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Last updated on Monday, March 15, 2010
(UNDATED) - Three Indiana schools will play in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament later this week.
The Purdue Boilermakers will open play on Friday when they face the Siena Saints in Spokane.
The 27-5 Boilermakers are the number-four seed in the south region while Siena is the number-13 seed.
The Boilers' 69-42 loss to Minnesota in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament combined with the absence of star forward Robbie Hummel contributed to the lower seed for a Purdue team that at one point was ranked third nationally.
The Saints are 27-6 and are the champions of the Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference.
The Butler Bulldogs received the number-five seed in the west region as they will open play Thursday against twelfth-seeded Texas-El Paso in San Jose on Thursday.
The Bulldogs enter the tournament with a 28-4 mark and own the nation's longest current winning streak at 20 games.
UTEP was the regular-season champion in Conference USA but the Miners were upset by Houston in the championship game of the conference tournament.
UTEP enters the tournament with a 26-6 record and is coached by Indianapolis native Tony Barbee.
The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame are the number-six seed in the south region and will take on number-eleven seed Old Dominion Thursday in New Orleans.
Notre Dame is 23-11 and made a strong run in the Big East Tournament before being edged by eventual champion West Virginia in the semifinals.
The Monarchs are 26-8 and are the regular-season and tournament champions of the Colonial Athletic Conference.
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