NIC BASKETBALL: Welcome back to the SWAC ... Cardinal men, women return to NJCAA league play tonight for first time since 2016

By JASON ELLIOTT

Sports writer

In basketball, oftentimes just the name on the jersey brings out the best in our opponent.

When a school comes into town, rivalry or not, it’s the biggest game on your schedule.

For the past seven seasons, North Idaho College has felt that target on its back in the Northwest Athletic Conference.

Tonight, for the first time since the 2015-16 season, the Cardinals tip off and play in the NJCAA Scenic West Athletic Conference.

“The teams are going to be bigger, faster and stronger,” NIC men’s basketball coach Corey Symons said. “I think we’ll compete and be just as good as anybody in our league. But, it’s a different role for us where we were the top dog in the NWAC and everyone was chasing us. Now, we’re probably not the top dog in Region 18, and we’re doing the chasing.”

NIC's men (12-4) open at home against Snow College of Ephraim, Utah, the 10th-ranked team in the NJCAA, tonight at 7 at Rolly Williams Court. NIC played in the Scenic West for 47 years before moving to the more regionally-based Northwest Athletic Conference due to financial reasons.

“Snow has some really high IQ kids,” said Symons, in his 10th season as head coach and 20th coaching at the school. “They get a lot of LDS missionaries that are a little older and know how to play the game. They’re the type of team that’s not going to beat themselves. They’re going to make the right plays, the right reads and right passes. They’re just not going to make too many mistakes.”

NIC concludes the first weekend of conference play by hosting fifth-ranked Salt Lake Community College on Saturday at 3 p.m. 

Both Salt Lake and Snow are 15-1. NIC is unranked. Salt Lake opens league play tonight against the College of Southern Idaho (11-5) in Twin Falls.

“They’re both really good,” Symons said of this week's two foes. “Salt Lake, they’ve got 11 Division I kickbacks that have played at that level. They’re athletic and play more up-tempo. It’s going to be two different styles that we’re facing this week.”

NIC announced its departure from the NWAC in late June. The school will transition all other sports to the NJCAA next fall.

“We recruited these guys thinking that we were going to be in the NWAC,” Symons said. “Our league is going to be tough and I’ve told our guys that we’ve got to get better defensively and we’ve got a lot of work to do. We’re the type of team that could beat anybody, and we could lose to anybody as well.”

In the Cardinal men’s final year in the NJCAA in 2016, NIC went 31-2, advancing to the NJCAA Tournament with a team that featured five future Division I players. It was NIC’s first trip to nationals since the 1996-97 season.

“Salt Lake might be the team to beat,” Symons said. “But they’re beatable. From 1 to 6, all those spots could go either way. It wouldn’t surprise me if we finished in the top two, or somewhere else in the top six. That’s how good our league is.”

WOMEN: The new conference might be a change of pace for second-year NIC women’s coach Nathan Covill, but then again, his team hasn’t played at home since Nov. 19 against Elite Prep of Issaquah, Wash.

NIC (7-8), which opens vs. Snow tonight at 5, hasn’t played a game since Dec. 20 against Lethbridge in a tournament in Las Vegas.

“Since we got back to practice from break, we’ve had five practices,” Covill said. “We’re excited that we’re a little healthier than we’ve been. We’ve been on the road for over 30 days and missed 15 days of school, but I think we’re in a good spot right now. I’m happy with how we handled things and we finished with a 3.0 GPA as a team for the fall semester. Now, we’ve got to get ready to play some big time games.”

Snow is 10-6, but has lost three straight games.

“They’re a good team and they’ve had some big wins this season,” Covill said. “We’ve been working on getting better defensively, and I’ve been pleased with our progress.”

NIC was scheduled to play Dec. 30, but that game was canceled.

We had 11 days off, which is longer than most kids get,” Covill said. “We’d been on the road so much that we just needed to get away for a few days. We know Snow will be competitive, but if we can improve defensively, we should see some better results in our shooting percentage, rebounding and turnovers.”

Salt Lake is 12-4, and holds wins over Northwest of Powell, Wyo. and Western Wyoming of Rock Springs, Wyo., in nonconference play. Salt Lake opens league play at No. 17 CSI (16-3) tonight.

NIC lost both matchups against Northwest and split games with Western Wyoming.

    NORTH IDAHO COLLEGE ATHLETICS North Idaho College women's basketball coach Nathan Covill talks to his team during a 2023 game against Big Bend at Rolly Williams Court.