Centenary College Basketball: Saying Goodbye towards the Gentlemen in Divison I

February 6 isn't a date that rings out to many, and Fort Wayne might be more identified for its annual Johnny Appleseed Festival, but the two combined for an essential basketball event: the final time the Centenary College of Louisiana won a men's basketball game. On that fateful day, the Gentlemen defeated the IPFW Mastodons 80-78 behind 18 points and 10 rebounds by Maxx Nakwaasah.

Since then, the Gentlemen have lost 32 consecutively more than the past two seasons, while standing at 0-27 this season?adefinitely not the way Centenary would want to finish its time in Division I. Since the present team prepares to close out its Division I experience, it is time to take a single last appear. Presently, Centenary may be the smallest D-I school within the nation. It has been competing at the NCAA's highest level since 1960.

The Gentlemen started as an independent and then joined the Trans America Athletic Conference (the Atlantic Sun Conference) as a founding member in 1978. Centenary had some good results whilst playing in the TAAC, having eight winning seasons, 1 regular season title (in 1989-1990) and something tournament title (in 1979-1980) in 21 seasons. In 1999 they left the conference and spent 4 years as an independent before joining the Mid-Continent Conference (now the Summit League) in 2003. This season will be their last season with the Summit League, as the Gentlemen will be joining the American Southwest Conference, a Division III conference, starting subsequent season. Centenary College president David Rowe stated inside a press release final spring, "Our transition to Division III is a move which will support and advance the mission and educational philosophy of the College."

Since the college's endowment had decreased in recent years, with escalating travel costs, the proceed to Division III makes sense. The ASC will help cut down on costs, as six of the seven ASC East teams are within a three-hour drive of Shreveport, as compared to 347 miles towards the nearest Summit League team, Oral Roberts. The Gentlemen have never made "The Dance." In fact, only 5 schools have gone longer than Centenary with no trip to basketball's title chase (Army, The Citadel, Northwestern, St. Francis-NY and William & Mary). Since the season comes to a close, it's guaranteed that they will not make it this year, as their 0-15 conference record clinches that the Gentlemen will likely be home once the Summit Conference Tournament begins in Sioux Falls on March 5th.

There have been times that Centenary has been close to making "The Dance." In 1980, they won the TAAC tournament, but the league did not have an automatic bid until the following season. Four times they fell a single game short, losing the conference title game to Louisiana-Monroe in 1982 and falling to University of Arkansas-Little Rock 3 times (1986, 1989 and 1990). In addition to those close calls, there's the saddest incident of all, where the Gentlemen went 87-21 on the four-year span that didn't exist inside the NCAA's eyes.