The Bracket
Road To Muni Podcast
Heart Tournament Schedule
Heart Quarterfinals | February 23
No. 8 Benedictine at No. 1 William Penn – 6 PM – Oskaloosa, IA
No. 5 MidAmerica Nazarene at No. 4 Baker – 7 PM – Baldwin City, KS
No. 6 Central Methodist at No. 3 Evangel – 7 PM – Springfield, MO
No. 7 Graceland at No. 2 Peru State – 7 PM – Peru, NE
Quarterfinal Breakdown
No. 8 Benedictine at No. 1 William Penn
Chanze Cruesoe and Malik Edwards are one of the best backcourt duos in the NAIA. Cruesoe is the pass first playmaker, while Edwards is the proven scorer of the two. 5th Year player, Eddie Daley leads the Heart in rebounding while teammate Muneer Newton is 5th in the Heart in rpg. William Penn swept the regular season series with BC, but most matchups between these two seem to come down to the wire. BC is led by Braden Belt, Jaden Temme and the Freshman, Sam Ungashick. If the Ravens want to upset WPU tonight, they will need to play BC basketball and be ready to go toe-for-toe with the Statesmen on the glass.
No. 5 MidAmerica Nazarene at No. 4 Baker
Ed Wright and Anthony Brown have been great for MNU. A team that spent a lot of time 1st semester inside the Top 25. They struggled a bit in the early part of the 2nd semester, but have rallied to win 3-striaght games coming into this one. Baker, who handed WPU their only Heart loss this season, has been really good at home this year. They are led by Jalen Patterson and Quentin Harvey who are both inside the Top 10 in scoring. These two split their regular season games, but both games were decided by 4pts or less.
No. 6 Central Methodist at No. 3 Evangel
James Jordan (CMU) vs Josh Pritchett (EU)?!? Sign us up!! Both of these teams are trending in different directions as CMU was red hot down the stretch and Evangel is puttering into the Heart Tourney. Both teams are good teams, CMU most likely needs to win the Heart Tourney for a chance at the National Tournament. Evangel, would like to get some wins to help bolster their confidence heading into the National Tournament. Should be a fun one!
No. 7 Graceland at No. 2 Peru State
Graceland has been sneaky good in games this year. Mostly at home, but they are no pushover here. Peru State only has two losses this semester, both of which came at the hands of William Penn. They are playing GREAT basketball right now and are a team to not just watch in the Heart, but also in the National Tournament as well. Lorenzo Anderson and Jibril Harris have provided the scoring punch for the Bobcats, but this is a deep and talented group.
