All-GPAC

Sorry for being so late. As most of you probably know, the All-GPAC team came out with 5 Tigers receiving recognition. Darrin Dorsey's spectacular regular season earned him GPAC player of the year and co-defensive player of the year. He was joined on the first team by teammates Brady Wiebe and Preston Broughton. Mitch Bain recieved second team honors and Chase Walder recieved honorable mention. Coach Hemenway did not recieve Coach of the year. I guess the Tigers were picked first pre-season and that's what they did. Hastings was rated #5 preseason and had a chance at the regular season title going into the last week of the regular season so Lance Creech recieved Coach of the year. However, it was only by a slim 7 to 5 voting margin over Coach Hemenway. To read more about the end of the year GPAC honors here are a few articles.

DWU article
GPAC release

It is also getting closer to the day we've been waiting for. The Tigers leave tomorrow morning for Branson, Missouri. There are a couple events planned for the national tournament. One for those of you making the trip down to Branson (a pep rally at the team's hotel) and one for those of you who are unable to make it down there (free broadcast of the game in the Sherman Center on DWU's campus). To learn more about these two events, go here: http://www.dwu.edu/athletics/pressreleases/2010/mar05.htm

GO TIGERS!

Radio

Not much going on, just waiting for the National Tournament to begin. In case you wanted to stay up to date, Matt Higgins, DWU's Sports Information Director, is doing a great job of keeping up to date on the latest basketball news and stuff dealing with the national tournament. I encourage you to keep up to date on his blog at: http://www.dwutigertalk.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow morning (Saturday morning) at 9:30 a.m. DWU players Preston Broughton, Darrin Dorsey, Brady Wiebe, Mitch Bain, and Chase Walder will be on KMIT radio 105.9 fm. So if any of you want to listen to that, tune in tomorrow morning. You can also tune in online tomorrow morning here: KMIT radio internet broadcast

First Round

Sorry I did not get the link posted for the NAIA selection show. They streamed it over the internet and it was pretty fun to watch. DWU ended up getting McPherson in the first round. They are 20-8 and out of a conference in Kansas. Not much knowledge on them as of now. Will do some research to try to provide more information. The game is scheduled for 9:35 p.m. on Wednesday. I will also post more on how to can watch that game if you are unable to make it down to Branson for the tournament. As for now, here are some links to inform you further and keep you in the know.

National Tournament bracket
Article on National Tournament bracket

With that second link at the bottom of the write up there is information about watching the games via the internet. Any questions about the tournament or anything else, be sure to ask through a comment, I will most likely be able to figure it out or point you to where you can get the answer.

KWSN

After the game last night, Coach Hemenway, Darrin Dorsey, and Chase Walder were interviewed by KWSN Sioux Falls sports radio and it will be broadcast today from 3-6 p.m. If you'd like to listen here's the link: KWSN sports broadcast

The Augustana women's basketball coach is speaking first followed by the Coach Hemenway, Darrin, and Chase. Not sure what time that will be, probably around 3:30 or 4:00, but that's only a guess.

Indescribable

There is no word or words that could describe last night's game, so therefore, you get that title. DWU vs USF. 3,000 people. If you were there, you know what it felt like. If you weren't, I'm sorry, but there are no words to encompass and describe even a fraction of the atmosphere. I am going to post 4 articles on the game and you can get all the details from the game from those. I'm not a reporter, so I'll stick to the stuff the paper doesn't cover. Like Preston Broughton being a man down the stretch. Also Darrin Dorsey and Brady Wiebe. Come to think of it, the entire team. I'm not sure if it started with one person, but somebody had the mentality that "we are not losing this game" and without words, it spread through the team like wildfire. DWU wanted it last night. The fans wanted it, the coaches wanted it. Cutting down the nets seems like it never gets old. I'm lost for words... read about it here...

DWU's article
Daily Republic's article
Argus Leader's article
USF's article
GPAC sports article

Lost blog

I recently found out about an old blog that is hopefully being "resurrected". It's DWU Tiger Talk, and Matt Higgins, the DWU Sports Information Director is the man behind it. He does an excellent job of providing insights and also other links. I posted the link under "Links of Interest" on the right hand side a little ways down the page. Also the url is http://www.dwutigertalk.blogspot.com/

DE-FENSE!

The Tigers cruised past Briar Cliff in the semifinal, thanks largely in part to their defense. Coach Hemenway must have challenged them to get better defensively (which is good, cause they need to be consistent defensively to do anything in Branson), especially the guards, and they responded. DWU won 73-55 and held Briar Cliff's two best guys to 10 points for Chase Vanderfeen and Kyle Semprimi only scored 6. Both players came in averaging almost 15 points per game. Vanderfeen was the only Briar Cliff player in double digits. DWU's offense was very balanced in the contest being led by what has been come to be known as "The Big 3" in Brady Wiebe, Darrin Dorsey, and Preston Broughton. Preston had 19 on 7-8 shooting and 9 rebounds, Darrin had 16, and Brady had 14 points and 13 rebounds. Mitch Bain also had 12. Here are some other articles on the game.

DWU's article
Daily Republic's article
Briar Cliff's article

Well the win sets up the GPAC championship. And you couldn't have wrote the script any better if you were producing a movie. #1 seed, #2 seed. Bitter rivals, split the season series and get a rubber match in the conference championship game. That's right, USF is coming to the Corn Palace on Tuesday night for what could be the fullest Corn Palace, definitely the craziest, anybody has seen for one game between two teams in a very long time. I would not be surprised to see extra police force at the game tomorrow night. There are no words to describe this matchup or what the Corn Palace atmosphere will be like or feel like on Tuesday. Game is at 7 p.m. All I can say is... be there in blue and white.

Webcast of game - 7 p.m. - I'm pretty sure they are webcasting it, although not positive. You'll have to check it out around gametime.