Lots Left in the Tank

Minnesota State's basketball teams are looking forward
to hosting postseason games in Taylor Center

What's in store, you ask?

Well, given the fact that we still have another month's worth of men's and women's basketball left in the regular season, ten men's hockey regular-season games, six women's hockey games, four wrestling duals and three weekend's worth of the indoor track & field season, the answer is lots.

The only Minnesota State winter sports program that has completed its regular season is women's swimming.  The Mavericks are tapering toward the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference meet scheduled for Feb. 6-9 in Rochester.

The other winter sports, meanwhile, are in stretch drives, jockeying for position in conference standings and preparing for NCAA postseason competition, as well.

Unless something unexpected happens, both the men's and women's basketball teams will host NSIC postseason first-round games Wednesday, Feb. 26 in Taylor Center.  The NSIC basketball championship round is slated for March 1-4 in Sioux Falls. NCAA Central Region tournaments take place the third week of March (March 14-17 for the women and March 15-18 for the men).

If the season were to end now (it doesn't), the Minnesota State men's hockey team would host a first-round best-of-three WCHA play-off series March 14-16. This year's WCHA Final Five is in Grand Rapids, Mich., March 21-22 with NCAA regional action scheduled for March 28-30.

The NSIC indoor track & field championship meet, which MSU has hosted three times in the last four years (2010, 2012 and 2013), takes place in Bemidji this year Feb. 28-March 1. This year's NCAA indoor championship is March 14-15 in Winston-Salem, N.C.

The NCAA DII Wrestling Central Super Region is in Edmond, Okla., March 1-2 and the national meet is March 14-15 in Cleveland, Ohio.

And so it goes and eventually the temperatures will rise and the snow will dissipate.

Minnesota State's women's tennis program takes on Southwest Minnesota State Feb. 2 in St. Peter. The Maverick Softball squad kicks its season off with six games Feb. 14-16 in Bentonville, Mo., and the #1-rated Maverick Baseball program opens its 2014 campaign March 8-9 with four nonconference games in Monticello, Ark.  Our golf teams aren't too far behind.

Think warm thoughts. It's great to be a Maverick.