Hard Work Pays Off As Tampa Receives First Bid To NCAA Tournament Since 2014

Indianapolis, Ind. - The NCAA and the Division II Selection Committee have officially released the Men's Basketball Championship bracket for the 2024-25 season. The University of Tampa's Men's Basketball program has been selected for the first time since 2013-14 to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA South Regional. The Spartans have earned this right by going 20-10 during the regular season. The Spartans also went 11-9 in the Sunshine State Conference and advanced the conference tournament semifinals. 

Tampa earned the No. 7 and will face the No. 2 seed Alabama-Huntsville in the first round. This highly anticipated matchup will take place on March 15th with tip-off to be announced later.. The NCAA South Regional will be hosted by Nova Southeastern in South Florida. The Spartans will look to advance past the first round of the south regional for the first time since 2008. 

In just the second year under the leadership of Linc Darner, the Spartans saw a 13 win turnaround from a year ago, two players selected to all-conference teams(Leitao and Willaims), and as a team were ranked in the top five in rebounds a game for the majority of the year. Led by Seniors Tyson Leitao and Bryan WIlliams, the Spartans will be highly motivated to pull off some magic in the postseason. Kaden Froebe, Trey Lane, and Ryan Blount will also play big roles for Tampa as they head into the regional. 

The full bracket can be seen below and for more information please visit NCAA.com.