Herb Magee's Philadelphia University Rams NCAA Tourney Bound Again

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- For the 28th time in his Hall of Fame coaching career, Herb Magee is taking his Philadelphia University basketball team to the NCAA Tournament.

The 24-7 Rams are the #8 seed in the East Region of the Division II Tournament. In the first round on Saturday they will face the region's top seed, American International College, in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Philly U got here by winning the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament, wrapping things up on Saturday with a 77-68 win over Wilmington in the title game.

"A great way to get in because it means you did something," Magee tells KYW Newsradio. "If we hadn't won the championship of this conference, we would be packing our bags already. We wouldn't have been playing. So it's great when you earn it like that and now let's see what you can do with it."

Listen to the entire interview with Philadelphia University's Herb Magee

All five starters average at least nine points for the Rams and, as is usually the case with a Herb Magee team, they get the vast majority of the playing time. The highest scorer on the team is senior Nick Schlitzer (17.9 ppg) and he is coming off an MVP performance in the conference tournament. That was highlighted by a 36-point explosion (on 10-17 shooting) in an overtime win over the University of the Sciences in the semifinals.

"Really earned the MVP," Magee says. "We lose the (University of the Sciences game) for sure unless he does what he did. It's great for him because he's a senior, he wants his career to keep going, he and I talk about it all the time and he knows that any loss is going to end it. So I'm really happy for him because you won't find a nicer young man than him."

The Rams will have their hands full in the first round against the champions of the powerful Northeast 10. AIC brings a 23-6 record into the tournament.

"They are great shooters," Magee says. "The kid (junior guard Cameron) Dobbs is a great shooter and I don't use that term very often. He's a great shooter. He can score. He had nine threes in the semifinal game against Southern New Hampshire, had 38 points. Followed that up with a 27-point game against St. Anselm to win the championship. So they earned the #1 seed and that's a great conference and when you win a lot of games in that conference you have a really good team."

The winner of Philadelphia University and AIC plays the winner of Bridgeport and Southern Connecticut in the second round.

Tip-off for the first-round match-up is 5:00pm on Saturday.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.