Maryville to Join Cal State East Bay in Division II

Just when I thought it was safe to stop talking about college basketball programs you’ve probably never heard of, I run into another piece of news today.

Maryville College, a Division III school located in Maryville, TN, just fifteen minutes south of Knoxville has been given permission to join Cal State East Bay in Division II. The Scots will go through the same process as Cal State East Bay and will play in the yet-to-be-determined conference.

Now, about the Scots men’s team.

They finished last season 24-3, including a 6-0 record in the Great South Athletic Conference. They lost to Millsaps College in the first round of the national tournament according to the school’s website.

The Scots had been very dominate in conference play in the first decade of the new millennium winning eight straight regular season titles and six tournament championships. The Scots are 204-51 this decade and had nine straight NCAA Division III tournament appearances.

Eryk Watson was named the GSAC Freshman of the Year, while Maryville College’s Randy Lambert was named the conference Coach of the Year.

Apparantly there is a log jam of schools in Division III and the NCAA is encouraging many to make the jump to Division II. So unfortunately you may be hearing about more moves unless you, the loyal and faithful reader, tell me to stop.