The beginning of March heralds the arrival of college basketball’s infamous March Madness.
As always, the landscape changes almost daily as teams attempt to win conference tournaments – with a title bringing automatic entry to National Championships. Once Tournaments begin, teams play almost daily until a championship winner is found.
We will provide regular updates of how our Kiwi players based in the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) and NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) tournaments are faring.
So what do we know so far?
NAIA (starts 11 March)
Dominique Stephens and Rocky Mountain College are the Frontier Conference champions after a nail-biting 59-56 win against Carroll.
The former St Peter’s School, Cambridge standout scored 3 points in the win, a victory that sees Rocky Mountain progress to the NAIA National Championships beginning March 11.
NJCAA (starts 14 March)
There will be strong New Zealand representation at the NJCAA (Junior College) National Championships beginning March 14.
Nate Wilson and South Georgia Tech Jets are bound for the Men’s Championships. In the Grand-Final of the Region 17 Tournament the Jets won an overtime thriller 87-84 to book their ticket. The former Mt Albert Grammar and Auckland Huskies forward scored 7 points on a perfect three-from-three from the floor, corralled 4 rebounds, a steal and a block for the Jets.
Dejaan Schuler and Casper College T-Birds are also National Championship bound. The ex-Te Aroha and Waikato standout scored a team high 15 points (6/10FG) as Casper defeated Eastern Wyoming 71-57 in the Region 9 Tournament Grand Final.
Schuler joins Ashlee Strawbridge and Kyra Paniora as the Kiwi representatives at the Women’s National Championships after College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles had clipped their ticket a few days earlier.
College of Southern Idaho beat Snow College 63-57 to win the Region 18 Championship – Strawbridge finished with a team high 7 rebounds to accompany 4 points and 2 steals while Paniora contributed 2 points and 2 rebounds for the Golden Eagles.
NCAA (on now)
In Women’s NCAA Division I action, BYU wrapped up the West Coast Conference (WCC) regular season title with an 82-52 thumping of Pacific. Playing her 149th NCAA Division I game, Tegan Graham finished with 12 points and 5 assists, Arielle Mackey-Williams scored seven and Kaylee Smiler 4 points for the champions.
BYU match up with Emme Shearer and Portland University Pilots in the WCC Championship semi-finals on Tuesday.
This is a big week of Division I championships with the majority of our New Zealand players pursuing conference tournament success – and a coveted place at the NCAA National Tournament to be held at the end of the month.
We will be keeping a close eye on the other Women’s Division I teams in action this week, including Lauryn Mapusua who scored 6 points (2/3 3PG) as Houston Baptist defeated McNeese to finish a lofty 12-2 in Southland Conference play. The win gave the Huskies its first ever Southland Conference regular season title. Queensland-educated Mapusua played for New Zealand at the 2017 FIBA U18 Oceania Championship in Guam.
Others in action will be Grace Hunter (Florida International) Jessica Moors (Colorado State) Amiee Book (Fresno State) Olivia Williams (UC Irvine), Victoria Ikenasio (St Peter’s, New Jersey) and Tara Manumaleuga (Texas Christian).
There is also plenty of Kiwi interest amongst Division I Men’s teams where St Mary’s, California (Dan Fotu), UC Riverside (Flynn Cameron, Angus McWilliam and Callum McRae), Abilene Christian (Tobias Cameron), Davidson College (Sam Mennenga), Colorado State (James Moors), Miami (Sam Waardenburg), Fordham (Zach Riley), Virginia (Taine Murray), South Dakota (Kruz Perrott-Hunt), Hartford (Tom Webley) and New Mexico State (Yuat Alok) will all be looking to challenge for honours.
