In a junior-college league stacked with perennial powers Salt Lake CC and College of Southern Idaho, North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene has a very real chance to win the Scenic West Athletic Conference and host the Region 18 tournament.
The Cardinals, though, do need some help from Eastern Utah.
The winner of the men's side of the SWAC will host the Region 18 tournament for both the men and the women. Going into this weekend's action, NIC is tied with Salt Lake CC for first place in the SWAC with a 10-3 conference mark. NIC plays twice at Snow College, SLCC plays twice at Eastern Utah.
Salt Lake owns the tiebreaker with North Idaho, so the Cards have to beat Snow twice and have Eastern Utah beat Salt Lake at least once.
If that happens, North Idaho will host the Region 18 tournament with a spot in the NJCAA national tournament on the line.
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The Northwest Nazarene women's quest for a return visit to the NCAA Division II national tournament got a big boost last week when the Crusaders clobbered the top-ranked team in the West Region, Alaska-Anchorage, in Nampa.
That win helped boost NNU up to no. 7 in the west regional rankings this week. That puts the team right on the cusp of a national-tournament berth.
There are three automatic qualifiers from the West Region: champions from the GNAC, PacWest, and CCAA. Those three teams will be joined by five at-large teams. Usually, that means the top eight teams in the West Region rankings qualify. But, right now, the PacWest's champion doesn't figure to be ranked in the top eight... which could mean the no. 8 team is left home while an unranked team represents the PacWest.
Another potential wrench comes if the CCAA's post-season tournament (the only one of the three to determine its champion with a tourney) ends with an upset winner-- which could then leave the no. 7 team at home as well.
The Crusaders have three games left in the regular season: at Saint Martin's on Saturday, then home for Central Washington and the new no. 1 team in the West Region, Seattle Pacific, next week.
It's unfortunate that the NNU/Seattle Pacific-- which could essentially be a tournament game for the Crusaders-- will be going head-to-head with the 4A and 5A boys state title games on Saturday, March 7. NNU (16-8, 9-4 GNAC) deserves a nice crowd for that game and may not get it.