Tuesday, February 20, 2018

PORTLAND, Ore. – It’s special enough that the GNAC Basketball Championships will be played in Alaska. Now, both the state and the conference will have a chance to show themselves off in front of a national audience.

For the second time in three years, the finals of the GNAC Basketball Championships on Saturday, March 3, have been selected to be streamed on ESPN3 as part of NCAA Division II Basketball Showcase. The men’s final will air at 5:15 p.m. (Alaska time) with the women following at 7:30 p.m. This year’s tournament is being held at the Alaska Airlines Center on the campus of the University of Alaska Anchorage.

The GNAC joins the Lone Star Conference as the two conferences to have their tournament finals selected for webcast. The GNAC Championships final was last aired as part of the showcase in 2016 and was shown on the American Sports Network.

This is also the second set of games this season in which Division II Basketball Showcase has featured the GNAC. A doubleheader at Central Washington featuring the Seattle Pacific women and Western Washington aired on February 1.

“The opportunity to showcase the great basketball of the GNAC is always special. To be able to showcase not only the GNAC Championships final, but also the state of Alaska and the Alaska Airlines Center, is tremendous,” said GNAC commissioner Dave Haglund. “We are grateful to the NCAA for selecting the games and for the opportunity to bring GNAC basketball to the nation.”

The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds of the GNAC Championships, on Thursday, March 1 and Friday, March 2, will be streamed on the conference’s web stream portal, GNAC.tv, with Rob Lowery and Keaton Homer. The Saturday finals will be streamed exclusively on ESPN3.

The complete GNAC Basketball Championships field will be announced following the end of the regular season on Saturday night.