Early birds first to play. They were the first team to book their place at the Elite Eight and now Seattle Pacific University has a chance to advance first to the semifinal round of the NCAA Division II men’s basketball championships. The 10th-ranked Falcons (25-5), champions of the West Region, face No. 7 Montevallo (29-4) in the opening quarterfinal game Wednesday (Mar. 22) at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass. The winner advances to play either Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (25-6) or Virginia Union (27-6) Thursday (Mar. 23), which will be carried live on CSTV. The national championship game is Saturday (Mar. 26) and will televised live on CBS. All SPU games can be heard live via webcasts, with links provided at The Falcons Online.

Eclectic eight. It’s an eclectic eight, with five of the nation’s top-10 teams (including Nos. 1 and 2) having been eliminated. Five regional top seeds remain, including defending champion Virginia Union. Unranked and a No. 7 seed, SIU-Edwardsville is the apparent underdog. Tarleton State (27-6) of Texas, the only other returnee, meets local favorite Stonehill (26-6) in the quarterfinal nightcap. Minnesota’s Winona State (29-4) and North Carolina’s Barton (28-3) open the evening session. The Falcons have the longest flight to the Birthplace of Basketball, with 2970 miles separating Seattle from Springfield.

Not so long. Seattle Pacific is not-so-long removed from its last visit to the Elite Eight, having gone to Louisville in 2000. Head coach Jeff Hironaka was the top assistant for that team, which advanced to the semifinal round before falling to Kentucky Wesleyan in overtime. That achievement helped sway many of this squad’s seniors to attend SPU. The Falcons, whose first Elite Eight was 1965, are seeking their first national championship in basketball and the school’s seventh NCAA team crown overall. Men’s soccer owns five titles and women’s gymnastics one. Women’s basketball and soccer were 2005 NCAA runners-up.

Shoot-outs in the West. To claim its third West Region championship, SPU required a balanced effort, both in terms of contributing personnel and effort at both ends of the court. Although the Falcons are a fine outside shooting team, they tapped a new power source, repeatedly going inside to center Robbie Will (So., 6-10, Seattle, Wa./O’Dea) with success. Will was voted the most outstanding player of the tournament after averaging 18.0 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots while shooting 68 percent from the floor. The defense rose to the occasion, holding the three foes to combined 42-percent shooting, with Western Washington scoring 15 points under its average in the title contest. Sixth man Mike Bushmaker (Sr., 6-7, Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower) erupted for 24 points and career-highs of nine rebounds and three three-pointers in the 81-77 victory. Bushmaker and Will made the all-tournament team along with Tony Binetti (Sr., 6-1, Enumclaw, Wa.), who had 44 points and 11 assists in the first two games.

Clutch when it’s close. Hironaka’s got a veteran cast (five seniors and four juniors; Will’s a redshirt sophomore), and it showed in the crucial final minutes of each regional game. SPU outscored Central Washington 26-16 in last nine minutes of an 86-76 first-round win, then broke from a tie with six minutes left against Cal State Bakersfield to prevail 81-75. The clutch play of the tournament was a tiebreaking three-pointer by reserve guard Jared Moultrie (Jr., 6-2, West Point, Ut./Clearfield/Salt Lake CC) with 53 seconds remaining against Western. Seattle Pacific is now 7-0 this season in games decided by five or fewer points and 16-1 in games with a difference of 10 or less points.

Top guns. Statistically speaking, the Falcons are the top guns at the Elite Eight. They average 86.8 points–more than any of the quarterfinalists–and rank among the NCAA top 10 in all three shooting categories: field-goal percentage (No. 2/.523), free throw accuracy (No. 4/.774) and three-point percentage (No. 10/.407). SPU is 18-0 when it hits more than 50 percent from the field this season. Top scorer Dustin Bremerman (Sr., 6-4, Yakima, Wa./Eisenhower) ranks 11th among three-point marksmen in the nation (.446). Bremerman (18.4 points per game) and Binetti (18.2) form the most prolific scoring tandem in program history. Both were voted to the all-region and all-Great Northwest Athletic Conference first teams.

It takes a village. For much of the regional championship game Hironaka was without Will and Binetti (a combined 37 minutes and 15 points) due to foul trouble, but the Falcons refused to buckle. The reserves, behind Bushmaker and Moultrie, outscored their Viking counterparts 34-14. Chad Williams (Sr., 6-8, Burlington, Wa./Burlington-Whatcom CC) added 13 points and Bremerman, with defenders keying on him, passed for a season-best seven assists. Five players average more than 10 points per game and Bushmaker is the highest-scoring nonstarter since John Hubbard averaged 13.7 for the Final Four team.

Put-backs. The Falcons are departing for Springfield late Saturday night aboard a red-eye flight to Boston. Tuesday night’s tournament banquet will be held at the Basketball Hall of Fame’s center court...Binetti was selected to play in the NCAA Division II All-Star game Mar. 24 in Springfield but will forego the event because of his team’s extended season...Seattle Pacific is 14-0 when owning a rebounding advantage, 14-0 when having fewer turnovers and 20-0 when leading at halftime...The Falcons have made 10 or more three-pointers 12 times, going 11-1...Bremerman’s season scoring total currently ranks 8th (552), five points more than Binetti (10th). Binetti is now No. 8 in career scoring (1247) and Bremerman No. 9 (1245)...This is only the second Falcon team which has won more than 24 games in a season. The record of 27 was set in 2000...Will is No. 20 in NCAA blocks (2.10)...Binetti’s four points vs. WWU stopped his streak of double-figures scoring at 31 games...The Falcons are only 4-4 when outscored in the second half and 4-3 when allowing opponents to shoot 50 percent or higher...Seven times this season SPU has come from at least eight points down to win, including a 16-point deficit at Alaska Fairbanks...In each loss, SPU has made less than 33 percent of its threes, and in the four Div. II losses yielded an average of 93.0 points.

Coaching Staff. In his first season Jeff Hironaka won more games (16) than all but one other first-year SPU coach, and he took a team to the NCAA tournament in only his third year–faster than any predecessor. His record entering this season is 50-33. A former aide at Idaho State and The Master’s, Hironaka became Ken Bone’s top assistant in 1991 and from there the Falcons won 236 of 253 games, claimed five conference championships and qualified for eight NCAA tournaments, including a Final Four in 2000. Hironaka is the second Japanese-American head coach of a four-year collegiate program. Brock Veltri is in his second season as the chief assistant.

Tickets, please. Reserved tickets for all SPU home games are priced $7 and $6. General admission is $5 with youth, students and senior citizens $3 with proper identification. Groups can qualify for discounts by calling (206) 281-2085 in advance.

Missing links. For the latest and best information on Seattle Pacific University athletics, stay where you're at -- on The Falcons Online. For updated standings and statistics, see the Great Northwest Athletic Conference web site.