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Notebook

Kevin O'Connor's
Midwest Notebook
Posted Mach 3, 2000

There’s no Wisconsin-Platteville in the NCAA Division III Men’s Basketball Tournament, but there’s plenty of Wisconsin.

Yes, the two-time defending champs are staying home, their dying hopes for an at large berth finally extinguished when UW-Oshkosh beat them 67-66 in the WIAC Tournament quarterfinals.

But in their stead, five other teams from the Dairy State, including WIAC compatriots UW-Stevens Point and UW-Eau Claire. Also in the field, Ripon, Carthage, and Concordia.

Concordia gets the honor of being the only below-.500 team in the field. They won the Lake Michigan Conference Championship as the fifth seed, and enter the postseason at 12-15.

Here’s a look at the "Midwest" bracket on the men’s side, which actually is a combination of teams traditionally in the Midwest and West Regions.

Concordia/UW-Eau Claire winner at Carthage Saturday
Eau Claire was squarely in the bubble after allowing a six-point lead get away in the final minute of the WIAC championship game at Stevens Point. But the Blugolds, thanks to a second place finish in the WIAC and a perfect non-conference record, qualified for their first-ever NCAA Tournament. Eau Claire has a long NAIA pedigree, with their last post-season appearance an at large berth in the NAIA Tournament in 1992.

The Blugolds will pose size problems for any team they face. Starters Jon Wallenfelsz, Dave Mellinthin, and Sherm Carstensen are all 6-6 or better. Carstensen leads the team in scoring at 20.7 ppg, while Wallenfelsz pitches in 17.7 points and 8.6 rebounds.

As mentioned above, the Falcons are a surprise entrant in the tournament. They knocked top-seeded Wisconsin Lutheran out of the LMC semifinals, then won at Edgewood in the championship game. This is their first-ever NCAA Tournament bid.

Carthage won the CCIW regular season crown to earn a first round bye and a home game in the second round. The Redmen are a young team, featuring three key freshmen in Rob Garnes, Antoine McDaniel, and Bart Fabian. The team leaders are Jason Wiertel (22.1 ppg) and Greg Ktistou (16.2 ppg).

The head coach at Carthage is very used to these NCAA circumstances, having coached North Park to a pair of national titles in the 1980’s. Bosko Djurickovic is excited.

"I’ve been through this a number of times at North Park, and it’s still fun," the coach says. He was also surprised to see a WIAC foe pop up immediately in his bracket. "What this does is it ensures an even wilder scene than we had three weeks ago against Illinois Wesleyan, if Eau Claire wins (Thursday night). They travel very well, and we’re going to have a huge crowd. Saturday night might be the best setting for a second round game in America."

Nebraska Wesleyan-St. Thomas/winner at Buena Vista Saturday
All three teams in this part of the bracket have an interesting angle.

Nebraska Wesleyan reigns from the infamous pool B, and likely wouldn’t be in the tournament under the old system. St. Thomas is back in the field (along with St. John's) after finally overcoming the dominance of Gustavus Adolphus and Augsburg in Minnesota over the past few seasons. And, Buena Vista earns the top seed from a league that didn’t even get a bid two seasons ago.

Many have considered the Beavers overrated throughout the season. Their 26-1 record doesn’t include a win that really jumps off the page. Adam Jones leads three players in double figures, while Chris Peterson tops the team in rebounding.

Nebraska Wesleyan is 16-8 overall, but won the NAIA-dominated Nebraska-Iowa Athletic Conference. The Plainsmen have been fixtures in the NCAA field, but have been bounced out of the tournament early since they finished second in the nation in 1997. Last season, they lost in the first round at Augsburg. Already this year, the Plainsmen lost at St. John's. They were also beaten by 25 at Hampden-Sydney earlier this season, and have lost two standout players through the course of the season.

St. Thomas had won 15 of its last 16 games before it fell to St. John's in the MIAC championship game. The Tommies still earned their first berth to the tournament since 1995.

St. John's-Ripon/winner at Chicago Saturday
It was quite a weekend for Ripon.

The Redmen had to go to Lake Forest for the Midwest Conference playoffs following a three-game losing streak to close out the regular season. Then, after winning their semifinal, they watched as Lawrence upset the top-seeded Foresters. Ripon easily handled Lawrence Saturday, and now the Redmen get a home game in the first round.

Last season, Ripon knocked off Illinois Wesleyan before falling at Franklin.

St. John's won the MIAC postseason tournament, and earned their first NCAA bid since 1995. Junior Troy Bigalke is the team leader, passing the 1,000 career points mark in the conference tournament semifinals. The head coach of the Johnnies (Jim Smith) is the fifth winningest overall and third winningest active coach in Division III basketball.

Chicago quietly dominated the University Athletic Association, completing an unbeaten conference season with a 61-59 win against Washington U. Saturday. The Maroons have a lengthy winning streak at Henry Crown Fieldhouse, but will play their second-round NCAA Tournament game at the Gentile Center on the campus of Loyola University. The Maroons are in the tournament for the third time in the last four seasons.

Pacific-Lewis and Clark/winner at UW-Stevens Point Saturday
It never seems to fail that when Stevens Point gets into the NCAA Tournament, they get thrown a curveball when the brackets are released.

In 1997, the Pointers drew a first-round trip to California, where they beat Pomona-Pitzer. They returned to Wisconsin and upset UW-Platteville en route to a berth in the sectional finals. This is their first appearance in the tourney since that run.

But they’ve been scrambling this week to learn more about their potential first round opponent.

Lewis and Clark is 20-5 overall and won the Northwest Conference regular season title before falling in the conference tournament semifinals. Pacific is 16-8 overall and was also knocked off in the Northwest Conference tournament semifinals.

Lewis and Clark opened the season 3-4, but won 17 consecutive games before losing to Willamette. The Pioneers rank seventh in the nation in scoring and average 86.2 points per game. They rank third in the country in three-point field goals made at 10.5 per game. Sophomore Scott Davis leads the team at 20.0 points per game.

Pacific has won seven of its last nine games and is led by senior Jeremy Vernon at 13.3 points per game.

Stevens Point is 23-4 overall and won both the regular season and conference tournament championships in the WIAC. The Pointers are led by likely WIAC player of the year Brant Bailey, who led the WIAC in scoring at 24.4 ppg. But the Pointers have also benefited from the addition of Division I transfer Brent Larson. Point also shoots 42% from three-point range, while allowing opponents to shoot just 40.5% from the field overall. And they have the home court advantage, something that excites coach Jack Bennett.

"I think it will be a huge advantage to have them on our court," Bennett says. "Being from out of the region, I don’t expect either school will have a lot of fans come here. Our crowds lately have been great and they have really given us a boost."

Two other "Midwest" teams were shipped to the Great Lakes Region. Benedictine will open the tournament Thursday night at Ohio Northern, while Webster, the champions of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, will play at Franklin.

Kevin covers Wisconsin and Illinois for D3hoops.com.