BOONE, N.C. – For the second straight year and the sixth time in program history, the App State men's basketball team is going to the postseason.
Head coach
Dustin Kerns and the Mountaineers have accepted an invitation to participate in The Basketball Classic presented by Eracism, a new 32-team tournament open to deserving teams not selected for the NCAA Tournament or NIT.
"Our players have earned the opportunity to play in March and compete for a postseason championship," Kerns said. "In college basketball, playing in March is a difficult task and involves a small number of selected teams. Our players are worthy of this invitation. We aspire to be a program that consistently plays in the postseason. We are fortunate to host in the first round and play another game in front of our students and fans here at the Holmes Center. Our team continues to change the narrative of App State basketball, and that is a good thing. I am proud of this group for setting a new standard here at App State."
This is the first time in program history that App State will play in the postseason in consecutive years.
App State will host a first-round game on Tuesday, March 15 (opponent and tipoff time TBA). At $15 for adults and $10 for youth (ages 3-12),
tickets can be purchased here. App State students with a valid ID can reserve FREE tickets by checking their university email for the link to reserve.
The complete field for the Basketball Classic will be announced after the field for the NIT is released on Sunday, March 13. Future-round games could be played at the Holmes Convocation Center and will be determined at least in part by the first-round game attendance. This year's App State season attendance total of 40,474 fans set a record for the Holmes Center that opened in 2000.
The Basketball Classic semifinals are scheduled for Tuesday, March 29 and the Championship Game on Thursday, March 31.
Led by first-team All-Sun Belt guard
Adrian Delph and his 17.4 points per game, the Mountaineers are 19-14 with a chance to achieve the 13th 20-win season in program history. The team's 19 wins are the most since 2009-10, and their second-place finish in the Sun Belt Conference standings with a 12-6 league record was their best since joining the league eight years ago. Over the weekend, App State beat Georgia Southern before falling by five points to eventual tournament champion Georgia State in the Sun Belt semifinals in Pensacola, Fla.
App State has played the 26th-toughest nonconference schedule in the country, having faced such teams as current No. 7 Duke, No. 25 North Carolina, Delaware (CAA tournament champion), Iona (MAAC regular-season champion), Vermont (America East regular-season champion) and Furman (SoCon tournament runner-up).
Each game of the Basketball Classic will be held on the campus of one of the participating schools. In lieu of a traditional bracket, the field and matchups will be set after each round.
All games will be broadcast on the ESPN+ platform.
Administering the Basketball Classic is a seasoned panel with deep roots in the sport that previously conducted the College Insider, Inc. Postseason Tournament (CIT) from 2009-19.
App State's Postseason History
- 1979 NCAA Tournament (first round)
- 2000 NCAA Tournament (first round)
- 2007 NIT (first round)
- 2010 CollegeInsider.com Tournament (semifinals)
- 2021 NCAA Tournament (First Four)
- 2022 The Basketball Classic
