San Jose State versus Presbyterian Monday night

The Presbyterian Blue Hose are back -- San Jose State faces off with the Big South Conference member Monday night in Clinton, South Carolina.

Presbyterian is coming off an eight point loss to Georgia in Athens Friday night: "Bryan Bostic set a new career high with 22 points and led the Presbyterian College men’s basketball team in their 55-47 loss to Georgia at Stegeman Coliseum on Nov. 21...The Blue Hose tied the Bulldogs in rebounding, with each team collecting 31 boards in the game..."

Prior to the contest with Georgia, the Blue Hose lost 76-57 to Houston and opened the season with the Duke Blue Devils, falling 80-47.

For the record, the other members of the Big South Conference are: Charleston Southern, Coastal Carolina, Gardner-Webb, High Point, Liberty, Radford, UNC-Ashville, Winthrop and VMI.

COACHING

From the Presbyterian athletics department:

The 2008-09 season will begin Gregg Nibert’s 20th season in charge of the Blue Hose men’s basketball program. The winningest coach in program history, Nibert has led the Blue Hose to 332 wins during his 19 years at the helm of the Blue Hose. Overall, the Blue Hose have compiled a record of 332-231 during his tenure...

During his 19-year tenure at Presbyterian College, Nibert has compiled six 20-win seasons. His Blue Hose teams finished in the top four in the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) regular season standings 14 times, winning the SAC Championship twice (1992-93 & 1996-97) and the Food Lion SAC Tournament title once (1995-96). He has also been named the SAC Coach-of-the-Year twice for his efforts (1993 and 1997).

ROSTER (by position)

We don't know about the Dandy part but the Blue Hose roster is chock full of Diaper kids, eight in all being in their initial year of college, along with three sophomores;

Kevin Davis G 6-2 180 Fr.
Dominic King G 6-0 175 Fr.
Pierre Miller PG 5-10 160 So.
Dan Brown G 5-11 160 Fr.
Josh Johnson G 6-3 185 So.
Chase Holmes G 6-4 205 Fr.
Aaron Gibbs SG 6-3 200 Fr.

Bryan Bostic SF 6-3 200 Sr.
Travis Sligh F 6-4 210 Sr.
Walt Allen F 6-4 220 Jr.
Jake Troyli PF 6-9 185 Fr.
Kyle Jazwiecki F 6-8 220 Fr.

Steven Yien Gatkuoth C 7-0 220 Fr.
Al'Lonzo Coleman C 6-7 230 So.

LAST YEAR

Courtesy of SJSU, here's the opening paragraph of the writeup from last season's matchup at Walt McPherson Court:

Men's Basketball Downs Presbyterian, 68-64 Courtesy: San Jose State Athletics SID Lawrence Fan 12/22/2007 San Jose, Calif. - San Jose State University produced a 15-0 first-half run, put four players in double-figure scoring and never trailed in downing visiting Presbyterian College, 68-64, in non-conference men’s basketball action at The Event Center on Saturday, December 22...

Justin Graham and Chris Oakes scored 13 apiece with DeVonte Thomas and DaShawn Wright each posting 11.

This is not based on anything official but we expect to find C.J. Webster playing for SJSU, at least for some minutes. He posted eight points and nine boards in last year's contest.

THIS SEASON

It appears that sophomore Al'Lonzo Coleman is the top player for the Blue Hose. After two games, he was leading Presbyterian with both a 16.0 ppg. average and 7.0 rebounds a contest. Coleman did register 10 turnovers in two games so it bears watching if that is an anomaly or typical.

Senior Bryan Bostic is another go-to guy and he was at 10 ppg. prior to his 22 point breakout against Georgia.

Freshman Dominic King is the top scorer in the backcourt at 9.3 ppg. with soph Pierre Miller the starting point.

KEY NUMBER

In 2008-2009, Presbyterian is committing 23.5 turnovers per game, a figure attributed to the youth and experience of the squad.


Oh yes, about the Blue Hose nickname: (from the PC site): "Several rumors exist and Ray Frank in his book, “What’s In A Nick­name” delved into the subject. Frank discovered that there were many opinions.

One story had it that the Presbyterian Scotch-Irish wore blue stockings in the Puritan beginnings of the United States. Another said that a fierce war-like band of Scotch-Irish named the Hose painted their entire bodies blue before going into battle.

Yet, probably the true story lies in a letter dated June 15, 1935, written by then PC athletic director Walter Johnson to an inquiring English professor in Virginia. [Quoting from Walter Johnson’s letter] ‘It was about the second or third year, 1915, if I remember right, Stockings. I think it happened this way: I changed uniform colors to blue, wearing blue stockings and jerseys, and some sports writer started calling in his articles the Presbyterian College teams the Blue Stockings.’