Nic Men, Women Storm Into Tourneys
If momentum were as easily identifiable as say, uniforms, it would be draped - in layers - on the North Idaho College basketball teams these days.
Stoked by respective wins over conference champion Utah Valley on Saturday night, the NIC men and women try to follow up their best efforts of the season with encores at the Region 18 tournaments.
The third-seeded NIC men open against No. 6 Snow today at 1 PST at the new David O. McKay Events Center on the Utah Valley campus.
NIC clobbered Utah Valley 110-77 in the final home game for retiring coach Rolly Williams.
Three wins at regionals send NIC to the nationals in Hutchinson, Kan. One loss sends Williams into retirement after 35 seasons at NIC.
“I’m sure all of their guys’ arms are tired from all those 3-pointers and the dunking they did against us,” joked Utah Valley coach Jeff Reinert. “They probably had to ice down all day Sunday.”
In the women’s tourney, fifth-seeded NIC, which ended Utah Valley’s 14-game winning streak on Saturday, faces No. 4 Ricks, which whipped the Cardinals two weeks ago. Gametime is Thursday at 11 a.m.
Men
“I’ve said from the start of the year NIC was the team to beat in our league because of their size and depth,” Reinert said.
The Cardinals beat Snow twice by narrow spreads in the regular season.
“I would really like to be in the other bracket (with Southern Idaho-Eastern Utah and Utah Valley-Salt Lake),” Snow coach Jon Judkins said. “I think (top-seeded) Utah Valley is good, but they’re beatable.”
Judkins said Dixie and NIC are playing well, and perennial power CSI still merits consideration.
Snow is perimeter oriented, knocking down 45 percent of its 3-point attempts. Wings Pat McGrath (14.6 points) and Andrew Mavis (16.0) are the main threats.
“We’re going straight inside,” said Judkins, before bursting into laughter. “Really what I’m worried about is NIC’s 1-3-1 (trap).”
For obvious reasons, Williams is concerned about Snow’s shooters and work ethic.
“With the parity in this league, you can’t afford a bad half,” Williams said. “When you play Snow, you better be ready to go out and work.”
Women
NIC’s only suspect outing in the last three weeks was its 83-63 loss to Ricks in Rexburg.
“The last five-six games, with the exception of Ricks, we’ve been consistent in terms of taking care of the ball, our shot selection’s been good and we’re comfortable with our player rotation,” coach Greg Crimp said.
Ricks is fond of chucking 3-pointers before the defense sets up. Barbie Carmichael (the former Barbie Riley, who recently married a Utah Valley assistant coach) is the Vikings’ leading scorer at 14.3 points and leading rebounder at 5.4. Center Kris Packer is close behind at 12.7 and 5.3, respectively.
Ricks attempted 386 3-pointers this season, compared to NIC’s 216.
“My major concern is our rebounding and functioning against Ricks’ switching defense,” said Crimp, whose club has interior scorers in Tanya Kirk and Shawna Rainer. “I’d just as soon play Ricks. We’re kind of hungry because we didn’t play well at their place.”
, DataTimes