- DMACC takes a 17-5 record and a No. 2 seed into the game
- SECC comes in at 13-7 and is seeded 15th
- Winner to face either Mott Community College or Johnson County Community College in the quarterfinals
The DMACC men's basketball team will open the National Junior College Athletic Association DII Men's Basketball Championship against Southeast (Neb.) Community College (SECC) April 20 at the Mary Miller Center in Danville, Ill. Game time is 3 p.m.
"Southeast Nebraska is a very talented team," DMACC men's basketball coach Brett Putz said. "They have very good size and they really spread their offense around. They have four or five guys who average in double figures and they have some guys off the bench who can bring different things offensively. We'll definitely have to make sure we're playing well on the defensive end to be able to win."
DMACC enters the game at 17-5 with a No. 2 seed and a No. 3 ranking in the NJCAA Division II poll. SECC is 13-7 and seeded 15th.
Putz said SECC will be one of the taller teams DMACC has played this season. The Storm have two starters at 6-foot-8 and 6-7 respectively and a wing player at 6-5. In addition, two players off the bench go 6-10 and 6-11.
"It's been a little bit of time since we've played a team with this much size," Putz said.
DMACC's tallest player is 6-11 sophomore Ryan Schmitt of Van Meter and no other starter is taller than 6-5.
Putz said his only real concern going into the tournament is DMACC's lack of playing time. The Bears fell to Ellsworth Community College (ECC), 66-64, in the quarterfinals of the NJCAA Region XI tournament April 6 and haven't played since then.
"A long layoff is always concerning," Putz said. "It's been two weeks since we've played in an actual game and it has given us some time to rest and work on some stuff, but it's still a long layoff. It's about us coming in and trying to establish the way we play as quickly as possible. That's really us getting adjusted to playing in the national tournament, the nerves, the excitement and all that stuff. The better and quicker we can kind of get settled in and play our game and our style the better for us."
Sophomore guard Willie Guy of Cedar Rapids leads the Bears in scoring with a 12.5 average. Sophomores Christian Haffner of Gresham, Wis., and Mark Bradshaw of Chester, Penn., are averaging 12 points a game and Schmitt and sophomore Zach Hobbs of Mesa, Ariz., are at 11.5 and 11 points a game respectively. Offensively the Bears are averaging 78 points a game and they are allowing 70 points per outing.
The DMACC-SECC winner will play either Mott Community College (MCC) or Johnson County Community College (JCCC) in the quarterfinals April 21 at 8 p.m. The DMACC-SECC loser will play the MCC-JCCC loser in a consolation bracket game at 11 a.m. on April 22. The double-elimination tournament continues through April 24 with the championship game slated for 7:30 p.m. on the 24th.
MCC is the tournament's No. 7 seed and JCCC is seeded 10th.
DMACC is making its fifth appearance in the national tournament and its first since 2015. The Bears qualified for the 2020 tournament, but it was cancelled because of COVID-19.
DMACC's other tournament appearances came in 2002, 2007, 2014 and 2015. The Bears finished fourth nationally in 2002 and 2015 and were eighth in 2007.
SECC is making its third trip to the national championship and its first since 2015.