CHICAGO — Is Indiana University South Bend game for its third straight miraculous comeback in the title contest of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament? That is the biggest question entering tourney play this week after the Titans performed the feat each of the past two years against top-seeded Olivet Nazarene in Bourbonnais.
The table is set with ONU again being the No. 1 seed with the Titans (24-5) coming into Wednesday’s opening round of the eight-team field as the No. 2 seed. The Tigers, however, have not lost since the calendar flipped over to 2022 having claimed 15 straight victories to earn the top spot. Head coach Nick Birkey’s club also comes in as the No. 13 team in the nation after going 27-3 during the regular season.
In league play, only one team was able to solve Olivet Nazarene during the regular season and that was Indiana University Northwest. The RedHawks (23-6) turned in a convincing 94-81 performance back on Nov. 23 and they come into the tournament equally as hot. Head coach Javier Heridia’s team mans the No. 3 spot in the tournament riding an 11-game winning streak, including last week’s upset victory over Indiana South Bend.
The final host for Wednesday’s first set of games will be Saint Xavier University (17-13) as the No. 4 seed in the tournament.
The rest of the field is made up of No. 5 seed Roosevelt University (18-11), No. 6 Lincoln College (13-14), No. 7 Judson University (15-15) and No. 8 University of St. Francis (14-13).
First-round pairings find St. Francis traveling to Olivet Nazarene, Roosevelt and Saint Xavier meeting on the south side, Judson heading to Indiana to face IUSB and Lincoln doing the same by going to IUNW.
Wednesday’s four winners then hook up on Friday at the sites of the two highest remaining seeds with the championship game to take place next Monday, also at the site of the highest remaining seed.
The winner of the conference tournament gains one of three automatic bids to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round. The first two bids are already locked down by Olivet Nazarene and Indiana South Bend as the top two teams during the regular season. Should either one of those teams also win the tournament crown, the third berth would go to Indiana Northwest as the third-place regular-season finisher.
The complete schedule follows:
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
Game #1: No. 8 seed St. Francis (14-13) at No. 1 seed Olivet Nazarene (27-3) — 7 pm CT
Game #2: No. 5 seed Roosevelt (18-11) at No. 4 seed Saint Xavier (17-13) — 5:30 pm CT
Game #3: No. 7 seed Judson (15-15) at No. 2 seed Indiana South Bend (24-5) — 6 pm CT
Game #4: No. 6 seed Lincoln (13-14) at No. 3 seed Indiana Northwest (23-6) — 7 pm CT
Friday, February 25, 2022 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #5: Winner-Game #1 vs. Winner-Game #2 — TBA
Game #6: Winner-Game #3 vs. Winner-Game #4 — TBA
Monday, February 28, 2022 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #7: Winner-Game #5 vs. Winner-Game #6 — TBA