As the calendar turns to March, an excitement sweeps the nation as sports fans turn their focus to the tension and competitiveness that is the NCAA men’s basketball postseason.

This year’s postseason begins Friday, March 4^th for UNCW who will be traveling to Richmond, Virginia for the CAA tournament. The Seahawks enter the tournament as the eighth seed and will face Georgia State in the tournament’s opening game.

UNCW is prepared for an exciting weekend but maintain the need to focus on only the one game that sits in front of them. Senior guard Chad Tomko said, “We’ve got to take it one step at a time and hopefully get to that second round against George Mason.”

Focusing on the first game of the tournament is important for the Seahawks, as they will face a Panthers team that will undoubtedly present a different strategy following their recent coaching change.

UNCW coach Buzz Peterson insists, however, that it won’t be as much about preparing for Georgia State’s attack as it will be about making sure that the Seahawks are prepared to run their own offense and focus on their own strategy. “We’ve gone back to what we did the first week with drills,” said Peterson. “We don’t know what were going to face.”

UNCW is ready for a fight, regardless of the strategy that Georgia State chooses to use as the two schools split their season series with both games coming down to the wire.  The first game saw UNCW junior Trevor Deloach hit a game-winning three pointer as time expired while the second game ended in an overtime loss for the Seahawks.

Friday’s opening round game will mark coach Peterson’s first trip to the CAA tournament and will present Chad Tomko and fellow seniors with their final opportunity to extend their careers. When asked about what it would mean to make a run in this tournament and extended his career by another game, Tomko said, “It would mean everything to me. For us seniors it would be something we could look back on and say that’s something we did.”

“Every season has three parts, non-conference, conference and postseason,” Peterson said. “Each one you go into you’ve got to have maximum confidence.” The Seahawks will look to carry this confidence into the game as they look to make an unexpected splash in the year’s tournament.