Northeastern, Harvard Earn NCAA Tournament Berths
BOSTON (CBS) -- A pair of local teams are heading to March Madness, with the Northeastern Huskies and Harvard Crimson each earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament.
While Harvard is dancing for the fourth straight year, this will be Northeastern's first tournament appearance since 1991.
The Huskies (23-11) earned an automatic bid by winning their first Colonial Athletic Association championship. They were happy to see themselves come up as the 14-seed in the Midwest Region, and will kick off Thursday's slate of games against 3-seed Notre Dame (29-5) in Pittsburgh.
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This is Northeastern's first NCAA Tournament appearance in 24 years and their eighth appearance overall. The Huskies last won a tournament game in 1984, when former Celtic Reggie Lewis was a freshman.
"It was a long time coming," Northeastern head coach Bill Coen told WBZ-TV's Dan Roche after Sunday's selection show. "We're so grateful for the opportunity to participate in the greatest sporting event in the world and be part of March Madness. I'm so happy for the entire Northeastern community."
"We knew we were going to be up there, but seeing it for the first time – 24 years for the school, I'm happy for the school and all the alumni," said junior guard David Walker. "For us, we worked hard all year. We're ready to go and are really excited."
The Fighting Irish beat UNC over the weekend to claim the ACC Tournament championship, but the Huskies are ready to show they belong on Thursday.
"Just another team," Huskies junior forward Quincy Ford told WBZ-TV's Dan Roche. "They put on their shorts just like we do. We're going to go out, play hard and execute. Nothing is going to change. We're going to go out and play our brand on basketball. We'll see what happens."
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The Harvard Crimson (22-7) will also play on Thursday, earning the 13-seed in the West Region. They earned an automatic bid as Ivy League champs, beating Yale in a one-game playoff over the weekend, and will face 4-seed North Carolina (24-11) in Jacksonville.
"We are thrilled to represent our great conference in the NCAA tournament," Crimson head coach Tommy Amaker said on Sunday. "Recognizing the seed we have and the opponent we drew, what an opportunity for us. We can't say enough for the excitement this brings to everyone."
"This is the dream we all had when we came to Harvard, to have this level of success," said senior guard Wesley Saunders, who has been to the tournament in each of his four seasons at Harvard. "To see it all happen has been great; we've worked so hard for this, and as a class, we feel like it's our goal to carry on the things the previous classes started and what coach Amaker started when he came to the program."
In each of their last two tournament appearances, Harvard has won their first game before losing in the second game.
