WPU Returning to Nationals as No. 5 Seed, Traveling to Orange City
Oskaloosa–The Statesmen men’s basketball team will head to the opposite corner of the state as the 64-team field was announced Thursday for the NAIA National Championship Opening Rounds, presented by Ballogy.
William Penn (25-6) earned the No. 5 seed in the Naismith Quadrant and will compete in the Orange City, Iowa bracket at Bultman Center hosted by Northwestern. The navy and gold will open against No. 12 seed College of Idaho next Friday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m.
The winner of that contest will then face the winner of the No. 4 Northwestern/No. 13 Taylor (Ind.) contest, which will be played Friday, March 13 at 5:30 p.m.
The Orange City Bracket championship game is set for Saturday, March 14 at 7 p.m. The winner will then advance to the 88th Annual NAIA National Championship Final Site (16 Opening Round winners) in Kansas City, Mo. from March 19-24 at Municipal Auditorium.
The entire bracket can be viewed at https://www.naia.org/sports/mbkb/2025-26/files/2026_MBB_Bracket.pdf
Opening Round tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for K-College students. All tickets must be purchased online at https://nwcraiders.com/sports/2024/6/12/tickets.aspx
All three games will be live-streamed on the Urban Edge Network for FREE by Northwestern at https://urbanedgenetwork.net/
William Penn earned its automatic bid to nationals by winning the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championship title.
William Penn
The Statesmen, led by John Henry in his 25th year (551-262 record entering nationals), are making their 14th trip in his tenure (20th trip all-time to the postseason).
William Penn is headed by first-team all-Heart performers Foday Sheriff (Jr., Upper Darby, Pa., Business Management) and Daivion Boleware (Jr., Jackson, Mich., Psychology); the squad had a total of three all-Heart honorees. Sheriff, the Heart Player of the Year, is averaging 16.2 points and 9.6 rebounds, while Boleware is producing 14.6 points per contest.
WPU outscores opponents 89.8-79.9 and outrebounds them 43.8-35.3.
The Statesmen, who at one point owned a 12-game winning streak, have won seven in a row entering nationals.
College of Idaho
The Yotes, who are 20-10 (14-6 CCC), are coached by Colby Blaine in his eighth year (226-39 record entering nationals). They are making their 29th appearance at nationals (three national titles). COI earned an at-large berth out of the Cascade Collegiate Conference.
College of Idaho had three all-conference honorees, led by Dougie Peoples who is pacing the Yotes with 14.8 points per outing.
COI is outscoring opponents 80.9-71.2 and outrebounding them 37.4-35.3.
The Yotes, who had a pair of four-game winning streaks, earned an at-large berth to nationals.
Northwestern
The Red Raiders (26-5, 15-5 GPAC), who won the Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament title, are led by Colton Kooima in his first season. NWC is making its 28th appearance in the national tournament (two national titles).
Jesse Van Kalsbeek and Jalen Langsy were both first-team all-GPAC selections. Van Kalsbeek is averaging 27.9 points and 12.4 rebounds, while Langsy owns a 27.4 scoring average.
Northwestern outscores opponents 94.5-79.5 and also owns a 35.2-29.9 edge in rebounds.
The Red Raiders enter nationals on a season-high 13-game winning streak.
Taylor
The Trojans (19-10, 11-7 CL), who are making their 16th national tournament appearance, earned an at-large bid out of the Crossroads League. They are coached by second-year head coach Austin Peters (33-25 record entering nationals).
Pete Combs was one of two Taylor players to garner all-CL honors. He is averaging 15.2 points per game.
Taylor outscores its foes 81.1-72.5 and has a 37.6-33.6 advantage in rebounding as well.
The Trojans won 12 games in a row at one point.
