By Bryan McEldowney
NKU Athletic Communications
With a 21-win regular-season and share of third-place in the Horizon League in the rearview mirror, the Northern Kentucky men’s basketball team earned the No. 4 seed in Motor City Madness, the league’s conference tournament, and will face rival Wright State on Sunday, March 5.
Game time for the Norse and Raiders is set for 7:30 p.m. (ET) at historic Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
Northern Kentucky far exceeded the preseason prognostications, which had the Norse finishing seventh in the league. The win over Valparaiso also guaranteed Northern Kentucky no worse than a share of third-place in the standings, but it had to wait on the result of the Green Bay and Detroit Mercy game to learn its seed. Green Bay eventually won that contest and by virtue of splitting the regular-season with Oakland, claims the No. 3 seed ahead of the Norse.
Oakland shared the league title with Valparaiso after the Norse knocked off the Crusaders Sunday afternoon. However, the Oakland won both meetings with Valpo this year and earned the No. 1 seed.
Wright State finished fifth in the standings and UIC sixth. Each of the top six seeds receive a first-round bye in the championship.
Detroit Mercy claimed the seven-seed and plays No. 10 Milwaukee, while Cleveland State and Youngstown State play one another as the eighth and ninth seeds, respectively.
NKU’s side of the bracket includes No. 1 Oakland, No. 5 Wright State, No. 8 Cleveland State and No. 9 Youngstown State. The Norse were a combined 5-3 against those teams this year.
Northern Kentucky defeated Wright State in both regular-season meetings, each of which came within the last month of action. NKU won 83-79 at WSU and earlier this week defeated the Raiders, 83-79, at BB&T Arena.
Motor City Madness Seeds
1.Oakland (24-7, 14-4 HL)
2.Valparaiso (24-7; 14-4 HL)
3.Green Bay (18-12, 12-6 HL)
4.Northern Kentucky (21-10, 12-6 HL)
5.Wright State (20-11, 11-7 HL)
6.UIC (14-17; 7-11 HL)
7.Detroit Mercy (8-22, 6-12 HL)
8.Cleveland State (9-21, 5-13 HL)
9.Youngstown State (11-20, 5-13 HL)
10. Milwaukee (8-23, 4-14 HL)