the national tourney) two years in a row. Fortunately we played well enough all season long and our conference and region were really good this year, so we benefited from the success of the Scenic West. We’re very excited to represent our region and Salt Lake Community College at the national tourney.”
