High School Boys’ Postseason Basketball

In Class 1A Substate 4, #10 Burlington Notre Dame will face off against #8 North Linn for the Substate Championship tonight at 7 pm at Iowa City High. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

For Class 2A Substate 5, #10 West Burlington will compete against #5 Grand View Christian for the Substate Championship tonight at 7 pm at Oskaloosa high school.

In Class 3A Substate 6, Keokuk will travel to #3 Knoxville on Monday, March 3rd, at 7 pm for the Substate Championship.

High School Girls’ Postseason Basketball

Class 5A will tip-off the state tournament on Monday, March 3rd, with #1 Johnston facing off against #8 Iowa City Liberty at 10 am. Other Class 5A matchups include: #4 Ankeny Centennial will take on #5 Pleasant Valley, #2 Dowling Catholic will compete against #7 Davenport North, and #3 Waukee Northwest will tangle with #6 Prairie.

Also starting their tournament run on Monday will be Class 3A with #1 Mt. Vernon going against #8 West Marshall. #4 Cherokee Washington will look to defeat #5 Estherville Lincoln Central, #7 Spirit Lake will look to knock off #2 Wahlert Catholic, and #3 Williamsburg will face off against #6 Des Moines Christian.

Class 2A will start on Tuesday, March 4th, along with Class 4A, while Class 1A will compete on Wednesday, March 5th. The Class 2A matchups include #1 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, looking to cap out a perfect season, facing off against #8 Treynor. #4 North Mahaska will verse #5 Central Lyon. #2 Regina Catholic returns to the state tournament to compete against #7 Maquoketa Valley, while #3 Hinton will take on #6 Rock Valley.

For Class 4A, #1 Bishop Heelan will face off against #8 Xavier with the winner competing against either #4 Norwalk or #5 Central DeWitt. On the bottom half of the bracket, #2 North Polk will tangle with #7 Sioux Center and #3 Maquoketa will take on #6 Dallas Center-Grimes.

Lastly, in Class 1A, #1 Saint Albert will lead off the day against #8 Dunkerton, followed by #4 Bishop Garrigan versus #5 Montezuma, #2 North Linn taking on #7 Gladbrook-Reinbeck, and #3 Newell-Fonda attempting to avoid the upset against #6 Springville.

Southeastern Community College                                                     

The men’s basketball team will face off against Moberly Area Community College at 2 pm today. 

College Basketball

The #9 Iowa State men’s team will host #22 Arizona tonight at 8 pm.

The Iowa men’s team’s chances at making the Big Ten Tournament took a hit last night after falling to Northwestern on the road 68-57. Drew Thelwell put up 14 points in the losing effort. The Hawkeyes sit in 16th place in the conference with two conference games left on the schedule as they look to upset #8 Michigan State on Thursday, March 6th, at 7 pm at home for their senior night.

The Iowa women’s team will take on Wisconsin at home tomorrow, March 2nd, at 3 pm.

The Iowa State women’s team will face off against #14 Kansas State tomorrow at 3 pm at home.

This Day in Sports History

1910 – National Baseball Commission prohibits giving mementos to players on winning World Series teams; a decision later reversed, making way for traditional winners’ watches and rings.

1970 – Minnesota coach Charlie Burns becomes the final player/coach in NHL history, when he plays in the North Stars’ 8-0 win over Toronto Maple Leafs; remains in the role for the final month of the season.

1996 – Atlanta’s Lenny Wilkens becomes first coach in NBA history to reach 1,000 career victories when the Hawks beat Cleveland Cavaliers, 74-68.

Iowa City, IA- Saturday night will feature 32 of the best teams (16 from Classes 1A and 2A) in the state of Iowa battling for a ticket to the 2025 Iowa Boys’ State Basketball Tournament scheduled to start on Monday, March 10^th. KILJ has our eye on two teams trying to earn a trip to Des Moines tomorrow at 7 pm.

Class 1A Substate 4

Not many teams have been able to take down defending champions #8 North Linn with their two losses this year marking their most since 2015-16 and coincidentally that was the last time the Lynx missed out on the state tournament.

#10 Burlington Notre Dame is hoping to curtail the Lynx’s eight consecutive seasons of making it to the state tournament after finishing capturing three state championships in those eight trips. For the Nikes, they are searching for their fourth trip to state and their first since the 2008-09 season after besting Holy Trinity Catholic for the second time this season 55-46 at Central Lee High School for the District Championship.

Both teams tout an impressive duo with the Nikes bringing junior Shay Stephens, eyeing his first All-State honor, and senior Jack Drew as these two are both averaging double figures on offense, while the Lynx bring All-Stater Mason Bechen, averaging 30 points per game, and Cole Griffith, who distributes seven assists per game.

For Notre Dame to pull off the upset, they will have to control the boards as they have tabbed a 15-1 record this year when winning the offensive rebounds and a mediocre 2-2 record when losing the offensive rebounds.

Nike head coach Dan Kies is prepared for a good matchup,

“I know North Linn has a great program. You know, always have a, a great pace to the way they play. They like pressure. They get after it. Should be a fun game. I just hope we’re ready to go and, you know, this is a big game, and we played some pressure games here recently, so hopefully the moments not too big for us.”

You can catch the game on KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.

Notre Dame Player to Watch: Shay Stephens

North Linn Player to Watch: Mason Bechen

Class 2A Substate 5

#10 West Burlington made it to state for the first time in their program’s history a year ago and now the team standing in their way of making it back-to-back appearances is a talented #5 Grand View Christian team.

The Thunder might sound familiar as they used to reside in Class 1A and played in a couple championship matchups, knocking off North Linn in 2023. Since then, they moved up a class and missed out on state last year but have gotten back to form with a 22-1 record.

Their only loss has come against undefeated Clear Lake, one of the best teams in Class 3A.

The Falcons have watched their entire history book rewritten by Mason Watkins and Quincy Collins, but this year has been rockier than many would have predicted—they are 21-2 and a game away from state so take that with a grain of salt.

After going undefeated in the regular season last year, the Falcons suffered their first regular season loss in two years and their first conference loss in three years.

They are also allowing 53.6 points per game, four more than a season ago. West Burlington seems content with an offensive duel than a slugfest with a record of 3-2 when putting up less than 70 points in a contest. No obvious of an example than their District Championship win over Mid-Prairie, a 71-63 overtime win that saw Watkins struggle in the first half.

The teams match up well and should be a fun run-and-gun style of play at Oskaloosa High School.

West Burlington Player to Watch: Mason Watkins (30.3 points per game)

Grand View Christian: Emiliano Barrantes (21.4 points and 13.8 rebounds per game)