The Little Giants are headed for the NCAA Tournament for the third season in a row, facing off against Coe on Friday at Trine. Wabash defeated Wooster for the tournament championship for the third season in the row, and this year was the most comfortable win of the bunch. Whether that means Wabash is better, Wooster is worse, or a combination of both, I suppose we'll see. In this first round matchup, Wabash and Coe have only faced each other once, and Coe won. But that was just before Christmas, 1974. I don't think I would put too much stock into this. As mentioned, this three-peat is a rare feat for Wabash basketball. The D3 tournament was first played in 1975,* and I am told that Wabash's only other run of three entries was in 1980, 81, and 82. And if you know Wabash sports, you probably know what happened in 1982. We can only hope things work out as well this time around. Other than that, (and this going off memory), Wabash made the tournament in 1997 and 1998. And that is it outside of this current run. *Per Wikipedia, The NCAA had no divisions before 1957. After that, schools were divided into University and College Divisions. The current three-division setup was voted on in 1973. I have tried and tried to find brackets for those 90's tournaments and had come up empty for years, but it looks like somebody did some good work on Wikipedia and filled in some big blanks for me. So, now, I can finally give a full report of Wabash's time in the tournament. 1980: Lost in first round (Wittenberg 76-68 Wabash) 1981: Lost in first round (Otterbein 81-69 Wabash) 1982: National Champions (R1: 81-61 over Ohio Northern, R2: 82-70 over Hope, E8: 54-51 over Augustana, F4: 68-64 over Stanislaus St., Final: 83-62 over Potsdam St.) 1997: Lost in Second Round (R1: Wabash 69-63 Lawrence, R2: Chicago 78-70 Wabash) 1998: Lost in Second Round (R1: Wabash 87-80 Aurora, R2: Chicago 67-62 Wabash) 2022: Final Four (R1: Wabash 91-79 Berry, R2: Wabash 87-86 Emory, S16: Wabash 73-59 Williams, E8: Wabash 81-75 Illinois Wesleyan, F4: Elmhurst 90-68 Wabash) 2023: Lost in first round (Wisconsin-Whitewater 90-83 Wabash) It should be noted that Wabash led at halftime of their tournament game last year, and UWW managed to get all the way to the Final Four, so that first round exit is better than your normal one-and-done. With all that out of the way, let's look at Wabash's first weekend this year. And, yes, these are the best pictures I could find on these school's sites. Coe College KohawksLocation: Cedar Rapids, IA Arena: Kohawk Arena Capacity: 1600 Built: 2017 American Rivers Conference Championships: 3 (2006, 2012, 2024) ARC Tournament Championships: 1 (2023) National Titles: 0 23-24 Record: 21-5 Fontbonne University GriffinsLocation: St. Louis, MO Arena: Mabee Gymnasium Capacity: 1500 Built: 1993 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships: 6 (1994, 1995, 2009, 2022, 2023, 2024) SLIAC Tournament Championships: 7 (1994, 1996, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2023, 2024) National Titles: 0 23-24 Record: 20-7 Trine University ThunderLocation: Angola, IN Arena: MTI Center Capacity: 3500 Built: 2016 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Conference Championships: 3 (2019, 2022, 204) MIAA Tournament Championships: 1 (2021) National Titles: 0 23-24 Record: 23-4 Wabash College Little GiantsLocation: Crawfordsville, IN
Arena: Chadwick Court Capacity: 1900 Built: 1917 North Coast Athletic Conference Championships: 2 (2022, 2024) NCAC Tournament Championships: 3 (2022, 2023, 2024) National Titles: 1 (1982) 23-24 Record: 20-8
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