OFFICIAL TOURNAMENT HOMEPAGE
Friday, Mar. 7, 9:30 p.m. ET, Evansville, Ind.
(6) Bellarmine Knights (21-6) vs. (3) UIndy Greyhounds (23-3)
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ON TAP
After earning a first-round bye, the third-seeded UIndy Greyhounds begin the postseason with a quarterfinal match-up against rival Bellarmine at the GLVC Championship Tournament Friday night.
TOURNEY TALK
Only one of Sunday's first-round games featured an upset, as 12th-seeded Illinois Springfield downed No. 5 seed Truman State, 78-72. The Prairie Stars advanced to the GLVC quarterfinals despite needing help to even get into the 12-team field; UIS secured the final tourney spot on the last day of the regular season, getting a win versus McKendree and a Quincy loss at Truman last Thursday.
Six of the eight teams competing in Friday's quarterfinal round hail from the GLVC East. Top-seeded Drury and No. 7-seed Missouri-St. Louis are the only West Division teams still in the mix.
Drury captured the 2013 GLVC crown with a 71-65 victory against Southern Indiana on the finals. USI leads all current league members with four GLVC Tournament titles.
HOUNDS AT THE GLVCs
The Greyhounds are in search of their first GLVC Tournament title and second GLVC championship overall. UIndy's only Great Lakes Valley crown came in 1996-97, one season before the inaugural GLVC Tournament.
Last year, UIndy earned a first-round win with a 74-63 home victory versus Missouri-St. Louis. The Hounds then traveled to Evansville before enduring a 77-72 quarterfinal loss to eventual-champion Drury.
A win Friday would put the Hounds into the GLVC Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2003-04. UIndy has yet to advance to the conference tourney final.
ABOUT BELLARMINE
The Knights hit a rough patch in January that saw them drop four games in a five-game stretch and fall out of the national ranking. It marked the end of a run of 54 consecutive weeks in the Division II coaches poll - the second-longest active streak at the time (West Liberty).
BU has won five of its last six decisions, however, building an 21-6 record heading into the postseason. Five of the Knights' six losses have come by three points or less, with their only loss of more than one possession coming in a 76-68 final at Lewis Jan. 25. They advanced to the GLVC quarters with an 82-69 home win versus William Jewell Sunday.
Statistically, Bellarmine tops Division II in team field goal percentage (.530) while also leading the GLVC in assists (18.3 apg) and blocked shots (5.1 bpg). Its +13.6 scoring margin is second only to UIndy's +14.0 among the GLVC leaders.
The Knights are led in scoring by senior Keisten Jones (16.1 ppg) and junior Jake Thelen (15.1). Jones ranks third in the GLVC in 3-point accuracy (.493), while Thelen paces all NCAA student-athletes (all divisions) in field goal percentage (.739).
Defensively, the Hounds will need to keep track of 6-10 sophomore George Suggs, who leads the conference and ranks 34th in D-II in blocks (2.1 bpg).
The Knights have qualified for the NCAA Tournament each of the previous five years under head coach Scott Davenport. BU advanced to the regional final last season, the Final Four in 2012 and won the national title in 2011. They won the GLVC Tournament in both 2010 and 2011.
GREYHOUNDS vs. KNIGHTS
Bellarmine holds a 49-42 (.538) edge in the all-time series with the Hounds. The two teams first met during the 1955-56 season, with UIndy (then called Indiana Central College) defeating the Knights, 95-86. Located just 115 miles from Indianapolis, Bellarmine is the second-most-frequent opponent for UIndy among current GLVC teams, as only Saint Joseph's (99 games) has faced the Hounds more often.
Of late, UIndy versus Bellarmine has become one of the biggest rivalries in Division II. The GLVC East Division foes have split the season series each of the last three seasons, with the Knights taking a tie-breaker of sorts with a 67-61 win in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Midwest Regional.
Each team won on the other's home court this year, with UIndy winning at then-No.-2 Bellarmine,
81-79, Jan. 16, and the Knights returning the favor with a
96-81 win at Nicoson Hall against a then-fourth-ranked Greyhound squad.
LAST TIME OUT
UIndy capped the regular season with a
109-102 win at in-state Saint Joseph's Feb. 27.  Senior
Reece Cheatham provided the biggest of many offensive highlights for the Hounds by becoming just the 24th player in program history to surpass 1,200 career points. He finished with a team-high 26 points while draining five 3-pointers on the night.
DIVIDE & CONQUER
The win at SJC secured the Greyhounds their first-ever GLVC East Division championship. UIndy shared the division crown with Wisconsin-Parkside, as both finished with a 15-3 conference record.
Since division play in 2005-06, Drury has amassed a league-high five division titles, followed by three apiece from Southern Indiana, Quincy and former-GLVC-member Northern Kentucky.
REGIONAL POLL
For the third straight week, UIndy remained at No. 2 in the
NCAA Division II Midwest Regional rankings, released Wednesday.
The top three teams remained static, as GLVC West Division-champ Drury held on to the top spot, followed by UIndy and Lake Superior State. Southern Indiana leapfrogged two spots into No. 4, with Findlay, Michigan Tech, Wisconsin-Parkside and Lewis rounding out the all-important top eight.
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Only eight schools from each of the country's eight regions will make the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced this weekend. "Selection Sunday" comes Mar. 9 when the 64-team field will be announced on NCAA.com at 10:30 p.m. The Midwest Regional starts Mar. 15, with the No. 1 seed playing as host.
CLASS ACT
This year's senior class of
Leland Brown,
Reece Cheatham,
Joe Daniels,
Jared Grady and
Tyrae Robinson have combined to help UIndy to a 82-30 (.732) record the previous four seasons. That win total is good for a program record for most victories in a four-year period, surpassing the 80 wins amassed by the 1960-64 group.
MAKING IT RAIN
With five 3-pointers at Saint Joseph's last week, Cheatham's career triple total jumped up to 166, moving him into sole possession of fifth place in the school's annals (shown below).
|
UIndy's career 3FG leaders |
|
|
|
|
NAME |
3FG |
YEARS |
GAMES |
|
1. |
Gary Paul |
354 |
1986-90 |
111 |
|
2. |
David Logan |
321 |
2001-05 |
115 |
|
3. |
Andy Foster |
300 |
1997-01 |
109 |
|
4. |
Kyle Persinger |
247 |
1987-91 |
111 |
|
5. |
Reece Cheatham |
166 |
2011-14 |
83 |
|
6. |
Michael Brooks |
165 |
1992-96 |
106 |
COACH OF THE YEAR
Head coach
Stan Gouard received good news this week as he was voted by his peers as the 2014 GLVC Coach of the Year. The sixth-year head man led the Greyhounds to a stellar 23-3 record in the regular season, upping his career mark to 103-64 (.617). UIndy currently ranks fourth in nation in field goal percentage (.515), fifth in scoring offense (88.8 ppg) and 10th in turnover margin (+4.6).
All-GLVC
Also released by the GLVC this week were its
all-conference lists. Four Greyhounds were among those recognized, as senior
Reece Cheatham and junior
Joe Lawson were both on the First Team All-GLVC list, senior
Tyrae Robinson was named second team all-conference, while Robinson and junior
Brennan McElroy were on the all-defensive team ledger.
Both of UIndy's first-team honorees average more than 15 points per game, with Lawson at 15.7 and Cheatham at 15.1. Cheatham was a named to the All-GLVC Second Team last season.
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Robinson compiled 13.1 points per game on the way to second-team laurels. He also picked up his second consecutive GLVC All-Defensive Team nod, while McElroy garnered his first. A native of Decatur, Ill., McElroy was the league's only unanimous all-defensive selection.
POLL POSITION
With the regular season in the books, the Greyhounds enter the 2014 postseason ranked eighth in the
NABC/Division II Top 25 Poll. UIndy moved up one spot from last week's position, upping its streak of top-10 rankings to six weeks.
Overall, the Hounds have been in the top 25 for 12 consecutive weeks, good for the longest such streak in school history.  UIndy's highest spot this year came in the form of a No. 4 ranking Feb. 18.
Joining UIndy in the poll are fellow-GLVC-members Drury (No. 4), Wisconsin-Parkside (19), Southern Indiana (20) and Lewis (23). The GLVC's five ranked teams are the most for any Division II conference.
20/20 VISION
UIndy's 75-73 victory against Truman State Feb. 13 marked the Greyhounds' 20th of the season, ensuring the program's first-ever stretch of three consecutive 20-win campaigns. The team's 23 wins to date tie the second-highest total in program history, matching the win totals put up from the 1996-97 and 1955-56 squads, both of which are in the UIndy Athletics Hall of Fame.
|
UIndy's 20-win seasons |
|
YEAR |
RECORD |
PCT |
|
1963-64 |
26-3 |
.896 |
|
2013-14 |
23-3 |
.885 |
|
1996-97 |
23-5 |
.821 |
|
1955-56 |
23-6 |
.793 |
|
1948-49 |
20-9 |
.690 |
|
1995-96 |
20-9 |
.690 |
|
2011-12 |
20-9 |
.690 |
|
2012-13 |
20-9 |
.690 |
|
1951-52 |
20-10 |
.667 |
|
1968-69 |
20-10 |
.667 |
|
2003-04 |
20-10 |
.667 |
1K CLUB
In an 85-59 rout of visiting Rockhurst Jan. 9, Cheatham became the 36th player in school history to score 1,000 career points. He enters his final postseason 32 points shy of moving into the top 20 on UIndy's all-time scoring list.
|
UIndy's All-time Leading Scorers |
|
|
NAME |
PTS |
|
1 |
David Logan (2001-05) |
2352 |
|
|
... |
|
|
19 |
Jerry Lewis (1958-62) |
1265 |
|
20 |
Al Williams (1965-69) |
1243 |
|
21 |
Harold Boyd (1958-62) |
1215 |
|
22 |
Reece Cheatham (2011-14) |
1211 |
|
23 |
Jeff Crabtree (1981-84) |
1206 |
GREAT LAKES, GREAT SHOOTING
An amazing four of the top five best-shooting teams in Division II hail from the GLVC. Meanwhile, Lewis (.498) and Southern Indiana (.496) are also in the top 20, ranking 15th and 19th, respectively.
|
Division II Leaders in FG Percentage |
|
RK |
SCHOOL |
PCT |
|
1 |
Bellarmine |
.530 |
|
2 |
Wisconsin-Parkside |
.527 |
|
3 |
Colorado Mines |
.524 |
|
4 |
UIndy |
.514 |
|
5 |
Drury |
.513 |
|
|
|
|
|
bold denotes GLVC team |