Division III a Good Place to Be

By Mike DiMauro, New London Day
Published on 1/24/2007 in Sports » Sports Columns

We've all seen it, the public service announcement that airs frequently during the NCAA Tournament. It's the NCAA's little reminder that as you watch this billion dollar production, we must remember that “there are more than 380,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities and most will go pro in something other than sports.”

Two things that must be established before we proceed:

• Yes, the NCAA comes off somewhere between pigheaded (no football playoff system) and detestable (allowing TV to start tournament games after 10 p.m.) in most cases. But the bit about how most student-athletes use sports as a means to a better education is no less true.

• Yes, there's an inherent allure to Division I sports, especially the ones we watch on television.
But last week, our corner of the world provided a perfect illustration about the competitiveness and the meaning of college athletics at lower levels, every bit as important to the participants as the big time is to the big timers.

There was a college basketball game at Coast Guard last Monday, Coast Guard and Connecticut College. Conn has this forward named Charles Stone, who is as good as anyone else who has ever played at Conn, members of Glen Miller's tournament teams included. Coast Guard has this little guard named Al Sowers, who looks better suited to perhaps write for the yearbook than knife through opposing defenses.

The quality of play wasn't surprising to anyone familiar with Division III basketball. But I had this thought roll through the old noggin repeatedly:

Do you know how many parents of basketball players in the Eastern Connecticut Conference think their kid is too good for Division III?

Do you know how many players around here could have honestly competed in that game?

You wouldn't need all your fingers to count them.

There was a college basketball game in Milton, Mass., last Thursday, Wentworth and Gordon. Wentworth has a pair of Fitch grads, Gil Ward and Todd Doyle, who are part of quite an impressive reclamation project. From 4-21 two years ago, Wentworth has a chance to win its regular season conference title. The Leopards hadn't beaten Gordon since what felt like the year the American League went to the designated hitter.

They finally did. It was 76-63 in an entertaining one hour, 40 minutes, not ruined by TV timeouts, intrusive background noise and cheerleaders wearing less than beach patrons.

The quality of play wasn't surprising to those of us familiar with Division III basketball. But I had this thought roll through the old noggin repeatedly:

Do you know how many parents of basketball players in the Eastern Connecticut Conference think their kid is too good for Division III?

Do you know how many players around here could have honestly competed in that game?

You wouldn't need all your fingers to count them.

Doyle and Ward, like Sowers and Stone, couldn't be happier where they are. They are playing the most competitive basketball of their lives. They all have the same dream at the moment: get hot, win the conference title and make the NCAA Tournament.

Just ask anyone on the Conn teams of the late 90s with Miller and Kevin Jaskiewicz coaching them. The best atmosphere in the history of New London sports came at Luce Field House in those days when 1,200 students painted their faces and roared and howled and chanted, just the way you see it on television.

Here's the best part: Doyle, Ward, Stone and Sowers will earn college degrees that will get them virtually any jobs they want, except playing for the Celtics. They are the NCAA commercial, among the 380,000 who will go pro in something other than sports.

This is not intended to be one of those “you don't know what you're missing” laments about why crowds for local sporting events aren't as big as they used to be. This is merely a message for all Division III athletes and especially their parents, that there is ample nobility and significance to the games.

Just because you can't see them on television doesn't mean they mean less. They still count.

This is the opinion of Day assistant sports editor Mike DiMauro. He may be reached at m.dimauro@theday.com or 701-4391.