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Championship Round Field Announced
Richmond, South Carolina, Southwest Missouri State and San Francisco to compete for the 2003 Guardians Classic Championship

Princeton, NJ (November 18, 2003) – Richmond, South Carolina, 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:

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. Only teams with a 1-1 record in the Regional Round were eligible for consideration.

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 St.  0.1066 
   New Hampshire           0.0666

Mike Skrocki of Richmond, Tarence Kinsey of South Carolina and Anthony Shavies of SMS were selected as the Most Valuable Players of their respective regional sites. Skrocki scored 18 points in each of the Spiders' first two games of the event and also added 13 rebounds. Kinsey scored 21 points in the regional final for the Gamecocks, finishing with 35 points, 16 rebounds and five assists in the two games. And, with 14 points to lead SMS in its regional final, Shavies ended up with a two-day total of 23 points and also had five assists and four steals.

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

The Guardians Classic was created to promote the NABC's Guardians of the Game program, which emphasizes four core values: advocacy, leadership, service and education.

The 2003 Guardians Classic is produced by the Gazelle Group. For more information about the Guardians Classic, visit www.GuardiansClassic.com or contact Bill Dunigan at (609)921-1300 or wdunigan@gazellegroup.com