IUSB hoops squads ready for NAIA March Madness

It's been a season to remember thus far for the IUSB women's basketball team.

The Titans hope the best is yet to come.

Coach Steve Bruce's experienced and talented team now has its sights firmly focused on making a postseason push in March Madness.

The Titans, who won the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) tournament title for the first time since 2005, head into the 64-team National Association of Intercollege Athletics (NAIA) National Tournament for the second straight year. No. 10 seed IUSB (28-2) will face seventh-seeded Jamestown (North Dakota) (21-8) Tuesday at 7 p.m. EST in Helena, Montana in a first-round contest. The other first round game Tuesday pits host and No. 2 seed Carroll (Montana) (25-5) versus No. 15 seed Rochester (Michigan) (21-10).The second round game is Wednesday at 9 p.m. EST for a berth in the Sweet 16 in Sioux City Iowa March 13. The tourney semifinals are March 17 with the championship game March 18.

Host Carroll was ranked No. 11 in the final poll of the season. Jamestown checked in at No. 23, while IUSB received votes.

IUSB lost 65-64 to host Indiana Wesleyan University last year in a first round game. It was the program's first appearance in the NAIA tourney since 2005.

"We are going into the tournament this time with the mindset that someone has to win it, so why not us?" said longtime IUSB coach Steve Bruce. "I think this team has earned the right to feel that way. Our confidence is very high and we just want to go in and be who we are and approach it as business as usual.

"We are going in this year with the mindset of advancing. We had some goals coming into the season and we have checked the boxes on winning the CCAC regular season and winning the CCAC tourney. The other is making it to Iowa for the Sweet 16. This is a veteran team that has everything it needs to be great. My job this year was just not to mess things up."

Bruce, who is in his 17th season as coach and also is the executive director of athletics, has not messed up a thing with his deep squad that returned four of five starters from last year's 25-8 group. The Titans also added a pair of key pieces in transfers Tia Chambers and Jazmen Watts. Chambers. a 6-0 center and Penn High School product, played at IU-Kokomo last year. Watts, a 5-9 guard and former standout at Riley High School, played the past two seasons at Bethel University in Mishawaka.

"The No. 1 thing about Tia and Jazmen are that they are great teammates," praised Bruce. "Our team is tight kniit and they have come in and fit right in. We've been very fortunate to add transfers who fit in well with our program and the culture we have here. That just makes everything easier and everything on the court fall into place."

The Titans, who have won eight in a row, boast a starting five with two graduate students in Chambers and former Penn High School standout guard Sara Doi and three seniors in twin sisters and 5-8 guards Katie and Maddie Gard and Emma Fisher, a 5-7 guard from Benton Central High School. The team is so deep that talented Rachael Robards, a 5-10 forward from Lake Central High School who has 883 career points, comes off the bench.

Katie Gard averages a team-high 14.1 ppg. while sister Maddie averages 13.4 ppg. Both were first-team All-CCAC selections and Maddie was an NAIA honorable mention All-American a year ago. Chambers averages 11.5 ppg., while Robards is at 10.4, Watts 7.8 and Doi 6.8.

"We have all the right elements of a great basketball team," Bruce said. "We have skill, depth, speed, athleticism and experience. We have pieces at each position on the court.

"The thing about the Gards is their competitiveness," remarked Bruce of the pair from Wisconsin. "It's their drive. All they want to do is win. Sara Doi is just the glue to our team. Emma Fisher is our engine. We would not be close to where we are without her."

The Titans are the first team in any sport at IUSB to win conference regular season and tournament championships in the same season. It's also the first time since 2009 that a school has won both the women's and men's conference tourney titles.

The Titans, whose roster has seven graduate students or seniors, averages 77 points a game and allows just 54 per contest.

"We are not going to stray from our identity," noted Bruce. "We are going to run on offense and harass teams with our defense. Last year's loss in the national tournament was very disappointing, but I think that experience will benefit us this year.

"We plan to go in and just go after it. We just need to be the team that we have been for the past 30 games."

IUSB men dancing too

The IUSB men's hoops team is also back in the Big Dance for yet another go around.

Coach Scott Cooper's veteran team has persevered through a tough, injury-riddled season to punch its ticket back to the NAIA National Tournament.

The Titans, who won the CCAC tourney title, are making a fourth straight trip to the national tourney. The program had not qualified once for it prior to 2020, when they advanced for the first time but did not play as the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

IUSB, 23-8 and seeded 15th in their bracket, will face host and second-seeded Indiana Tech (27-4) in Fort Wayne Tuesday at 2 p.m. in a first round contest of the 64-team field. The other first round matchup Tuesday has Iowa Wesleyan (27-2) versus Evangel (Missouri) (22-8). The second round is at Indiana Tech Wednesday at 4 p.m. The Sweet 16 begins March 13 in Kansas City with the tourney semifinals March 17 and the title game March 18.

Host Indiana Tech was ranked No. 6 in the final coaches poll. The Tech roster includes Cory McKinney, The senior guard, a Washington High School product, averages 7.4 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.

Iowa Wesleyan was ranked No. 23 in the final poll, while Evangel was in the receiving votes category.

"We are definitely excited to compete and see what we can do," said Cooper prior to the tourney draw Thursday. "The thing about this group is that they never get rattled. They are just great kids. Every time something has been thrown at them this season they have adjusted and just get it done.

"They are irrationally confident and that's just who they are. They believe in each other and are very unselfish. They care about winning."

The Titans have seen several key players slowed by injuries. Junior standout Dejon Barney, a Riley High School product who transferred in this year from Lincoln College in Illinois, hurt his knee early on in the season and the Titans struggled to a 1-4 mark to open the campaign. The 6-9 forward, who was first-team All-CCAC and averages 15.4 points a game, then hurt his knee again. Standout seniors Kenny Washington and Miles Tracy have both played through ankle injuries.

"We've really struggled with injuries this year," said Cooper, whose team lost in the first round of the national tourney last year. "It's been interesting. Our guys were beat up, but our training stafff did a fantastic job and all three of them played in the CCAC Tourney. We're getting healthier now."

The Titans, who tied a program record with 25 wins last season, beat St. Francis (Illinois) 51-50 and Olivet Nazarene (Illinois) 89-76 and then Saint Xavier (Illinois) 67-65 in the title game to claim the CCAC conference tourney crown.

IUSB features a well-balanced group, led by seniors Donyell Meredith II, Washington, Tracy and Micah Poole, all who hail from Indianapolis. Meredith averages 16.2 ppg., while Washington is at 11.7, Tracy 9.4 and Poole 9.2.

Barney led the way in the league tourney finale with 14 points and 10 rebounds, his eighth double-double of the season. Washington had 14 points and Meredith II 12 for the Titans, who trailed by four points at halftime. Meredith II totaled 47 points in the three tourney games to lead his squad.

"At our best, we are moving the ball and understanding matchups offensively," noted Cooper. "On defense, we grind you down and have played at a high level since January. To make a run in the tourney that has to continue.

"We have talked all year about focusing on the little things and those will lead to the big things for us. That's still our approach for the national tournament. Our guys have done a good job of that. If we continue to do so, we will have a good chance to be successful."

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: The IUSB basketball teams are ready for March Madness