and the madness begins...

Because on that, the 12th day of March, the madness began.

That is, March Madness--NAIA-style.

Wednesday and Thursday brought the first round of the NAIA men's and women's national tournaments. I will admit, I haven't been following the D-I schools. I may be slightly biased towards my alma mater, Northwestern, but I have definitely gotten caught up in the D-II bracket-filling, game-listening madness.

On Wednesday night, I listened to No. 1 seeded Morningside open against No. 8 seeded Berea of Kentucky, who happens to be the highest scoring team in the NAIA, averaging 95 points per contest. But the Mustangs, a top GPAC team, knocked off their 3-point shooting happy opponents, 104-80.

But my real excitement came when Northwestern started playing. On the women's side--oh the tournament is in Sioux City for the D-II women--Northwestern also got a #1 seed--one of four in the 32 team field. They opened against Holy Names of California, downing them 94-48. I give credit to Coach Woudstra. He could have allowed his Raiders to dominate even more and win by a much larger margin, but he pulled the starters, including NAIA leading scorer Debbie Remmerde, with about 10 minutes to play in the game.

I thought the second round would provide a little more of a challenge for the women, but the Sweet 16 proved to be just that--sweet. On Friday night, they breezed by Cornerstone, a No. 5 seed from Michigan, 86-57. And again Saturday, in the Elite 8, my beloved Raiders knocked off the third seed in their bracket, Black Hills State, 91-69.

And that brings us to tomorrow. Monday night, the Final Four. And for the FOURTH time this season, Northwestern will face off against Morningside. The Raiders dealt Morningside two of their three losses this season, with one coming early, in November, and the other coming in the championship game of the GPAC tourney. So in this fourth meeting, who will be the victor and live another day, to play in the NAIA D-II championship? One can only wonder.

On the men's side of things, the games have been more intense and exciting. The Raiders opened Thursday afternoon against the unranked Minot State. The fifth-ranked Raiders won 97-90, but the game was a nail-biter down to the final minute. However, NW sank free throws down the stretch to pull ahead with the seven-point victory. Friday afternoon's game against unranked Oklahoma Wesleyan, who upset No. 12 William Penn in the first round, kept me on the edge of my seat, shouting at my radio, in the final minutes once again. NW lead for much of the game, but in the late minutes, their opponents made a 17-3 run in hopes of a comeback. In fact, they took the No. 5 Raiders to overtime, where they played hard and strong again, losing by a point after a missed 2-ptr with seconds to go. Saturday the Raiders won by a comfortable margin, defeating Northwood 96-70. The men also earned a trip to the Final Four Monday night, where they will face No. 1 ranked Bellevue. This game will be more than intense, I can only imagine. Third ranked Morningside, who for the longest time was ranked first in the nation, was knocked out of the tourney by Grace of Indiana in overtime on Friday, in the Sweet 16. And now only four remain--No. 1 Bellevue, No. 5 Northwestern, No. 11 Oregon Tech and No. 2 Mid American Nazarene.

Stay tuned to my blog or an online radio station to hear the next round :) And if you please, cheer for my Red Raiders to win another double championship!