MIAA tournament preview: Where do the ‘Chos stack up?

The Central Oklahoma Men’s Basketball team will head up to Kansas City this week for the 2025 MIAA Conference Basketball Tournament. A new wrinkle has been added with the tournament seeding, a formula called key performance indicator (KPI). This formula has benefitted some teams and hurt others. UCO was hurt by these rankings. In the conference standings, the Bronchos were ranked fifth, but in KPI, the ‘Chos were ranked 8th. Meaning they are going to have to win four games instead of three to win the MIAA Tournament. 

Do the Bronchos have to win the MIAA Tournament to make the NCAA Division II Tournament?

Yes, with a record of 16-12 and eight bids allowed per region. Three of those eight go to the winner of the conference tournaments and the other five at-large bids are between three different conferences. There’s a very good chance that Washburn could be the only team from the MIAA to get in. For UCO, the name of the game is to survive and advance. 

The Bronchos first round matchup is against number nine seed Emporia State. The game will take place Wednesday at noon at the Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. In their lone matchup this season, the Bronchos lost to the Hornets 74-65 in Emporia back in early February. Should they win that game, they’ll battle the number one seed in the tournament, the Washburn Ichabods, who have only had two losses this season on Thursday at noon. It’ll be an uphill climb for the Bronchos if they want to win the MIAA Tournament. But stranger things have happened in March.