The Snow College men’s basketball team is on the verge of history as they enter their conference basketball tournament, Friday. Rob Nielsen’s Badgers claimed the school’s first Scenic West Athletic Conference championship in 10 years with a win over USU-Eastern last week. On top of that, the Snow men are the first team since 2005 to win 25 games in a single season.
Much larger than that, the Snow men have the chance to be only the second team in school history to qualify for the National Junior College Tournament provided they win their conference tournament this weekend. The last time the men’s basketball team made an appearance in the NJCAA National Tournament was in 1954 when they made it all the way to the title game. The team was led by Hall of Fame coach Jim Williams and eventually lost 55-49 in overtime to Moberly, Missouri.
This year’s Badgers are led by the nation’s 5th leading scorer, Zach Hunsaker, and can end a 63 year drought of a national tournament berth. To get to the big dance, Snow must win the conference championship this Saturday night in Taylorsville, Utah, at Salt Lake Community College. Then, Snow would qualify for a play-in game on March 11th with the champion of the Arizona region. The winner of that game earns an automatic bid to the NJCAA National Tournament held in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Snow begins their quest this Friday as they face off with the winner of the Utah State-Eastern and Colorado Northwestern game in the semi-finals at 2pm. The Lady Badgers also play in the Region 18 Women’s Tournament semi-final the same day at noon against the College of Southern Idaho. Both games can be heard live on the Mid-Utah Radio Sports Network on KMTI AM 650 & 95.1 FM, as well as online at midutahradio.com.
