A Sea Of Red

http://ow.ly/Mmwj

Al'Lonzo Coleman and two other juniors at Presbyterian College have dominated most of the team's basketball practices this season but will not score a single point in a game -- and that's by choice.

While other schools are aiming to be at their best this March, the 1,200-student liberal arts school in Clinton, S.C., is eyeing March 2012, the first year its team will be eligible for the NCAA tournament. The Blue Hose's three most experienced players have opted to redshirt this season so they will be fifth-year seniors when the school completes its five-year transition to Division I.

"It has been tough, but in the future I know it will pay off," said Coleman, who earned second-team all-Big South Conference honors last season. "It is just about having patience. We are going to be with each other for five years, so I think we'll be ready to compete with anyone in the nation."

That's some good press for PC from one of my favorite college hoops writers.

And if (and that's a big if), everything goes right for PC the next two years and they stay healthy, they will have a very strong/experienced core for that 11-12 season. A starting lineup of PG Pierre Miller (RS sr), SG Josh Johnson (RS sr), SF Chase Holmes (true sr), PF Jake Troyli (RS jr), and C Al'lonzo Coleman (RS sr)....that's a very experienced, balanced, solid starting 5 right there...there's no telling what other teams will have to put up against them, but if that's their starting 5 that year, they'll be a contender.

Yeah. They're putting years of planning into one year. They could certainly win the championship that year. I wouldn't be surprised.

jcmanson wrote:Yeah. They're putting years of planning into one year. They could certainly win the championship that year. I wouldn't be surprised.

Its interesting because they sort of 'stacked' their baseball program in a similar way (to become competitive very quickly). I was speaking with one of their baseball coaches at a high school game last year and he told me that despite having the money to be fully funded the last few years they have 'held back' a significant amount of budget and scholarship money so that they will have a full recruiting class the year before they become eligible for baseball (which I believe is also next year? Maybe its 2 years, i forget)... And also they will have a bigger budget than normal those first few years in D-1.

Pretty smart...not sure if that is standard for schools in transition but certainly gives them the opportunity to make leaps in various sports.