- Good Morning NAIA Hoops Nation!! The Madness is just beginning around the NAIA hoops world! I want to take this opportunity to thank our entire team, both Jake and Tad, and all of the people behind the scenes that want to remain anonymous. They are the backbone that holds us together, and as much as I wish we could pay them, I am even more honored that they work so hard for free, all while continuing to be passionate about NAIA Hoops. Thank You to all of you, and I am looking forward to heading into the postseason with the best team around!
- There was only one DI conference playing last night, and it was the Heart of America. We’ll get to our circled game next, but there were two buzzer beater winning shots from the league last night. The first one was from Mason Vires of Culver-Stockton:
- The 2nd one, came at the end of one of the craziest last 30 seconds of play you will see, that ended in MNU Freshman Anthony Brown hitting the 3 to win it!
- Speaking of great plays in the Heart of America from last night, William Penn University Junior Kevion Blaylock, with a NAIA Top Play worthy poster!
- Our circled game from the Heart of America featured a game for outright 3rd place, and Peru St. pounced on the opportunity, as they went on the road to knock off Benedictine 73-55. If the math is right, Benedictine and Peru St. will both need to win out, and make it to the Heart Championship game in order to finish above that .600 win % mark for the Heart to get it’s host bid team in.
- Here is how the Heart of America Standings look after last night:
- The DII slate was much bigger, and as we are down to our final week of the regular season in NAIA DII, games are getting intense.
- In the Appalachian Athletic Conference our circled game saw Bluefield pick up a BIG 77-69 win over Tennessee Wesleyan. The loss snapped TWU’s 8 game win streak, and put them in a bit of a dire situation now to make the AAC playoffs.
- The simple answer for TWU playoff hopes is that they will need to win @ Montreat on Saturday to make it in. A loss, could potentially set up a big tie-breaker scenario as the 6-10th place teams in the AAC are currently just 1 game apart headed into the last game of the year. Bryan is the only team who has finished their regular season, so they will be at home on Saturday watching to see if they make it in or not.
- Here are the AAC Standings headed into Saturday:
- In our GPAC circled game, #21 Dordt went on the road to defeat Mount Marty 92-86. Dordt has won 7 of their last 8 games, and should be in great shape to get an automatic birth to the NAIA DII National Tournament, no matter what they do in the GPAC Tournament.
- Here are the GPAC Standings with 1 game to go:
- Tad has been all over the GPAC breakdowns, and scenarios for Saturday.
- We had two games from the KCAC circled last night, because the league is too much fun right now to not have two circled games! In our first circled game the #6 Ottwa Braves defeated Kansas Wesleyan 86-64 to clinch the KCAC Regular Season Title! Congrats to the champs!!
- In a great game that was on ESPN 3 last night, #14 Oklahoma Wesleyan defeated Bethel 80-77. The win keeps Oklahoma Wesleyan a game up on Southwestern (KS) for 2nd place. Southwestern would own the tie breaker if the two are tied after Saturdays games. Bethel is tied for 6th right now.
- Here is how the KCAC Standings look with 1 game to go:
- Our last DII Circled game from last night saw the crowning of another Conference Champion, as Indiana Tech defeated UM-Dearborn 83-67 to clinch the WHAC Regular Season Championship!
- The WHAC Standings aren’t as crazy as some of the other DII leagues, but with 1 game left here is how it looks:
- This is our last BIG Thursday slate of regular season games! Still a lot of fun matchups in both DI and DII tonight, and we will look to continue to bring you the best coverage in NAIA Hoops!
