In the company of family and friends, the Cornell men's basketball team learned it will take on the University of Missouri Tigers in Boise, Idaho, in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Gathered at Moakley House, Cornell, along with 64 other teams around the country, learned its seeding during the live televised CBS "Selection Sunday" show, March 15. Cornell was seeded No. 14 and placed in the West Regional Bracket. They will play the Big 12 Conference champions Friday, March 20, in Boise's Taco Bell Arena.

That Cornell is the consummate underdog was not lost on anyone. Known for its athleticism and full-court press, Missouri (28-6) has been to the NCAA tournament 21 times, as opposed to Cornell (21-9), who will make only its fourth appearance in team history.

Still, players and coaches alike said they would be ready.

"I think we're much older, more experienced and more poised now," said junior guard Louis Dale. "I think we can do a good job against them."

Coach Steve Donahue said that tough regular-season opponents, such as the University of Minnesota, have prepared his players for a team like Missouri.

"I feel we're so far ahead of where we were last year at this point," Donahue said.

A collective cheer rose above the crowd at Moakley House when the news broke of Cornell's placement. It was preceded by several sighs of relief when, one by one, such teams as University of Louisville, University of Connecticut and University of Memphis were not matched up with Cornell.

The gathering doubled as a celebration for the team's second-straight Ivy League championship, made official March 6 when Cornell beat the University of Pennsylvania at Newman Arena.

Last year in the tournament, the Big Red was a No. 14 seed and lost to No. 3 seed the Stanford Cardinal, 77-53.

Cornell is one of 31 Division I basketball teams to secure an automatic bid to the tournament. Automatic bids are awarded to conference champions. The Ivy League is the lone conference that awards its automatic bid to the team that wins the regular-season championship. Other conferences award the automatic bid to the winner of the conference tournaments, which took place across the country during the last two weeks.

The other 34 at-large bids are awarded to teams by the 10-member NCAA Selection Committee, which reviews each team's performance throughout the season. The committee then seeds the teams based on strength, and places each team in one of four regional brackets. The winners of each bracket will play in the Final Four on April 4 in Detroit.

Also this week, the Ivy League bestowed individual honors on four Cornell players. Juniors Ryan Wittman and Louis Dale were voted to the All-Ivy First team, while senior Jeff Foote was selected to the second team, as well as being named the inaugural Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. Freshman Chris Wroblewski was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year.