As we head into the final stretch of the school year, you usually look toward graduation. Still, when you hit March, here at Northwood, we look to the NBL (Northwood Basketball League): a 16-team, single-elimination basketball tournament with teams of two players. Unfortunately, due to travel, the League is starting a little late this year and may end after spring break ends in April. Regardless, it is going to be a very competitive, high-emotion, and, as always, a very physical tournament. This tournament brings together all hockey players from the Prep, Varsity, and 16U teams, so there will be a ton of friendly yet hard and fierce competition this year.
For the first time in two years, we will have a new champion, not the power duo of Michael Peluso ’25 and William Schneid ’25, who won the League back-to-back. “I am looking forward to the League this year, I love the passion the players play with, and I’m excited about who will be the new top dogs this year,” Schneid ’25 said.
Here is the official bracket of the 2026 NBL season. Personally, with my experience in this League, I don’t think we will see many good games until we reach the elite eight. Many of these first-round games may be cake walks, but again, anything can happen. It’s March. One thing is for sure: it is going to be exciting, and if you are a student or faculty member, we encourage you to come down and support the teams competing for what is the hardest trophy to win in all of sports.
The first games will kick off Thursday night (March 12th, 2026) in the fitness center’s shooting room.
Former League commissioner and widely known at Northwood, Jack Kent ’23, had a few words to say about the NBL this year. “It’s going to be a fun stretch of games, you don’t truly know how much the League means until you play a game, when you play your first game, you know the NBL is one of the top basketball Leagues in the world.” I also asked him for his pick as a champion this year. He said, “this is a bit off a tough one because I’ve been out of the school for a few years and there’s always the one player you don’t expect to come out of the water but right now I got parker and stacks against miles and henry in the finals, this game could go either way and a game you will not want to miss if you are at school.”
It is going to be a joyful March. One of the greatest times of the school year has finally arrived. We look forward to all the games, and we wish every team the best of luck. Make sure to follow the Instagram page “northwood_ball” to see every update and clip of the games. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy this year’s NBL Season!
Happy March!