‘Pleasant’ surprise: Warriors rolling under direction of new coach
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
ROCHESTER HILLS — It’s safe to say that Rochester College has adapted well under Klint Pleasant.
The son of former RC coach Garth Pleasant, who retired last March after 38 seasons at the helm, the younger Pleasant has led the Warriors to another superb season on the hard court.
Rochester College (23-8) has been ranked first or second in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association Division I national polls since November and are an impressive 13-1 since Jan. 1.
The Warriors’ only defeat since the first of the year came in Jan. 21 at Kuyper College (54-48), the same team RC defeated Feb. 11 at Rochester High by 28 points (73-45).
Rochester College’s other losses came again NCAA Division III power Hope College and NCAA Division II Huntington College, while the other five defeats have come against NCAA Division I schools.
“We just had one of those bad nights when we lost to them the first timed,” said Pleasant. “I think we played a lot better the second time we played them.
“I think we have played pretty consistent the second half of the season,” noted Pleasant. “We played such a tough schedule the first two months of the season, with some Division I schools, and we knew we wouldn’t see a team of that caliber once we got into playing schools our size.”
Rochester College wraps up the regular season Wednesday with a game at Great Lakes Christian College. The Warriors get a week off before traveling to Uniontown, Pa., for the USCAA Division I national tournament March 7-10 at Penn State-Fayette.
Currently, the Warriors have won seven straight, are 11-1 since the first of the year and have won 14 of their last 15 contests.
With no losses to teams expected to make the tournament, the Warriors should receive the No.1 seed in a tournament that they have won four times in the past 24 years.
RC was fifth last season and lost in the finals as recent as 2009.
“That’s our goal, to do well in the tournament,” said Pleasant, whose team is an independent and does not play for a conference championship. “We want to keep that (momentum) going into the national tournament,” said Pleasant. “It will be nice to have some time off after that game with Great Lakes. We need the rest, kind of give the guys a chance to heal any nagging injuries and to get prepared for the national tournament.”
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Category: Campus Clips, Colleges / Other, Rochester College
