The majority of the Concordia Stingers men’s basketball players will spend the next few weekends glued to their television screens engrossed in the NCAA’s March Madness basketball playoffs.
For the Stingers it’s more than a chance to immerse themselves in non-stop basketball action. Over the last three years, Concordia has faced five of the top 64 teams in the U.S. college national playdowns.
Most of the teams familiar to the Stingers are in the West bracket – Duke, Arizona, Connecticut and Georgia. In November of 2005, Concordia also faced Davidson College – playing in the NCAA’s Midwest bracket - in North Carolina.
The Stingers lost all five games, but it wasn’t about winning.
“It’s a great experience for the guys,” says Concordia head coach John Dore. “To be the best, you have to try and play the best competition possible.”
In addition, the Stingers recently played Maryland, Vermont, Rhode Island, Northern Arizona, Colorado, Colorado State and Illinois. Concordia defeated the Fighting Illinis 86-82 in Montreal last September.
Dore is looking to put together another competitive non-conference schedule for the upcoming season. He will attend the NCAA Final Four Tournament in San Antonio in early April where he’ll work on setting up games for the fall of 2008.
