Kentucky Wesleyan basketball legends George Tinsley and Antonio Garcia were named to the NCAA 50th Anniversary Division II Men's Basketball Elite Eight 10-member team along with two coaches.
Tinsley, a 6-6 forward from Louisville, led the Panthers to four straight Elite Eight tournaments where they won three NCAA titles in 1966, 1968 and 1969, and finished third in 1967. He was twice chosen to the all-tournament team in 1968 and 1969, and received the Most Outstanding Player award in 1969. Tinsley averaged 15.9 points and 7.5 rebounds while shooting 47.1 percent from the field and 77.8 percent from the free throw line in 11 Elite Eight contests.
Garcia, a 6-8 center from Panama City, Panama, became one of three players in Elite Eight history to be named Most Outstanding Player twice when he accomplished the feat in 1998 and 1999. He helped KWC to a national runner-up finish in 1998 and the national championship in 1999 with a record setting 31-2 mark. Garcia averaged 15.7 points. 16.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1,8 steals, and shot 61.7 percent from the field in six Elite Eight games.
Joining Tinsley and Garcia on the team are Jerry Sloan, Evansville; Walt Frazier, Southern Illinois, Phil Jackson, North Dakota; Earl Monroe, Winston-Salem; John Ebeling, Florida Southern; Ed Smallwood, Evansville; Kebu Stewart, Cal State-Bakersfield; and Marvin Webster, Morgan State.
Basketball Hall of Fame coaching inductees Arad McCutchan of Evansville, who won five NCAA titles (1959, 60, 64, 65, 71), and Clarence "Big House" Gaines of Winston-Salem State, the 1967 NCAA Champion and Division II winningest coach with 828 victories, were also selected..
The NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship began in 1957 and the 2006 championship will be played on March 22-25 in Springfield, Mass., where basketball was born.
