Our coverage over next couple days will be a bit hit or miss as we await the arrival of our daughter! As my good friend Coach Kevin Lubbers texted me yesterday…”be where your feet are!” So as the wife sleeps, I will be around to cover (like right now typing this at 3:15am), outside of that I’m going to be where my feet are at and be present with her! Prayers are certainly welcomed! I’m pumped to be a GirlDad though!
Bit of a small slate today. It’s the time of year where even the bottom teams in each league are still fighting for either better seeds or for some leagues, those teams are fighting just to make their league tourney! If you are a team, still in the running for a league title, if you get caught looking ahead, it can make you slip up and lose a game you shouldn’t! Think we saw that with several teams last night, who may have been looking ahead to big Saturday matchups. When dealing with mostly 18-23yr olds, it happens!
Top Games
6pm CT | Spartanburg Methodist @ Florida College
The CAC Classic started last night in Temple Terrace, Florida, with SMC knocking off Florida National. The CAC doesn’t have an actual conference schedule, so these classics go a long way in trying to qualify so that was a lot of times where the schedule was off a little bit so for the CAC tournament. Outside of Arkansas Baptist, there isn’t a team in the league above .500, so it’s a bit of a madhouse right now. The 8-teams who make the CAC tourney are selected, and seeded, by the committee. This game, I think, features two teams who can make a run at that CAC title and auto-bid! Out of Spartanburg’s 9 losses, 7 of them are by 10pts or less and 6 of them are by 4pts or less! Florida College played a loaded schedule with 4 games against current Top 25 teams! They lost earlier this week to Florida National in OT. They could really use a 2-0 weekend!
7:30pm CT | Mayville State @ Valley City State
Mayville started off NSAA play with wins at Bellevue and at Dakota State, but then squandered that great start by getting swept at home last weekend to Dickinson State and Jamestown. They hit the road again this weekend against Valley City State and then Round 2 with Jamestown! With just 6 teams in the league, there isn’t a lot of room for misters! Darren Jones and company will be looking to make up for last weekend! VCSU is also coming off getting swept last weekend at home. They are just 4-6 in their last 10 games against NAIA programs. They need this win before heading on the road for three straight!
7:30pm CT | Bellevue (ND) @ Jamestown (ND)
After losing at home, to Mayville State, on a crazy final play, Bellevue got a blowout win against VCSU and then went to Dakota State and won by 17! I still Hosting the NSAA tourney as the 1-seed would be huge for the Bruins. With games this weekend @ Jamestown, who is tied with them for 2nd at the moment and @ Dickinson State, who is currently in 1st place, the Bruins can make a big statement with a road sweep! No easy task though obviously and the adverse side of that is that an 0-2 weekend gives them an uphill climb over final 10 games! The Jimmies come into this one off a road NSAA sweep over both VCSU and Mayville State. Their only loss in the league is an OT loss to Dickinson State. Jamestown has been a bit inconsistent this year, but also have some good wins. If they can carry their current momentum forward, Silas Bennion, Anthony Walters and the Jimmies have the firepower to win a NSAA Title!
9:30pm CT | Southern Oregon @ Multnomah
Southern Oregon comes in as winners of three straight games. I could argue that this is the best 5-loss team in the NAIA as they have lost 4 games by 5pts or less and their other loss was a 14pt road loss to No. 2 College of Idaho. The Red Raiders added Etan Collins at the break as well. Collins is talented and adds another element to a balanced lineup led by Elijah Jackson and Bryce Dyer. The Red Raiders have 9 of their final 13 games at home with only one of those road games coming against the top half of the league. They have a chance to make a big move here if they can string together some wins! Road games always seem to be tough in this league though, especially against a Multnomah squad who sits just a game out of 1st place! The Lions are led by Keilan Torkornoo and Marge Winfield, but currently have 6 guys who average double figures. At 10-3 the Lions are still in the mix for an at-large spot if they don’t earn one of the Cascade’s two automatic-bids. However, this is the start of a very tough 5-game stretch. They also play 9 of their final 14 games against the top part of the Cascade! Need to pick up some resume wins to move off bubble!
Top 25 Games
No. 2 College of Idaho @ Northwest (WA) | 9:30pm CT | NU Athletics YouTube
No 15 Lewis-Clark State (ID) vs Bushnell (OR) | 9pm CT | LCSC Sports Network $
