The college basketball blowout — especially during November and December when tuneup games and scrimmages are common and teams of clearly different talent levels find themselves on the same court — is fairly common. Heck, even perennial powerhouse Kentucky lost by 34 points against Duke on November 6th. Teams from lower divisions will challenge bigger teams for a variety of reasons, and we’ll see a surprising result every now and then. But in many cases, the scores are so lopsided one has to wonder if there were any benefits from playing the game, especially for the winning team.
This is nothing new, but the first 1.5 weeks of the 2018-19 College Basketball season has already seen its share of results that raises the question: “Why even bother?”
NCAA DIVISION 1 AGAINST SCHOOLS FROM LOWER DIVISIONS
DARTMOUTH 116, NEWBURY COLLEGE 39
For whatever reason, Newbury College, an NCAA Division 3 school from the Boston area, thought it was a good idea to travel to New Hampshire to play against the Ivy League’s Dartmouth College, and maybe it was. One thing’s for sure: when a D3 school has a D1 school on its schedule, it’s a big deal for a minute on the D3 campus and a thrill for the D3 athletes. Then they play the game.
Maybe the opposing coaches are friends and just wanted a no-pressure run, perhaps Dartmouth wanted its freshmen to get their feet wet, or it could have simply been a way for the smaller school to bolster it’s athletic department budget. Whatever the case, a 75-point difference provides plenty of coaching material for the losing coach and very little for the winner, unless an even bigger margin of victory was expected.
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 139, CARVER COLLEGE 51
On November 7th, Georgia Southern University, a Division 1 school located in Statesboro, GA and a member the NCAA’s Sun Belt Conference, hosted Carver College, a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) from Atlanta.
Georgia Southern took a 61-26 lead into the locker room at halftime. Did they receive a tongue-lashing from their head coach during the break or something? The Eagles outscored Carver 78 to 25 after the intermission. Carver shot 4-for-25 from three-point range. Even if they were successful on all 25 attempts, they would have still lost by 25 points.
What does the losing coach say after being outscored by 88 points?
Was the winning coach still wearing a scowl after such a dominant performance? Was he able to get his team’s attention during the next practice?
Should the scoreboard have been turned off as some youth organizations do during one-sided contests?
Did the winning coach schedule a scrimmage against the Harlem Globetrotters to bring his big-headed players back down to earth like Coach Reeves did in that episode of The White Shadow?
THE CITADEL: TWO > 70-POINT BLOWOUTS IN THREE DAYS
On November 12, The Citadel from the NCAA Division 1’s Southern Conference, hosted Mid-Atlantic Christian University, a United States Collegiate Athletic Association member located in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. Citadel won the game 148 to 75. Every player on the roster scored, and the Bulldogs shot 23 of 51 from three-point range during the 73-point mismatch.
Sigh.
Two nights later, The Citadel challenged Johnson University, another NCCAA member (at the Division 2 level) located in Kissimmee, Florida and walked away with a 77-point win, 137 to 60.
Time will tell if two non-competitive games like those will benefit the squad in the long run.
OTHER MISMATCHES SO FAR
The Dragons of Philadelphia’s Drexel University, an NCAA Division 1 school and a member of the Colonial Conference defeated Bryn Athryn, an NCAA Division 3 school from suburban Philly by a count of 137 to 60 on November 14th.
That same day, The Murray State (Kentucky) Racers of the NCAA Division 1’s Ohio Valley Conference took on Spalding College, an NCAA Division 3 school from Louisville, Kentucky and cruised to a 70-point win, 106 to 36.
HERE’S WHY THEY BOTHER
In addition to some of the aforementioned reasons why some school s willingly walk into almost certain drubbings, on rare occasions everything falls right and the smaller school wins or comes close.
ST. EDWARDS UNIVERSITY 77, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO 76
NCAA Division 2 outfit St. Edwards University (Austin, Texas) somehow snatched a one-point road win over the University of Texas-San Antonio of NCAA Division 1’s Conference USA.
There is no doubt the Roadrunners head coach had plenty of coaching material to work with after that contest. Meanwhile, the St. Andrews program is probably wondering what life would be like in the already-overpopulated Division 1, especially if they’re competitive in upcoming exhibitions against bigger schools like Rice University and Stephen F. Austin.
And speaking of which…
STEPHEN F. AUSTIN 68, SOUTHWEST ASSEMBLIES OF GOD 67
Even the casual basketball fan whose interest doesn’t go beyond the NCAA Tournament has heard of Stephen F. Austin University, the NCAA Division 1’s Southland Conference representative on brackets for four of the last five years. The Lumberjacks have been good enough to advance to the second round of the tournament twice during that span.
On November 7th, they hosted Southwest Assemblies of God University, an NAIA school from Waxahachie, Texas in the Dallas-Fort worth area. The Jacks needed a free throw with 2 seconds left to secure the win.
Surely, more Division 1 programs will get taken down by smaller schools in the coming weeks.
And finally, as if to lend support to the argument that there are too many Division 1 schools:
DIVISION 1 SCHOOL AGAINST DIVISION 1 SCHOOL
NEBRASKA 106, MISSISSIPPI VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY 37
There shouldn’t be lopsided games like this between two teams at the same college level, but it happens. MVSU shot 19 percent from the floor for the entire game, including 1-for-15 compared to 15 hits from Nebraska, and were outscored 45-3 from “out there.”
MVSU has lost their first four games — all on the road — by an average of nearly 43 points and have six more road games, including visits to the University of Illinois, Hawaii and points in between before beginning their conference schedule.
They won’t lose all those games by 69 points or even 43, but most nights they’ll take the court in non-conference road games (because no one is going to THEIR gym) knowing there’s a likelihood the game won’t even be competitive.
There are too many Division 1 schools in college basketball. Savannah State University has realized this and are moving back down to Division 2 after the 2018-19 season. Good for them. More should follow.
If two Division 1 teams schedule a contest and the results are destined to resemble those of games between teams from different divisions, then why even bother?
