Nov. 19, 2003

South Carolina, Richmond, Southwest Missouri State and San Francisco have advanced to the Championship Rounds of the 2003 Guardians Classic to be played on November 24th and 25th at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo. The Opening Rounds of the Guardians Classic, a twelve-team exempt college basketball tournament, were held at Richmond, South Carolina, and Southwest Missouri State on November 17th and 18th.

The match-ups for the Guardians Classic Championship Rounds are as follows: Monday, November 24th 6:00 p.m. CST Richmond vs. San Francisco

Monday, November 24th 8:00 p.m. CST South Carolina vs. SMS

Tuesday, November 25th 6:00 p.m. CST Consolation Game

Tuesday, November 25th 8:00 p.m. CST Championship Game

Richmond, South Carolina, and SMS advanced to the Championship Rounds as the regional site winners with records of 2-0. San Francisco was selected as the “wild card” team immediately following the final game of the Opening Rounds based on the following criteria: 1) Relative margin of victory or defeat in the first round, 2) RPI of first round opponent, 3) Relative margin of victory or defeat in the second round, 4) RPI of second round opponent. No weight was given to any victory or defeat greater than 15 points.

Listed below is the final “wild card” index for each eligible team: San Francsico – 0.2813 Idaho – 0.2031 Tennessee Martin – 0.1749 Gardner-Webb – 0.1282 Mississippi Valley State – 0.1066 New Hampshire – 0.0666

Tarence Kinsey of South Carolina, Mike Skrocki of Richmond, and Anthony Shavies of SMS were selected as the Most Valuable Players of their respective regional sites.

Championship round tickets are now available and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at (816) 931-3330 or by visiting www.ticketmaster.com.