NAMPA — When the Northwest Nazarene men's basketball team opens the national tournament Friday, it won't just be a payoff from the last three months.

Rather it will be the result of six years of work leading up to one 40-minute game.

Starting with recruiting redshirt senior Sam Roth when he was in high school to development of the team, the culture, the program and everything in between and it has been a journey to reach this stage.

"You have to get players to buy in and you have to get the talent and then win two-thirds of your games, have depth and luck and so much more," said NNU volleyball coach Doug English, who has been to the national tournament three times. "Winning is hard. To be able to win at all takes a lot of work and discipline from the group.

"It seems like a one-year accomplishment, but it is a multi-year accomplishment to get to the payoff right now."

English is one of six current coaches who have taken Nighthawks athletes to the national tournament level. Women's basketball's Steve Steele, cross country and track and field's Danny Bowman, softball's Rich Wagner, golf's Craig Stensgaard and now men's basketball's Paul Rush have also reached the pinnacle of their respective sports.

The men's basketball team faces Point Loma at 8:45 p.m. Friday in Golden, Colo., in the first round of the NCAA Division II national championships.

"The really hard part is if you don't win your conference and get that automatic bid, it is really hard to get an at large bid," said Wagner, who led the softball team to nationals in 2018. "You have to do something really special and men's basketball did that this year."

NNU didn't have a conference tournament to win this year with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the Nighthawks to play as an independent.

They cobbled together a 15-game season, winning 11 of those games and grabbing the fifth seed in the West.

"In Division I they take the top 64 teams regardless of location," said Steele, who has been to the tournament three times. "In Division II, you have to beat out teams in your region specifically. We have several of the top teams in the country in our region which makes it more difficult."

The consistent success that English and Steele have had with their programs also makes it easier to get back to the tournament because their programs are already in the selection committee's minds.

"The men had to overcome a lot to get selected," Steele said. "Past success is a huge factor. They haven't gone at this level, so they probably had to win more games than some other teams would have to win. They really earned it this year, there is no doubt about it. The first year is always the hardest."

Once a program reaches the national stage, though, they gain credibility with poll voters, opponents and recruits across the board.

"It definitely helps with recruiting," said Bowman, who took women's cross country to nationals in 2019 and various individual athletes to the track and field championship meets. "Kids look at times and the higher caliber athletes you have and feel like there are training partners for them. They feel like they can compete at a high-end program and that gets them to the next level."

While qualifying for nationals is a huge step, it's also not the end all. Once you are there, you of course want to win.

"You have to embrace the fact that is different than the regular season," English said. "It is special and you have to embrace the emotions and not suppress being hyped or nervous. You just have to use that to function at a high level.

"You need to celebrate all the hard work whether you win or lose. Eat well — it's not on our dime!"

The all-expenses paid trip by the NCAA is certainly another benefit, but all of the hoopla surrounding the tournaments can also create distractions from the task at hand.

"You don't want the experience to catch you off guard," Steele said. "We try to let our kids get the feel of being there instead of just walking in on game day. Rest is also really important because there is so much going on."

No matter what happens, though, the athletics program as a whole is excited to have another team reach the national tournament.

"As an alumni, I'm really excited," Wagner said. "I was here in the building when we were 3 seconds away from winning the national title as a freshman in college (in 1995) … for men's basketball to finally get back to the tournament is a huge, huge deal."

And one that shouldn't be taken lightly.