Championship week may be the most exciting seven days of the Division III season since it involves so many teams and so many great games. But there is a bittersweet part to Championship week as it marks the end of a very special part of many players’ lives. That’s a large part of the desperation, one of the key ingredients to the week’s many exciting finishes.

Many seniors will never put on a jersey again after the final horn sounds, which makes for very emotional scenes. I never fail to find those scenes powerful, gripping and, in some cases, heart breaking.

One of the more wrenching scenes came in a Pennsylvania Athletic Conference final two years ago between Cabrini and Alvernia. The Cavs were trying to extend a season that was painful. Long time head coach John Dzik was leaving, close loses were mounting and the players were clearly feeling the affects. But the painful nature of the season didn’t make its preservation any less precious.

In the closing moments of an eventual loss, senior point guard Messiah Reames fouled out trying to make one more play to keep Cabrini’s season alive. As he realized that his college playing career was done, he flung his headband to the floor with tears streamed down his face and the famous “nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-hey-hey-hey goodbye” raining down on him. It was striking how much this brutal, train wreck of a season meant to him.

ATN’s lead writer took in Mike Hoyt’s last game last night in the Skyline Quarterfinals. If you haven’t read that entry yet, stop reading this right now and please go do so. Seriously. I’ll wait.

Hoyt isn’t the only Preseason All American who has already finished his career. Last night Zack Freeman played his last game for Illinois Wesleyan, notching one more double-double (18 points, 13 rebounds) for the Titans.

Zak Ray also finished his career at Bates College on Saturday, scoring 30 points in the Bobcats’ loss to No. 3 Amherst in the NESCAC Quarterfinals. Ray has been the consummate teammate, using his passing abilities to make his teammates better. Here’s what Ray told the Bangor Daily News earlier this year.

“A thousand points to me means I’ve been consistent since I’ve been here and I’ve given everything I have to give. It’s not just me who scored the 1,000 points. It’s my teammates and the guys who set screens for me…Rob [Stockwell] got 1,000 last year and the first thing he said to me was, ‘I couldn’t have done it without you’ and I feel the same way.”

Monica Johnson ended her career at Lebanon Valley relatively quietly in that her team didn’t qualify for the MAC Commonwealth Playoffs. But she went out with the heart and fight you’d expect from a Preseason All American, putting up 22 points and 17 rebounds against Susquehanna.

If you have a story about these players or any others who are finishing a very special part of their lives this week, please take a moment to share it below.

I never got to see Andy Panko or Devean George or any of the other names that we consider legendary at the Division III level. I’m not as adventurous as our publisher in terms of travel and prefer focusing on my gig as the voice of a particular team to traversing the landscape and seeing the various sites of Division III.

But given a free night, I figured it would be worth my while to make the 75-mile trip to Purchase, N.Y. to see not only the top-seeded Manhattanville men’s team in the Skyline Tournament, but to check out Mount St. Mary guard Mike Hoyt, whom I had profiled in Around the Nation a few weeks ago. It seemed hypocritical to pass up a chance to see the best in the game, especially considering that just before leaving, I went to the bookstore and bought a copy of “Maravich” to read about another game great.

I won’t get into the misfortunes that caused me to be 10 minutes late (let’s just say that the young lady who backed into my car in a parking lot mishap was fortunate that I’m not one to get road rage), but when I walked into the gym, I looked to my left and saw that the scoreboard showed the visitors in front, 15-8, which meant that I missed the best part of Mount St. Mary’s (k)night. I also saw a group of people whom I realized it would be worthwhile to sit with- Mike Hoyt’s family.

They were spread out over four rows but were easy to pick out because of the family resemblance. His grandmother, Evelyn, whom I spent much of the game chatting with, was behind me with Mike’s dad, and his mom and uncle were a row in front. I appreciated their indulging me, because I peppered them with a fair share of questions during timeouts and halftime. They also apparently are unaware of the “Around the Nation” jinx, a myth perpetuated by some who feel I bring bad luck by writing about their teams (I guess the fodder for them is that Manhattanville outscored Mount by 25 after I showed up).

Hoyt survived a conking to the head at the end of the first half to finish with 30 points and had one Maravich-esque moment, a juggling act layup which caused Mike’s uncle to turn around and say “I hope that was worth the trip for you.”

Mike’s mom told me one story that I’d like to share and hopefully it doesn’t embarass Hoyt too much as he readies for phone calls from agents and international interests, who figure to ask him to try out a professional basketball career overseas.

When Hoyt was playing travel basketball in fourth grade, he was, as he is now, small, tough, and very very good. At the awards ceremony, the coach presented him with a Wheaties box. The front was cut out and Hoyt’s picture was inserted in its place.

“Mike,” the coach said. “When I’m old and gray, there will be a day when I’m eating Wheaties and your picture will be on the front of the box.”

Hoyt still has that award, one of what I’m sure are many treasured basketball mementos. He also has the memories of a fine collegiate basketball career. And I can say I have the memory of having seen him.

There are some days where it is very good to be the lead story on D3hoops.com.

It’s probably a happy occasion if you’re in the headline in the first few days of November. That’s right around the time the Preseason Top 25 comes out. Even better is being in the headline the evening of March 17. That probably means you’re the National Champions.

But February 20 is not such a good time to be the lead story on D3hoops.com, particularly if you’re a ranked team. If you’re leading off the front page come Tuesday night, it’s probably because you’ve just been eliminated from your conference tournament in an upset. “Ranked team pummels eight seed” isn’t much of a headline. But “Eight Seed stuns Ranked Team” is pretty good. Unless, of course, you’re the ranked team.

Here are a few teams who are hoping to stay anonymous through Tuesday night and right into the next round of their tournament.

No. 18 UW-La Crosse: Perhaps more so than any other nationally ranked men’s teams, the Eagles can ill afford a loss to open their conference tournament. The next loss will be Lax’s seventh in region. They were not mentioned in last week’s regional rankings even though UW-Oshkosh (who the Eagles swept) was. The Eagles need to avoid the snare of UW-Stout in the WIAC Quarterfinals.

UW-La Crosse vs. UW-Stout Broadcast – WMEQ

No. 7 UW-Oshkosh: The Titans seem to be a little better position than their conference mates. They have five regional loses and were slotted fifth in the most recent regional rankings. They’ve taken both games from WIAC quarterfinal opponent UW-River Falls this year, though the Falcons made things interesting at their place (69-66 UWO win). My gut tells me UWO is in with two wins and perhaps with just one. But then again my gut also tells me that my Flock of Seagulls t-shirt is a hit with the ladies. Better to win this game and leave my gut out of it.

UW-Oshkosh vs. UW-River Falls – WRST (Audio)

UW-Oshkosh vs. UW-River Falls – Stretchcast (Video)

No. 20 Wilmington: The gap between ranked women’s teams and their first round opponent is usually pretty large. Like 20-30 points large. But No. 20 Wilmington will have to be careful with Muskingum who won three of its last four games entering the OAC tournament. The Quakers beat the Muskies by 13 points on the road and 15 points at home so far this season.

Wilmington vs. Muskingum – WKFI (Audio)

‘Stasis’ is the word of the week in both polls. Both the men’s and women’s top 10s were mildly reorganized but entirely unchanged in their constituency. There was so little movement in either poll that I had to relax my standards just to populate my “Movers & Shakers” category. This period of calm is only going to last one week, however; 21 of the 25 teams in each poll are competing in conference tournaments this week, the exceptions being the seven ranked UAA teams and the Occidental men. And four of the ranked UAA teams run into each other this week as well, guaranteeing that next week’s final regular season polls will be significantly different from this week’s lineups. In the meantime, kick your shoes off, sit a spell, and enjoy the relative calm before the storm.

Debutantes:
Women: In a week with little movement at the top, there was considerable movement near the bottom, as three schools enjoy coming-out parties this week. #24 Maine-Farmington ended its regular season on a 15-game winning streak, and enter the NAC tournament as one of the #1 seeds. The Beavers’ historic season has earned them their first-ever ranking in the D3Hoops.com Top 25 poll. Further down, two schools made their vote-getting debuts this week. The Keene State Owls are no strangers to the men’s poll, but the 19-5 women are first time vote-getters this week. They are joined in this achievement by the 21-4 East Texas Baptist Tigers.
Men: The women’s team at Messiah College have been mentioned in 104 straight polls, earning more vote-points than all but 8 women’s programs. This week, the male Falcons have joined their more lauded counterparts, receiving a vote for the first time ever.
Congratulations to these fine programs on their achievement!

Streakers:
Women: Eighth-ranked Southern Maine, despite being upset this week, appears in the top 25 for the seventy-fifth consecutive week. #10 McMurry is ranked for the 25th straight week. #5 Messiah and #6 NYU each are in the top 10 for the tenth straight poll, while #2 Calvin appears in the voting results for the 30th straight week.
Men: #3 Amherst is a member of the top 10 for the 20th consecutive week, while #2 Virginia Wesleyan is a ranked team for the 20th straight time. VWC’s conference rival #17 Guilford can celebrate their tenth consecutive week as a vote-getter.

Milestones:
Women: Alongside their ranking streak, #8 Southern Maine can now claim that they have been ranked an even one hundred times. Congratulations to the Huskies! #6 NYU is ranked for the 90th time overall and is in the top 10 for the fiftieth time. #2 Calvin is a top 25 team for the 30th time. #17 UW-Stout received votes for the 60th time. Chicago received votes early and often and appear on the voting list for the 30th week, while #18 Illinois Wesleyan and #22 Medaille are each among the vote-getters for the 20th time.
Men: Sixth-ranked St. Thomas is a member of the top 25 for the fiftieth time. #22 DePauw, after an eight-week delay, can celebrate their 25th week as a ranked team. #24 Ohio Northern is in the top 25 for the 40th week. #20 Trinity (CT) is ranked for the 30th time, and received votes for the 60th time. Fifth-ranked Mississippi College is a top 10 team for the tenth time, and appears on the voting list for the 70th time. Keene State is among the elect for the 40th week, while #17 Guilford received votes for the tenth time.

High-Water Marks:
Women: #3 Howard Payne just keeps on truckin’ in this category, tying their all time high rank this week. This marks the 13th consecutive week that the Yellow Jackets set or tied their high-water mark. #16 Lake Forest and debutante #24 Maine-Farmington set new high marks this week, while #2 Calvin and #25 Norwich tied their highest-ever ranks.
Men: No men’s teams plowed any new ground this week. #15 Aurora and #17 Guilford each tied their highest rankings, each set just last week.

Movers & Shakers:
Women: #8 Southern Maine shed 122 points and dropped 4 places; #21 Rochester fell 5 spots and lost 87 points; and Baldwin-Wallace shed 72 points and fell out of the top 25 for the first time in 28 weeks. More or less everyone else moved up a little bit to compensate; the biggest gain of the week was recorded by Washington U., whose modest 38-point gain was insufficient to change their #12 ranking.
Men: #10 Wittenberg fell 4 spots and lost 136 points; #23 Puget Sound lost 61% of their vote, dropping two places and 77 points; and Johns Hopkins dropped out of the poll, leaving behind 72 of their 78 Week 11 points. Much like the women, the upward movements were generally compensatory, with #11 Chicago (+89 points and 3 placements) and #13 WPI (+73 points, but no change in rank) leading the gainers.

While most of the larger conference tournaments tip off on Tuesday or Wednesday, here is what’s on Monday evening’s docket.

Second straight: “Congratulations…see you in two days.” That’s basically what Gustavus Adolphus could’ve said to Carleton in the handshake line following the Knights’ 71-65 victory in the teams’ regular season finale. This time Carleton will play at the Lund Center, but even the road trip has a silver lining for the Knights. They have a five-game winning streak against the Gusties. You can listen to the MIAC first round game on Knights Online at 8:30 PM EST.

Second chance: Although Richard Stockton and Rutgers-Newark have already played each other this year, both teams look a little different since Rutgers-Newark beat the Ospreys in Pomona on December 2. Stockton added long-range sharp shooter Jerome Hubbard who leads the Ospreys with 14.8 ppg. As for the Scarlet Raiders, they were in the middle of a 9-0 start to the season back in December. Now they have lost five of six entering Monday night’s game.

But that’s the beauty of the playoffs. If Rutgers-Newark wins, that sluggish finish will be history. And if not maybe Coach Matthews will make a celebratory visit to White Castle, like he did after getting his 400th win earlier this season.

Second Seed:UW-Whitewater opens the WIAC Women’s Tournament with its highest seed ever (second). The Warhawks have been one-and-done in recent WIAC playoffs, but are much improved this year. Since January 3, UWW is 10-3 against conference opponents and two of those loses come to No. 18 UW-Stout. UW-Platteville will try to slow down Coach Carollo and Company this evening.

You can follow all the first round playoff games by webcasts and live stats posted off the WIAC website.

Enjoy the games and have a William Howard Taftastic President’s Day.