RVC Set For Nationals 3/11/13
By: Scott Leber
Updated: March 12, 2013
Rockford, Illinois-Rock Valley College has had a run on national championships in all sports. This weekend just maybe the school will collect two more.
Both the men's and women's basketball teams will play in the Junior College Division III National Tournaments. The men will head to Loch Sheldrake, New York. The women will head to Rochester, Minnesota.
The women will be the number one seed in their tournament. They're 29-2, and they're the defending national champions. There is some pressure that goes with that.
"Yea, there's pressure because we're number one, and we won it last year," says RVC center Revonnia Howard. "There's a lot of pressure."
Howard was the National Tournament MVP last year. She is surrounded by top perimeter players this year such as all-conference guard marquiesha Grant.
"Our biggest strength is our defense and our speed," says Grant. "When we're togethr and we lock down on defense we can get five second calls. And our speed, it's hard for teams to keep up with us."
While the women are favored in their tournament, the RVC men will be underdogs in theirs. Their record is 18-4. The other seven teams in the tournament have at least 26 wins. The Golden Eagles are trying to play the male version of Cinderella. When they began this season they had very little college experience, and they didn't have a head coach until October 1st when Craig Doty came on board.
"It's a situation where we came in, and we needed to make strides every portion of our season," says
Doty.
The Golden Eagles started the season by losing five of their first six games. In Mid-season they had a four game losing streak. But they kept battling. They finished strong and last week they won their regional tournament by upsetting Joliet Community College.
"We always knew we had it in us to win," says RVC forward Brandon Schwebke. "But we were always kind of the underdog story. We're looking forward to proving some more people wrong."
"It's very exciting, because we started from nothing," says RVC point guard Quentin Canty. "None of us got recruited. We didn't have a coach at the beginning of the year. We all came together, and we made it."
Both the men's and women's basketball teams will play in the Junior College Division III National Tournaments. The men will head to Loch Sheldrake, New York. The women will head to Rochester, Minnesota.
The women will be the number one seed in their tournament. They're 29-2, and they're the defending national champions. There is some pressure that goes with that.
"Yea, there's pressure because we're number one, and we won it last year," says RVC center Revonnia Howard. "There's a lot of pressure."
Howard was the National Tournament MVP last year. She is surrounded by top perimeter players this year such as all-conference guard marquiesha Grant.
"Our biggest strength is our defense and our speed," says Grant. "When we're togethr and we lock down on defense we can get five second calls. And our speed, it's hard for teams to keep up with us."
While the women are favored in their tournament, the RVC men will be underdogs in theirs. Their record is 18-4. The other seven teams in the tournament have at least 26 wins. The Golden Eagles are trying to play the male version of Cinderella. When they began this season they had very little college experience, and they didn't have a head coach until October 1st when Craig Doty came on board.
"It's a situation where we came in, and we needed to make strides every portion of our season," says
Doty.
The Golden Eagles started the season by losing five of their first six games. In Mid-season they had a four game losing streak. But they kept battling. They finished strong and last week they won their regional tournament by upsetting Joliet Community College.
"We always knew we had it in us to win," says RVC forward Brandon Schwebke. "But we were always kind of the underdog story. We're looking forward to proving some more people wrong."
"It's very exciting, because we started from nothing," says RVC point guard Quentin Canty. "None of us got recruited. We didn't have a coach at the beginning of the year. We all came together, and we made it."
