Titans To Host Past Two National Runners-up
UW-Oshkosh opens its quest for a third straight trip to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship when it hosts Benedictine University (Ill.) on Nov. 15 in Kolf Sports Center.
The Titans earned an at-large berth to last season's NCAA postseason and clinched an automatic berth in 2016 by winning the WIAC Championship. UW-Oshkosh, which compiled a 17-11 record last season, has made seven Division III Championship appearances since 1996.
UW-Oshkosh's season opener against 2016 Division III runner-up Benedictine University is the first of 11 home games on the Titans' 2017-18 schedule.
The Titans welcome Edgewood College to Kolf Sports Center on Nov. 22 and last year's national runner-up Augustana College (Ill.) on Dec. 2. UW-Oshkosh's home schedule also includes Finlandia University (Mich.) on Dec. 5.
UW-Oshkosh then hosts conference contests against UW-Whitewater on Jan. 3, UW-Stout on Jan. 10, UW-River Falls on Jan. 13, UW-Stevens Point on Jan. 24, UW-Platteville on Jan. 31, UW-Eau Claire on Feb. 3 and UW-La Crosse on Feb. 10.
UW-Oshkosh's schedule includes road games at St. Norbert College on Nov. 21, North Park University (Ill.) on Nov. 28, Calvin College on Dec. 9, George Fox University (Ore.) on Dec. 19 and Willamette University (Ore.) on Dec. 21.
The Titans will also travel to Wisconsin Dells to play Saint Mary's University (Minn.) on Dec. 29 and Ripon College on Dec. 30 in the JustAGame Fieldhouse.
UW-Oshkosh's schedule features three opponents ranked in this year's D3hoops.com preseason poll and five programs that reached the NCAA tournament a year ago.
Augustana College enters the season ranked second in the country while defending WIAC champion UW-River Falls and UW-Whitewater list 10th and 11th, respectively, after each won at least one game at the 2017 Division III Championship. Benedictine University and Ripon College also qualified for the national tournament last season.
Rounding out UW-Oshkosh's schedule are road league contests at UW-La Crosse on Jan. 6, UW-Platteville on Jan. 17, UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 20, UW-River Falls on Jan. 27, UW-Whitewater on Feb. 7, UW-Stevens Point on Feb. 14 and UW-Stout for the regular-season finale on Feb. 17.
First-round games in the WIAC Championship are scheduled for Feb. 21 while the league semifinals will be conducted Feb. 23 and the final Feb. 25.
The 2018 NCAA Division III Championship commences March 2.
UW-Oshkosh sixth-year head coach Pat Juckem returns three double-digit scorers from last year's team that ranked 17th nationally by allowing 65.4 points per contest.
Senior guard Charlie Noone, and junior guards Ben Boots and Brett Wittchow headline UW-Oshkosh's 12 returning letter winners.
Boots and Noone earned All-WIAC first team accolades a year ago after combining to make 149 3-pointers. Boots led the team with 13.8 points per game while Noone averaged 13.5 points per contest and Wittchow 10.3.
Boots ranked second in the conference with 70 3-pointers and a .849 free throw percentage while listing fifth with 84 assists.
Noone had a WIAC-leading 79 3-pointers, and Wittchow added 29 long-range baskets.
UW-Oshkosh also welcomes back junior guard Kyle Beyak, sophomore center Jack Flynn and sophomore forward Adam Fravert, who each averaged more than 10 minutes per game last season. Flynn and Fravert tied for the team lead with 14 blocks while Flynn ranked second on the squad with 112 rebounds.
The Titans and UW-Whitewater shared second place in the WIAC standings a year ago with 9-5 records. UW-River Falls (25-4 record last season) produced a 12-2 conference mark to secure its first league title since 2004.
Completing last season's league standings were fourth-place UW-Eau Claire (18-8) and UW-Stevens Point (14-10) with 8-6 records, sixth-place UW-La Crosse (14-13) at 5-9, seventh-place UW-Stout (13-13) at 4-10 and eighth-place UW-Platteville (8-17) at 1-13.
UW-River Falls went on to clinch the league's automatic berth to the NCAA postseason with a 60-59 win over UW-Oshkosh in the final of the WIAC Championship.
The Titans' 11 non-conference opponents this season owned a .528 winning percentage (153-137 record) a year ago.
Augustana College (24-9) tied for first in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) standings before falling in the national championship game, 79-78, to Babson College (Mass.). The Vikings have finished as the Division III runners-up four times in program history.
Benedictine University (23-5) won its second straight regular season and tournament titles in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC). The Eagles' 2015-16 season also included a second-place finish at the Division III Championship.
St. Norbert College (19-5) secured its fifth consecutive regular season championship in the Midwest Conference (MWC) a year ago while Ripon College (20-6) finished second in the MWC standings before winning the league tournament. Ripon College led the country with a .516 field goal percentage last year.
North Park University (18-8) shared first place with Augustana College in the CCIW a year ago while Calvin College (17-11) placed second in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
Saint Mary's University (6-18) finished 11th the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference last year, and Edgewood College (5-20) was 10th in the NACC.
George Fox (10-16) and Willamette (4-21) universities placed fourth and ninth, respectively, in the Northwest Conference while Finlandia University produced a 7-18 record as an independent Division III program.
Last season UW-Oshkosh defeated Calvin College (73-52 score), Edgewood College (74-63), George Fox University (78-49) and St. Norbert College (58-45) and suffered setbacks to Augustana College (77-64) and Benedictine University (68-55).
The Titans kicked off the 2017-18 season with an 89-66 exhibition win over Lawrence University on Nov. 6 in Kolf Sports Center.