The Season Ends for the local Grads in NCAA DIII Basketball

We entered the DIII Sweet Sixteen with no area men and one local lady still competing. Her story continues to be a good one.

There were 20 Missouri and Kansas graduates competing in the NCAA DIII MBB Tournament. They represented 5 schools. None of those schools survived the second round of the tournament. The season has ended for those schools, but the performaces remain. Don’t miss my upcoming listing of individual honors earned by all 96 local graduates who competed in DIII MBB

As I wrote last week, one lady grad from these two states led her team to the DIII WBB Sweet Sixteen. Natalie Bruns, a 2020 graduate of Kirkwood High School, is now a junior at New York University. She led her Violets past Trine University in the Sweet Sixteen to get to the Elite Eight, where NYU fell to Transylvania University. Four games in the tournament for Natalie resulted in 65 point, 38 rebounds, 10 blocks, 10 assists, and 5 steals. Her blocked shot in the Elite Eight was her 80th of the season. That is the most blocks in a season in New York University history.

Natalie can now continue her focus on her Business & Technology Management degree in NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering as she prepares in the off season for her senior basketball campaign.

Honors and awards continue to be announced, but this list summarizes Natalie’s season:

University Athletic Association Player of the Year

First Team All-University Athletic Association

CSC Academic All-District

No. 1 in blocks per game in the University Athletic Association

No. 9 in the NCAA in blocks per game.

No. 3 in rebounds per game in the University Athletic Association

Be sure to get your free subscription so you won’t miss my Post Season Awards and Numbers for all 747 area men and women who competed this year in NCAA Basketball.