so this is probably of no consequence other than obscure basketball fans that follow naia division two men's basketball. however, if you live in the midwest, more specifically, in kansas city, and follow naia div two sports, you might be familar with the heart of america conference. and in the haac, it seems like arch-rivals mid america nazarene university and william jewell college, of liberty, mo, are perennial favorites to win the haac conference.
as a mnu alum, i'm sure you can guess where my loyalties lie. every year, my wife and i trade home and away games with some friends of ours...liberty residents and wjc alums. when mnu plays in liberty, they host us for dinner and the game. for the game in olathe, we reciprocate. in the last few years, it seems as if i walk away from the game almost feeling apologetic. i say "almost" because i'm a fan....and it's not like i will every apologize for winning.
going into the first game this year, i thought this was the year i take my lumps. mnu already had multiple losses in-conference while wjc was rated number one in the country. mnu was going through a tough time as a young team while wjc seemed to have it all together. you can see where this is going....mnu won the first game at home by seven.
"but wait for the game at wjc," their fans said. yeah...that was last monday. and the result....mnu by seven. now i'm not demeaning wjc...they have a great school and a great team. but it seemed like we owned them over the last several years. so i looked up the official records.
in the last six seasons (1999 - current), mnu stands at 12-3 versus wjc. this record includes a 7-2 record at home, a 5-1 record at wjc, a 10-3 record in the regular season and a 2-0 record in the haac tourney.
it's a lot easier to say because of my affiliation, but it's all great basketball. two good teams willing to leave it all on the court. while they don't play under the really bright lights, these teams do play good ball.
"d-up pioneers" and wjc....good luck in Point Lookout this year at the national tourney.
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