Rochester, Mn. – The final day of the 2017 Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC) men's basketball campaign had most of the post-season participants already known, but how the final pieces of the tournament field came together was decided with the final results of hardwood action on Saturday, February 25th.  Rochester Community and Technical College and Rainy River Community College became  the final two teams to join the eight-team MCAC Playoffs, as Northland, Anoka Ramsey, St. Cloud Tech, Riverland, Vermilion and Central Lakes had secured the first six seeds for the 2017 MCAC Tournament.   Saturday's action on the court finalized the important details of both participants and seeding while also setting the stage for what will be an exciting and action packed post-season conference tournament hosted by at the Coon Rapids campus of Anoka Ramsey Community College.  Games will  commence at noon on Friday, March 3rd and culminating with the MCAC Championship Game on Sunday, March  5th.

The post-season was already set for North and South #1 seeds, Northland CTC and Anoka Ramsey, who finished Saturday's games with wins and identical 12-2 MCAC records.  The second seeds in both divisions came in just off the leader's pace, with 11-3 records earned by both Riverland Community College (South) and Central Lakes (North).  Vermilion and St. Cloud Tech leveraged their 10-4 marks in the respective #3 seeds, with Vermilion representing the North and St. Cloud Tech the South.   The fourth and final playoff seeds were left open for contention heading into Saturday's match-ups, with Rainy River overcoming Fond du Lac  107-90 to earn the #4 North seed and Rochester stepping up in a must-win game, beating Minnesota West,  to claim the 4th seed in the South.  RCTC held the tie-breaker over Ridgewater College, by virtue of a mid-season win over #1 Anoka Ramsey (Ridgewater was 0-2 vs. Anoka).   Both Fond du Lac and Ridgewater had impressive runs during the MCAC regular season and will surely be teams to watch next season.

The 2017 edition of the MCAC Men's Basketball Playoffs will look similar to the format in recent years, as play on Friday  is slated for Noon, 2pm, 4pm and 6pm contests.    This year,  the opening round on Friday, March 3rd will be as follows:  

Noon: Northland vs. RCTC    2pm: Riverland vs. Vermilion  4pm: Anoka vs. Rainy River  6pm: CLC  v. St. Cloud Tech

The two eventual semifinal winners will square off Sunday afternoon in the 2017 MCAC Men's Basketball Playoff championship game, which will be played on Sunday, March 5th at 2pm.   The tournament champion will receive the MCAC Playoff Championship plaque as well as the conference's automatic bid to the 2017 NJCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. The NJCAA Men's Basketball  Division III national tournament field will compete at MCAC member Rochester Community and Technical College campus March 16th through March 18th.