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Snowflakes: Small Conference Hoops

We often focus on teams that reach the dream of an NCAA tournament or special players who make the NBA, but sometimes it’s just about playing for the love of the game. That thought takes us to tiny Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina. The Blue Hose have had some recent success in Division II hoops, but this season, they began the arduous journey into Division I as an independent. The road as a first year D1 team without a conference affiliation can be absolutely brutal. In fact, when we say ‘road’-we mean road-as in 25 away games out of 30 on the schedule. PC has had to travel to big time places like Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia, Wake Forest and NC State just to fill out an entire schedule. Presbyterian played one home game between November 10th and January 6th, and that stretch resulted in the season record starting at 1-19. They are currently 4-23 with three games to go. It’s quite a jump for a school of 1300 to jump the Division I athletic level. The growing pains can be harsh as the budgets and defeats add up. Hopefully, Coach Gregg Nibert and his players can look back some day and smile at the current schedule.

Presbyterian would love to have the same type of success as Belmont University, who jumped from NAIA to NCAA Division I in the late 90s. After suffering through a few tough seasons, the Bruins joined the Atlantic Sun Conference and began to see improvement. Belmont reached the NIT in 2004, and then in 2006 and 2007, they won the A-Sun tourney which resulted in back-to-back Big Dances. We at Swampland send out a salute to the Blue Hose coaches and players, all of whom are paying the price to lay that same type of foundation.

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