Quakers miss
NCAA tourney cut

WC, Ohio Northern left out of national field

February 26, 2006

Following Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament semifinal losses, WC women's basketball coach Jerry Scheve and men's basketball coach Scott Reule offered little optimism about their teams' chances of receiving at-large NCAA tournament bids. Sunday night, their concerns were validated as both teams learned they had missed the NCAA tournament cut.

On the men's side, Baldwin-Wallace won the OAC regular-season and tournament titles and was the only OAC team that made the national tournament.

The Quakers' season ends at 20-7, the first 20-win season in team history. Reule said he was disappointed his team will be watching the NCAA tournament from the sideline and surprised that Baldwin-Wallace was the OAC's lone representative.

"The thing that confuses me is how people around the country speak about the competitiveness and strength of our league, then neither us nor Ohio Northern (21-6) get invited, that all we get in is our tournament champion," Reule said. "I guess the tournament committee has a formula they use and neither Wilmington nor Ohio Northern were among the top teams in Pool C according to that formula."

On the women's side, Capital received the OAC's automatic berth after their 47-45 win over Baldwin-Wallace in the OAC Tournament final. Baldwin-Wallace received an at-large invitation to the national tournament.

Two other teams that defeated Wilmington in the regular season — DePauw and Hope — received automatic berths as result of winning conference championships. The Lady Quakers' season ends at 19-8, snapping WC's streak of 20-win seasons at four.

"After we lost on Thursday, I knew the season was over. I know how the system works. I knew where we stood, that there was very little chance for us to get in," Scheve said. "I'm just disappointed that we couldn't find a way to win more games because we had a team that was capable of playing well in the tournament."