It’s year two of the University of Wisconsin-Madison hosting the NIRSA National Basketball Championships. In the middle of a three-year hosting commitment, the University has elevated the overall experience for students and spectators from colleges and universities nationwide.
“A lot of our staff have been able to make the best better,” Aaron Hobson, Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Recreation and Wellbeing, said about the new and improved athlete experience. “It’s been fun knowing we hosted a really awesome tournament last year but make it just a little bit better this year.”
Between April 11th-13th, at the Bakke Recreation and Wellbeing Center and the Nicholas Recreation Center, games are played nonstop between three divisions—men’s, women’s and Unified.
Special Olympics Unified Sports® promotes social inclusion by pairing athletes with and without intellectual disabilities on the same sports team. On campuses across the country, Special Olympics College Clubs act as an official student organization and are led by students with and without intellectual disabilities. Thanks to partners like NIRSA, Unified Intramural sports leagues take place on campus. And this year, the Unified division at the NIRSA Basketball Championships played host to nine teams.
But something that looks different this year from years past is the direct decision to spread the Unified games out more in the schedule, mingling them with the men’s and women’s games. This action was deliberate and strategic.
“The Unified league is just as important as our other leagues and we wanted to make sure that message was there, that everyone gets a chance to experience those games in the same way,” Hobson shared.
As teams would go from one court to the next, voices were overheard saying things like “What’s Unified?” or “Special Olympics, that’s so cool.” Athletes from various schools were even asking questions about how they could start a Unified club on their home campus. Whether people knew what Special Olympics was or they were just hearing about the organization, seeing Special Olympics and inclusion through sports on this scale was incredibly impactful.
“It means a lot to me, [the] sportsmanship is great,” Purdue athlete Mark Schwieterman, said about the NIRSA tournament. “Nobody loses in Special Olympics, everybody wins. It’s a way to get to know the Unified partners better and experience college campuses.”
Purdue and Schwieterman would drop their first game, 40-30, to Iowa but bounced back playing very tightly contested games against Oregon and Wisconsin. In all the years that NIRSA has had a Unified division, this might have been the most competitive yet. While teams certainly stood out, most of the bracket was evenly matched and showcased good fundamental basketball and even gameplay between Special Olympics athletes and Unified partners.
“I expected it to be a good tournament competition-wise, but I was really blown away by the level of competition that we’ve had even from the beginning of yesterday (Saturday) to the end of today,” Laura Shively, Director of Unified for the 2025 NIRSA National Basketball Championships said. “I expected Toledo to come in and absolutely win every game by 40 points, but by the end, we are seeing Iowa keeping up with them, so I think it just speaks volumes to the level of competition we’ve been able to bring to these tournaments.”
Early favorite Toledo opened the tournament by beating Louisville 54-19 and continued that trend with victories of 56-27 and 60-20. Their meaningful involvement between athletes and Unified partners could be used as an example for years moving forward. Not only were they sharing the buckets made, but equal involvement was on full display in the assists, passing, ball handling and defensive aspects of the game. And rightfully so, that teamwork was the key factor to their success.
After a down year in last year’s tournament, Iowa found its way to the national championship with solid sharp shooting and good defensive play. In the half-court, they had good communication and play setups. Athlete Brandon Baier hit a game-winning buzzer-beater in the quarterfinals against Louisville to advance to Sunday of the tournament. Releasing the shot with just seconds to go, the ball swooshed through the net and the players stormed the court. “I was really just thinking about getting the pass in and when I get it, to keep calm and make a clean shot,” Baier says about the buzzer-beater.
Iowa hung around with Toledo until midway through the third quarter of the championship game. Iowa had solid half-court offense and defense to keep the score within single digits, but following a timeout and in-game adjustments, Toledo upped the pace and found success with quick transitional basketball. Toledo pulled away and closed out the tournament with a final score of 49-35.
In arguably the best Unified basketball division to date, a strong message was sent to all NIRSA attendees that just like the men’s and women’s division, the Unified teams are competitive. With the third year of the event in Wisconsin approaching, NIRSA’s goal is to keep growing the Unified divisions to heights never seen before.
