COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Waldorf men and women snag 7th seed for conference tournaments

The North Star Athletic Association conference basketball tournaments start tomorrow for both the men and women on campuses across the conference.

The Waldorf men have had an up-and-down season beating or competing with the conferences’ best teams but haven’t been able to do so consistently. Waldorf proved that on Thursday when they beat Viterbo (Wis.) 71-57. The V-Hawks will be the 2nd seed in the upcoming conference tournament and will be Waldorf’s first-round opponent as the 7-seed. Waldorf nearly swept the season series with the V-Hawks, losing at Viterbo by just three points, 77-74, in December.

Mayville State (N.D.) claimed the North Star Athletic Association Men’s Basketball regular season outright. It will be the No. 1 seed for the upcoming tournament. The Comets (22-5 overall record, 12-2 NSAA conference record) host the No. 8 seed Presentation (S.D.) (6-20 overall record, 1-13 NSAA conference record) with a 7:30 p.m. tipoff on Tuesday evening in Mayville, N.D. It will be the second straight game that both teams will play each other after MSU rallied back for a 77-70 road victory at Presentation Thursday evening.

Viterbo (Wis.) (15-12 overall record) and Dickinson State (N.D.) (13-14 overall record) finished in a two-way tie in the NSAA standings with a 9-5 record each. The V-Hawks owned the tiebreaker over the Blue Hawks after going 2-0 in head-to-head meetings this season, securing the No. 2 seed in the postseason tournament.

Dickinson State will be the No. 3 seed and hosts No. 6 seed Dakota State (S.D.) (12-16 overall record, 6-8 NSAA conference record) Tuesday evening in Dickinson, N.D., with an 8 p.m. (Central Time)/7 p.m. (Mountain Time) tipoff.

The final opening round pairings feature No. 4 seed Valley City State and No. 5 seed Bellevue (Neb.) (15-13 overall record, 7-7 NSAA conference record) in Valley City, N.D., with a 7 p.m. tipoff.

The four opening-round winners will advance to the Final Four at the final site in Watertown Civic Arena (in Watertown, S.D.) on Saturday, Feb. 25, and Sunday, Feb. 26. The semifinals take place at 6 p.m., followed by 8 p.m. on Feb. 25, with the winners advancing to the championship game on Feb. 26 with a 4 p.m. tipoff time.

The NSAA postseason tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the NAIA Men’s Basketball National Tournament’s opening round. The national tournament opening round is scheduled for March 7-8.

The winners of the NAIA’s opening round games will advance to the final site at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo., on March 13-18.

Under first-year head coach Shawn Chaffin, the Waldorf women have been understaffed. The Warriors started the year with an exciting 57-53 win over York College and started 2-5. Since then, they finished the year 2-15 and 4-20 overall. They won their first conference game of the season 72-67 at Viterbo. Viterbo will be the 6th-seed in the upcoming conference tournament, while Waldorf will be the 7th seed. The Warriors’ other conference win came against the 8th seed Presentation. The Warriors won that game 75-60 at home in early January.

Dakota State (S.D.) will be the No. 1 seed for the third consecutive season as the 2023 North Star Athletic Association Women’s Basketball Postseason Tournament begins on Tuesday evening.  The Trojans captured the NSAA regular season outright with a 13-1 record in the league.

The North Star Athletic Association Women’s Basketball Postseason tournament begins on Tuesday, Feb. 21, with four higher seeds hosting the opening round games.  Dakota State (23-5 overall record) hosts the No. 8 seed Presentation (S.D.) (2-23 overall record, 1-13 NSAA conference record) in Madison, S.D., tipping off at 7 p.m. (Central Time).

Mayville State (N.D.) will be the No. 2 seed (20-5 overall record, 12-2 NSAA conference record).  The Comets are set to host No. 7 seed Waldorf (Iowa) (4-20 overall record, 2-12 NSAA conference record) at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday evening.

Third-seeded Bellevue (Neb.) (16-11 overall record, 10-4 NSAA conference record) hosts sixth-seeded Viterbo (Wis.) (7-19 overall record, 4-10 NSAA conference record) on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

There was a tie for fourth place in the North Star conference standings between Dickinson State (N.D.) (12-16 overall record) and Valley City State (N.D.) (14-13 overall record), with a 7-7 conference record each.  The Blue Hawks defeated the Vikings 69-64 Thursday evening to secure the No. 4 seed in the postseason tournament.  Both teams split their head-to-head meetings this season, but Dickinson State earned the tiebreaker by defeating the higher-place team in the NSAA standings, which was Bellevue, with a 78-70 victory on Feb. 11.

Both VCSU and DiSU will meet for the second straight game on Tuesday evening in Dickinson, N.D., with tipoffff at 6:30 p.m. (Central Time)/5:30 p.m. (Mountain Time).

The four opening-round winners will advance to the final site in the North Star Athletic Association Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Civic Arena in Watertown, S.D., next weekend.  The women’s semifinals take place at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25.  The semifinal winners advance to the championship game on Sunday, Feb. 26, with a 1 p.tipoffoff.

The NSAA postseason tournament champion earns an automatic bid to the NAIA Women’s Basketball National Tournament’s opening round.  The national tournament opening round is scheduled for March 7-8.

The winners of the NAIA’s opening round will advance to the final site at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa. on March 13-18.

Nick Huntimer, NSAA Sports Information Director, contributed to this article.