RUSSELLVILLE, Ark.– On Friday, the Great American Conference announced an alteration to the previously revealed 2021 Men's and Women's Basketball Championships brackets.
The league's Council of Presidents approved changing the format by having a crossover between the two divisions starting at the quarterfinal round. Previously, the Eastern and Western Divisions would conduct three rounds of tournament play with the two divisional winners meeting for the overall conference championship.
The opening round of the new format will remain the same. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds of each division will host first-round games against that division's No. 6 seed and No. 5 seeds, respectively. With the new format, the first-round winners from the Eastern Division will face the top two seeds of the Western Division and vice versa.
The league also announced game times for the tournament. All women's games through the first three rounds will begin at 5:30 p.m. and all the men's games will begin at 7:30 p.m. The women's final will tip at 1 p.m. on Sunday followed by the men at 3:30 p.m.
The Oklahoma Baptist men's basketball team inches closer to clinching the top seed in the Western Division as the Bison welcome Northwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday before taking on Southern Nazarene on Monday night at the Noble Complex. The Bison lead the GAC Western Division by 2.5 games over second-place Southern Nazarene.
If OBU defeats Northwestern and East Central knocks off SNU at home, the Bison will clinch a share of the Western Division with three games to claim it outright.
However, if SNU wins, the Bison will be welcoming in the second-place Storm to the Noble Complex on Monday night with a chance to clinch the division outright.
The OBU women can still climb as high as fifth in the Western Division.
Monday, March 1
No. 5 East at No. 4 East
No. 6 East at No. 3 East
No. 5 West at No. 4 West
No. 6 West at No. 3 West
Wednesday, March 3
No. 4/5 East Winner at No. 1 West
No. 3/6 East Winner at No. 2 West
No. 4/5 West Winner at No. 1 East
No. 3/6 West Winner at No. 2 East
Friday, March 5
Semifinals at highest remaining seeds
Sunday, March 7
GAC Championship at highest remaining seed
(Coin Toss if equal seeds)
