For the past four years, the Wildcats have won either a regular-season or tournament title in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. They’ve also qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament in the Midwest Region each of those years.

That’s right where they’re at this season, even while setting a program records with 27 wins — so far. Now could be the time for accomplishing new, bigger and better things.

NMU won a share of the GLIAC regular season two weeks ago today when it flattened Wisconsin-Parkside 98-75, graduate student forward Dylan Kuehl setting a career high with 41 points that day.

The Wildcats went into the conference tournament as favorites, getting to host the semifinals and finals, but came up short in the championship game 67-57 to Grand Valley State.

Northern Michigan University’s Cal Klesmit, center, drives between Grand Valley State defenders Ethan Alderink, left, and David Wilkerson to get off his shot during the GLIAC Tournament championship game played at Vandament Arena in Marquette on Sunday. (Photo courtesy Cara Kamps)

Nevertheless, it looked like Northern had done enough to qualify for the national tourney for the fourth straight year.

And that was correct, though NMU drew the lowest seed, No. 5, of the three GLIAC teams qualifying. Grand Valley (24-6) earned the No. 2 spot and regular season co-champion Michigan Tech (26-6) got No. 3.

Northern waits to play the fourth and final Midwest Regional quarterfinal game today at 7:30 p.m. when it faces No. 4 Rockhurst (23-6) of Kansas City, Missouri, and the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

The Hawks have some similarities to the Wildcats, winning the GLVC regular season title by two games with a 17-3 record. But unlike NMU, this top seed was upset in the first round by the final team to get in its league tourney, No. 8 seed Drury (17-14), 101-92. Drury reached the GLVC championship, but lost 67-48 to William Jewell and didn’t draw an at-large berth to the NCAAs.

William Jewell (22-9) did get its league’s automatic berth but was seeded at the bottom at No. 8 even being the second-place team in the GLVC during the regular season.

William Jewell takes on No. 1 seed and Midwest Region host Walsh (27-3) in the quarterfinal game right before Northern’s at 5 p.m. today. Walsh is a former GLIAC member with this region being played at its campus in North Canton, Ohio.

The other side of the Midwest bracket has the earlier games and the GLIAC’s other two entrants. No. 3 MTU takes on former GLIAC member and No. 6 Lake Erie (23-8) at noon, while No. 2 GVSU takes on yet another former GLIAC member, No. 7 Ashland (20-10), at 2:30 p.m.

Something new this year for Northern would be at least one win in the NCAAs, which they’ve only accomplished once in the previous three years, in the 2022-23 season, when the Wildcats downed ex-GLIAC member Hillsdale 86-81 before falling to GLVC member McKendree 93-83 to bow out.

Two years ago, NMU lost its opener to Ferris State of the GLIAC 81-65, while last year, Northern fell in its NCAA opener to Tech 87-72.

Tonight’s game and any subsequent Wildcats’ contests in the NCAAs will be broadcast by radio station WUPT 100.3 FM The Point, while fans can also follow @NMU_MensBBALL and @NMU_Wildcats on X (formerly Twitter) and @nmu_mbb on Instagram for updates throughout the tourney.

Fans can also visit the Northern athletics website at nmuwildcats.com and look under the men’s basketball schedule for links to live video, live statistics and a preview.

If NMU wins tonight, it jumps right back into action for a Midwest semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, still at Walsh’s campus, against the Walsh-William Jewell winner. The other semi goes at 5 p.m. Sunday with a possible MTU-Grand Valley matchup there.

The NCAA gives teams a day’s breather if they reach the regional championship, skipping Monday and playing that back in Ohio at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The Wildcats were ranked No. 20 a week ago in the National Association of Basketball Coaches top-25 poll, while Walsh was No. 9, MTU No. 16, GVSU No. 22 and Rockhurst No. 24. In addition, William Jewell is on the “others” list.

NMU got this far by compiling a 16-4 conference record, then defeating No. 8 seed Ferris 91-62 and No. 4 Lake Superior State 79-67 in the GLIAC Tournament before falling in the finals to Grand Valley.

The regular-season title this year fit nicely with Northern head coach Matt Majkrzak’s other conference titles — the 2024-25 GLIAC tourney crown, the 2023-24 GLIAC regular-season title and the 2022-23 GLIAC tournament scepter.

Kuehl has been the Wildcats’ unassailable leader throughout this season, not to mention previous seasons, too, as he was just named Midwest Region Player of the Year by the Division 2 Conference Commissioners Association this week, a first for any NMU men’s player.

He earlier was voted not only GLIAC Defensive Player of the Year, but the overall GLIAC Player of the Year, making the league’s First Team and Defensive Team, too.

Majkrzak earned GLIAC Coach of the Year for the second time to become the only Northern men’s coach to win the award in multiple instances.

NMU’s Cal Klesmit joined Kuehl on the GLIAC First Team, while Jackson Dudek gained a position on the Second Team.

While Kuehl’s statistics have become well known — he just became the No. 2 all-time scorer in program history during the GLIAC Tournament — Klesmit also hits from long range, with his 2.9 triples a game No. 3 in the league as he led all GLIAC shooters at 45.5% on those shots.

As a team, the Wildcats are 14th nationally in effective field-goal percentage at .567, and fourth in scoring margin at plus-17.1 points per game, while allowing a nationally ranked low number of 65.3 points per game. And NMU leads Division II with a plus-11.0 rebounds-per-game margin.

Rockhurst is known for its free-throw shooting, ranked in the top three in the country with 20.2 free throws made per game and its 80.2% success rate. The Hawks’ 87.2 ppg offense is No. 13 nationally as they are led by senior guards Drenin Dinkins at 22.8 ppg and Jayley Wesley at 21.8 ppg.

Wesley was the GLVC Player of the Year and coach Kyle Blackbourn the league’s Coach of the Year.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release previewing the game. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.