THE ROANOKE TIMES

File 2007 Amherst's Brian Baskauskas shoots over Virginia Wesleyan's TonTon Balenga during the 2007 NCAA Division III championship game in Salem. Amherst is back in town to defend its crown.

Amherst College won its first Division III men's basketball crown last March at the Salem Civic Center. Now it's primed to produce an encore performance.

For the third consecutive season and for the fourth time in five years, Amherst will head south Wednesday for this weekend's NCAA Division III final four at the Salem Civic Center.

"It's unbelievable," longtime Amherst coach Dave Hixon said Sunday afternoon.

"We've been down there in four of the last five years and it has become a little bit of annual pilgrimage for us, which is very unusual. We feel very privileged certainly to do it and we feel fortunate to do it. We know there are a lot of good programs that are sitting home right now."

Not Amherst, though. Despite the presence of top-ranked Hope College (27-3), which was ranked No. 1 in last week's D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, No. 3 Amherst (26-3) figures to be the team to beat. After all, the Lord Jeffs are the only ones in the field who have been here and done it before.

"I do think that's an edge for us," said Andrew Olson, Amherst's flashy and playmaking senior point guard. "Two straight [titles] is our goal. Winning the first one last year was sweet, but we really want another one so all these seniors go out the right way."

Amherst will face 16th-ranked Ursinus College (29-3) in Friday's 5 p.m. semifinal. Hope, located in Holland, Mich., will meet No. 11 Washington University (23-6) in the other semifinal, scheduled for 7 p.m. It marks the second straight trip to Salem for Washington, based in St. Louis, Mo.

Amherst cut down the nets after last year's final in which it whipped Virginia Wesleyan 80-67.

The loss cost the Marlins a second straight national crown in the building that's located less than a mile from the ODAC's league headquarters.

"Now that we're there, we stand as good a chance as anybody to win that thing," Hixon said.

"Washington U. has been there before, so they understand it. So we feel like we're the wily veterans there and, hopefully, that will help us. I wouldn't talk about it before, but we're close enough now where you can say, 'if we win one more game and the second is the chance to repeat.'"

Despite losing four seniors off last year's title club, Amherst hasn't missed a beat. Not only does he have Olson, last season's NABC Division III player of the year, Hixon's other four starters range from 6-foot-5 to 6-10 in height.

"It's incredible for Division III," said Hixon, in his 31st season at Amherst.

"And they're all pretty good athletes. We've had people who have come into our gym who have been around a lot of basketball teams at lot of different levels and they sort of shake their head and say, 'man, when I'm watching practice here it's like watching a low-Division I team.

"But right now, we're still not the best in D-3 until we win two more games. They can call us 'ones' if they want, but right now our focus is to do best we can in D-3."