LEBANON, Ill. -  With the completion of the 2021-22 regular season in the books, the Great Lakes Valley Conference has officially released the bracket and first-round match-ups for the 2022 GLVC Men's Basketball Championship Tournament that begins with first round games on Monday, Feb. 28 at eight campus sites with the winners of those games, plus top-seeded Southwest Baptist, will advance to First Community Arena at the Vadalabene Center on the campus of SIU Edwardsville on March 3-6.
 
All 15 league schools will compete in this year's GLVC Men's Basketball Tournament as each of the 15 teams were seeded based on the final GLVC Point Rating System rankings after the conclusion of Saturday's final regular season contests.
 
The quarterfinal rounds of the men's tournament are scheduled for 6 and 8:30 p.m. respectively on both March 3 or March 4 with the semifinals scheduled for 6 and 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 5 and the championship game is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. start on Sunday, March 6. The winner of the GLVC Tournament receives the league's automatic bid into the 2022 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament.
 
McKendree (13-11, 9-11 GLVC, 2.98) earned the No. 7 seed in this year's GLVC Tournament and will open the tournament at home on Monday with a 7 p.m. first round game against No. 10 seed Quincy (15-15, 8-12 GLVC, 2.83) at the Harry M. Statham Sports Center. The winner of the McKendree-Quincy game will advance to SIUE and face the winner of the game between No. 2 seeded and East Division champion Lewis (14-9, 12-5 GLVC, 3.76) and No. 15 seeded Maryville (12-16, 6-14 GLVC, 2.38), who meet on Monday in Romeoville, Ill., at 7:15 p.m. Those two winners will meet on March 3 at 8:30 p.m. in the second of four men's quarterfinal games.
 
The Bearcats come into the postseason having dropped its final three games of the regular season, including suffering a 72-49 loss in Saturday's regular season finale at UMSL. Monday's game with Quincy will be the second this season between the two schools as the Bearcats picked up a 91-86 win over the Hawks in Lebanon, Ill., on Jan. 20. The win came during McKendree's season long five game win streak that was snapped on Jan. 29 at Truman State. Along with losing to UMSL to end the regular season, the Bearcats also suffered a 70-62 loss last Monday at Lewis and fell 78-74 in its home regular season finale on Wednesday to Lindenwood. The Bearcats are making its second straight and third-ever appearance and in the GLVC Tournament this season as McKendree hosted a first round game last season against Lewis. Lewis won the game, 62-59. The only other appearance for McKendree in the GLVC Tournament came in 2016 as the Bearcats fell in a first round game to Quincy on the Hawks' homecourt, 87-80. The Bearcats are 0-2 in the GLVC Tournament since joining the league in 2012.
 
Monday's game with Quincy will mark the 13th all-time in the series as Quincy holds a slight 7-5 advantage in the all-time series. The Bearcats have won three of the last four games in the series, including its 91-86 win earlier this season in Lebanon. The Bearcats are 4-2 at home against the Hawks, while Quincy leads the series, 5-1 on its home court. In addition, Quincy won the tea's lone postseason match-up in 2016 in Quincy, 87-80.
 
Meanwhile, Quincy, who is 15-15 overall on the season, comes into Monday's SLIAC first round game with McKendree having closed the regular season with three wins in its final four games with the loss being an 86-60 setback on Saturday at Southwest Baptist, who is the No. 1 seed in this year's GLVC Tournament and earned a first round bye as the West Division champions. Ironically, the Hawks have been playing with an interim coach since Ryan Hellenthal was relieved of his duties as Quincy's coach on Feb. 11. QU's interim coach, Pat Richardson, is 3-1 leading the Hawks heading into Monday's contest. Quincy is making its first trip to the GLVC Tournament since 2016 when the No. 2 seeded Hawks fell 79-78 to No. 7 seeded Lewis in the quarterfinals held at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. That Quincy team would earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2016 and would fall to No. 2 ranked Bellarmine in the regional semifinals in Marty Bell's final game as QU's coach. The Hawks finished the 2015-15 season with a 25-7 record.
 
Southwest Baptist (21-5, 15-4 GLVC, 3.89) concluded the regular season with an 86-60 home win over Quincy on Saturday and enters the GLVC Tournament as the No. 1 seed and earned a first round bye. The Bearcats will face the winner of Monday's first round match-up between No. 8 seed William Jewell (12-16, 8-12 GLVC, 2.88) and No. 9 seed Lindenwood University (12-16, 8-12 GLVC, 2.88) on Thursday, March 3 at 6 p.m. in the first of four quarterfinal match-ups. William Jewell and Lindenwood meet in Liberty, Mo., on Monday at 7 p.m.
 
No. 3 seeded Truman State (21-4, 17-3 GLVC, 4.30) will begin its postseason run with a game at home on Monday at 7:30 p.m. against No. 14 seeded Rockhurst (11-19, 6-14 GLVC, 2,38). The Bulldogs earned the No. 3 seed after closing out the regular season with an 84-78 loss to Rockhurst on Saturday, but earned the No. 3 seed over UMSL due to fact they swept both meetings during the regular season over the Tritons. The winner of the Truman State-Rockhurst game will face the winner of the first round match-up between No. 6 seeded Indianapolis (16-10, 10-8 GLVC, 3.19) and No. 11 seeded Missouri S&T (11-16, 7-13 GLVC, 2.65), who will meet on Monday at 7 p.m. ET, in a quarterfinal game on Friday, March 4 at 8:30 p.m.
 
Central Division champion and No. 4 seeded UMSL (20-6, 14-5 GLVC, 3.68) will open the postseason at home on Monday with a first round game at 7:30 p.m. against No. 13 seed Drury (10-15, 7-10 GLVC, 2.59) and the winner of that first round game will meet the winner of the final first round match-up on Monday between No. 5 seeded Southern Indiana (17-7, 12-6, 3.58) and No. 12 seeded Illinois-Springfield (12-15, 7-13 GLVC, 2.60), who will meet each other in Evansville, Ind., at 7 p.m., will face off against each other in the third semifinal round game on Friday, March 4 at 6 p,m.
 
The men's semifinal games are scheduled for 6 and 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 5, with the men's final slated for a 3:30 p.m. start on Sunday, March 6.

Monday's game will be available to be watched online on the GLVCSN, but the league recently approved the implementation of a pay-per-view pass system for both the opening rounds on Monday and later the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals of this year's GLVC Tournament, that will be held at SIUE.