Some lunch appointments are worth looking forward to: A meeting at Nobby's, The Banshee or Tacos El Paisa comes to mind. But not even those compare to the juicy matchup on tap when the Chico State men's basketball team meets California Baptist in an NCAA Tournament first-round rematch Friday at noon.
 
The Wildcats, 22-7 and the defending West Region champions, are seeded sixth. California Baptist is 24-6 and seeded third. The winner of the eight-team bracket will advance to the Division II Elite Eight.
 
All games will be played at the Felix Event Center on the campus of Azusa Pacific University.
 

HOW TO FOLLOW
Chico State's entire NCAA Tournament run will be broadcast locally on AM-1290 KPAY and streamed online via the Wildcat Webcast link at ChicoWildcats.com, with Mike Baca on the call. Links to live stats and video are also available on the calendar section on the home page and men's basketball page, as well as the men's basketball schedule page.
 
THIS LINK TO THE TOURNAMENT CENTRAL PAGE contains information on tickets, directions, links to live video & stats, and will possibly include a YouTube link to a recording of all postgame press conferences.
 

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Friday's winner will advance to a regional semifinal game at 5 p.m. where a spot in the Sweet 16 and Regional title game will be on the line. The regional title game will take place Monday at 7 p.m.
 
In Friday's other first-round games, #2 seed BYU-Hawaii takes on #7 seed Seattle Pacific at 2:30, #4 seed Dixie State faces #5 seed Cal Poly Pomona in another first-round rematch from last season at 5, and top seed and tournament host Azusa Pacific takes on #8 seed Western Oregon at 7:30.
 
NCAA Championship Tournament West Regional Schedule
Friday, March 13
Noon - #6 Chico State vs. #3 California Baptist
2:30 - #7 Seattle Pacific vs. #2 BYU-Hawaii
5:00 - #5 Cal Poly Pomona vs. #4 Dixie State
7:30 - #8 Western Oregon vs. #1 Azusa Pacific
Saturday, March 14
5:00 - Chico State/California Baptist winner vs. Seattle Pacific/BYU-Hawaii winner
7:30 - Cal Poly Pomona/Dixie State winner vs. Western Oregon/Azusa Pacific winner
Monday, March 16
7:00 - Championship Game
March 25-28 - Evansville, Ind.
NCAA Championship Tournament Elite 8

 
WHEN LAST THEY MET / WHAT THEY'RE UP TO NOW
Chico State and California Baptist met in last year's opening round in San Bernardino, a game the Wildcats won 77-71 to take the first step toward their first NCAA West Regional title and trip to the Elite Eight.
 
Jordan Semple led the way in that game with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Current Wildcats Jordan Barton (six points and seven rebounds), Chris Magalotti (four points and four rebounds), Drew Kitchens (three points, three rebounds and a blocked shot) and Mike Rosaroso (one assist and one rebound) also saw action in that game in which the Wildcats stormed back from a 10-point second-half deficit to win.

But the Wildcats lost four starters and 70 percent of their scoring production to graduation after last season.
 
This season's leading scorer, Robert Duncan, never got off the bench in that game.
 
California Baptist, meanwhile, returns three starters from that game in Ryan Berg, Michael Smith and Chris Brown. Eric Nelson and Eric Hunt were reserves. However, their leading scorer and leading rebounder are both new to the Lancers' lineup.
 
Gelaun Wheelright, a transfer from Weber State, is their top scorer at 16.6 points per game. Taj Spencer is averaging 12.3 points and a team-high seven rebounds per contest.
 

THE MORE YOU KNOW…
Last year's game story is HERE.
 
Baca did a fabulous job dissecting all eight teams and first-round matchups HERE.
 
The California Baptist preview story is HERE.
 
COMPLETE 64-TEAM INTERACTIVE BRACKET
 
COMPLETE 64-TEAM PRINTABLE BRACKET
 
NCAA WEST REGIONAL TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL 2015 REGIONALS ONLINE PROGRAM