NNU vs. C of I

[tsull]

I'm watching this game online, It's a 2-game series between schools 8 miles apart. They really pack them in, of course this is a storied rivalry. The College of Idaho is a program that routinely wins 25 or 30 wins a season. Tru Allen of NNU has hit some amazing shots in traffic and from 3, game going into OT. This is what small college basketball should be every week with every team. But it's not, check out some of these attendance marks this season, I avoided those neutral court tourney games.

St. Martin's at Westminster -- 126 fans
WOU at Sonoma 155 fans
WWU at Azusa Pacific 113 fans (good thing APU cut football, that's really brought out the fans in hoops.)
Douglas at Simon Fraser 206 fans

I'd guess this NNU-C of I game has 1,500 minimum. A few weeks ago Evergreen State played at NNU in front of 1,795 fans.

[tsull]

College of Idaho won by 3 in OT. The two teams will play again later in the year, it's a great rivalry and attracts a lot of people.

[gratefuldad]

Both NNU (used to be NNC) and C of I (once was called Albertson's) have always had excellent men's basketball programs whether they were NAIA or now in the case of NNU an NCAA D2 program. From back in the 80's and 90's when I was more intimately familiar with both programs, C of I was more of the bid dog as they seemed to have a bigger fan base in Caldwell. But they are both tradition rich programs. C of I was an NAIA national powerhouse back when Marty Holly was the coach. They often had good D1 drop downs from Boise State and Idaho State, among others.

[tsull]

Both NNU (used to be NNC) and C of I (once was called Albertson's) have always had excellent men's basketball programs whether they were NAIA or now in the case of NNU an NCAA D2 program. From back in the 80's and 90's when I was more intimately familiar with both programs, C of I was more of the bid dog as they seemed to have a bigger fan base in Caldwell. But they are both tradition rich programs. C of I was an NAIA national powerhouse back when Marty Holly was the coach. They often had good D1 drop downs from Boise State and Idaho State, among others.

Good take, C of I has been good forever it seems with Mark Owen, the guy who recently took an asst. job at Santa Clara, and now the new guy. Great program and fan base. NNU has been doing well lately, Paul Rush is a great coach and a couple years ago they averaged 1,000 at the gate. Thankfully both programs are not taking many D1 drop-downs anymore, I don't think that's the purpose of small college sports to prop up disgruntled D1 bench warmers. Lately C of I and NNU's best players are the guys they recruited out of high school, but yeah in the past they did that with BSU guys. Both programs have great fan support, perhaps because BSU hoops isn't that intriguing or why drive the busy freeway at night when one can see good hoops in your backyard. I wish Western Oregon had that kind of fan support.