All Things 2023 D2/D3 Hoops

I missed Bethany Lutheran. I'm aware of the school - but I honestly did not know their team was having that type of season. when I saw the name in the bracket, I thought it was from some other part of the country. (their Coach - Pat Garvin - is a Jackson County Central grad - heck of a player in HS).

Loras is a member of the American Rivers Conference - formerly known as the Iowa Conference. (Luther, Wartburg, Simpson, Central etc). It's a long story, but Loras left the Iowa Conference in 1954 and re-joined in 1986. and their nickname - the "DuHawks" which is short for Dubuque Hawks.
Bethany went undefeated in their conference, but looks like they also played a solid non-conference schedule, including hosting both Gustavus and Carleton. The lost to GAC 88-78 but smoked Carleton, 87-71. I watched some of it on-line, not a fluke. They also beat UW-LaCrosse 68-67.

Thanks for the background on Loras.
 

First round of the NSIC Tournament are done and the quarterfinals are set. Here's the breakdown with Minnesota teams in bold

First round results:
  • Sioux Falls defeated Bemidji State, 68-66
  • Southwest Minnesota State defeated St. Cloud State, 74-63
  • Winona State downed Northern State, 95-65
  • Augustana won over Wayne State, 75-62
Quarterfinal match-ups, first two on Saturday, next two on Sunday:
  • Sioux Falls Vs. Minnesota State Mankato
  • Augustana Vs. Minnesota Duluth
  • Southwest Minnesota State Vs. Minot State
  • Winona State Vs. Minnesota State Moorhead
Semifinals are Monday.
 

D3 National Tournaments - 1st round scores
---(not a good day for MN teams)---

MEN:
Friday, March 1
Loras IA 89, Gustavus 64
UW-Platteville 89, Bethany Lutheran 52
winners meet on Saturday, March 2 at 7:50pm

Coe College IA 79, Wabash 74
Coe plays Trine (Ind) on Saturday

WOMEN:
Fri, Mar 1
Trine (Ind) 61, Gustavus 58 (2ot)
UW-Oshkosh 57, Webster 42
--winners meet on Sat, Mar 2 at 7:00pm

Fri, Mar 1 (Waverly, IA)
Illinois Wesleyan 75, Concordia-Moorhead 62
Wartburg IA 72, Wisconsin Lutheran 65
--winners meet on Sat, Mar 2 at 7:30pm

UW-Whitewater 86, MN-Morris 47
Whitewater plays Millikin on Saturday

UW-Stout 71, Washington U 61
UW Stout plays Puget Sound on Saturday

(note - I watched the OT for the Gustavus Women's team. committed some costly turnovers and missed some key shots)
 

D3 National Tournaments - just for the heck of it

MEN: (Sat, Mar 2)
UW-Platteville 81, Loras 67
--Platteville will play Case Western (Ohio) in the 3rd round on Fri, Mar 8

also - Coe College (IA) loses to Trine (Ind) 76-70

WOMEN: (Sat, Mar 2)
UW-Oshkosh 74, Trine 48
--Oshkosh plays Smith (Mass) on Fri, Mar 8

Wartburg 62, Illinois Wesleyan 59
--Wartburg plays Bates (Maine) on Fri, Mar 8

UW-Whitewater 89, Millikin 65
--Whitewater plays Hope (Mich) on Fri, Mar 8

UW-Stout 61, Puget Sound 40
--Stout plays Transylvania (KY) on Fri, Mar 8

(WIAC has 3 of the last 16 teams in D3 Women's tournament)
 

Soooo MSU Moorhead lost Vs. Winona in the NSIC tournament, Dragons won't make it a three-peat. Instead, Duluth and Mankato are playing for the title, here's the bracket before tonight's title game.


After today the wait begins until Sunday, with the selection show taking place March 10. Both Moorhead and Mankato are likely locks for the NCAA tournament, Duluth as well. My guess is three other NSIC teams will show up, too.

In other news, Minnesota North College-Rainy River beat Riverland CC from Austin on Sunday to punch their ticket to the NJCAA tournament in New York!
 
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D3 National Tournaments - just for the heck of it

MEN: (Fri, Mar 8)
UW-Platteville 95, Case Western (Ohio) 75
--Platteville will play Trine (Ind) on Sat, Mar 9


WOMEN: Fri, Mar 8

Smith (Mass) 61, UW-Oshkosh 59

Wartburg 54, Bates (Maine) 53
--Wartburg plays Washington & Lee (VA) on Sat, Mar 9

UW-Whitewater 72, Hope (Mich) 61
Transylvania (KY) 63, UW-Stout 58
--Whitewater plays Transylvania (KY on Sat, Mar 9
 

D3 National Tournaments - just for the heck of it

MEN: (Sat, Mar 9
Trine (Ind) 88, UW-Platteville 86 in (ot) --- last Midwest team is eliminated

Semi-Finals Thurs, Mar 14
Hampden-Sydney (VA) vs Guilford (NC)
Trine (Ind) vs Trinity (Conn)



WOMEN: Sat, Mar 9

Wartburg 68, Washington & Lee (VA) 58

Transylvania (KY) 62, UW-Whitewater 48

--Wartburg will play Smith (Mass) in the Semi-finals on Thursday, March 14th.
--NYU will play Transylvania in the other Semi.

Championship game Sat, March 16
 

Four NSIC teams made the NCAA DII tournament, all of them from Minnesota. Here's the bracket for their Central Region, Mankato is the host

 

Four NSIC teams made the NCAA DII tournament, all of them from Minnesota. Here's the bracket for their Central Region, Mankato is the host

The D2 tournament is just so bad, all the conference teams playing in the same region. Hosting 8 teams at one site and missing out on great environments you could have if more teams had home games.
 



2024 NCAA D2 Central Region Tournament 1st Round results, Sat. (3/16):

#3 Mn-Duluth 59 #6 Ft.Hays St 58
#2 NW Mo. St 73 #7 SW Mn St 43
#1 MSU-Mankato 75 #8 Arkansas Tech 68
#4 MSU-Moorhead 73 #5 Pittsburg St. 55

Sunday's (3/17) Semifinal games:

5:00pm #2 NW Mo. St vs #3 Mn-Duluth
7:30pm #1 MSU-Mankato vs #4 MSU-Moorhead'

Winners meet in the Finals Tuesday (3/19), all games being played at #1 MSU-Mankato

 

FWIW - D3 Hoops wrap-up

MEN:
Semi-Finals (Thurs, Mar 14)
Hampden-Sydney (VA) 62, Guilford (NC) 57
Trine (Ind) 66, Trinity (Conn) 54

Championship: (Sat, Mar 16)
Trine (Ind) 69, Hampden-Sydney (VA) 61

WOMEN:
Semi-Finals (Thurs, Mar 14)
Smith (Mass) 61, Wartburg 54
NYU 57. Transylvania (KY) 42

Championship: (Sat, Mar 16)
NYU 51, Smith (Mass) 41
 

Mankato absolutely destroyed Moorhead tonight (boo!). 78-55.
Moorhead is an excellent team, especially on the boards, but they could not have been colder shooting tonight. Jacob Beninga from Wayzata is the Dragons number one scorer and he was held scoreless tonight.

The Mavericks play Tuesday against NW Missouri to go to the elite 8.
 
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Mankato absolutely destroyed Moorhead tonight (boo!). 78-55.
Moorhead is an excellent team, especially on the boards, but they could not have been colder shooting tonight. Jacob Beninga from Wayzata is the Dragons number one scorer and he was held scoreless tonight.

The Mavericks play Tuesday against NW Missouri to go to the elite 8.
That was tough. I was hoping the Dragons could pull it off but they were off last night. Beninga is coming back I think next year, though, so that will be good.

I will say, this is another year where the format is just frustrating though. This region had two of the top four teams in the country with Mankato and NW Missouri, plus No. 10 and 11 Duluth and Moorhead. DII needs a better tournament structure.

I know that sounds salty because the Dragons lost, but it's the reality when tournaments are done by region instead of seeding. This happened a few years ago with Northern State and Northwest Missouri being in the Central and they were the top two in the country.
 
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That was tough. I was hoping the Dragons could pull it off but they were off last night. Beninga is coming back I think next year, though, so that will be good.

I will say, this is another year where the format is just frustrating though. This region had two of the top four teams in the country with Mankato and NW Missouri, plus No. 10 and 11 Duluth and Moorhead. DII needs a better tournament structure.

I know that sounds salty because the Dragons lost, but it's the reality when tournaments are done by region instead of seeding. This happened a few years ago with Northern State and Northwest Missouri being in the Central and they were the top two in the country.
No, you're absolutely right, because it can more or less make it impossible to have the two best teams meet for a championship. Granted, upsets can happen - see Minnetonka in the boys hockey tournament section final - but the NCAA should do a better job seeding overall at the lower levels.
 

No, you're absolutely right, because it can more or less make it impossible to have the two best teams meet for a championship. Granted, upsets can happen - see Minnetonka in the boys hockey tournament section final - but the NCAA should do a better job seeding overall at the lower levels.
It's not the NCAA it's just the D2 leadership. The D3 tournament is pretty great. They can put conference rivals on opposite sides of the bracket and even avoid repetitive matchups from the past years. They're still constrained by the amount of flights they can put in the bracket but they can get much more creative with the 2-2-2 format.
 

It's not the NCAA it's just the D2 leadership. The D3 tournament is pretty great. They can put conference rivals on opposite sides of the bracket and even avoid repetitive matchups from the past years. They're still constrained by the amount of flights they can put in the bracket but they can get much more creative with the 2-2-2 format.
I wasn't sure, but I did wonder if travel was part of this.
 

Congrats to the MSU-Mankato women, they won the NCAA D2 Central Region Tournament tonight as a #7 seed..
Their results in the tourney:

Quarterfinal: #7 MSU-Mankato 78 #2(ranked #20 nationally) Missouri Western 58
Semifinal: #7 MSU-Mankato 78 #3 Ft. Hays St 66
Final: #7 MSU-Mankato 80 #1(ranked #10 nationally) Southern Nazerene(Ok) 48

Mavericks(29-5) move on to the D2 Elite 8 in St.Joseph,Mo. First game is Monday 3/25.

 






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