The highly anticipated and long-awaited return of the NIRSA Championship Series National Basketball Tournament lived up to all the expectations. Fifty-one teams with 470 participants participated in 86 games over the three-day span resulting in over 7,800 points scored and 97 universities contributing to this year’s tournament. It’s safe to say the Champ Series is back and better than ever!
Women’s Club
The University of Wisconsin–Madison Red Badgers are the 2022 Women’s Club National Champions!
Wisconsin-Red started pool play dominant with a 61-14 victory over Wichita State University. They then slipped passed Georgia Tech in a closely contested match, winning by one point in a 39- 38 thriller. This set Wisconsin-Red to finish first overall in their pool.
Wisconsin-Red started bracket play hot with a 51-35 victory over Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. This momentum would carry them towards another win versus Notre Dame, finishing with a final score of 51-39. Wisconsin-Red had their eyes set on the championship game—and there was only one thing in the way: Wisconsin-White. There was no doubt in mind that the Wisconsin-Red vs. Wisconsin-White game was played at a championship level of competition. However, only one team could advance and that team was Wisconsin-Red, winning with a final score of 35-30.
The Wisconsin Red Badgers would then move on to the championship game versus UC Davis. UC Davis had several great players competing against the Badgers, but the overwhelming support of Wisconsin fans, the Men’s Club Team, and of course Wisconsin-White, would give Wisconsin-Red all the energy they needed to push past UC Davis and call themselves the 2022 National Champions!
Women’s Club Runner-Up
UC Davis
Women’s Club 3rd
Wisconsin-White
Women’s Club 4th
University of Virginia
Men’s Club
The University of Wisconsin–Madison Red Badgers are the 2022 Men’s Club National Champions! Yes, you are reading that right. Wisconsin-Red is both the Men’s Club and Women’s Club champions.
Wisconsin-Red started pool play strong with a 68-32 victory over Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. They then suffered a minor setback with a 31-46 loss against Texas A&M to finish second in their pool. Wisconsin-Red were then able to revenge their regular-season loss with a hard-fought 44-34 victory over Texas A&M to begin their journey in bracket play. They followed up with a 54-45 victory over Arizona State in the semi-final match, sealing their spot in the Men’s Club championship game.
In Wisconsin-Red’s final game against Grand Canyon-White, both teams strapped up for what would be a shootout in the final game. Three-pointer after three-pointer, assist after assist, and several backboard rattling dunks from both sides ensured this game was going to come down to the very last second. With two minutes left in the game Kwame Frimpong (MVP) secured one of his eight total steals. That steal, along with several of Kwame’s rebounds (13 total), would give Wisconsin-Red a secure lead that Grand Canyon–White was never able to approach. The overall team effort from Wisconsin-Red was all they needed to call themselves the 2022 National Champions!
Men’s Club Runner-Up
Grand Canyon University White
Men’s Club 3rd
United State Air Force Academy Club
Men’s Club 4th
Arizona State University
Unified
The University of Iowa is the 2022 Unified National Champions!
The journey to the National Championships for the team from Iowa City was unique as they faced the challenge of winning a 2 of 3 series vs. (now friendly rivals) Wichita State. In a doubleheader on Saturday, Iowa escaped a close victory in the first of the three-game series by winning 29-22. Captain Jaison Marks led the way with four points and 18 rebounds (not a typo, that’s 18 rebounds) for the Hawkeyes. This helped propel his team to victory by giving them additional second-chance points. The second game of the series had even more highlights as it was a true nailbiter. With seconds to go, Iowa came from behind to steal the victory and lock down the championship. Sunday’s game was still played as Iowa completed the sweep, cut down the nets, and brought back the hardware to Iowa City. Congratulations to all participants in this year’s Unified Basketball National Championship!
Unified Runner-Up
Wichita State University
Men’s Intramural
The Bears of Missouri State University are this year’s NIRSA Championship Series Men’s Intramural National Champions!
The boys from Springfield, Missouri only brought five team members to Wichita but that did not slow them down throughout the tournament as they cruised their way to victory with an undefeated record. Wichita State was the first team to face the mighty Bears with Christopher Purcell racking up a double-double with 17 points and ten rebounds resulting in a score of 65-53 in favor of Missouri State. The second game of the tournament for Missouri State was a 63-51 route over the University of Central Florida which slated them as a top spot in the bracket. After a hiccup-free first round (95-43 vs. Angelo State), Missouri State faced its closest challenge of the weekend as they escaped with a 50-46 victory over the Georgia Southern YunGBulls. A 62-44 victory over the University of North Alabama Lions was the icing on the cake and the Bears were listening to “We are the Champions” all the way back to Springfield!
Men’s Intramural Runner-Up
University of North Alabama Lions
Men’s Intramural 3rd
Georgia Southern Stay Gold
Men’s Intramural 4th
Georgia Southern YunGBulls
All-Tournament Teams
Out of the 497 participants only a few were able to bring home the team hardware. It wouldn’t be right to not recognize individual performances and sportsmanship that was featured throughout the weekend. Congratulations to this year’s National Basketball All-Tournament selections!
Women’s Club
- Sarah Anderson, University of Wisconsin–Madison Red
- Andrea Gayle Garcia, University of California, Davis
- Kayla Bahr, University of Wisconsin–Madison Red
- Katelyn Lee, University of California, Davis
- Katherine McCabe, University of Wisconsin–Madison White
- Jordyn Callaghan, University of Virginia
Men’s Intramural
- Christopher Purcell, Missouri State University
- Omarious Jolly, University of North Alabama Lions
- Gregory Flint, University of North Alabama Lions
- Darrion Haynes, Missouri State University
- Malik Gibbons, Georgia Southern University Stay Gold
- Zaharius Baker, Georgia Southern University YunGBulls
Men’s Club
- Kwame Frimpong, University of Wisconsin–Madison Red
- David Black, Grand Canyon University White
- Elyon Zevenbergen, Grand Canyon University White
- Owen Gainer, United States Air Force Academy Club
- Brennan Corbett, University of Wisconsin–Madison Red
- Noah Mueller, University of Wisconsin–Madison Red
Unified
- Jaison Marks, University of Iowa
- Alex James, Wichita State University
- Olivia Gallegos, Wichita State University
- Dylan Soppe, University of Iowa
- Andrew Sanchez, Wichita State University
- Madison Schulte, University of Iowa
All-American Officials
Just as teams strive to win a national championship, one of the highest honors for student officials across the county is to become an All-American Official at the national tournament. The six student officials listed below have positively impacted their university while also showing great leadership and growth throughout the weekend in Wichita, KS. Congratulations to this year’s All-American Officials!
- Dylan McCareeth, Georgia Southern University
- Katrina Flores, Cal Poly Pomona
- Quincy Smith, Kansas State University
- Evan Singletary, Arizona State University
- Chris Green, Creighton University
- Fernando Perez, The University of Texas at San Antonio
The officials’ shortage across the county has continued to become more and more extreme. NIRSA, campus recreation, and all levels of play would not be where they are today without the dedication to developing student officials within intramural programs. Thank you to everyone who has continued to dedicate long hours to officials’ development. And congratulations to all officials who participated in this year’s tournament!
Committee recognition
A big THANK YOU to our staff for their part in supporting this tournament. We can’t provide these quality tournaments and memorable experiences for our student participants and officials without our amazing volunteers from across the nation!
Wichita State University Staff
- Austin Sanderson, Wichita State University
- Karolina Mosa, Wichita State University
- John Lee, Wichita State University
NIRSA Tournament Committee
- Dexter Shorter, Pennsylvania State University
Assessment Team
- T’Euvyn Page, The Ohio State University
- Shaneisha Weir, University of Houston
All-Tournament Committee
- Amy Rask
- Crystal Durham, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
- Sean Butler, The University of Rhode Island
- Grayson Graham, Sam Houston State University
- Justin Griffin, University of Florida
- Jasmine Holmes, Syracuse University
- Gracelyn Jones, West Virginia University
- Bailey Kenney, University of Wisconsin–Madison
- Jenna Malone, Colorado School of Mines
- Ryan Parriott, Drake University
- Talyn Sands, Georgia State University
- Klee Sellers, Georgia Southern University
- Eric Vaughn, Truman State University
- Dan Wrenholt, Washburn University
Competition Committee
- Greg Durham, Creighton University
- Alex Pettola, Mercer University
Officials Committee
- Natosha Harris, University of Kentucky
- Michael Castaneda, The University of Texas at San Antonio
- Kara Hunter, Loyola University Maryland
- Brandon Bermea, Oklahoma State University
- Luke Bettencourt, Butler University
- Montrell Cade, University of Maryland
- Jamaica Cannon, Washington University in St. Louis
- Jarrode Davis, The Ohio State University
- Scott Flickinger, Cornell University
- Morgan Fradley, Weber State University
- Kelsey Jones, Western Carolina University
- Heather Marshall, University of Central Florida
- Emily Murphy, Mississippi State University
- Justin Paluch, University of Connecticut
Media Committee
- Daniel Fragel, Oklahoma State University
- Donavon Hailey, Texas Tech University
- Venus Okwuka, Loyola University Maryland
Unified Committee
- John Merryman, Sam Houston State University
- Brittany Mueller, Florida State University
Thank you to our supporting sponsors JC2 Officials and ETA Officials Camp for their participation in this year’s tournament!
Thank you to our hosts and recreation partners from Wichita State University and the Wichita Hoops Academy for their outstanding contributions to a great tournament!
It was great to be back in Wichita for the 2022 NIRSA National Basketball Tournament again after what was a difficult year for many partners, colleagues, and friends. The tournament would not have been possible without the contributions of everyone involved.
Congratulations to all the teams and staff for making the tournament experience a wonderful one. We hope to see everyone next year at the 2023 NIRSA National Basketball Championships!
