By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
KANSAS CITY - The 2022 MIAA men’s and women’s basketball tournament gets underway at the Municipal Auditorium Wednesday in downtown Kansas City.
The Missouri Western men will play the final game of the day Wednesday when the No. 7 seed Griffons take on No. 10 seed Rogers State at 8:15.
Missouri Western drew the No. 7 seed after their 76-74 win at Nebraska-Kearney to round out the regular season this past Friday.
Second-year head coach Will Martin says his team is in position to play their best games of the year this week.
"Our whole goal this year was we wanted to be the most connected team in the country and play our best basketball in March," Martin said. "I think the game against Kearney - we're able to build on that so we can (play our best basketball) individually and collectively."
The Missouri Western men come in at 14-16 overall and 10-12 in the MIAA. Rogers is 13-12 overall and 9-13 in the league. Missouri Western beat Rogers State in St. Joseph on Dec. 2, 68-52.
The Griffon men would then see No. 2 seed and co-regular season champion Northwest Missouri State (25-5, 18-4 MIAA) in the quarterfinals on Thursday night at 8:15, should they get past the Hillcats.
For a ninth straight season, the defending national champion Bearcats clinched at least a share of the MIAA's regular season crown, following their 57-49 win over Fort Hays State in Maryville Saturday.
Northwest has won five of the last six MIAA tournament championships, but fifth-year senior, reigning National Player of the Year and now three-time MIAA Player of the Year Trevor Hudgins says it's anyone's game this year.
"I feel like this conference this year is probably the best it's been since I've been here," Hudgins told the Northwest Missourian. "There's a lot of talent, especially in the top five teams I think."
Missouri Western's coach Martin shared that sentiment.
"There's been so many people saying, 'The league's down this year, the league's down this year, the league's down this year.' No. No, this is in my four years at MoWest, this is the toughest the league has ever been."
There are five teams on the men's side with 19 or more wins. Washburn, last year's tournament champ, is the four-seed and they've won six straight games coming in. UCO, the No. 2 seed, has never won this tournament. Let the games begin.
On the women's side, it's just as competitive. Again, five teams with 19 or more wins. No. 5 seed Missouri Western (20-8, 14-8 MIAA) is one of them. The Griffons will see No. 4 seed Central Missouri (19-10, 15-7 MIAA) in Friday's quarterfinals at noon.
The Griffons beat the Jennies 68-67 in St. Joseph in December and again 82-77 in Warrensburg this season - both games ended in overtime.
After a 6-16 record in 2020-21 and missing the MIAA tournament, the Griffons are back and seek their first tournament crown since 2002 - when current UCM head coach David Slifer cut down nets as the Griffons' head coach.
Whatever happens, current head coach Candi Whitaker is proud of the turnaround and proud of the toughness her team has shown throughout the season.
"I'm really proud of how far we've come in a short amount of time," Whitaker said. "We've had a lot of returners who experienced a lot last year that really improved and got better in the offseason. Got better throughout last year and applied it this season and then our recruiting has helped. We've added some pieces that have been tremendous for us."
Friday's women's game between Western and UCM could be a 'win and you're in' situation as it pertains to the NCAA tournament. The Griffons currently sit No. 8 in the Central Region rankings and UCM is No. 9. The top eight teams in each region advance to the national tournament.
The Northwest women (17-11, 12-10 MIAA) drew the No. 6 seed and will open tournament play against No. 3 seed Nebraska-Kearney on Friday afternoon at 2:15. The championships are Sunday afternoon at 1 and 3:30.
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