Yesterday division 3 Scranton beat Division 1 Pitt 69-63. We won't be going that in depth about the game, but we would like to take a moment to show what this proves. Around the country division 3 sports are not taken seriously with almost any decent or below average high school player thinking they could go to a division 3 school and dominate, this is just not the case. Division 3 players are far closer to division 1 athletes than the average person is to them. Division 3 players are some of the best players in the country they are in the top 1% of their respective sports.
We only cover Skyline Conference Basketball here as of now, and even here we see division 3 teams really competing against division 1 teams. Farmingdale State College only lost to Stony Brook University by 7 points. SUNY Maritime was only down by 9 points going into the second half against Army. There are many more examples, but this Scranton win should show just how good division 3 is.
I started this company because I believed good players were not being recognized for unbelievably hard work just because they are division 3 athletes. Division 3 athletes get all the down sides of being a college athlete with no added benefits, they don't get scholarships, professors give them a tough time about missing class for games, they miss out on much of the campus social life and there is a serious lack of media coverage. Yet with all this being said they practice every single day often multiple times a day, while still getting their schoolwork done.
Division 3 athletes are the ones who love the game the most because they give up so much just to compete. We need to respect division 3 athletes more, Scranton a school where no girl is eligible for an athletic scholarship just beat a fully funded Pitt program where the majority of players are on scholarship.
So please next time you hear people attacking or disrespecting division 3 sports say something. If you have kids bring them to a division 3 game its good competition and often you can get in for free!
Division 3 sports are worth it! Support them or before we know it, they will be gone and many kids' dreams of competing will go with it.