TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (March 12, 2023) – The Salt Lake Community College Men's Basketball program will play as the No. 5 seed in the upcoming NJCAA tournament, as announced by the national organization Sunday.
 
Salt Lake will open its search for its third national title on Wednesday, March 22, facing off against the winner of a game between No. 12 Tallahassee and No. 21 Trinidad State. The Bruins finished as the NJCAA runner-up a year ago, falling to Northwest Florida State in the NJCAA title game. 
 
SLCC coach Kyle Taylor said his team is excited about their seeding.
 
"The 5 seed is a great spot for us to land in the NJCAA national tournament bracket," he said. "After we won the West District championship, we thought we would end up with the 5 or 6 seed. Anytime you get one of the top 8 seeds and have the first-round bye is significant. We drew two very good potential second round opponents though, but everyone at 'Hutch' is good."
 
Tallahassee and Trinidad State will play on Monday, then will have a day off in advance of the Round-of-16 matchup with Salt Lake. 
 
Taylor said the draw will be a challenge for SLCC. 
 
"Both Trinidad State and Tallahassee are super talented teams," he said. "Dejour Reeves is one of the best guards in the country for Trinidad State, and Addison Patterson is arguably the best player in the country at Tallahassee, so we will have our hands full no matter what. Coach Folda at Trinidad and Coach Cabrera at Tally are two of the best young coaches in junior college basketball, so they will have their team ready to play."
 
Salt Lake will make its fourth consecutive trip to 'Hutch' under Taylor, with the Bruins earning a national seed in three of those seasons. The Bruins won NJCAA championships in 2009 under Norm Parrish, then in 2016 under Todd Phillips.