Nic Squads Both Appear In Rankings

The secret is out nationally and appears to be getting out locally: North Idaho College’s basketball teams can play.

NIC’s men (13-1 overall, 5-1 Scenic West) debuted at No. 19 in the latest NJCAA poll released Tuesday. NIC’s women (15-1, 5-1), after a month’s absence, returned to the ratings at No. 15.

NIC has played before smallish crowds most of the season, but Christianson Gym was fan-friendly last week. More than 1,400 viewed NIC’s men defeating rival Southern Idaho last Thursday and a surprising 1,150 watched the Cards pound Treasure Valley on Saturday.

“I’ve had lot of people come to me and say, ‘We’ll be back,”’ men’s coach Hugh Watson said. “They’re very excited about our style of play.”

The NIC women drew well, too 700 for CSI and 450 for Treasure.

“I think the girls deserve some recognition,” coach Greg Crimp said. “We’ve had a good start and our region is a respectable one, as we’ve shown at the last three national tournaments.”

The last year Crimp could recall NIC being ranked was 1989. “I think we were as high as 13th,” said Crimp, whose club finished 31-4 that season and advanced to nationals.

Watson had mixed feelings about being rated.

“It’s poison, all it does is it gets you ready to get beat, gets other teams ready for you,” he said. “About the only thing good is if you’re recruiting kids, it gets your name seen.”

Getting ranked is difficult. Staying ranked is even more so. NIC’s men face a tough road game this Saturday against No. 11 Eastern Utah (16-1, 5-0), the only other SWAC team, male or female, in the rankings.

NIC’s men’s and women’s teams are at Colorado Northwestern on Friday.

Three other schools enjoy double rankings - Connors State (Okla.) is fourth in men, fifth in women; Tallahassee (Fla.) is No. 2 in men, No. 7 in women; and Northwest Mississippi is 18th in men, 14th in women.

, DataTimes