Great Bend High School graduate Matt Keeley is coaching nearly 800 miles away from his hometown in Sunrise, Ariz. But with a trip to the NAIA National Championships, Keeley is coming back to Kansas. By winning a second straight Golden State Athletic Conference title last week, the Ottawa University Arizona (OUAZ) Spirit will play in the national tournament at Park City's Hartman Arena this week.
Keeley led Great Bend to the Class 5A state tournament as a senior in 2000. He followed as a two-time All-American at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe. Keeley spent several years as an assistant coach before being named the first head coach at OUAZ in 2017. He's made a steady climb with the Spirit, leading them to their first national tournament a year ago with a 25-9 record. This year's squad takes a 21-9 record into Hartman Arena. Keeley has a 90-77 record at OUAZ, but the Spirit are 46-18 over the past two seasons.
Keeley has helped build the OUAZ program from the ground up. The school used a local high school gym for its first two years, but now has a four-court, 14 basket facility near the Kansas City Royals spring training facility.
Keeley and the Spirit enter the national tournament as the No. 7 seed, and will take on No. 10 seed Baker University at 2 p.m. on March 7. The winner will play either No. 2 Oklahoma Wesleyan or No. 15 Concordia (Neb.) in round two. The final 16 teams in the tournament will advance to the 85th Annual NAIA Men's Basketball National Championships March 13-18 in Kansas City, Mo.
Tickets are available at Hartman Arena, or the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) is streaming all opening-round games on the KCAC Network, with each stream costing $9.99.