2008 NCAA Tournament Preview: Portland State Vikings

There are few things in life I love more than Championship Week. For my money, this week is just as exciting as the NCAA Tournament. Teams that would normally be ignored by most of us receive the spotlight, not to mention an opportunity to play in the tournament that determines that NCAA National Champion. For the second year in a row, yours truly will track the teams from smaller conferences entering the NCAA Tournament. In this edition, you will read about a team playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. Can the Portland State Vikings make their first trip to the Big Dance a memorable one?

Championship Week is about opportunities; opportunities for those teams that we rarely see to play in front of a national television audience, opportunities for teams to give their fans a chance to say "we're number one" for a day, opportunities for teams to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. The Portland State Vikings have done just that.

Portland State earned their first ever bid to the NCAA Tournament after defeating Northern Arizona in the Big Sky tournament championship game 67-51. The Vikings entered the tournament as the number one seed, going 14-2 in conference play. The Big Sky was hardly impressive this season, as the two teams playing in the tournament title game were the only teams to finish the season with more than 20 wins. 16-14 Weber State is the only other team in the Big Sky to finish with an above .500 record. Those stats don't matter much to the Vikings, though. Portland State is going dancing for the first time and they're savoring every minute of it.

Portland State's tournament resume is nothing special. The Vikings went 0-2 against ranked opponents this year. They started the season with a 21-point loss at UCLA and were downed by Washington State on the road in early December. They do have an early season victory over Akron (21-9, 11-5 before the MAC tournament). Portland State can also be proud of three victories over conference-rival Northern Arizona (21-11, 11-5).