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Wisconsin opens up with Texas A&M Corpus Christi

Mar 16, 2007 - 1:49 PM Texas A&M Corpus Christi (26-6) at Wisconsin (29-5) 2:45 pm EDT

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Alando Tucker and Wisconsin will try to recover from its Big Ten tournament defeat with a long run in the NCAA Tournament.

The second-seeded Badgers (29-5) will face off against 15th-seeded Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Friday in a Midwest Region first-round game.

Senior forward Tucker, who is averaging 19.9 points and 5.4 rebounds, has garnered national recognition in recent days as a number of organizations hand out their postseason awards.

In addition to the NABC All-America team that was announced last week, Tucker is also a first-team All-American selelction by the United States Basketball Writers of America, The Sporting News, SI.com and ESPN.com.

The Big Ten Player of the Year, Tucker is also a candidate for national player of the year honors. He is one of five finalists for the Oscar Robertson Trophy, and one of 22 players on the final ballot for the Wooden Award.

Wisconsin is one of nine teams that have been to at least nine straight NCAA tournaments, including a trip in each of Bo Ryan's six seasons as coach. The Badgers lost in the first round to Arizona last season after making a run to the regional finals in 2005.

In just its eighth season as an NCAA Division I basketball program, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi advanced to the NCAA Tournament with an 81-77 win over Northwestern State in the Southland Conference tournament.

The Islanders (26-6), in their inaugural season in the Southland Conference, finished as the regular-season champion and defeated the defending conference champion and winners of a first-round game over Iowa in last year's NCAA Tournament.

"I am very appreciative of the Southland Conference for letting us in the league," coach Ronnie Arrow said. "I hope we can represent it well and have a good showing in our next game. All I know is that we are going dancing."

Chris Daniels, who was named the league's Player of the Year, was also the tournament's Most Valuable Player with a team-high 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting with two blocks.

Daniels averaged 17.3 points and 6.8 rebounds in conference play for Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which has a six-game winning streak.

The winner will face either seventh-seeded Nevada-Las Vegas or 10th-seeded Georgia Tech in Sunday's second round.