The Bearcats entered the day ranked 40th in the country as they heard their name called during this afternoon’s NCAA Selection show. The Bearcats will be making the trip out west to Las Vegas, Nevada for their first ever NCAA Tournament appearance starting on May 15-17th at Bears Best.
The Bearcats enter as the 7th seed in a regional championship that features top seed Arizona State, Virginia, Stanford, East Tennessee State, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Lehigh, San Fransisco, UNC Greensboro, Kansas City, Davidson, Long Beach State and Oregon State.
“Being ranked 40th, and knowing they had 50 at large bids, I knew we would probably be a 7th seed entering today,” head coach Doug Martin said. “The vibe is great, anytime this time of year, you get that college basketball feeling, same with the final four during the football season (College Football Playoff) are unveiled, it’s kind of one of those days where all of your hard work for that season is rewarded. We are going to compete and expecting to qualify and play for the finals in Arizona.” The NCAA Finals will be played May 26-31st at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The Bearcats have now won three tournaments on the season, the most since the 1997-1998 season. “I knew back in August when they first got here this was a possibility,” head coach Doug Martin said. “When we played our first qualifying match, just the way we played with a different group, they looked comfortable. We brought in almost an entire new team from a season ago, only returning three members from a season ago. To watch them come and gel together as a group, I knew pretty quickly after we won at home, then winning at East Tennessee. Nobody ever goes to East Tennessee and wins, but we did and that is what solidified my belief in this team.”
The Bearcats continue to receive great news for the second consecutive day after being selected to their first ever NCAA Tournament early this afternoon. The Men’s Golf team kicked off the week with huge news on Tuesday when Coach Martin was named AAC Coach of the Year, and Ryan Ford, Sam Jean, and Ty Gingerich were also named to the AAC All-Conference team as well. The trio becomes the most conference selections since 1993. Freshman Ryan Ford was also named AAC Freshman of the Year after a dominant showcase at the Dorado Beach Colligate in Puerto Rico earlier this year, where he finished second overall.
“Anytime if you watch the Golf Channel show, you heard the coaches talking about depth. You got to have depth in golf,” head coach Doug Martin said. “You have to have depth in every sport because if you don’t have people pushing from the backend, people tend to get comfortable. If you want to have a great team, and program, guys can’t get comfortable where they are.”
However, for the Bearcats it wasn’t just a dominant performance from Ford at the Dorado Beach Collegiate as the Bearcats dominated as a team sealing their third tournament win on the season in a field that contained top teams in Auburn, Virginia and Duke. Auburn was a top seed in this afternoon’s NCAA Tournament selection show.
“Knowing how to win is golf is huge,” Martin said. “We won in different ways, we won while in the lead, coming back. Anytime you can win in different ways is a great experience for the guys. Our ability to close and hold a lead has been great this season.”
The Bearcats three headed trio of Senior Sam Jean, a three-time all AAC Selection, freshman Ryan Ford, and junior Ty Gingerich will look to continue their hot seasons as they prepare to lead the Bearcats en route to their first ever NCAA Championship. “It’s super exciting, we have been preparing for this all year,” senior Sam Jean said. “We’re excited to not only go out there and try to get a top five, but we are going out there to try and win, and I really think we can, I’m looking forward to it.”
