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CITY (NewsDakota.com) – The Valley City State University basketball seasons have come down to one weekend at the Jamestown Civic Center.

The Viking men and women have a chance to win their way into the national tournament this weekend during the Association of Independent Institutions postseason tournament. The top two men’s and women’s teams will advance to nationals.

The Viking men (21-7) are just one win away after earning the No. 2 seed and a bye in the six-team men’s bracket. The Vikings will play at 5:30 p.m. Saturday in the semifinals against either Dakota State or Northern New Mexico, two teams they’ve beaten twice already this season. One win, and the Viking men clinch a spot in nationals, something the program has been painfully close to a few different times in the past six years. VCSU head coach Jeff Kaminsky:


The Viking men are ranked No. 23 in the country, and if they don’t earn an automatic bid this weekend will have to sweat out the selection process, where they are firmly on the bubble between “in” and “out”.

For the VCSU women (22-6), it’s almost a near-certainty that they need to win their way in this weekend. Ranked No. 28 in the country, it’s very unlikely the Viking women would earn an at-large bid to the 32-team national tournament.

They’ll begin action in the A.I.I. Tournament as the No. 3 seed and will face No. 6 seed Rochester College (Mich.) at 1 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals. If they win, they’ll move on the semifinals against Mayville State at 1 p.m. Two wins would put the Viking women in the championship and clinch their third straight trip to nationals. Head coach Jill DeVries in first round opponent Rochester College:


All 10 games of the tournament will be broadcast across the Dakota Country Radio Network.