All Things D2 and D3 College basketball

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A Minnesota team is still alive in the Division II tournament, sadly for me it's not the Dragons. Over the last week, NSIC Regular Season Champion Northern State and NSIC Tournament Champion Minnesota State Moorhead both lost their opening round games.

NSU fell to Emporia State (Kansas) 72-51 and MSUM lost to Southern Nazarene University (Oklahoma) 67-64 in OT. Minnesota Duluth, though, won all their regional match-ups, beating Central Oklahoma, Emporia State and Southern Nazarene.

Champions of the Central Region, UMD is now in the Elite Eight, and will face Black Hills State (South Dakota). As the Elite Eight reseeds the remaining team, UMD is now the No. 6 seed in the field, while BHSU is No. 3.


Not going to lie, it's tough seeing UMD make it knowing MSUM edged them in games played this season, 2-1. Southern Nazarene just matched up well with the Dragons, though, and they lost achingly close in overtime. The team is going to lose two key seniors now, but fortunately have some good talent returning, so another NCAA run is definitely possible.
 

Duluth won their region against two Oklahoma and a Kansas school, and will now face the winner of a completely separate region of the country: from South Dakota.

Yep, makes about as much sense as the "regions" of March Madness!
 

Gophers_4life said:
Duluth won their region against two Oklahoma and a Kansas school, and will now face the winner of a completely separate region of the country: from South Dakota.

Yep, makes about as much sense as the "regions" of March Madness!
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The regionalization aspect might be the worst part of the DII Tournament. It forces a lot of schools that already play each other regularly to hash it out all over again.

Basically the Central Region accepts bids from the Northern Sun Conference (Minnesota, the Dakotas and Nebraska), Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas) and the Great American Conference (Oklahoma and Arkansas).

Black Hills State, meanwhile, was in the South Central Region, which accepts bids from the Rocky Mountain Conference (Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, Utah and South Dakota) and the Lone Star Conference (Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arkansas). With the RMC, most of the schools are in Colorado and the southwest. Just BHSU, South Dakota Mines, and two more schools from Nebraska are north of the other states.

I get it saves on travel costs to have things closer regionally, but on top of replaying common opponents it ends up pitting a lot of great teams against each other before the Elite Eight is even played. In 2021 a lot of people basically said the national championship was decided in the Central Region final when Northwest Missouri State took down Northern State in OT.

At the very least, the Elite Eight reseeds the remaining teams so there's more variety in what teams play each other. Since the Central Region started in 2009, the NSIC teams in the Elite Eight games have played against teams ranging from California to West Virginia.
  • 2019, Northern State played East Stroudsburg of Pennsylvania
  • 2016, Augustana played Tarleton State of Texas
  • 2015, MSUM played Bellarmine of Kentucky
  • 2013, Winona State played West Liberty of West Virginia
  • 2011, Minnesota State Mankato played Alabama Huntsville
  • 2010, St. Cloud State played Midwestern State of Texas
  • 2009, Southwest Minnesota State played Cal State Polytech
 

IceBoxGopher said:
The regionalization aspect might be the worst part of the DII Tournament. It forces a lot of schools that already play each other regularly to hash it out all over again.

Basically the Central Region accepts bids from the Northern Sun Conference (Minnesota, the Dakotas and Nebraska), Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (Nebraska, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas) and the Great American Conference (Oklahoma and Arkansas).

Black Hills State, meanwhile, was in the South Central Region, which accepts bids from the Rocky Mountain Conference (Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, Utah and South Dakota) and the Lone Star Conference (Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arkansas). With the RMC, most of the schools are in Colorado and the southwest. Just BHSU, South Dakota Mines, and two more schools from Nebraska are north of the other states.

I get it saves on travel costs to have things closer regionally, but on top of replaying common opponents it ends up pitting a lot of great teams against each other before the Elite Eight is even played. In 2021 a lot of people basically said the national championship was decided in the Central Region final when Northwest Missouri State took down Northern State in OT.

At the very least, the Elite Eight reseeds the remaining teams so there's more variety in what teams play each other. Since the Central Region started in 2009, the NSIC teams in the Elite Eight games have played against teams ranging from California to West Virginia.
  • 2019, Northern State played East Stroudsburg of Pennsylvania
  • 2016, Augustana played Tarleton State of Texas
  • 2015, MSUM played Bellarmine of Kentucky
  • 2013, Winona State played West Liberty of West Virginia
  • 2011, Minnesota State Mankato played Alabama Huntsville
  • 2010, St. Cloud State played Midwestern State of Texas
  • 2009, Southwest Minnesota State played Cal State Polytech
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Ah, that’s why. Black Hills is in the RMAC. Fair enough.

Agree with your post here, thanks for sharing the info!
 



disco said:
The RMAC is really spread out - from South Dakota to New Mexico.
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Be curious to know how much actual benefit the two western SD schools in the RMAC get by being in DII and having to travel to Colorado all the time, vs. moving back down to NAIA and joining the North Star, which is basically what the rest of the DAC converted to.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Be curious to know how much actual benefit the two western SD schools in the RMAC get by being in DII and having to travel to Colorado all the time, vs. moving back down to NAIA and joining the North Star, which is basically what the rest of the DAC converted to.
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Good question. Rapid City is just so far from basically anywhere. And there aren't any other colleges in Wyoming either, so there's nothing in between.

Out of curiosity, I checked the distance to the farthest school for them - NM Highlands, and compared it to the farthest NSIC School - Duluth. It's actually about the same distance.
 

disco said:
Good question. Rapid City is just so far from basically anywhere. And there aren't any other colleges in Wyoming either, so there's nothing in between.

Out of curiosity, I checked the distance to the farthest school for them - NM Highlands, and compared it to the farthest NSIC School - Duluth. It's actually about the same distance.
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Keep in mind, I am not referring to the DII Northern Sun, which has Minot State and Mary.

I'm referring to the NAIA North Star, which is what the DAC (Dakota Athletic Conf) became after Minot, Mary, and others left.
 

disco said:
Good question. Rapid City is just so far from basically anywhere. And there aren't any other colleges in Wyoming either, so there's nothing in between.

Out of curiosity, I checked the distance to the farthest school for them - NM Highlands, and compared it to the farthest NSIC School - Duluth. It's actually about the same distance.
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Keep in mind, I am not referring to the DII Northern Sun, which has Minot State and Mary.

I'm referring to the NAIA North Star, which is what the DAC (Dakota Athletic Conf) became after Minot, Mary, and others left.
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Yeah those schools are kind of in a tough spot geography wise. Upper Iowa is leaving the NSIC, so an option may be on the table for them to join, although I don't know if the Northern Sun is going to bother with a replacement anyway since it already has plenty of teams.
 



IceBoxGopher said:
Yeah those schools are kind of in a tough spot geography wise. Upper Iowa is leaving the NSIC, so an option may be on the table for them to join, although I don't know if the Northern Sun is going to bother with a replacement anyway since it already has plenty of teams.
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Well, the DAC always made sense.

Then some schools decided they were too good for the NAIA, for whatever reasons.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Keep in mind, I am not referring to the DII Northern Sun, which has Minot State and Mary.

I'm referring to the NAIA North Star, which is what the DAC (Dakota Athletic Conf) became after Minot, Mary, and others left.
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Yes, I was aware of that. I was looking at the NSIC because it's a D2 conference with multiple members in S. Dakota.
 


disco said:
I wonder if it's a marketing thing. Because people may not know what NAIA is.
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Both allow limited scholarships. I think the main thing for the NAIA is that it has lower overall requirements on the athletic dept, in terms of minimum sports sponsored etc
 



disco said:
Yes, I was aware of that. I was looking at the NSIC because it's a D2 conference with multiple members in S. Dakota.
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Fair enough.

Of course - and this is the entire thing, which I should’ve realized before making the first comment in the first place - it’s a solid 350 mile drive from SF to Rapid City.
 

Don't know if we have any Hamline fans here, but a PG from Windom - Henry Erickson - just committed to Hamline. 3rd-leading scorer in school history. Avg 24 pts, 11 ast and 5 reb per game as a senior. really nice kid. His game will definitely translate to the MIAC.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Don't know if we have any Hamline fans here, but a PG from Windom - Henry Erickson - just committed to Hamline. 3rd-leading scorer in school history. Avg 24 pts, 11 ast and 5 reb per game as a senior. really nice kid. His game will definitely translate to the MIAC.
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Hamline is a young team their coaches are excited…
 

The last Minnesota team standing is out. Minnesota Duluth lost its Elite Eight match-up with Black Hills State, which advances to the Final Four. BHSU beat UMD 86-68.

Of note, BHSU swept the NSIC this year, also defeating Minnesota State Moorhead 78-77 and Augustana 82-73. They will play the winner of New Haven (Connecticut) and West Liberty (West Virginia).

UMD should continue to be solid. They had four juniors this season who will be coming back. Northern State will likely be a contender again, too.

Not sure how MSUM will look. The new head coach Tim Bergstraser inherited a team with four good seniors, including two key players, Gavin Baumgartner and Lorenzo McGhee. Baumgartner was First Team All NSIC in 2020-2021, 2021-2022 and 2022-2023. McGhee was First Team All NSIC in 2021-2022 and Second Team 2022-2023.

Hopefully Bergstraser can keep the team on the track that his predecessor established. The last decade, the Dragons won four division titles, two conference titles and two conference tournament championships, plus seven NCAA Tournament berths with an Elite Eight appearance. It'd be good to see that keep going and improve.
 

Bump for breaking news.

Raheem Anthony is making the jump from D3 to D1.

Anthony - the MIAC offensive player of the year, and a candidate for D3 National player of the year - is transferring to St. Thomas.

He averaged 24.6 points (third nationally), 9.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists last season for Saint Mary's University in Winona.

Anthony, who scored 1,408 points in his four years in the MIAC, scored 20 points or more 18 times last season, which included two 41-point performances and six games with at least 30 points. He also recorded 12 double-doubles in points and rebounds in 2022-23.

A reminder that St. Thomas lost star FR Andrew Rhode - Summit League FR of the Year - who transferred to Virginia.

for the MIAC, this is the 2nd year in a row that the conference's leading scoring has left via transfer.
Joe Palmer of Augsburg left after the '21-22 season for D1 Colorado State (where he averaged 3.2 pts a game getting an average of 12.5 minutes a game.)
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Bump for breaking news.

Raheem Anthony is making the jump from D3 to D1.

Anthony - the MIAC offensive player of the year, and a candidate for D3 National player of the year - is transferring to St. Thomas.

He averaged 24.6 points (third nationally), 9.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists last season for Saint Mary's University in Winona.

Anthony, who scored 1,408 points in his four years in the MIAC, scored 20 points or more 18 times last season, which included two 41-point performances and six games with at least 30 points. He also recorded 12 double-doubles in points and rebounds in 2022-23.

A reminder that St. Thomas lost star FR Andrew Rhode - Summit League FR of the Year - who transferred to Virginia.

for the MIAC, this is the 2nd year in a row that the conference's leading scoring has left via transfer.
Joe Palmer of Augsburg left after the '21-22 season for D1 Colorado State (where he averaged 3.2 pts a game getting an average of 12.5 minutes a game.)
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While not an expert Summit basketball nor having seen a single second of St Thomas action since bumping up to D1, I think Anthony can help the Tommies.

For whatever that's worth...just a guess a rotation player at minimum.
 
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