Faced With 1997 Champs, Whitworth Practices

Whitworth College men’s basketball coach Warren Friedrichs, his coaching staff, and his players watched from the grandstands Friday as Bethel College defeated Briar Cliff (Iowa) College 107-100 to move into the quarterfinal round of the NAIA Division II tournament.

Shortly afterward, Friedrichs made arrangements for a Saturday morning practice, something that wasn’t originally on the agenda.

“They’ve got a ton of weapons,” Friedrichs said. “And when you start to slow it down, they start to trap. So you have to play up-tempo.”

Bethel, a college of 1,100 located a stone’s throw away from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., brings a 34-3 record into today’s game. The Pilots, the defending national champions, have been the top-ranked team in NAIA Division II all season.

One of its wins, an 85-75 decision, came against Valparaiso University, an Division I school that upset Mississippi Friday in the NCAA Tournament.

Bethel’s most celebrated player is 5-foot-10 senior guard Rico Swanson of South Bend. Swanson was voted NAIA Division II player of the year last year, when he also was the tournament’s most valuable player. He’s averaging 15.8 points per game, second on the team behind 6-foot-9 sophomore center Eric Brand of Bloomington, Ind.

The Pilots average a national-high 98.9 points per game on 50.5 percent shooting. They have held their opponents to 79.6 points on 46.4 percent shooting. Whitworth’s defensivelysound Pirates average 78.2 points (49.4 percent) and have allowed 71.1 ppg (43.3 percent).

, DataTimes