News

Wild Weekend Sets Stage For NSIC Tournament

2/29/2012 9:00 AM

It's always fun when the final weekend of the regular season means something. And last weekend was a lot of fun in the NSIC, especially on the men's side.

With all eight spots for the conference tournament were up for grabs, in one way or another, the only certainty was that the tiebreaking system--which Tom Nieman and I spent at least three days trying to decode--was sure to get a workout.

There were way too many scenarios to share here, so I'll do my best to paint a clear picture.

Here's how things looked entering Friday's games:

Standings - As Of Feb. 23

1-St. Cloud State (19-6, 15-6 NSIC)
2-MSU Moorhead (18-6, 14-6 NSIC)
3-Bemidji St. (19-7, 14-6 NSIC)
4-SMSU (14-7, 15-10 NSIC)
5-Winona St. (23-3, 18-2 NSIC**)
6-Augustana (15-9, 12-8 NSIC)
7-Minnesota Duluth (14-10, 11-9 NSIC)
8-Northern St. (13-12, 9-12 NSIC)
9-Concordia-SP (11-14, 8-13 NSIC)
10-Wayne St. (8-16, 7-13 NSIC)

**Standings adjusted for 13 nullified games

Here's are the results:

Friday, Feb. 24

Augustana 75, MSU Moorhead 61

Winona St. 82, Minnesota Duluth 69

Upper Iowa 65, Bemidji St. 77

Wayne St. 53, Minnesota, Crookston 44

Saturday, Feb. 25

Concordia-St. Paul 93, St. Cloud State 89

Southwest Minnesota St. 79, Minnesota St. 71

Winona St. 84, Bemidji St. 94

Wayne St. 64, MSU Moorhead 50

Upper Iowa 81, Minnesota Duluth 72

Northern St. 67, U-Mary 70

Augustana 70, Minnesota, Crookston 61

Final Standings

1-Bemidji St. (21-7, 16-6 NSIC)
2-SMSU (16-10, 15-7 NSIC)
2-St. Cloud State (19-7, 15-7 NSIC)
4-MSU Moorhead (18-8, 14-8 NSIC)
4-Augustana (17-9, 14-8 NSIC)
6-Winona St. (24-4, 19-3 NSIC**)
7-Minnesota Duluth (14-12, 11-11 NSIC)
8-Wayne St. (10-16, 9-13 NSIC)
8-Northern St. (13-13, 9-13 NSIC)
8-Concordia-St.Paul (12-14, 9-13 NSIC)

The Breakdown

Only one team (UMD) finished the weekend in the same place it started. Enter the tiebreakers.

Bemidji State clinched the regular season title, as well as the No.1 seed, outright, by way of their win over Winona State and St. Cloud State's loss to Concordia-St. Paul.

Southwest Minnesota State gets the No. 2 seed over St. Cloud State by way of tiebreaker No. 2 (2-0 vs. SCSU).

MSU Moorhead gets the No. 4 seed over Augustana by way of tiebreaker No. 3 (Point Rating System - Conference Games Only)

Wayne State gets the No. 8 seed over Northern State by way of tiebreaker No. 3 (Point Rating System - Conference Games Only).

Tourney Time

Now that the dust has settled, tournament time is officially upon us. Play tips off tonight, with higher seeds hosting quarterfinal games at campus sites. From there, the tourney moves to Taylor Arena in Rochester, Minn., March 3-4.

Semifinal and championship games will be aired live on Midco Sports Network, channel 322.

I'll have the call for all six games in Rochester, and am thrilled to have the opportunity to work with a couple of great analysts.

Travis Traphagen (USF) will join me for women's coverage, while Matt Margenthaler (MSU) -- a former assistant at South Dakota State -- will don the headset for men's games.

Men's Quarterfinals - Feb. 29 (all games at 7 p.m.)