![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/NSJ_B4.NCAA_Mid-Majors.JD_-678x381.jpg\" "\\"Queens")
\nQueens forward Avantae Parker shoots a free throw against Arkansas during a game on Dec. 16, 2025, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (AP Photo\/Michael Woods)<\/p>\n
\nQueens forward Avantae Parker shoots a free throw against Arkansas during a game on Dec. 16, 2025, in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (AP Photo\/Michael Woods)<\/p>\n
CHARLOTTE \u2014 Two of North Carolina\u2019s 15 mid-major men\u2019s basketball programs, and one women\u2019s mid-major program, are going dancing in the 2026 NCAA Tournament this week.<\/p>\n
The High Point Panthers men\u2019s team (30-4) is heading back to March Madness after locking up a spot in the NCAA Tournament by winning the Big South Tournament with a victory over Winthrop.<\/p>\n
High Point was given a No. 12 seed and will play the No. 5 seeded Wisconsin Badgers (24-10) in the West Region\u2019s first round on Thursday in Portland, Oregon, at 1:50 p.m.<\/p>\n
This is High Point\u2019s second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, and the Panthers\u2019 No. 12 seed is the highest in program history. Last season, the program made its first NCAA Tournament appearance as a No. 13 seed and fell to No. 4 Purdue in the first round.<\/p>\n
Entering this year\u2019s matchup, High Point carries a 14-game winning streak, the longest active streak in the country, as the Panthers recently became the first Big South program to reach 30 wins in a season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to be the first game all year where we are not the favorite,\u201d High Point coach Flynn Clayman stated. \u201cI don\u2019t know any other team in the country that\u2019s had that, so I think it\u2019s going to be nice to have us be the underdog for once.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 12 matchup does upset people a lot and we know that happens historically in the tournament. It\u2019s going to be nice to shoot our shot and not be the top dog in the game. We\u2019ve had 34 games straight of being the favorite and now I think our group\u2019s ready to go out and shoot our shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
The other North Carolina mid-major men\u2019s team in March Madness is Queens.<\/p>\n
As Atlantic Sun Tournament champions, the Queens Royals (21-13) are heading to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history, notching their conference title four years after moving up from Division II in their first eligible season for the NCAA Tournament. The Royals defeated Central Arkansas in the ASUN championship game to secure the automatic bid.<\/p>\n
As a No. 15 seed in the West Region, Queens is set to face the No. 2 seeded Purdue Boilermakers (27-8), the Big Ten Tournament champions, on Friday at 7:35 p.m. ET in St. Louis, Missouri.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was all sorts of emotions,\u201d Queens coach Grant Leonard said of learning of Queens\u2019 seeding. \u201cIt was just a dream come true. As a little kid, you dream of being a part of March Madness, and here you are. It\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the women\u2019s NCAA Tournament bracket, the High Point Panthers (27-5), like their men\u2019s counterparts, also earned their bid after capturing the Big South Tournament championship for the second consecutive year. Last season, the Panthers faced and lost to No. 16 William & Mary in the First Four play-in game.<\/p>\n
As a No. 15 seed, High Point will play the No. 2 Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tennessee. The game is a first-round matchup in the Fort Worth-based Regional 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy initial thought was I\u2019m happy we weren\u2019t a 16-seed,\u201d High Point coach Chelsea Banbury said. \u201cI think we put together a good non-conference showing this year. Our goal every year is to move up in the NCAA Tournament and put ourselves in a good position to win a game. The fact we\u2019re a 15-seed, I\u2019m excited. We\u2019re not going too far to play Vanderbilt in Nashville. Obviously, they\u2019re a good team, but we\u2019ll have a game plan and we\u2019ll be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
While they didn\u2019t receive an NCAA Tournament bid, the postseason will still continue for a group of local teams through the National Invitation Tournament and Women\u2019s National Invitation Tournament. Three North Carolina-based teams will compete in the 2026 NIT Tournament, while one local program will participate in the 2026 Women\u2019s NIT.<\/p>\n
The UNC Wilmington Seahawks, the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season champions, entered the postseason with a 26-6 record and played at No. 3 seed Yale (24-6) on Tuesday in first-round action.<\/p>\n
The Davidson Wildcats (20-13) also earned a spot in the NIT and played at No. 2 seed Oklahoma State (19-14) on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Wake Forest received a No. 1 seed in its NIT region, with the Demon Deacons (17-16) hosting Navy on Wednesday in Winston-Salem.<\/p>\n
On the women\u2019s side, Wake Forest (14-17) will continue its season in the Women\u2019s NIT, facing Maryland Eastern Shore (19-14) on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queens forward Avantae Parker shoots a free throw against Arkansas during a game on Dec. 16, 2025, in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-168454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}