South Carolina State might have felt like John Paul Jones was home, considering, The Bulldogs opened the 2014-2015 season on the Left Coast with big losses at Pac-12 member Washington and then at San Francisco.
Charlottesville, Va., is just across the street from Orangeburg, S.C., relatively speaking.
South Carolina State is in the business of traveling the country this time of year to get its head kicked in for the purpose of collecting a paycheck to help pay for its basketball operations budget.
Why a team coming off an ACC title, #1 NCAA Tournament seed and Sweet Sixteen run, with aspirations to do more this year, schedules a team like South Carolina State is a good question.
It’s hard to see what UVA gets out of this one other than a win. There isn’t a player on the South Carolina State roster who would see the floor for Tony Bennett, and not many other coaches in the ACC.
No offense to South Carolina State or its kids intended there. But we know what State gets. That paycheck to go toward its bottom line. And the kids get to test themselves against a top-flight ACC program.
The road opener at JMU was at least a game in a putatively hostile environment. Norfolk State had given UVA fits a couple of times in recent years.
Nobody in Charlottesville should be bothered if we lose South Carolina State’s contact information to prevent any future dates from occurring.
– Column by Chris Graham
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