This will be the 58th season of The Yarnell Invitational (named after Yarnell Ice Cream in Searcy, AR). This year, it'll be expanded to a 10-team round-robin tournament that'll occur in weeks 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ,9 and 10 of the non-conference schedule. Harding University has been the tournament host historically, and it has been New Mexico Highlands University since season 92. The defending champ from the previous year is an automatic qualifier. The remainder of the field is invitation only.

Defending Champ: Northeastern St. [Lone Star] – DC defends their title after skipped season due to the way we schedule the Yarnell
Host: Wayne St. [Northern Sun] - While New Mexico Highlands hosts, the host will be whatever Northern Sun team is in the tournament.

Historical Conference Standings:
Heartland -15
Peach Belt - 8
Central Atlantic – 7.5
CVAC - 7
Gulf South - 4
GLV – 4
Cal CAA- 3

FORMAT: 9 games, Round Robin
Game 2
Northeastern St @ Central Arkansas
Wayne St (NE) @ Bellarmine
Gannon @ Dominican
Kennesaw St @ Seattle
Longwood @ Concord

Game 3
Bellarmine @ Northeastern St
Dominican @ Central Arkansas
Seattle @ Wayne St (NE)
Concord @ Gannon,
Longwood @ Kennesaw St

Game 4
Northeastern St @ Dominican
Bellarmine @ Seattle
Central Arkansas @ Concord
Wayne St (NE) @ Longwood
Gannon @ Kennesaw St

Game 5
Seattle @ Northeastern St
Concord @ Dominican
Bellarmine @ Longwood
Kennesaw St @ Central Arkansas
Gannon @ Wayne St (NE)

Game 6
Northeastern St @ Concord
Seattle @ Longwood
Dominican @ Kennesaw St
Bellarmine @ Gannon
Central Arkansas @ Wayne St (NE)

Game 7
Longwood @ Northeastern St
Kennesaw St @ Concord
Seattle @ Gannon
Wayne St (NE) @ Dominican
Central Arkansas @ Bellarmine

Game 8
Northeastern St @ Kennesaw St
Longwood @ Gannon
Concord @ Wayne St (NE)
Seattle @ Central Arkansas
Dominican @ Bellarmine

Game 9
Gannon @ Northeastern St
Wayne St (NE) @ Kennesaw St
Central Arkansas @ Longwood
Bellarmine @ Concord
Dominican @ Seattle

Game 10
Northeastern St @ Wayne St (NE)
Gannon @ Central Arkansas
Kennesaw St @ Bellarmine
Longwood @ Dominican
Concord @ Seattle

Here is a brief introduction on the 10 teams participating this season. While this is not designed to be the ‘best 10’ teams in Iba D2 and some of the best teams are not in the Yarnell this season (teamvip has won the last 25 out of the last 26 titles for instance), we do have a group of quality teams with a lot of history, including the coaches that are listed at 1, 2, 3, and 6 on the all-time wins list. Eight of the teams are in the Top 25, all teams were in the NT last season.

Wayne St. – jt’s team comes into the season ranked 6^th and has had a current 37 season streak making the NT. In addition, jt ranks 3^rd all-time in D2 coaching victories.
Northeastern St. – Defending champ from the 98 Yarnell, cregen’s team comes in surprisingly just outside of the Top 25, but he has been to two E8’s and one F4 in the last 5 years and is 6^th all-time in D2 wins.
Bellarmine – Lots of history at this school, coming in the top school in all-time wins. Rpolzin has only recently started coaching there but starts the season ranked 16^th and has already had a 30-1 season that ended in the S16.
Seattle – davidcrone’s squad enters the season ranked 11^th and is a frequent Yarnell participant, having been in four E8’s and a F4 over the last 10 seasons.
Longwood – Representing the elite CVAC, snewell has Longwood ranked 25 to start the season, and in 11 seasons with the school has missed the NT only once while reaching three E8’s.
Gannon – Coaching at Gannon for just a few seasons, bow2dacowz has one of the highest overall winning percentages and has won a D2 title at New Jersey Tech., while getting to numerous other finals and F4 appearances.
Central Arkansas – Representing hackerhog’s old Gulf South and the origins of the Yarnell in Arkansas, ToughLuck enters the ‘rebuilding season’ ranked #24 and coming off 57 wins over the last 2 seasons and last season reached the E8.
Dominican – Coming into the season at #13, bvb has collected 5 NCOY Awards, numerous finals and F4 appearances, and a title during his time at Gannon, while ranking 2^nd all-time in D2 wins. Bvb’s teams were one of the first participants when the Yarnell got going nearly 60 seasons ago.
Concord – Starting the season at #10, boclaird has had Concord on many deep NT runs and includes a title on the resume. Ranking 1^st all-tie in D2 wins, Concord has periodically played in the Yarnell throughout the years.
Kennesaw St. – Representing the dominant Peach Belt, adlorenz brings the #5 team into the season. Not having coached a lot of seasons, Kennesaw St. has already taken 2 titles in just the last 7 seasons and is becoming a regular team in the Yarnell.

PRESEASON RANKINGS:
#5 – Kennesaw St.
#6 – Wayne St.
#10 - Concord
#11 Seattle
#13 - Dominican
#16 - Bellarmine
#24 – Central Arkansas
#25 - Longwood
#27 – Northeastern St.
#36 - Gannon

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Daniel Mitchell, SG, Gannon, 2nd-Team
Mark Deck, SF, Kennesaw St., 2nd-Team
Robert Coleman, PF, Wayne St., 2nd-Team
Nicholas Smith, SG, Northeastern St., HM
Wayne Cole , PG Wayne St.
William Chen, PG, Bellarmine
Dale Frank, PF, Bellarmine
Timothy Matson, PG, Seattle
Trent Johnson , C, Seattle
Dennis Baker, PG, Longwood
David Starkey, C Longwood
Stewart Hutson, C Gannon
Anthony Bello, PF, Central Arkansas
David Pulliam, PF, Central Arkansas
James Garner, SG, Dominican
Walter Adkisson, PF Dominican
Rodger Kerns, SF, Concord
Frank Parnell, PF, Concord
Steven Kinchen, PF, Kennesaw St.
Alfredo Russo, PF, Northeastern St.

ROUND ONE
#14 Northeastern St (1-0) Pickem @ Central Arkansas (1-0)
#9 Wayne St (1-0) +1 @ #10 Bellarmine (1-0)
Gannon (1-0) +5 @ #8 Dominican (1-0)
#4 Kennesaw St (1-0) -5 @ #22 Seattle
#13 Longwood (1-0) -3 @ Concord (0-1)

Posting this on the main board to publicize what we normally have on the much less travelled Iba board. The standard for the D2 Iba’s Yarnell Invitational is 6 teams over games 5-9, but to celebrate season 100 of the Iba world, we’ve expanded to a massive 10 team field that will take games 2-10 just for this time, the Mega-Yarnell. Coach of Kennesaw St., adlorenz, conceived of the idea, so lots of credit to him.

While there are certainly other aspects of HD that folks can discuss, one of the most enjoyable parts of the game to me has been non-conference tournaments that some folks have thrown together over the years. The Yarnell is one of the longest running, if not the longest running, non-conference tournaments going. Hackerhog created and ran the Yarnell for close to 50 seasons before handing off the tournament to me since season 92.

Also, one note on D2…I get it that people want to try D1. I migrated to D1 in some worlds just like a lot of coaches. The purpose of the thread is this tournament, so I’ll say this as in as civil of a way I can…what was good about D2 before a lot of us migrated to D1 is still good about D2. I would suggest that you don’t have to deal with EE’s, if you lose a battle you still have a chance at a division-appropriate back-up most of the time, and D2 has balanced conferences rather than major conferences versus the rest. I just point this out so hopefully a few folks consider D2 and a world like Iba, that has a lot of history, as well as several strong conferences. While clearly the Peach Belt and CVAC are the top tier, there are several conferences that are only a couple of quality coaches away from being able to challenge them.

I'm not a part of it, but I'm excited about the 100th Yarnell in spirit! (and it takes guts to schedule the monster yarnell, as some poor team is going to be like 1-9 in Non Conf with the toughest SOS in HD history)

Dang long_ge! Thanks for all the hard work to get this setup. Like bbunch said I got a few nerves about this, an 8-8 record in the Peach and CVAC is not easy to come by. I’m just hoping I’m not counting wins at the end of the year to make the NT.

Good luck everyone.

Thanks for running it long_ge, going to be a great tournament! And, adlorenz, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I'm just hoping I can keep it close and avoid being embarrassed by your squad tonight...

Excited for the big tourney. This will be first non conference tourney so this should be fun.

Great job. Yarnell is just great!

Whew. Glad to get that first win in. I very well may lose the next 8.

Crone you got me, gg. I’ve been trying to get away with playing Buckley at PF because he needs the improvement instead of Keach and Kinchen and looks like it might not be sustainable for the Yarnell.

Hoping not to start 0-2, but I’m matched up against a good Longwood team tonight, so we’ll see.

Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to get these updated until the evening. While the rest of the race takes time to develop, we do have an early big game tonight with #12 Seattle @ #5 Wayne St., with the winner gaining an early 2-0 edge.

STANDINGS
Wayne St. 1-0
Seattle 1-0
Dominican 1-0
Northeastern St. 1-0
Longwood 1-0
Kennesaw St. 0-1
Concord 0-1
Central Arkansas 0-1
Bellarmine 0-1
Gannon 0-1

ROUND TWO
Bellarmine (1-1) +1 @ #10 Northeastern St (2-0)
#4 Dominican (2-0) -11 @ Central Arkansas (1-1)
#12 Seattle (2-0) +1 @ #5 Wayne St (2-0)
Concord (0-2) Pickem @ Gannon (1-1)
#7 Longwood (2-0) Pickem @ #15 Kennesaw St (1-1)

ROUND ONE RESULTS
Northeastern St 60 @ Central Arkansas 57
NSU - K Dyson 13/6A (POG), N Smith 11
UCA - A Bello 14, T Ray 9/4S

Wayne St 78 @ Bellarmine 72
WSC - W Cole 18 (POG), W Kinzel 13/13R
BU - M Lis 14/4A, W Chen 10

Gannon 51 @ Dominican 69
DC - W Adkisson 17 (POG), J Garner 12
GU - D Mitchell 14, D Roan 11

Kennesaw St 74 @ Seattle 80
SU - T Matson 25 (POG), J Dixon 10/10R
KSU - M Deck 21, M Neal 17/9R

Longwood 89 @ Concord 60
LU- L Walker 17 (POG), D Baker 17/4S
CC - R Kerns 15, F Parnell 7/7R

If the first two games of the tournament are any indication, it looks like it should be competitive. 8 of 10 teams are 1-1, so the field appears pretty balanced, where any team is capable of winning or losing in a given night. Wayne St hold the early lead as the only undefeated team after only two games, but they will face a test against CVAC rep Longwood on the road. Another early key game takes place between top 25 teams and previous Yarnell champs, Dominican and Northeastern St.

STANDINGS
Wayne St. 2-0
Seattle 1-1
Dominican 1-1
Northeastern St. 1-1
Longwood 1-1
Kennesaw St. 1-1
Concord 1-1
Central Arkansas 1-1
Bellarmine 1-1
Gannon 0-2

ROUND THREE
#25 Northeastern St (2-1) +1 @ #11 Dominican (2-1)
#18 Bellarmine (2-1) Pickem @ Seattle (2-1)
#24 Central Arkansas (2-1) -1 @ Concord (1-2)
#3 Wayne St (3-0) -4 @ #22 Longwood (2-1)
Gannon (1-2) +15 @ #5 Kennesaw St (2-1)

ROUND TWO RESULTS
Bellarmine 73 @ Northeastern St 71
BU - D Frank 22/11R (POG), D Fife 14
NSU - N Smith 17, K Dyson 15

Dominican 58 @ Central Arkansas 69
UCA - A Bello 22/3S (POG), T Ray 9
DC - W Adkisson 12/3Blk, E Wright 12

Seattle 70 @ Wayne St 73
WSC - R Coleman 14/11R (POG), W Cole 15/5A
SU - T Matson 22, J Gengler 15

Concord 91 @ Gannon 63
CC- J Rice 14/3S (POG), F Parnell 14
GU - D Mitchell 18, D Roan 15

Longwood 64 @ Kennesaw St 74
KSU - O Thompson 20 (POG), R Keach 14
LU - D Baker 14, L Walker 11

Whew pulled out a nailbiter last night