Summarized by Kent Larsen
Small school has big plans in basketball
Roanoke VA Times 25Jan99
By Mark Berman: Roanoke Times
Many people don't even know there is a college in Buena Vista, so coach Pat
Higley is building his program through word of mouth.
Southern Virginia College, an LDS-oriented college in Buena Vista, Virginia,
does have a men's basketball team. Sort of.
The school doesn't have a gym, so the coach, Pat Higley, not only has to
find players, but places to practice and host "home" games. In lieu of a
paycheck following a game against VMI, Southern Virginia will play home
games at Cameron Hall, at Virginia Military Institute (VMI).
The Southern Virginia Knights, who are an NAIA scholarship team, play some
home games at a local high school and at a defunct high school. But they
can't start practice until the high school is finished with the gym at 9 p.m.
The Knights also suffer from the lack of a winning record. At 7-12, their
record is tough on the players. So they take solace in the feeling that
Southern Virginia is building a program.
The Southern Virginia team is young, nine of their 12 players are freshman,
although a number are returned missionaries. And the team is improving from
their inaugaral year last year, when they were 9-19 for the year.
The article gives some background information on Southern Virigina and on
its LDS background. Members of the team are all LDS and generally come from
the Intermountain West.
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