Summit League Basketball

In what was a crazy day in the first day of the Summit League tournament from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the top two seeds—Oral Roberts and South Dakota State—move on to the semifinals on Monday night.

However, both teams took completely different routes in gaining their wins. 

Oral Roberts 71, IPFW 67

In the first matchup of men's action, Oral Roberts, the top seed of the tournament, narrowly escaped with a 71-67 victory over eighth-seeded IPFW.  After leading the game by as many as 13, Oral Roberts saw IPFW mount an incredible comeback, allowing the Mastodons to teeter-totter with the lead towards the end of the game.  

IPFW's leading scorer Frank Gaines (26 points, nine rebounds) helped charge the comeback by the 'Dons, hitting a three-pointer with nine seconds left to cut the Golden Eagle lead down to two.  

Unfortunately for the pesky IPFW squad, that's where the train stopped as ORU's Steven Roundtree (11 points, six rebounds) nailed two free throws to close out the game, helping Oral Roberts to escape with the four-point victory.

My Take

While seeing the score in the end surprised me, it really shouldn't have based on my prediction for the tournament in my previous article.  In that article, I mentioned the fact that ORU did beat IPFW twice this season, but only by a combined 15 points (11 at home, four on the road), meaning that IPFW had a better shot at beating ORU than I had given them credit for. 

With that being said, one of the main reasons why the game was, in fact, so close, was because of the complete disappearance by Summit League Conference Player of the Year Dominic Morrison of Oral Roberts.  He averages over 20 points per game, but finished the game with 10. Morrison scored seven points in the second half, but exited the game before its exciting ending after fouling out.  

In order for Oral Roberts to continue winning in this tournament, Morrison needs to step up his game in order for the Golden Eagles to remain the favorites for that NCAA tournament bid. 

South Dakota State 77, IUPUI 56

SDSU jumped out to an early 13-4 lead against the Jaguars and Nate Wolters (22 points, seven rebounds, six assists) took the lead from there.  

Over the course of the game, IUPUI opted to go with a zone defense, which ultimately led to their undoing.  Wolters excels in a zone setting as it allows for better spacing for his drives to the lane, which he did to perfection on Saturday night.  

Beyond Wolters, however, the second-seeded Jackrabbits were led by double-digit scoring outputs by Brayden Carlson (12 points, four assists), Tony Fiegen (11 points, seven rebounds, four assists) and Taevaunne Prince (10 points) in route to their 21-point trouncing of IUPUI.  

Jaguars leading scorer and NCAA's active career points leader Alex Young was held in check for the entire game, only managing 10 points in the contest.  Young finishes his career in college as one of the most highly touted potential draft picks in the conference.  

My Take

SDSU came out with fire in their eyes and determination in their convincing victory, giving them all sorts of momentum headed into Monday's semifinal match against the Oakland-Southern Utah winner. 

Wolters, once again, proved he can perform on the big stage, but didn't hog the spotlight, which is the identity to the Jackrabbits as a whole.  Summit League second-teamer Jordan Dykstra finished the game with eight points, well below his average.  Knowing his potential for tremendous scoring outputs, I fully expect Dykstra to play a much bigger role in the rest of the tournament.  

Oral Roberts and SDSU keep the bracket intact thus far into the tournament, but (No. 3 seed) Oakland vs. (No. 6 seed) Southern Utah and (No. 4 seed) Western Illinois vs. (No. 5 seed) North Dakota State could spark up some upsets in Sunday's quarterfinals action from the Falls.  

The Summit League tournament is shaping out to be one worth keeping an eye on for the next few days.  Look for more exciting action in the games to come, culminating in a very intense conference championship game Tuesday night on ESPN2.

After two tough road games this weekend, the South Dakota State men's basketball team looks to put this behind them and focus on two crucial games at home.

Coming off of a critical road loss against rival South Dakota and a less-than-remarkable victory at UMKC, the Jackrabbits have their final four games of the season at home, where they are undefeated so far in this season.  

Losing against South Dakota really brought the young Jacks back down to Earth, knocking them out of contention for a potential regular season conference championship, as they now trail the leading Oral Roberts Golden Eagles by 2.5 games.

During that loss, the Jacks found out what it takes to be a championship-caliber team.  While the possibility of a NCAA Tournament bid still stands with the conference tournament March 3-6, they have much work to do to get back to the quality play that has gotten them to this point.

One bright spot for the Jackrabbits coming out of this weekend, other than the continuous stellar play from point guard Nate Wolters, is the fact that for the first time in their run in Division I, the Jackrabbits have their first 20-win season, making their mark as one of the up-and-coming teams in the country. 

Despite those 20 wins, SDSU is still being written off as just another team having a good season.  There are still plenty of critics doubting the Jacks, writing off all of their accomplishments, not only as individuals, but as a team.  

However, this weekend may be the Jackrabbits' best chance to gain some support from the outside, make a name for themselves on a national level and silence the critics heading into the final stretch of the season.

This Wednesday, the Jacks host their intrastate rival, North Dakota State.  In their previous meeting, the Jacks ended their six-year drought against the Bison, upending the home team 91-88 in overtime.  

Wolters was key down the stretch of that game, scoring 18 of his 27 points in the second half and overtime.  One key element for the Jacks will be containing NDSU's Taylor Braun, who lit up SDSU for a 28-point, 10-rebound double-double.  

Except, with all there is on the line in terms of rivalry against North Dakota State, the game on Saturday will be the one where the rest of the country will be focusing on when it comes to national recognition.

In the annual BracketBusters challenge, South Dakota State was paired up against the Buffalo Bulls out of the Mid-American conference.  Not only did they get chosen to battle a quality opponent in Buffalo, they received a nationally televised game, one that will be featured on ESPNU Saturday, February 18th at 1 p.m. ET, the first nationally televised game at home in school history. 

With this game, the Jackrabbits have their opportunity to show the rest of the country, and the selection committee, just how good they really are, and that their 20-7 record is no fluke.  This will also be the first chance fans of great college basketball players get to see another in his element.  

Some know Wolters, others do not.  One thing is for sure, while he might not be one of the biggest names in college basketball this year, he's one whose name will generate some buzz in the near future. Perhaps as soon as this time next week.  

It's getting to be time where we find out just how good some of these teams really are.  South Dakota State has two more weeks to prove their self-worth in the world of college basketball.  North Dakota State and Buffalo bring with them enough talent to knock off the stumbling Jacks.

Whether or not SDSU can regroup and get back on the winning path will be up to them.  They have the potential, now they just need to prove it in the most critical part of the season.  

"If you're not up for this game, then you're not going to be up for any game."

That is a direct quote from South Dakota State head men's basketball coach Scott Nagy, a statement made in the closing moments of practice the day before their highly-anticipated matchup with Summit League leader, Oral Roberts, on Thursday.

None truer words could have been spoken, and his players responded in a big way.

Entering the game trailing the Golden Eagles by two-and-a-half games in the standings, the Jackrabbits came out of the gates swinging, taking an early advantage of 15-2 in the opening minutes.  That early lead would signify the beginning of the end for Oral Roberts, as they couldn't mount any sort of comeback, eventually dropping the game all together, 75-60.

To put this game into perspective, Oral Roberts entered the game with a 20-4 overall record, 12-0 in conference play, a ranking of 11 in the latest collegeinsider.com mid-major poll and an average 74.5 points per game as a team.

South Dakota State played, quite possibly, their best all-around defensive effort of the season.  The 60 points Oral Roberts scored in the game was their lowest point total all season.  The Jackrabbits forced 15 turnovers, using a combination of physical play and tenacity by cutting off passing lanes, picking the pocket of the opposition and diving on the floor for loose balls. 

These are the qualities that make up a great defensive effort, and that's exactly what SDSU got out of its players in the game. 

On the offensive end, it was a rather stagnant shooting night from the three-point line for both teams, combining to go 9-of-34 from beyond the arc—SDSU 6-21, ORU 3-13. When the three ball wasn't dropping, the Jackrabbits saw their opportunity to penetrate the lane and get easy buckets, while also getting their three big men involved in any way they could. 

Junior guard—and national sensation for those who know who he is—Nate Wolters led the game with 24 points, using a combination of his smooth shooting stroke, quick, crafty dribbling skills and explosive bursts to the rim to garner much of the attention from the Oral Roberts defense. 

Once the Golden Eagles found Wolters creating offense for himself, they focused their attention on him, allowing Wolters to create offense for his teammates and to tally nine assists for the game as well. 

Wolters' favorite target of the game was forward Jordan Dykstra, who came up with 22 monster points from all over the floor, also forcing his way to seven crucial rebounds. 

Five other Jackrabbits scored in the contest, the highest point total of those five being eight points by Chad White.  While it may appear to be a little lopsided in point distribution, each player who stepped on the floor during this game knew his assignment and had no issue doing the dirty work, reaping all the benefits of the win in the process.

For Oral Roberts, the 20.2 points per game they usually get out of their star forward Dominique Morrison were nowhere to be found, as he only tallied 12 total points for the game and fouled out of the game late in the second half. 

Credit has to be given to SDSU for shutting down Morrison, as they did not want a repeat of their trip to Oral Roberts in early January.  In that game, Morrison had a career-high 38 points, going 5-of-8 from the three-point line in the Golden Eagles' 97-75 victory.

Overall, the Jackrabbits proved that they can compete with anybody in the Summit League, now handing Oral Roberts their first conference loss on the season.  They have also split the season series with Oakland—they would have swept that series had it not been for an insane three-point shooting night from Travis Bader, who hit a school-record 10 threes in their 92-87 victory last week—and defeated North Dakota State 91-88 in overtime in Fargo two weeks ago.

This win is significant because it is also a confidence booster as the Jackrabbits head towards the home stretch of the college basketball season.

A win of this magnitude dictates that it is no longer a one-horse race for the Summit League championship.  Rather, it has now become one of the hottest conference races in the country.

Both South Dakota State and Oral Roberts have nationally-televised Bracketbuster games on February 18th against Buffalo and Akron, respectively.  For both teams, this is their lone opportunity to show the selection committee that, come Selection Sunday, whomever doesn't win the conference tournament at the beginning of March should not be overlooked for an at-large bid for the big dance. 

February is shaping out to be a big month in the Summit League, especially for South Dakota State.  The Jackrabbits are looking to continue their winning ways and stake their claim as a threat come tournament time.

Coach Nagy hit the nail on the head with his statement before the Oral Roberts game.

"If you are not up for this game, then you are not going to be up for any game."

Now, the Jackrabbits need to take that mindset into the rest of the season if they want to achieve their goals of winning the Summit League championship.

The Oral Roberts game was merely step one.

Here's a team that most of the country has never heard of.  Even if they have heard of the South Dakota State University Jackrabbits, most of the time, they have been disregarded as a Division I basketball team. 

However, don't tell that to the Iowa Hawkeyes. 

In their third game of the season last year, the SDSU Jackrabbits traveled to Iowa City, presumably to most, merely to be an early season victory for the Hawkeyes.

Unfortunately for Iowa, nobody told this team that it wasn't supposed to win.  The Jackrabbits entered into hostile territory and took care of business, handing Iowa a 79-69 loss.

From that point on, not only were the Jacks taken seriously by every other opponent on their schedule, that was the coming out party for then-sophomore point guard Nate Wolters. 

South Dakota State would go through the rest of its season as a well respected team.  Teams such as Minnesota, Oakland and Oral Roberts, all nationally recognized power schools, saw this young, up-and-coming team for what it really is: talented.  Although SDSU did not beat any of those three teams, all three left their contests with more respect for what the small-time D-I school from South Dakota was able to do. 

2010-2011 saw the Jacks finish with a 19-12 record and bowing out of the Summit League Conference Tournament in the semifinals, losing to eventual NCAA tournament bid winner Oakland.  

Coming into this season, the sky is the limit for this young team.  Of the 15 players on the roster, only one of them is a senior—small forward Griffan Callahan.  Two of them are juniors—Wolters and center/forward Tony Fiegen.  The rest of the players are sophomores and freshmen. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWSmLSK6Ubc

Many would look at the lack of veteran leadership as a bad thing.  A young team that looks like SDSU does is more likely to crumble under pressure without a proven leader. 

While that may be true for most occurrences, that is not the case in the Midwest. Having a team full of sophomores and freshmen may seem scary, but there is also something to prove this year. 

Much of the Jacks' leadership from last season is gone, leaving it in the very capable hands of Callahan, Wolters and Fiegen. 

Looking at the team members, there is a boatload of potential with this team. 

Wolters is the early season favorite for Summit League Player of the Year.  He possesses all the tools a true point guard needs to be considered great: tremendous ballhandling ability, a silky-smooth jump shot and the slashing speed to drive through the lane on any given play. He's coming off a season where he was voted to the All-Summit First Team, becoming the first Jackrabbit to ever do that. 

Callahan is your prototypical small forward.  He has the range and height to be considered a shooting guard but loves to play in the post, manning up against bigger opponents.  He's vocal and scrappy, something a young team needs to see from one of its vets.

Fiegen, a 6'7" post player, knows his way around the post, but isn't afraid to let it fly from mid-range.  The Red-Headed Delight is an effective part of the offense, and he will look to command attention from opponents.

Rounding out the starting five are Chad White and Brayden Carlson. 

White is a tough matchup for any defender when he's on offense.  Not only does he have the shooters touch from behind the arc, at 6'6", he can also back down and bang in the paint with the best of them.

Carlson is your everyman guard.  He can play the 1, 2 or 3 and not miss a beat.  Quick cuts and ability to finish at the rim make this man someone who can cause problems for any opposing defense. 

Bench players for the Jacks will be a huge factor to their potential success.

Led by its 6'8" sophomore forward, the versatile and agile Jordan Dykstra, the bench is where the youth experience comes into play the most. 

Dykstra has the ability to shoot the deep ball with the best of them, coupling that with his inside ability, this big man is crucial to the team's continuity.

After Dykstra, sophomore forward Marcus Heemstra supplies the rest of the post play.  Heemstra is another post player for the Jacks that has the mid-range shooting game to make him a versatile weapon on offense. 

Zack Hortsman, Zach Monaghan and Taevaunn Prince will provide a spark off of the bench both on offense and defense.  All three are freshman guards, providing relief and different styles of play that mesh well with the starting five, making for a true all-around athletic team. 

Other potential key contributors include freshman guards Alex Olson and Sam Francis, and junior college transfer sophomore Austin Hennings. 

Freshman guards Cory Jacobsen and Joey Feilmeier are both battling injuries, so their role on the team is unknown at this point, seeing as their practice time has been limited. 

Head coach Scott Nagy has a lot to look forward to this season.  Nagy has loads of talent and so many options in how to use them in his 17th year with SDSU.

Obviously, most of the attention will be focused on Wolters and his 19 points per game average from a season ago. 

However, league opponents such as Oakland and Oral Roberts, two teams that are no strangers to postseason success, shouldn't look past the rest of the team for even a moment.

The second they do, the Jackrabbits could be in line for the conference championship, making it their first taste of D-I success. 

South Dakota State may be a young team, but don't be surprised to hear that name pop up every so often when it comes to mid-majors on the rise. 

Today the University of Nebraska Board of Regents voted to approve the University of Nebraska at Omaha's move to the Summit League this fall. While this is a plus for the Summit League, which has had its own share of turmoil in recent years, it has caused a great deal of anger and sadness amongst athletes and fans of the Mavericks.

This is the next step in what can be called two weeks of tension, feelings of betrayal and spin trying to explain why things were happening.

As part of the move, the school will eliminate its football program and and the best wrestling program in Division II. The Mavericks have won six of the last eight wrestling national championships, including this year's event, which concluded the weekend before the announcement of the programs demise.

According to departmental press releases, it has been said that Summit League is a better fit for the school and that the programs are being eliminated under a plan to align the their sports offerings with the Summit League.

While this may be the case, it is more about glitz of Division I. This was supported when Don Leahy, the former athletic director, said there was no reason why the school could not dream about playing across town in the baseball College World Series.

A closer look at the Summit League members shows that several of the universities (Western Illinois, North Dakota State and South Dakota State) have been participating in football in the Missouri Valley Conference, a FCS conference. Additionally, South Dakota State is still active with wrestling since they have joined the Summit League, as they are a member of the Western Wrestling Conference. The WWC is an NCAA wrestling-only Division I conference and has members seven active members across the plains.

So options were available, Alberts said to KFAB that the WWC was not a viable option, because of the need to increase the budget, plus keeping wrestling also would create a gender-equity imbalance. This imbalance is being created because the school is adding men's soccer and golf teams to meet the offerings of the Summit League.

While Alberts has said the school would work with athletes, either by honoring their scholarships or working to find new schools them, the timing of this decision has been criticized.

First, as the ability for athletes to transfer is limited at this time, especially for recently signed recruits, as those doors may have been closed. The bigger reason is the timing of the announcement, which took place just as the wrestling program celebrated their third straight national title.

This shows the dark side of college athletics, as Albert said there is a need for an athletic department today to be run like a business.

While at the Board of Regents meeting, he said “This is obviously an emotional day. It's also a day of great opportunity for UNO." A great opportunity for you Trev, a day of great sadness for the athletes that have been betrayed by the desire to be a big time program.

So it is time to take the helmets and pads and donate them to local schools, time to roll up the mats and put them in storage, as UNO says goodbye to Division II and to the traditions and successes of their past.

The one team in the Summit League that the whole nation knows about is Oakland. The Golden Grizzlies upset Tennessee, which was then in the top 10, in non-conference play. In addition, they almost upset a few other strong opponents.

As a result, most people are ready to sketch Oakland in as the champion of the Summit League. The Golden Grizzlies, who won all but one of their league games, still need to win three games in order to go to the NCAA Tournament with an automatic bid.

In order to see if Oakland will prevail or if the Golden Grizzlies NCAA Tournament hopes will be crushed, here is a game-by-game preview for the Summit League tournament.

Quarterfinals, March 5 & 6

No. 1 Oakland vs. No. 8 Southern Utah

Good luck to Southern Utah in this one. Oakland is by far the better team in this matchup, proving it by defeating the Thunderbirds twice already this year. 

The Golden Grizzlies are much more talented and have every stat in their favor for their quarterfinal matchup. They will be ready to smother the Thunderbirds on Saturday.

My pick: Oakland by 21

No. 4 IPFW vs. No. 5 South Dakota State

All year, South Dakota State has had trouble rebounding. However, the Jackrabbits got a little lucky as IPFW shares the same weakness.

South Dakota State used that to its advantage in the regular season, dominating IPFW twice.

Although the general stats only slightly favor South Dakota State, the fact that the Jackrabbits dominated IPFW twice already this season shows that they have the clear advantage in this game.

Also, South Dakota State is a great three-point shooting team, and IPFW is not great on the perimeter in terms of defense. As long as the Jackrabbits are not ice cold in terms of shooting, they will advance to the semifinals.

My pick: South Dakota State by 11

  

No. 2 Oral Roberts vs. No. 7 North Dakota State

North Dakota State has shown some good sparks this year, but the Bison are not consistent enough to be counted on to pull off a quarterfinal upset. The Bison have had some good games and some awful games.

On the other side, Oral Roberts has not only been consistently good this year, but the Golden Eagles have been one of the better teams in the Summit League for the last number of years. 

My pick: Oral Roberts by five

No. 3 IUPUI vs. No. 6 UMKC

These two teams have practically identical statistics. Both teams average about 70 PPG, UMKC has a slight advantage in rebounding, and IUPUI has a slight advantage in turnover margin.

However, the key stat for this game will be free throw shooting.

In a game that will most likely be somewhat close, free throws will be tremendously important to gutting out a win down the stretch. Every basketball fan has seen how poor free throw shooting can easily throw away a game in a playoff atmosphere.

IUPUI has the big edge in free throw shooting. The Jaguars shoot 78.3 percent from the line, and the Kangaroos shoot only 66.4 percent. The whole IUPUI team can shoot well from the line, and this will be the key to avoiding a first round upset. 

My pick: IUPUI by six

Semifinals, March 7

No. 1 Oakland vs. No. 5 South Dakota State

This game will definitely be close, and South Dakota State will definitely give Oakland a good fight. It will definitely be a good game to watch (the Summit League website says it will be streamed on ESPN3).

Both teams love to score and play an up-tempo offense with a lot of shooting. Plus, both teams have talented players to watch for.

Although South Dakota State will be outmatched on the boards, the Jackrabbits are not out of this game. They are the much better defensive team.

The Jackrabbits and the Golden Grizzlies score about the same amount of points per game, the Jackrabbits allow less points per game. Of course, it does not mean that Oakland will not be able to score on South Dakota State. The Golden Grizzlies scored 105 points just a few weeks ago against the Jackrabbits.

But along with their better defense, the Jackrabbits have extremely explosive three-point shooting. The Jackrabbits shoot 41.6 percent from three-point range and make nine three-pointers per game. They will have that working to their advantage since Oakland plays awful three-point defense. Golden Grizzly opponents make 40 percent of their three-point shots.

South Dakota State's goal has to keep Oakland under 85 points to pull off the major upset. Once the score gets higher, it will be clear that Oakland is in complete control and is overpowering the South Dakota State defense. 

My pick: South Dakota State by two

No. 2 Oral Roberts vs. No. 3 IUPUI

A month ago, IUPUI would have won this game. Then, the Jaguars were playing great basketball and had just beaten then undefeated Oakland.

At this point, Oral Roberts has been red hot and IUPUI has been on and off. And remember, Oral Roberts easily beat IUPUI just a few games ago. The Golden Eagles play their best games against poorer rebounding teams, and that plays out to their advantage against a team like IUPUI.

My pick: Oral Roberts by eight 

Championship, March 8, ESPN2

No. 2 Oral Roberts vs. No. 5 South Dakota State

Unfortunately for the underdogs from South Dakota State, the Jackrabbits' style of play will not translate well when playing Oral Roberts.

First off, Oral Roberts has South Dakota State's number this year. The Golden Eagles swept the Jackrabbits and managed to beat them once in a high-scoring game and once in a low-scoring game.

Unlike Oakland, Oral Roberts has a more defensive approach to the game. The Jackrabbits will not get the same number of looks at open shots as they would against Oakland. Oral Roberts' defense is not strong enough to dominate the Jackrabbits, but it is strong enough to limit them enough for the Golden Eagles to come through as Summit League champions.  

My pick: Oral Roberts by five

Follow Jesse Kramer on Twitter @Jesse_Kramer for more college basketball news and information. 

History can be made this week at the Gold Dome in Shreveport, Louisiana as the most important basketball game that almost nobody knows about will be taking place Thursday night. It is not a showdown of SEC powerhouses. It is not even a late BracketBuster game.

The game in question is the Western Illinois University Leathernecks taking on the Centenary College Gentlemen. Yes, a game between the bottom teams in the Summit league is the most important game of the week, and potentially of the year.

Why is this? It is realistically the last chance that Centenary has to win a game this season. The Gentlemen enter the tilt 0-28 (0-16 Summit) with only two games separating them from having the worst season record in D-I history, before moving to D-III. For more about Centenary's history and run in D-I, you can read "Centenary College Basketball: Saying Goodbye to the Gentlemen in Division I"

Their opponent, Western Illinois, comes in with a robust (by comparison) record of 7-20 (2-14 Summit) and their own 10-game losing streak. The Leathernecks performance is even worse when you consider that three of their wins came against non-Division I schools (St. Francis (ILL), Culver-Stockton, and Purdue-Calumet) and one of their wins was against Centenary 57-51, December 4th in Macomb.

Tale of the Tape

The is looking to be a low-scoring affair as both teams are in the bottom eight in D-I in scoring with WIU averaging 57.6 points per game (344th out of 345 teams) and the Gentlemen putting up 58.8 points per game (338th).

Other major statistical categories show similarities between the Summit League foes. The Leathernecks and Gentlemen are both in the bottom twenty teams in rebounds per game and bottom twenty-five in assists. Neither team shoots the lights out of the gym as WIU comes in with a .420 shooting percentage (264th) while Centenary is shooting at a .391 pace (329th).

Despite their difficulties this season, each team has players who have stepped up for their schools. The Leathernecks are led by guards Matt Lander (17.3 ppg, 2.6 apg) and Ceola Clark III (10.7 ppg, 5.0 apg). The young Gentlemen squad (only one senior and two juniors) are led by Maxx Nakwaasah (11.7 ppg, 5.8 rpg) and Jeron Trotman (9.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg).

The struggles of these two teams goes well beyond this season. Neither team has ever been to the NCAA tournament (though both have been one game away multiple times). Both teams have had a long stretches of losing as the Leathernecks have not had a winning season since 1998-1999 and the Gentlemen since 2003-2004. Additionally, 20-win seasons, a hallmark of basketball success have not taken place in almost a generation for these schools (WIU: 1994-1995; Centenary: 1989-1990)

Bottom Line

Does man bite dog? Do the Gentlemen beat the Leathernecks, with their mascot Rocky the Bulldog? Centenary has not played since the 15th and with the extra time to rest up and game plan, in addition to the magnitude of the game, the Gentlemen will knock off the Leathernecks and give their faithful to smile about this season. For Western Illinois, it will be a long trip to Macomb to think about their place in history.

February 6, 2010: Fort Wayne, Indiana

February 6 is not a date that rings out to many, and Fort Wayne may be more known for its annual Johnny Appleseed Festival, but the two combined for an important basketball event: the last time the Centenary College of Louisiana won a men's basketball game.

On that fateful day, the Gentlemen defeated the IPFW Mastodons 80-78 behind 18 points and 10 rebounds by Maxx Nakwaasah.

Since then, the Gentlemen have lost 32 in a row over the past two seasons, while standing at 0-27 this season—definitely not the way Centenary would want to end its time in Division I.

As the current team prepares to close out its Division I experience, it is time to take one last look.

The Gentlemen's Stroll in Division I

Currently, Centenary is the smallest D-I school in the country. It has been competing at the NCAA's highest level since 1960.

The Gentlemen started as an independent and then joined the Trans America Athletic Conference (now the Atlantic Sun Conference) as a founding member in 1978. Centenary had some success while playing in the TAAC, having eight winning seasons, one regular season title (in 1989-1990) and one tournament title (in 1979-1980) in 21 seasons.

In 1999 they left the conference and spent four years as an independent before joining the Mid-Continent Conference (now the Summit League) in 2003. This season will be their last season with the Summit League, as the Gentlemen will be joining the American Southwest Conference, a Division III conference, starting next season.

Centenary College president David Rowe said in a press release last spring, "Our transition to Division III is a move that will support and advance the mission and educational philosophy of the College."

As the college's endowment had decreased in recent years, with increasing travel costs, the move to Division III makes sense. The ASC will help cut down on costs, as six of the seven ASC East teams are within a three-hour drive of Shreveport, as compared to 347 miles to the nearest Summit League team, Oral Roberts.

Never Been Dancing

The Gentlemen have never made "The Dance." In fact, only five schools have gone longer than Centenary without a trip to basketball's title chase (Army, The Citadel, Northwestern, St. Francis-NY and William & Mary). As the season comes to a close, it is guaranteed that they will not make it this year, as their 0-15 conference record clinches that the Gentlemen will be home when the Summit Conference Tournament kicks off in Sioux Falls on March 5th. 

There have been times that Centenary has been close to making "The Dance." In 1980, they won the TAAC tournament, but the league did not have an automatic bid until the following season. Four times they fell one game short, losing the conference title game to Louisiana-Monroe in 1982 and falling to University of Arkansas-Little Rock three times (1986, 1989 and 1990).

In addition to those close calls, there's the saddest incident of all, where the Gentlemen went 87-21 over a four-year span that didn't exist in the NCAA's eyes.

The Robert Parish Years

Robert Parish, who ended up becoming a Hall of Famer with the Boston Celtics, was recruited by Centenary to play starting in the 1972-1973 season. However, his recruitment was among several that had problems.

The NCAA had the 1.6 Prediction Rule in place at the time, which provided a framework for student eligibility involving grades and standardized test scores (the Prop 48 of its day). Parish, among others, had taken a test that didn't fit the formula, and the college did a conversion to fit the accepted tests.

The NCAA called Centenary on this and gave them the chance to revoke the scholarship of Parish and four others, which the college refused. This was a factor in the NCAA placing the Gentlemen on six years' probation.

Parish stayed at the school and proved himself to be the best player to put on a uniform for Centenary, as he averaged 21.6 points and 16.9 rebounds per game over his career, though his statistics were not included in the NCAA record books. Not only did he lead his team to an 87-21 record during his playing career, the only times that the Gentlemen were ranked occurred during his tenure (finishing the 1975-1976 season ranked No. 19).

So the best teams of Centenary's history were denied a chance to go dancing because of a rule whose time was short-lived, as the NCAA revoked the 1.6 Prediction Rule the same week that Centenary was placed on probation for violating it.

The Final Struggles

Looking at recent years of Centenary basketball shows a team that has more than its share of struggles. In addition to never making the NCAA Tournament, the Gentlemen have not had a winning record since 2003-2004 (16-12). They have not had a 20-win season since 1989-1990 but have had seven straight 20-loss seasons, including this season.

With three games left in the season, the Gentlemen are sitting at 0-27. Three chances remain to avoid joining an exclusive club of teams that have gone through the season winless. Additionally, as the Gentlemen are playing 30 games this year, if they lose the last three games, they will have posted the worst season in Division I history.

A sad end to their run indeed. Best of luck Gentlemen as you move to D-III.