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Converse University Men’s Basketball
The Converse Valkyries Men’s Basketball team represents Converse University in NCAA Division 2 and competes in Conference Carolinas. The inaugural season of the Converse Valkyries Mens’ basketball program was during the 2021-2022 season, a year after the University officially opened the enrollment of male students during the 2020-2021 school year.
Converse University is located in Spartanburg, South Carolina, where the Men’s Basketball team plays in the Tom and Tracy Hannah Gymnasium, Weisiger Center. They play here along with the Converse University Women’s Basketball team, Women’s Volleyball team, and the Women’s Acrobatics & Tumbling team.
Coaches
The inaugural Converse Men’s Basketball team is coached by head coach Ryan Saunders, assistant coach Austin Greene, and graduate assistant Nate Williams.
Head Coach Ryan Saunders began his career at Barry College where he was the assistant Men’s Basketball Coach from 2007-2015. He held a crucial role in their success as a program during his time in Miami, as he worked primarily with the offense and held on-court coaching duties, as well as other off-court responsibilities such as player development, and recruiting. In the 2009-2010 season Saunders helped coach the Bucs to their first win in the NCAA tournament as well as an appearance in the Sunshine State Conference title game. Saunders was also a point guard on the Barry Men’s Basketball Team from 2003-2007 and led the Buccaneers to their first-ever Sunshine State Conference Regular season championship and appearances in two Division 2 tournaments.
Saunders was also an assistant coach at Belmont Abbey College in Charlotte, NC. During his coaching career at Belmont Abbey (2015-2020), Coach Saunders helped the Crusaders to earn a #20 national ranking in the 2019-2020 season as well as back to back 20 win seasons in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.
Coach Austin Greene, and Nate Williams both were part of the Emmanuel Men's Basketball program as players from 2015-2019. Austin Greene spent the 2019-2020 season as a grad assistant for the University of Arizona Women’s basketball team and Williams as an assistant coach at Division 3 Pitt-Bradford. Coach Greene is also heavily involved with Point Guard College where he now serves as a director for their summer basketball camps. From 2016-2019, he was a basketball instructor for PGC where he helped develop middle and high school athletes in accordance with program curriculum.
No stranger to Conference Carolinas, Greene was a four-year starter and captain for Emmanuel College from 2015-2019. The Lions were able to capture the NCCAA National Championship in 2016, 2018 and 2019, Emmanuel's first year of Division II eligibility, the Lions won the Conference Carolinas Championship. Greene earned Second Team All-Conference recognition in 2019 and was named to the Conference Carolina's Academic All-Conference Team three times. Greene graduated from Emmanuel in 2019 with a degree in Business Administration. He is set to receive a Master's in Educational Leadership from the University of Arizona in December 2021.
2021-2022 Roster
| Name | Class | Height | From | Number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bailey Wiseman | Freshman | 6'3 | Charleston, SC | 1 |
| Jedaiah Alexander | R-Freshman | 6'5 | London, England | 0 |
| Elijah Pitts | Freshman | 6'5 | Gainesville, GA | 2 |
| Jimmie Sanders | R-Junior | 5'6 | Dallas, TX | 3 |
| Jay Mitchell | Freshman | 6'2 | Clemmons, NC | 4 |
| Wes Morgan | Senior | 6'6 | Charlotte, NC | 5 |
| Xavion Bennett | Freshman | 6'5 | Goose Creek, SC | 10 |
| Sigurd Lorange | R-Sophomore | 5'11 | Trondheim, Norway | 11 |
| Will Searl | Freshman | 6'3 | Orlando, FL | 12 |
| Cohen Gaskins | Freshman | 6'4 | Charleston, SC | 14 |
| Trent Green | R-Sophomore | 5'10 | Columbia, SC | 15 |
| Earl Burgess III | Freshman | 6'7 | Spartanburg, SC | 21 |
| Jordan Warlick | R-Junior | 6'5 | Columbia, SC | 22 |
| Nate Gordan | Freshman | 6'8 | Alpharetta, GA | 24 |
| Landon Harrington | R-Sophomore | 6'6 | Nine Mile Falls, WA | 34 |
Conference Carolinas
The Converse Valkyries Men’s basketball team is a member of Conference Carolinas, where they compete against 12 other division 2 teams in South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia. Conference Carolinas is the host of 23 different sports, including men’s basketball, which Converse University is participating in for the first time in 2021. The Valkyries will host 12 Conference Carolina games in their 21’-22’ season, and play 24 total Conference games. The 2021-2022 Conference Carolinas Men’s Basketball tournament will be hosted minutes away from Converse University at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium at Wofford College.
The Valkyries also have 2 Division 1 teams on their schedule, both toward the end of December. Converse will first travel to play at Gardner-Webb University on December 17th in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. They will then travel to Rock Hill, South Carolina to take on Winthrop University of the Big South Conference.
2021 Season Awards
After the first week of playing for Converse, Jay Mitchell was named defensive player of the week in Conference Carolinas for the first time in Converse history. In the Valkyries first ever game, the freshman guard recorded a team high four blocks, three rebounds and a steal against Mars Hill University. In the Valkyries second game of the weekend he finished with a team high six rebounds and produced a pair of steals against Wingate. On 11/20/2021 the Converse Valkyries hosted King University in their first ever Conference Carolinas game. Converse trailed by 13 at halftime, but scored 50 second half points and was able to come out on top for their first ever conference win at the Weisiger Center. The week after that, the Valkyries defeated Erskine 94-83 where Freshman, Earl Burgess III was named defensive player of the week for the second time in converse history. Earl finished the game with 10 points, 9 rebounds and 5 blocks against the Flying Fleet. Burgess III currently leads the nation in blocked shots (17) and blocked shots per game (4.25). He was also the first ever player in Converse history to record a double-double with points and rebounds. Soon after Earl received these awards, he was named athlete of the month by East Side Nutrition which is a local restaurant here in Spartanburg.
History
Converse College's doors opened on October, 1, 1890. The college had the belief of being an all women's college to gain women an advantage in education. Converse University brought men into the university for the 2021-22 school year. The school wanted to make this large step for the college because of the changing times in the world. Less than 2% of high school girls still had interest in single gender schools, and then school needed to change to keep people applying to the school. Students at the university were also ready for change because of the belief that a single gender school would not prepare them enough for a co-gender workforce that they would eventually enter.
Along with adding men to the college, Converse also changed the name from Converse College to Converse University in July 2021. Along with adding men to the residential program Conversity University will be adding mens sports team for the 2021-22 season. The mens sports that will be competing consist of basketball, cross country, track and field, soccer, swimming tennis, and coed sports such as esports, and equestrian. Converse women’s teams include Acrobatics & Tumbling, Basketball, Cross Country, Equestrian, Field Hockey, Golf, Lacrosse, Soccer, Softball, Swimming, Tennis, Track & Field, and Volleyball. In 1894 Converse was one of the first progressive colleges in the country to implement women’s sports and activities. Some of the first sports that were introduced were tennis, bowling, gymnastics, and a variety of other activities. 5 years later Converse encouraged the hosting of basketball games for women as well. Beginning in 2021 along with the mens sports being added a co-ed Esports team will be added to Converse’s diverse sports activities. Esports is one of the biggest growing sports at the college level and Converse is excited to add an inaugural team.
Sources
https://conferencecarolinas.com https://gobarrybucs.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/coaches/ryan-saunders/11 https://abbeyathletics.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/coaches/ryan_saunders?view=bio https://govalkyries.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster https://govalkyries.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule https://govalkyries.com/sports/mens-basketball/coaches https://www.converse.edu