Round of 16 Preview Show
A fun look inside the Round of 16 as we all wait for the first game to
- The field by seeds: (4) 1’s, (3) 2’s, (2) 3’s, (3) 5’s, (1 each) 11, 12, 14 and 15
- SIX teams making their first trip to the Round of 16 since the merger. Central Baptist, Cumberlands, Evangel, Madonna, Northwestern (IA), The Master’s.
- College of Idaho will look to become the first team to repeat as National Champions since 2006-2007 (Oklahoma City University). They open up against their 3rd team from the WHAC in their past four games of the NAIA Championships.
- Since the merger, the National Champion has twice come from the Naismith Quadrant and once from the Cramer Quadrant.
- Previously, the worse seed to advance to the Round of 16 was the 11th-seeded Southeastern (FL) squad that featured Riley Minix, who is now hoping to lead D1 Morehead State to an upset win over Illinois today at 2pm! This year features an 11 (Lewis-Clark St.), a 12 (LSU Shreveport),a 14 (Central Baptist) and a 15 (Evangel) seed.
- Jamestown streak of the only team since the merger to make it to the Round of 16 is over. However, Arizona Christian, Grace, Indiana Wesleyan, Morningside, LSU Shreveport AND Chris Wright (2x-Langston, 1x Talladega) have all made it 3 of the past 4 seasons.
- Muni is typically not kind to shooters in the first games, BUT we have some teams who can flat shoot the rock as Morningside and Northwestern are both shooting almost 40% from deep as a team and then The Master’s is coming off a game where they shot 20-36 from the 3pt line with Ty Harper going 8-8 from deep!
- Northwestern’s Kris Korver (547 wins) is currently 4th on the list NAIA MBB Active Wins list.
- Indiana Wesleyan’s Greg Tonagel, earlier this season, became the youngest coach, at any level, to earn his 500th career win.
- Five Conference Coach of the Year winners remain: Scott Moore (Grace), Sam Kohnke (CBC), Donnie Bostwick (OKWU), Chris Wright (Langston), Austin Johnson (LCSC).
- There are four Conference Player of the Year winners remaining: Elijah Malone (Grace), Anthony Roy (Langston), Kaleb Lowery (The Master’s), Samae Morgan (College of Idaho).
- Since the merger, Shawnee State is the only non 1-seed to win a National Title. The “Covid” bracket, reseeded teams that year, however, they were the 2nd lowest seed in their own quadrant that year.
- The top four teams in NETEFF are in the Round of 16. There are also nine of the Top 25 teams in NETEFF that advanced to the Round of 16.
- Interesting enough, the top SEVEN teams in DEF EFF are all in the Round of 16. FHU, Langston, OKWU, CofI, Grace, CBC, NWC. LCSC was 21st, Evangel 27th and ACU 29th.
- Championship Pedigree: Greg Tonagel – IWU – (3), Kris Korver – NWC (2), Colby Blaine – CofI (1), Donnie Bostwick – OKWU (1) all have won titles as Head Coach. Bert Capel – Evangel, won a National Title as a player at Evangel.
- National Title Game is at 7pm on Tuesday the 26th and will be on ESPN3!
