Fresno Pacific men's basketball coach Chris Wright would have loved to see how his Sunbirds might have fared in the Pacific West Conference tournament.

"It would've been a good challenge for us," the second-year coach said. "We beat every PacWest team, so in my mind we would've done extremely well."

As it was, the conference runner-up Sunbirds weren't eligible for that tournament or the NCAA championships as they complete year two of a three-year transition to NCAA Division II.

The Sunbirds (20-7, 14-4) instead hope to continue to make the most of their only postseason opportunity, earning the top seed for the eight-team National Christian College Athletic Association championships at Grace College in Winona Lake, Ind.

Fresno Pacific opens at 2:30 p.m. today against No. 8 Roberts Wesleyan of Rochester, N.Y.

"It's great to be the No. 1 seed," Wright said. "We have to perform. Seeds have no outcome on the game. We need to play how we are capable of regardless of who it's against."

Other teams in the field: No. 2 and defending champion Cedarville (Ohio), No. 3 Oklahoma Christian, No. 4 Mid-America Christian (Oklahoma), No. 5 Shorter (Georgia), No. 6 Spring Arbor (Michigan) and No. 7 Tennessee Temple.

Semifinal games are Thursday and the championship Saturday. The NCCAA women's tournament also is taking place this week at Grace College.

PacWest Conference Newcomer of the Year John Taylor leads the Sunbirds, averaging 26.3 points per game while setting the school's single-season scoring record. He scored 39 points in a 109-105 victory over Azusa Pacific in last Wednesday's NCCAA West Region final.

Roberts Wesleyan (8-19) won the East Regional, beating 1-24 Houghton (N.Y.) after losing its last five of the regular season and going 4-14 in the East Coast Conference. Devin Grimes averages team-best totals of 14.3 points, 11.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists.

Sunbirds senior guard/forward Rickey Vick knows his team shouldn't take any team lightly.

"Not an easy tournament," Vick said. "Pretty good competition, but we like our chances. If we play how we're capable of, I don't see why we won't come out as champions. We didn't come here to be runner-up."