The Bracket


Road To Muni Podcast

Fab Four Preview Road To Muni Podcast

We are down to the final three games of the season as College of Idaho, Ottawa (AZ), Georgetown and Indiana Tech make up your NAIA Fab Four teams and tipoff on Saturday! In this episode, Junior and Pat dive deeper into the games, the paths of each team and more! — Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/naia-hoops-report/support
  1. Fab Four Preview
  2. Round of 16 Preview – Welcome to Kansas City!
  3. 2023 NAIA Men's National Championship Preview
  4. Continental Athletic Conference Tournament Preview
  5. Red River Athletic Conference Tournament Preview

WHAC Tournament Schedule

First Round – Thursday, Feb. 23
#8 #Aquinas (8-12/12-15) at #1 Indiana Tech (18-2/25-3), 8 p.m.
Live Videoย ย |ย ย Live Stats
#5 Cornerstone (12-8/18-10) at #4 Rochester (14-6/19-9), 7 p.m.
Live Videoย  |ย ย Live Stats
#6 Lawrence Tech (9-11/13-15) at #3 Madonna (14-6/21-7), 7 p.m.
Live Videoย  |ย ย Live Stats
#7 Concordia (8-12/9-19) at #2 Lourdes (15-5/21-7), 7 p.m.
Live Videoย  |ย ย Live Stats

Semifinals – Saturday, Feb. 25
Winner #8/#1 vs. Winner #5/#4
Winner #6/#3 vs. Winner #7/#2

Championship – Tuesday, Feb. 28

Quarterfinal Breakdown

#1 Indiana Tech vs #8 Aquinas

Indiana Tech will rank up there for one of the oldest teams in the NAIA. This is a group whose leaders all returned back for a 5th year of eligibility and the chance to win a National Title. The trio of Grant Smith, Josh Kline and Rog Stein is up there with the best trios in the NAIA. It’s why they have been so successful this season and why they are not just a team to watch in the WHAC Tournament, but the National Tournament as well. Tonight, they face off with an Aquinas team who is led by Gabe Overway. Aquinas battled Tech to a 6pt game 12 days ago. They will need to follow that gameplan and more to pull off the huge upset tonight!

#4 Rochester vs #5 Cornerstone

Two teams who remain on the NAIA Bubble. This game is an important one for both teams. As we discussed on the Road to Muni, Cornerstone Head Coach, Kim Elders, seems to always make deep runs in the WHAC Tournament. This is a talented team led by Corey Ainsworth. Ainsworth is 2nd in the WHAC in scoring, 5th in rpg and led the WHAC in FG%. If this Cornerstone team is going to make a run, they are going to have to start with a road win at Rochester. A team they have split with this season. James Ballard Jr. powers this Rochester offense. The Senior is a talented playmaker, and key to Rochester success.

#3 Madonna vs #6 Lawrence Tech

Andew Winn of Lawrence Tech leads the WHAC in PPG. He is coming off of a bit of a down 3 game stretch here, but has put up 16pts in both of the meetings with Madonna this season. The Madonna trio of Mark Metting, Henry Speight and Brendan Young are tough matchups for most teams. These two teams split their regular season matchups, but Madonna, in late January, beat LTU by 28pts on their home floor.

#2 Lourdes vs #7 Concordia (MI)

Lourdes, coached by former NBA player, Dennis Hopson are having another really good season. The Grey Wolves are the defending WHAC Tournament Champions and are eyeing back-to-back titles this year. Jack Harris, Joey Hollifield and company are a talented group. Concordia smacked them around back in November, but they returned the favor in early February with a 25pt drubbing of their own. Luke Rowlinson leads Concordia in scoring at 15.1ppg.


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