It’s March, and when most people think of March, they think of college basketball. The NCAA tournament, commonly referred to as “March Madness” is something that millions of people get involved with every year. Thanks to multiple different online bracket challenges, people can create their own bracket to predict who is gonna go all the way in the Big Dance.
But, during all of this, one team is also competing for a collegiate National Championship, and it is a team that a lot of people don’t even know exists.
The Men’s Wheelchair Basketball team at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater boarded a bus on Wednesday bound for Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minnesota. SMSU is this year’s host of the National Invitational Wheelchair Basketball Tournament. It is here that 8 Men’s teams from universities such as Illinois, Alabama, Missouri, and Auburn, among others, will spend four days competing for a National Championship.
The team from UW-Whitewater has been preparing for this weekend since October. Prior to last year, the Warhawk men had won three straight titles. But, while hosting the tournament at home last year, the Warhawks were outplayed by the University of Texas Arlington in the championship game.
This of course left a bad taste in the mouths of the Warhawks. But, that has served as fuel to their fire all season. Early on, they were without some key players, and were win-less in their first tournament.
Since then, the Warhawks have not lost a single collegiate game.
Not only do the Warhawks want to bring home a championship out of vengeance, but they have a lot to prove. Being the most successful program in NWBA Collegiate Division history, losing a national championship on your home court, doesn’t sit well.