10th-ranked Northwestern College earned a No.3 seed in the upcoming 2018 NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship, presented by Cypress Risk Management, as announced by the national office earlier this evening.
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The 2018 Championship will take place at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D. beginning on Wednesday, March 7 and culminating with the National Championship Game on Tuesday, March. 13.
The Red Raiders are making their second straight and 18th overall appearance at the D-II Championship, second most among the field of 32 teams. Northwestern will play No.6 seed and 23rd-ranked Belleuve (Neb.) on Wednesday night, March 7, at 8pm. Head coack Kris Korver’s squad is 25-6 on the year and secured the GPAC’s second automatic bid into the championship by reaching the conference title game against Morningside. The Red Raiders are one of four teams from the GPAC (Morningside, Briar Cliff and Dakota Wesleyan) in this year’s championship field.
Bellevue has qualified for the D-II Championship 16 straight seasons and 19 times overall, both of which are most among the 32 teams at the 2018 championship. The Bruins, under the direction of head coach Shane Paben, earned an at-large bid into the championship with a 21-11 overall record. They won the North Star Athletic Association regular season title but were upset by Mayville State in the postseason tournament. Bellevue and Mayville State are the lone representatives from the NSAA in the field.
Quick Scouting Report on the Bruins-Bellevue returns four starters from a team that made all the way to the national semifinals last year, losing to runner-up Cornerstone 69-57 to finish the season at 25-11. Returning All-American and two-time NSAA player of the year BJ Shelton leads the team in scoring at 13.2 points per game, followed by newcomer Richard Reed at 10.8 points per game.
Northwestern leads the all-time series against Bellevue 11-3, dating back to the 1983 season. They last played in 2009 where the Red Raiders defeated Bellevue 81-73.
