Alaska-Adak cut down the nets

If the shoe fits, or in the case, the glass slipper. Wear it.................

In one of the most unlikely championship match ups in history the 13-16, now 14-16 Alaska-Adak Sentries downed the upstart E.I.E.I.O. Feral Hogs 77-74 to win the first ever D4 National Championship. Proving once again that any long shot has a chance as long as they get to play the game on the court.

E.I.E.I.O. had seemingly tied the game and sent it into overtime as Alaska-Adak was called for goal tending at the buzzer. After reviewing the final play (a fan in the audience had a betamax) the officials ruled that the shot had first made contact with one of the ceiling rafters; thereby nullifying the the violation. After last years Bush Hog accident the ceiling at the north end of Sam Drucker Arena is lower than the south end, etc. This secured the Championship for Alaska-Adak and the LNCUTMV Conference.

It was a tale of 3 seasons for Adak this year as they started out strong and were only a game back of first place after three weeks. Then they fell off the map for a while but snuck into the tournament by going 2-1 on the final weekend to edge out Bodine Military Academy for the 6th and final bid from the LNCUTMV. Then in the post season it was all Alaska as they went virtually unchallenged until the final game.

Other results are as follows:

3rd place Bugtussle State 107 Southern NAIA Tech 85
5th place *Southern NAIA Tech-Hooterville 307 Mount Pilot Central State 298 (7ot)
**7th place Wisconsin A&M-Springstead 27 Daisy Moses Medical College 19

*In winning the 5th place game Southern NAIA Tech-Hooterville has become the first 20 game winner in the 2 year history of D4. Finishing the season at 20-13.
**Game stopped at half-time as both teams had fouled out.

Seedings explained. Unlike some organizations D4 is happy to share information about why certain teams were placed where they were. There will always be anomalies but I think this years bracket was as fair as possible given the circumstances.

In the South this year it was DMMC, AK-Adak, MPC St. and SNT. DMMC won the regular season title in their conference and had, at the time, the best record in D4; so you can't move them out of region. SNT, despite their record, won the conference tournament and were guaranteed to stay close to home. MPC St. had the 2nd best regular season record in D4 and stayed in region for that reason. AK-Adak was expected to be a one and done so they didn't get moved in order to balance the brackets.

The North featured SNT-H, E.I.E.I.O., WAMS and Bugtussle St. SNT-H faded at the end of the year and wound up 3rd in their conference, they were also upset in their conference tournament so there was no choice but to move them. Bugtussle State lost in the LNCUTMV play in game and there was simply no way to keep them in region. E.I.E.I.O. and WAMS only had 5 regular season games between them. In short it was too difficult to compare them to other teams in D4 so they had to stay in region by proxy. It has also been speculated that they were kept in the same region to avoid the possibility of an All UCWI Championship. While that rumor cannot be confirmed or denied it is standard procedure, at any level, for first year conferences to not get the respect that they may deserve. At least in D4 they weren't paired together in the first round.

It has been a great year in D4 and next year appears to be equally bright as the UCWI is expanding and will actually have a team from Illinois. Perhaps even two teams from Illinois as the University of Illinois-Nottingham County "Sheriffs" have requested membership for the 2005-2006 season. If anyone knows of other schools that would like to participate in D4 please let "The Roop" know.