The William Penn men’s basketball team opens the Midwest Collegiate Conference tournament at home on Friday night by hosting Grand View in a semifinal round game. Not only are the Statesmen the top seed but at 28-1 coach John Henry’s team is top ranked in the latest NAIA division two poll.
“You know I could coach my whole life and not be ranked number one in the national, so we’ve all just kind of accepted it and enjoyed it,” Henry says. “To see out name at the top of the polls is kind of fun. A lot of hard work has been put in by this current team and my former coaches and former players.”
As top seed the Statesmen received a first round bye. “I’m actually enjoying the bye because we’ve got some bumps and bruises and boo boo’s that we can get healed up a little bit. We can also implement maybe a few new sets and get a proper scouting report,” Henry says. He says they see it as a positive playing at home and playing someone who already had to play two nights before.
Henry feels his team needed some rest after a long regular season. He says they started practice October 1st and they need to have some rest before the tournament gets underway.
Mount Mercy hosts St. Ambrose in the other semifinal round game.