Wright State Takes Out Division I Newcomer
by Bill Kintner
DAYTON, Ohio – The good Calvinists from Presbyterian College visited the Nutter Center and the results of the game were pretty predictable; Wright State beat the dog crap out of the Blue Hose 58-42.
I will get to the game a little later but first let’s take a look at Presbyterian College (3-22).
PC is a liberal arts small college of 1,200 students from Clinton, SC. playing their first year of Division I basketball. They play one of the tougher schedules in the country if for no other reason than they play all but five on the road.
It is a tough way to win basketball games, but a great way to raise money to finance a fledgling Division I athletic program.
Presbyterian coach Greg Nibert said that his team had raised $650,000 from their travels and that included the $40,000 plus rooms that the Blue Hose received from Wright State for the pleasure of getting creamed by the Raiders.
“We did bring in $650,000, so if I need some new things for my office I can remind the AD of that,” said a smiling Nibert.
The Blue Hose, and that nickname is enough to make most basketball fans scratch their heads, opened at Nebraska, then played a schedule that included New Mexico, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, Wake Forest, North Carolina State, Georgia Tech, Auburn, Ole Miss, Tulsa and South Alabama.
Nibert said playing at all those places was a dream come true for his players and himself.
“We wanted to take our seniors back (home), we are not in a league, so there is nothing to play for. We went on the road so the country knows who we are.”
Nibert said next year some of the teams they played this year will be visiting their campus and they would have 12 or 13 home games, including the games from their new conference, the Big South.
He said that when he looked up and saw Wright State’s NCAA Division II championship banner and the NCAA banners hanging next to it that it inspires him to shoot for the same success that Wright State has experienced since moving to Division I in the 1987-88 season.
Now, about that crazy nickname.
Does it refer to blue socks? Or maybe they got hosed in a game and were feeling blue? Well according to the media guide, a blue hose is a fierce Scotch-Irish warrior, kind of like what we saw in the movie Braveheart.
Another version in the media guide has to do with someone wearing blue stockings in the 1930s. There is also a term in the Presbyterian Church called “Blue Stocking Presbyterian.”
Are you more confused now than when I started trying to explain the nickname?
Okay, now for the game.
Wright State (15-6) went 8-12 from 3-point land in the first half, including 12 points from Vaughn Duggins. They were all the points he scored in the game.
“The threes were significant because it loosened things up a little tonight. The offense was a result of our good defense,” said Wright State coach Brad Brownell.
The Raiders led 40-18 at the half and were well on their way to a 40-point blowout.
“We watched all kinds of tape on WSU. You have a great one in Brad and they are a very well-coached team. We thought we were going to take the three away by picking them up and challenging them,” explained Nibert as he chuckled about the lack of success of their game plan.
In second half the Raiders scored only 18 points as they got a little sloppy and allowed the Blue Hose to make all four of their 3-pointers in the last five minutes of the game.
All nine Raiders that dressed played double-digit minutes, but Al’lonzo Coleman for Presbyterian led all scorers with 18 points.
Notes
- The quote of the night was from Wright State’s Ronnie Thomas. “They are better team than their record indicates. We approached it like any other game.”
No they are not, their record is a good indication of how they play. Thomas will make a good coach someday as he looks like he has the coach-speak down pat. - Nibert, who has seen a lot of really good teams up close, said, “They are one of the top teams that we played. We played Clemson and Ohio State and these guys (Wright State) are one of the best in the country.”
- Wright State had a pathetic announced crowd of 4,168 after 6,700 showed up for the Milwaukee game last Saturday. This is an indication that Wright State fans, or maybe it is basketball fans in Dayton, want a winner and a good team or they won’t come out to a game unless the team playing is called the Flyers. The Raiders lost their fan base almost 10 years ago and it has been a struggle to get a good number of fans out for anything other than the bigger games.
- Brownell said this about Bobby Knight stepping down today: “It is sad for those of us who admired the way he got the most out of his players. He was a teacher of coaches.”
- Presbyterian plays their next game on February 11th at Ole Miss at 8 p.m.
- Wright State’s next game is Thursday at Cleveland State at 7 p.m.
