It’s not one-peat or three-peat that Incarnate Word’s Cardinals are thinking about; but rather it’s to re-peat as Heartland Conference men’s basketball champions.
And while there is some strategizing about whom the opponents might be, the major focus is on 5 p.m. Friday when the process begins with a tournament semi-final game.
The Heartland’s championship tournament is about to begin in San Antonio and the ultimate winner gets an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II South Central tournament. A year ago UIW won the regular season, won the conference tournament and moved on to the regional dance. That was last year. This is this year and the task at hand is to re-peat.
The Cardinals head over to St. Mary’s, site of all the men’s and women’s tournament games, as the number one seed in and carrying a first round bye. UIW finished the regular season at 21-6 and in first place at 13-3. At 5 p.m. on Friday, the Cardinals will play the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal game between number four Dallas Baptist and Texas A&M International which is seeded fifth.
Against those two teams this season, Incarnate Word defeated Dallas Baptist twice and split home and home with TAMUI.
In the other half of the bracket number three St. Mary’s plays number six St. Edward’s to see which advances to Friday’s semi-final game against number two Newman.
Incarnate Word heading for the tournament is on a roll. The Cardinals have won their last eight straight games and nine of the last 10. At home UIW this year was 12-1 to go with 9-5 on the road. Surprisingly enough, Friday’s game will be the first Incarnate Word has played this year on a neutral court.
One of a few emotional factors riding on the Cardinals’ attempt to capture another league title has to do with senior guard Pierce Caldwell. This weekend will be the final time Caldwell will play in his hometown as a collegian. The 6-3 guard is a product of San Antonio’s Marshall High School and he has played all four years at UIW.
Just this week he was voted the Heartland’s player of the year for the third straight season. He goes into the tournament as Incarnate Word’s second all-time leading scorer with an even 1,800 points. His current 345 three-point shots made is a school record. And earlier this season he set a UIW mark with his 61st consecutive free throw made.
Two other UIW players received Heartland awards. Both junior guard Eric Stewart and junior forward Tracy Robinson were voted all-league honorable mention.
These are all significant numbers and honors but the point of focus for the Cardinals is to re-peat. Win two games—the championship game is 5 p.m. Saturday--, collect the trophy, do a bit of celebrating and then move on. That is the task at hand for UIW but first 5 p.m. Friday must arrive so the mission can begin.