Who’s got the hot hand, we ask ourselves as we get to “tournament time” in both the colleges and high schools here in Northern Kentucky.
Well, who does? Turns out a whole lot of teams here do. At the college level, the Thomas More program, with the No. 3 nationally ranked women and the No. 5 men, has never been hotter and will now get to host first rounds for both teams in the NAIA Basketball National Championships in Crestview Hills.
Not to be outdone, both the Northern Kentucky men – with the most impressive close in the Horizon League – and the women, with their best-ever overall season, are following suit by winning through to the finish.
Postseason play should matter – really matter — for both the Saints and the Norse.
And with district play finishing up tonight all across Northern Kentucky, so will it matter for the high schools here as we have a bit of a pause from sudden-death elimination as both district championship participants – winner and runner-up – move on to the regional.
Let’s take these in order.
TMU EARNS AUTOMATIC NAIA BERTHS, HOSTS ROUND 1
For the second straight season, TMU will bring the NAIA National Championships to Crestview Hills for four-team first-round single-round playoffs Friday-Saturday, March 11-12, with the winners heading on to the men’s championships the next week in Kansas City and the women’s in Sioux City, Iowa. As champions of the Mid-South Conference, both TMU teams earned automatic bids.
Other men’s tourney sites: Alexandria, Louisiana-LSU Alexandria; Bourbonnais, Illinois-Olivet Nazarene; Caldwell, Idaho-College of Idaho; Helena, Montana-Carroll College; Lakeland, Florida-Southeastern; Marion, Indiana-Indiana Wesleyan; Montgomery, Alabama-Faulkner; Omaha, Nebraska-Omaha Sports Commission; New Orleans, Louisiana-Loyola; Oskaloosa, Iowa-William Penn; Park City, Kansas-Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference; Rocklin, California-William Jessup; Talladega, Alabama-Talladega; Waxahachie, Texas-SAGU; Wichita, Kansas-Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference.
Other women’s sites: Alexandria, Louisiana-LSU Alexandria; Billings, Montana-Rocky Mountain; Bowling Green, Kentucky-Mid-South Conference/Campbellsville; Dayton, Tennessee-Bryan; Indianapolis, Indiana-Marian; Marion, Indiana-Indiana Wesleyan; Lakeland, Florida-Southeastern; New Orleans, Louisiana-Loyola; Newhall, California-The Masters; Omaha, Nebraska-Omaha Sports Commission; Park City, Kansas-Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference; Plainview, Texas-Wayland Baptist; Santa Barbara, California-Westmont; Sioux City, Iowa-Morningside; Wichita, Kansas-Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference
*** 5 TMU Women All-Conference: And to top it off. Coach Jeff Hans was named Coach of the Year in the Mid-South Conference along with first-team All-Conference Alexah Chrisman and Taylor Clos – who is hitting 91.0 percent from the free throw line — and second-teamers Zoie Barth, Courtney Hurst, and Emily Simon. For Hans, it’s the second straight season he was so honored after the Saints posted a 26-3 regular-season record.
NKU KEEPS THE WINNING GOING
The Norse women got things started Thursday night with a 66-62 win over Oakland that gives 19-7 NKU its 13th Horizon win, most ever since joining the league. They’ll get a chance to add to their 13-6 league mark in the regular-season finale against Detroit Mercy at 2 p.m. at BB&T.
Then came the men, who are finishing in a rush with a 78-64 revenge win over Robert Morris thanks to Marques Warrick’s career-high-tying 30 points although the real story for NKU this last month in winning 11 of their last 13 has been a defense that’s holding opponents to just over 62 points a game, best in the league. Win Saturday (7 p.m. at BB&T) against Youngstown State and NKU (17-11, 13-6), now third in the league, earns a first-round bye in next week’s postseason tournament.
8 SET FOR NINTH REGION NOW
With district play down to the finals, we now know the eight teams who will start play Saturday, March 5, at the Ninth Region Tournaments at NKU’s BB&T Arena. For the boys, you’ll have Cooper and Conner from the 33rd District, Dixie Heights and Lloyd Memorial from the 34th, Covington Catholic and Holy Cross from the 33rd, and Highlands and Newport from the 36th.
For the girls, it’s Ryle and Cooper from the 33rd, Dixie Heights and Ludlow from the 34th, Notre Dame and Holy Cross from the 35th, and Newport Central Catholic and Highlands from the 36th.
Here’s how the schedules work out at BB&T with the girls going first since their Sweet 16 is first. Quarterfinal Games, two sessions: Sunday, February 27 at 1 and 2:30 pm and 6:30 and 8 pm; Semifinals – Wednesday, March 2 at 6:30 and 8 pm, and Championship Game: Friday, March 4 at 7 pm.
For the boys: Quarterfinals, two sessions: Saturday, March 5 at 1 and 2:30 pm, and 6:30 and 8 pm; Semifinals: Sunday, March 6 at 6:30 and 8 pm; Championship Game: Tuesday, March 8 at 7 pm.
The brackets will be seeded with district winners playing losers in the first round so there is some rationale other than playing well for winning a district title.
NEW HOME FOR NORTHERN KENTUCKY SPORTS HALL OF FAME
Heck of a job by everybody to step in when the 20-year home of the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame – the Villa Hills Civic Club – sadly burnt to the ground Feb. 16. The Gardens of Park Hills, thanks to the way McHale’s Catering and Covington Catholic High School stepped up, will host the final two inductions in March and April of this year – and maybe in the future, said NKSHOF President Joe Brennan, who thanked both for “their kindness” in doing so.
“We were all in a state of shock,” said Brennan, “but Chuck McHale, from McHale’s Catering and Tony Bacigalupo, Athletic Director of Covington Catholic High School reached out, and offered us space for our meetings.”
The next meeting, March 16 at 1 p.m., will be held in the Arbor Room of The Gardens at Park Hills, 1622 Dixie Highway, Park Hills, Ky. The public is always invited – free of charge – and the facility offers free, street-level parking. Festivities are set to commence at 1 pm.