Buena Vista hosted the sectionals in 2000 and has had NCAA Tournament experience since then, but could make noise in the tournament this year. Buena Vista athletics photo

Outside of the spotlight of Division III basketball, they are making their marches toward March Madness, controlling their respective conference races while preparing to potentially play Cinderella when the brackets are released next month.

We already know the usual suspects for next month's NCAA Tournament, so now we turn our stare towards the unusual suspects who, if their play continues, could be commanding our attention under a national spotlight: The men of Buena Vista and Centre, and the women of Cabrini and Eastern Mennonite.

Get to know these programs. There is a chance you could hear more about them in the coming weeks.

Buena Vista's men led by its big man

Across the recruiting process, Brian Van Haaften saw glimpses of what we are all seeing in the here and now from Wes Nordquist. Not until midway through the 6-7 forward's junior season did he start seeing it every night.

Which is a good thing, considering how young the Buena Vista (18-6, 10-3 Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) squad surrounding Nordquist is this season.

"He's a guy who has really grown as a person and has grown as an overall player," said Van Haaften, the Beavers' 17th-year coach. "He's gotten better every single year. He was good the second he got on campus, to be honest with you."

However, Nordquist (16.7 points, 10.5 rebounds, 54.8 FG%) was not quite the nightly threat for a double-double (he ranks eighth nationally in that category and 16th in rebounding) he is now until about a year ago, when Van Haaften finally saw the player he recruited to become "a real dominant offensive post."

Above all else, Nordquist prides himself on his production on the glass.

"I always said rebounding is something you can kind of control, it's just kind of effort," Nordquist said. "Scoring, I just took it from there. I know every night the team is go to rely on me. Whether I have to pass and have four or five assists or scor 20 points, I'll do that to help the team. We graduated a lot of guys (from last year) and I knew I'd have to step up, and that's the best way I know how to."

Nordquist is the focal point of scouting reports for the Beavers, ranked sixth in the NCAA Midwest Region rankings and one win away from claiming their first IIAC regular-season title in their standout's four-year career. Success in the conference tournament could lead Buena Vista back into the NCAA brackets, where it challenged Washington U. before bowing in the 2012 first round despite getting 22 points and 13 rebounds from Nordquist.

Nordquist and his high school teammate, Troy Ticknor, are among the Beavers hoping for another time in the national spotlight, but know that if they do not win their conference tournament, there could be some anxious moments.

Of course, if Buena Vista does hear its name called, there will be anxious moments for a program that has to prepare for Nordquist.

"Our first priority is taking care of business," Nordquist said. "We know we have to win the Iowa Conference tournament to get into the NCAA Tournament. So our mindset is just to play relaxed, have fun, and take it one game at a time."

Cabrini women's patience paying dividends

Brittany Sandone has scored in double figures in 21 of 24 games this season. Cabrini athletics photo

When Brittany Sandone first came to Cabrini to play women's basketball in the fall of 2010, she did so initally without expectations considering the Cavaliers had just graduated eight players.

"We knew it was a rebuilding year and we just needed to be patient," Sandone. "Obviously it's paying off."

From finishing 10-15 in 2010-11, then a six-game losing skid last January that eventually yielded a 12-14 record mostly because of a five-game victory run to cap the regular season, the Cavaliers (21-3, 15-0 Colonial States Athletic Conference) are a run through their conference tournament away from their first Division III NCAA Tournament appearance since 2009. If they can get there, they would be looking for their first NCAA win; they are 0-6 in six previous trips.

From starting four freshmen together when Sandone (14.9 points per game) first arrived, the Cavaliers have grown together, improving incrementally and then beyond third-year coach Kate Pearson's expectations. When last season threatened to hit "rock bottom," as Pearson put it, the Cavaliers won their last five regular-season games before faltering in the CSAC tournament.

The relative happy ending of 2011-12, and seeing the Cabrini men advance to the Division III championship game, sparked something in the Cavaliers. Players drove up to two hours to play summer ball together. All of the returnees — including Sandone and fellow starters such as senior Laura Caron (6.5 points, 5.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists), who missed last season due to a knee injury; juniors Colleen Stewart (5.3 points, 7.0 rebounds) and Annie Rivituso (9.3 points, 6.3 rebounds); and sophomore Megan Decker (7.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.6 steals) — left the struggles of the past and developed a fresh outlook about the future.

"I think last year we wanted some quicker results," Pearson said. "We had a rough January and after that .... That experience has just come through in the end because they have been more comfortable with each other, more comfortable with the coaches, more comfortable with the program."

Even after early losses to regionally ranked foes such as Scranton and Swarthmore, the Cavaliers hold one of the nation's longest current winning streaks at 16 straight heading into Saturday's regular-season finale against CSAC rival Marywood.

However, without being regionally ranked, Cabrini likely needs to sweep through the CSAC tournament just like it has through its conference schedule just to see its name called on Selection Monday.

"Our whole motto is to kind of finish," Pearson said. "We want to make sure with one game left in the regular season and the conference tournament (upcoming), we want to push forward and finish what we started. And hopefully make the NCAA Tournament, and hopefully make some noise in the NCAA's if possible."

The selflessness of the Centre men

Donovan Whiteside got bumped from the starting lineup but has taken it in stride. Thrived, in fact. Cantre athletics photo

A couple of Mondays ago, Greg Mason summoned junior guard Donovan Whiteside to his office for an atypical off-day, early-week, one-on-one meeting.

"I told him, 'Hey we're gonna bring you off the bench,'" said Mason, the 13th-year head coach. "Some kids wouldn't be OK with it.

"(But) he played so well off the bench, he was the conference player of the week. That tells you a lot about our team."

Even if initially jarring, Whiteside took the demotion of sorts in stride, displaying the maturity, confidence, and selflessnes that have become emblematic of a Centre squad (17-4, 10-2 Southern Athletic Association) that very well could earn an NCAA Pool B invite.

"Your first thought is that 'this isn't very good.' I need to change," Whiteside said.

"I felt like I didn't honestly, I wasn't even trying to regain my position. I still haven't gotten my position back. I was just thinking that as long as I get on the floor, if I'm performing well enough that i should stay on the floor, coach isn't going to take me off the floor. That's what it came down to. I was raised on if you perform, you'll stay on the floor."

Whiteside (9.2 points, 4.9 rebounds) went from starting as a freshman, then having a broken foot turning him into a oft-utilized reserve last season, before resuming his starting role for much of this season. Now back as a super-sub, he averaged 12.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.0 steals in a pair of victories last weekend.

While there are enough individual efforts to spotlight with the Colonels including the inspired low-post play of freshman center Blake Scinta (12.6 points, 4.8 rebounds), who hit a game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer against Transylvania in an eventual 70-64 overtime victory on Nov. 28, as with all good teams it boils down to the collective body of work.

The numbers that are most noteworthy: 56.3 points allowed per game and 37.2 opposing field goal percentage, which rank sixth and eighth, respectively.

"This is probably the most competitive team that I've play on here at Centre," said Whiteside, also including the 2011 NCAA Tournament squad. "There's so many people on the bench that could take your spot, we bought into coach's philosophy: It's the mentality that you don't want to let your man score, you don't want your man to get an offensive rebounds, you want to get steals, you want to get rebounds."

Although the Colonels have no guaranteed path into the postseason — the SAA champion does not automatically qualify and the one Pool B bid has to be considered a crapshoot — their defense would surely make them a difficult out should they get selected.

"If we get 20-plus victories with the schedule we've had," said Mason, "we'll be in the conversation."

Eastern Mennonite women ready for the spotlight

Bianca Ygarza is the only starter in double figures for an incredibly balanced Eastern Mennonite squad. Eastern Mennonite athletics photo

Last season, after his Royals saw their 22-4 season stopped cold in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference semifinals against eventual champion Guilford, Kevin Griffin conducted a little survey among his conference coaching colleagues for validation after his team did not received an at-large NCAA invite.

Could Eastern Mennonite have posed a formidable challenge on a national stage? The affirmation took some of the sting out of not being part of the postseason bracket.

"I ask Bridgewater's coach, I asked Guilford's coach, I asked Randolph-Macon's coach, their answer would always be yes," Griffin said. "They didn't say we'd beat a lot of these teams. But they would say, 'Yes, you're good enough to compete against these teams.'"

Although the Royals (18-5, 14-1 ODAC) found themselves 7-5 after a Jan. 7 loss to Elizabethtown, the record was a byproduct of ambitious scheduling so Griffin, in his eighth season, could challenge his roster so they would be better prepared for this closing stretch than they were a year ago. This is why, when Eastern Mennonite dropped a 73-65 decision at No. 10 Messiah on Nov. 17 and lost 72-65 at home against No. 16 Ferrum a week later, Griffin filed them away as lesson which would serve his ladies well later.

And then, as Griffin put, "things started coming together." They have reeled off 11 straight wins, the latest a 77-54 victory over nearby rival Bridgewater on Tuesday so thoroughly dominant the coach called it "probably the best we played all year." At 14-1 in the ODAC, Eastern Mennonite is a Saturday victory over Hollins away from securing the top seed in the conference tournament and tying for the longest victory run in school history.

Unlike most systems, Griffin's is all about balance: Only reserve sophomore forward Shakeerah Sykes (10.2 points) and junior forward Bianca Ygarza (10.0 points) average in double figures, while junior guard Steph Rheinheimer (8.8 points), junior forward Kala Yoders and freshman forward Jess Rheinheimer (8.1 points apiece), sophomore forward Raiven Patterson (7.2 points), sophomore guard Alisa Brown (7.0 points), and junior guard Keyla Baltimore (6.3 points) offer plenty of scoring depth. All average between 5.0 (Baltimore) and 8.3 (Ygarza) shots per game.

"That's the key right there," Griffin said. "And that my kids have bought in — unless they're fooling me, I don't think they care who goes off on a given night. And it's not like we have anyone who's gone off ... we have seven or eight kids who have scored eight to 12 points a night."

Even so, this might not be enough to get the Royals into the NCAA Tournament for the second time ever unless they win just their second ODAC Tournament title ever, and first since 2004-05 when they earned their only invitation into the March brackets. Although fifth in the latest NCAA South Region rankings, Eastern Mennonite might be leaving a lot to chance if it does not extend its winning streak.

Although Griffin is steadfast in saying, "We never talk about the NCAA Tournament," being so close last season makes getting there this time around a goal he believes is attainable.

"We want a shot," Griffin said. "We just want to find out can we play with some of these teams.

"In the back of my mind would I love to go? Yes," he continued. "I don't talk about it at all with our kids; I don't think they know that we're regionally ranked. I'm just try to every day do the same routine, whether it's Oct. 15 or now go to be Feb. 15. I know it's cliched, but I'm just trying to do everything one day at a time."