Iowa City, IA- What more could Ben McCollum ask for at this point. Breaks Drake’s single season win total, leads the Bulldogs to a first-round upset over Missouri all in his first year at the Division I level, gets hired by his hometown team of Iowa, and now takes home the 2025 Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year award.

The award goes to a rookie head coach in Division I college basketball. McCollum racked up 31 wins, including the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC) regular season and tournament titles and grabbed himself MVC Coach of the Year.

The Hawkeyes are hoping that the success will continue for them in the Big Ten.

The Joe B. Hall award is named in honor of longtime Kentucky head coach Joe B. Hall who was given the task of following the legendary Adolph Rupp at the school. In his first season, Hall finished 20-8, won the SEC and advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals.

Hall coached the Wildcats from 1972 to 1985. He won two-thirds of his games (297-100), received four SEC Coach of the Year honors, and won a National Championship in 1978. He also steered the program to two other Final Fours, won eight Southeastern Conference regular season championships and one Southeastern Conference tournament championship (1984).

Prep Track and Field- The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) and the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) jointly released the 2025 State Track and Field Qualifying Meet Sites and most of our local teams will be heading to two locations.

Class 1A

Edgewood-Colesburg

Griswold

Lisbon

Lynnville-Sully

Madrid

North Union

Northwood-Kensett

WACO

Wayne

Woodbine

Class 2A

Clarinda

Crestwood, Cresco

Garner-Hayfield-Ventura

Grundy Center

Monticello

Ogden

PCM

Sheldon

Class 3A

Assumption, Davenport

Decorah

Glenwood

Mount Vernon

Mount Pleasant

Nevada

Sioux Center

Winterset

Class 4A

Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln

Iowa City, West

Mason City

Marshalltown

North Scott, Eldridge

Waukee, Northwest

Schedule

The state qualifying meets are set to run on Thursday, May 15^th, at 4 pm with assignments scheduled to be released at a later time.

Mt. Pleasant, IA- Sorry Prince Charming, you will have to hold on to that glass slipper for another year as the Final Four is completely populated with #1 seeds. With only 10 upsets throughout the entire tournament, the carriage has turned to pumpkin before the clock even touched 11 pm.

What Happened

All right, that’s enough Cinderella analogies for now, but the sentiment stands. This was not the year to venture outside the seeding. There were more upsets in the first-round last year than this entire tournament. It is also the first time since 2008 and the second time ever that the Final Four is only made up of the top seeds.

Although, there were moments where that notion was challenged in the last two rounds. The Sweet 16 saw #3 Texas Tech overcome the third-largest deficit in Sweet 16 history—16 points, aptly—to down #10 Arkansas in overtime, 85-83.

#1 Florida was down double-digits with about five minutes to play in the second half against those same Red Raiders, but a flurry of buckets later saw the Gators flip the script and come out with the 84-79 victory to advance to the Final Four.

#1 Duke and #1 Houston never trailed in their Elite Eight matchups and #1 Auburn kept two Michigan schools at arms-length to punch their ticket to the Final Four. Overall, entertaining games, just not an entertaining storyline.

Well, at least, not on the hardwood. There is a bit of Cinderella story brewing in KILJ’s Bracket Challenge as Wanda Broeker continued her dominant ways, going 7 for 8 in the Sweet 16 and a perfect 4 for 4 in the Elite 8. This impressive pick ‘em performance kept her solely in 1^st place a year after finishing in the middle of the pack.

Terry McWilliams and Alan Buckert were the only brackets to go perfect in the Sweet 16 as Buckert moved up 21 spots in the rankings, tied for the largest move after these last two rounds. Including Broeker, six brackets went perfect in the Elite 8.

This was a very successful two rounds for the bracket challenge as 18 brackets at least picked seven of the eight games correctly in the Sweet 16, leading to a tight finish with three games left to go. Only five brackets out of the 46 cannot score anymore points.

In case you’re dubious of the validity of my statement, 27 of the 46 or 59% of the brackets still have both championship teams in the running. The most popular is Florida versus Duke with 13 brackets having the two face off.

Should be a thrilling day of basketball when the Final Four showdowns tip-off on Saturday, April 5^th.

Standings

1. Wanda Broeker: 230
2. Karen Brimhall: 218
3. Lysha Bunnell: 216
4. Terry McWilliams: 212
5. Aaron Freeman: 206
6. Brent Broeker: 204
7. Alan Buckert: 204
8. Janae Body: 202
9. Josh Moon: 202
10. Julie Liechty: 200

More

Stay tuned to KILJ for an update on the standings after the Final Four.

High School Track

The Mt. Pleasant, Mediapolis, Central Lee, New London, Danville, and Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ teams will travel to West Burlington today for the Falcon Relays. 

The Van Buren County boys’ team will participate in the Ruriatan Relays tonight at Pekin.

The Wapello Coed relays are scheduled tomorrow, April 1st, with Columbus in attendance. 

The Danville, Fairfield, Mediapolis, New London, WACO, Winfield-Mt. Union, West Burlington/Notre Dame, and Mt. Pleasant girls’ teams will meet up in Burlington for the Falcon Relays tomorrow.

High School Tennis

Mt. Pleasant will start the season against Davis County on Thursday, April 3rd. The boys’ team will host Davis County, while the girls’ team will hit the road.

Fairfield will face off against Fort Madison on Thursday with the boys’ team at home and the girls on the road.

High School Golf

Van Buren County will square off against Central Lee today at the Riverview Club.

New London will host a quad tomorrow, April 1st, with Columbus and WACO making the trip.

Winfield-Mt. Union will host Highland on Thursday, April 3rd. 

Mediapolis will take on Danville at the Heritage Oaks Golf and Country Club on Thursday.

Wapello will travel to Louisa-Muscatine on Thursday.

High School Soccer

The Danville boys’ team will compete against Keokuk at home at 5 pm tonight.

The Mediapolis boys’ team will take on Burlington at home tonight at 5 pm.

The WACO boys’ team will host Sigourney Keota tonight at 5 pm.

The Central Lee girls’ team will face off against West Branch tonight at 5 pm at home.

The Wapello girls’ team will host Northeast tonight at 5 pm and the boys’ team will play Prince of Peace at home at 7 pm. 

Burlington Notre Dame will take on Assumption with the girls’ team playing tonight at 5 pm at home and the boys’ competing tomorrow, April 1st, at 5:30 pm on the road. 

The Mt. Pleasant boys’ team will square off against Danville at home tomorrow at 5 pm, while the girls’ team will make the trip to Mediapolis. 

Columbus will tangle with Washington tomorrow with the road showdown starting at 5 pm with the girls’ team and the boys’ team playing at 6:30 pm.

The Central Lee boys’ team will travel to Fairfield on Thursday, April 3rd, at 5 pm.

High School Basketball

The 2025 Pizza Ranch All-Star Game commenced over the weekend with three players and a coach representing southeast Iowa. WACO’s Ella Huisnega and head coach Lisa Graber represented the Southeast team for the girls and their first round matchup was close but the Northwest squad snuck out with the win 76-72. In their consolation game against the Southwest girls’, Ella Huisenga snatched two points in an 86-77 loss. 

On the boys’ Southeast team, the duo of West Burlington’s Mason Watkins and Holy Trinity Catholic’s Luke Hellige helped the squad pour on points in a 115-78 win over the Northwest team in the first round. The championship game was another high-scoring affair, but the Northeast team got the job done in a 110-98 final, despite Watkins’ 21 points. Hellige scored two points in each contest. Watkins’ 37 combined points nabbed him a spot on the All-Tournament team.

Southeastern Community College                                                     

The softball team will remain at home to face off against Indian Hills Community College on Wednesday, April 2nd, for a doubleheader. 

The baseball team had their matchup against Northeast Community College over the weekend postponed. The Blackhawks will host Kirkwood Community College on Wednesday in a doubleheader.

College Basketball

Iowa’s Payton Sandfort will compete at the State Farm College Dunk and Three-Point Championships on Thursday, April 3rd. Sandfort tallied 1,619 points in his career, the 11th most in program history, and made the second-most three-pointers all-time with 271. He is just the seventh Hawkeye to compete in the event and will look to become the second one to win it after Peter Jok in 2017. 

March Madness

The KILJ bracket challenge, sponsored by The Press Box and Wiley’s Interior Furnishings and Design, is gearing up for a tight finish with only four teams left in the bracket. It is the first time since 2008 and just the second time ever that the Final Four consists of all #1 seeds. 

The standings will be updated by the end of the day.

This Day in Sports History

1906 – The Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States is founded to set rules in amateur sports; it became the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 1910.

1975 – 37th NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Kentucky, 92-85; 10th title under coach John Wooden, the most ever by one coach. He had announced his retirement 2 days earlier.

1998 – The Milwaukee Brewers become the first team since the inception of the American League in 1901 to switch leagues; Brewers lose their first NL game, 2-1 to the Braves in Atlanta.