Not that anyone needs a reminder, but anyway ... Northern takes on #2 seed Ohio at 4 p.m. cst. Game on ESPN+. NIU 19-12, Ohio 25-4.

We want 20 wins (or more)!

GO HUSKIES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My niece plays for Ohio but is red-shirting due to injury. Therefore, I can root for NIU to win.

Pep Band made the trip. Who knew?

Note: Earlier scores CMU 88-80 over EMU, Buffalo 85-52 over Kent State. So CMU-Buffalo in the semis on the other side of the bracket. Winner of NIU-Ohio matchup takes on winner of Toledo-Miami-Ohio (after NIU game).

Ohio 23-12 after one. Northern shooting cold. Was 23-9 'til Errin Hodges hit a 3 at the buzzer. Ohio shot 47% to NIU 31%.

Ohio 37-25 at the half. Gabby Nikitinaite leads both pts (13) and rebounds (8) for NIU.
Ohio led 23-12 after one but NIU scored close in the second 13 to Ohio's 14.

Down 20 after 3.

Ohio a solid team. Turnovers 17 vs 5 for Ohio. Ouch.

Ohio 57-37 at the end of 3. Nikitinaite is NIU's big shooter with 16. Mikayla Voigt and Myia Starks fairly quiet. Lot of Ohio double teams. Ohio 10 steals to Northern's 1.

Ohio and CMU are in a different class. One day we’ll get there, but we need to somehow recruit the type of players they do.

Think we have a chance for a NIT bid?

(03-13-2019 05:37 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Think we have a chance for a NIT bid?

With a 19-13 record, maybe. But recall NIU finished the pre-season NIT 2-1 with loss to Iowa State (-10), wins over Northern Iowa (+11) and Yale (+9).

(03-13-2019 05:36 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  Ohio and CMU are in a different class. One day we’ll get there, but we need to somehow recruit the type of players they do.

Boy, it looks like CMU really escaped--according to play by play they hit a 3 at the buzzer in regulation and won in OT. Talk about survive and advance. That would have been a huge upset.

Ohio wins 72-56. Hope now for the WNIT. But hard-fought season for Northern with shallow bench most of the way. Terrific team attitude. First double-double for Nikitinaite with 23 pts 12 rebounds. Next best scorer was Voigt with 14, but most of her points came late.

(03-13-2019 05:55 PM)pvk75 Wrote:  Ohio wins 72-56. Hope now for the WNIT. But hard-fought season for Northern with shallow bench most of the way. Terrific team attitude.

Always proud of this team. They give it their all. It’s amazing they have the record they do considering the injuries, including one of the MAC’s best players.

This team will compete each and every time out. Credit to the coaching staff. They rarely come out and lay an egg.

They MUST MUST MUST find a way to get something out of the freshman and consistent play from sophomore class.

Good for an NIT bid. It would be fun to see Voight get another opportunity.

"A rising tide lifts all boats," so I think we kinda have to hope for the best for the conference. MAC women's basketball is moving up in the world, if it can overcome some apparent ranking prejudice. CMU was outside the top 25 all season, and Buffalo appeared to have no chance. Both reached the Sweet 16 last year. Being a two-bid league might help. Will be interesting to see what the selection committee does.

Last count was 36 Power 5 teams with at least 20 wins. Add 25 automatic bids from other conferences, and you have 61 right there. That's overly vague, I know, but there's not much wiggle room for "extra" bids if the committee follows a P5-first philosophy. Also, with UConn always up there in the ranks, it would be hard to ignore a team like 26-6 UCF, also from the American.

That, then, will push down on the WNIT slots.

As for NIU, you hit it head on. With (hopefully) Courtney Woods and Janae Poisson coming back next year, and only senior Mikayla Voigt leaving, not much room with scholarships.

Miami-Ohio over Toledo 72-54. So the semis are CMU-Buffalo and Ohio-Miami-Ohio. Except for seeing who gets into the NCAA, lost interest. Oh well.

Just saw this on the TURDledo board:

(03-13-2019 09:26 PM)Some TURD Wrote:  TURDS went 17-14 (8-10) last year and received a WNIT bid.

NIU should have a decent shot.

What's the team's current RPI (Women's NCAA BB still uses it)?* As noted by another poster, the ladies had a good OOC performance to start the season and the MAC is a Top Women's BBall league.

*Just looked it up, it appears to be 124 after the loss tonight.

What was the RPI range of last year's WNIT field?

I don't know how much all of whatever plays into things, but with 64 teams in each tournament, that's 128 slots. The NCAA is out, so that leaves the 64 in the WNIT. Crossed fingers.

Northern's RPI is #125, according to http://www.ncaa.com/rankings/basketball-...tball-rpi.

Northern did win 2 of 3 (Yale and Brown) in the pre-season NIT, both at home, and lost to Iowa State by 10 at ISU, which is co-ranked with Marquette at #13 in the latest AP Top 25.

Realistically, if RPI is a huge factor, I'd say Northern is done for the year. Here are the latest RPI's of Northern's o-o-c opponents (thru 3-14):

Losses:
Iowa State 11
Indiana 47
SIU (Carbondale) 148
Montana 187

Wins:
Northern Iowa 88
Yale 135
Nevada 245
Brown 282
North Dakota State 321
WIU 241
EIU 295
Chicago State 348

NIU also went 2-8 in 10 games, including the loss to Ohio in the tournament, against MAC teams with higher RPIs (CMU, Toledo, Buffalo, Ohio, Miami-O, Kent St.). Northern went 1-1 each with Miami-O and Toledo, so was not clearly up on anyone with a higher RPI.

Still, 19-13 ... what is most impressive to me is the winning attitude with a short bench when injuries took such a toll. Imagine how different if Courtney Woods hadn't suffered a torn ACL in the Nevada game (#8 including exhb. game). Or if Janae Poisson could have come back. With Mikayla Voigt done after a spectacular career, Northern will need some help.

(Anyone else I missed out/w/injury?)