No. 5 Midwestern State continues its quest for the first national championship of any kind in school history by making its third consecutive Elite Eight appearance.
 
The Mustangs take on West Region champion Western Washington in the quarterfinal round Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. (Central Time).
 
The winner moves on to face the victor of Wednesday first quarterfinal matchup between East Region champion Stonehill (Mass.) and Atlantic Region champion West Liberty in Thursday night's first semifinal at 6 p.m. (Central Time).
 
The championship game is set for Saturday at noon (Central Time).
 
WHERE TO FIND THE GAME
 
100.9 BOB FM -- The broadcast features the play-by-play voice of two-time Lone Star Conference Broadcaster of the Year Bill Powers. The Taco Casa Pregame Show begins at 1:10 p.m.
ON THE WEB -- BOB-FM's audio broadcast simulcasts on BOBRadio.fm.  LINK
LIVE STREAMING -- The NCAA Division II Elite Eight quarterfinals will be streamed live on NCAA.com.  Will Haskett will be on play-by-play with Bob Lovell as the analyst.  LINK
LIVE STATS -- Live stats are available courtesy of the NCAA.  LINK
 
AROUND THE NCAA DIVISION II TOURNAMENT
 
MANY HAPPY RETURNERS  Midwestern State is one of four teams to return to the Elite Eight joining defending national champion Bellarmine out of the Midwest Region, West Liberty (W. Va.) out of the Atlantic Region and Alabama-Huntsville out of the South Region. None of the teams in the 2012 Elite Eight field are newcomers as Metropolitan State (Colo.) is making its sixth appearance and MSU and Montevallo  is making its third appearance while Stonehill (Mass.), West Liberty, Western Washington, Alabama-Huntsville and Bellarmine are making its second appearances.
 
MAKE IT THREE STRAIGHT Midwestern State is the 25th team in the 56-year history of the NCAA Division II Tournament to make three consecutive trips to the Elite Eight. The Mustangs are just the third program out of the South Central Region to perform the feat joining Kentucky Wesleyan (1967-70) and Southeast Missouri State (1988-90). Only three other teams have returned to the Elite Eight three times since the turn of the century including Kentucky Wesleyan (1998-2003), Winona State (2006-08) and Augusta State (2008-10).
 
CHALK, CHALK AND CHALK  The 2012 Elite Eight field includes six No. 1 seeds -- Midwestern State, Western Washington, West Liberty, Alabama-Huntsville, Bellarmine and Montevallo -- and two No. 2 seeds in Stonehill (Mass.) and Metropolitan State.
 
WIN, WIN, WIN  The eight teams in the Elite Eight field have combined for 222 wins and an .857 winning percentage. That's an average of 27.8 wins per team.
 
ABOUT THE MUSTANGS
 
Midwestern State rolls into its third consecutive Elite Eight on a seven-game winning streak as the Mustangs have won 13 of their last 14.
 
The Mustangs (29-3) need one win to join the 1974-75 and 2009-10 teams which both posted school record totals of 31 wins.
 
MSU has limited the opposition to 64 points or less during regulation in each of their last 13 games. During the stretch, the Mustangs are holding their opponents to 57.1 points per game and to a 36.8-percent clip from the floor including 25.9 percent from the arc.
 
Midwestern is led by senior guard Michael Loyd, a 2012 Daktronics and NABC All-South Central Region first-team pick. The Las Vegas native was also named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA II South Central Regional after matching a season high with 21 points in a semifinal win over Washburn then pouring in 19 more against Arkansas Tech in the title game.
 
Joining Loyd on the all-tournament team were junior guard JaMichael Rivers and Kevin Grayer.
 
Rivers had 16 points and five rebounds in the title game, while Grayer came on strong in the second half to finish with 13 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
 
Grayer is averaging 7.8 points and 3.5 rebounds a game during the postseason including a pair of double-figure performances.
 
Senior forward David Terrell, the MOP of the Lone Star Conference postseason tourney, is scoring 9.2 points and pulling down 6.7 rebounds during the Mustangs' playoff run while fellow senior forward Thomas Colbert is averaging 5.7 points and a team-high 7.3 boards per game.
 
Midwestern State is the midst of its seventh NCAA Division II postseason where it has posted a 12-6 all-time mark.
 
ABOUT THE VIKINGS
 
Western Washington comes into the Elite Eight having won five of its last six games and sports a school-record 28 wins with five losses.
 
The Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season champion Vikings won the West region as the No. 1 seed and host by beating Grand Canyon (Ariz.) 79-73 in the first round, Chico State (Calif.) 74-65 in the regional semifinals and Seattle Pacific 56-50 in the regional championship game.
 
Western Washington is 5-1 against teams in the NABC Division II Top 25, with their loss to a team in the Elite Eight, Alabama-Huntsville 77-74 in Las Vegas on Dec. 16.
 
The Vikings are led by Daktronics first-team All-West Region performer Rory Blanche.  The 6-6 senior forward from Ashland, Ore., averages 16.1 points and 7.1 rebounds with 1.8 assists a game. 
 
Junior guard John Allen adds 14.7 points and 3.0 boards per game for the Vikings with 2.2 treys a game.  The second-team All-GNAC performer was the West Regional Most Outstanding Player.
 
Meanwhile, 6-5 senior forward Zach Henifin scores 10.9 points and pulls down 5.9 rebounds a contest on his was to being selected to the All-West Regional team.
 
WWU makes its second appearance in the Elite Eight, the first since 2001.
 
ABOUT THE SERIES
 
Midwestern State and Western Washington of the West Region's Great Northwest Athletic Conference will meet for the first time on the hardwood Wednesday afternoon in the NCAA Division II national quarterfinals at the Bank of Kentucky Center in Highland Heights, Ky.
 
The Mustangs have played just two games against GNAC -- both against Central Washington in the NAIA national tournament -- and just three against programs located in Washington state.
 
Tony Forch and Kyle Williams had 14 points each to pace MSU to a 73-66 win over Central Washington in front of 10,000 fans at Kemper Arena in the opening round of the NAIA tournament on March 14, 1979.
 
Midwestern also defeated the Wildcats 78-74 on March 18, 1993 on its way to an NAIA Final Four appearance.
 
In MSU's lone excursion into the Evergreen State, it took a 96-81 loss at the hands of the University of Washington on Dec. 18, 1982. Brad Watson poured in 27 points to lead the Huskies while long-time NBA'er Detlef Schrempf added 15. Mark Richardson paced Midwestern with 17 points while Chuck Hall pitched in 15.