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Who is Champion Baptist College and why are D-I programs scheduling them?

champion baptist college

(Champion Baptist College)

Southern University set a new NCAA record for largest lead before an opponent scores at the start of the game on Monday night as the Jaguars jumped out to a 44-0 lead on Champion Baptist College on their way to a 116-12 win.

The previous record against a non-Division I opponent was set by Seton Hall against Kean College on November 29, 1998. The Pirates jumped out to a 34-0 lead against Kean, but on Monday, Southern shattered that record by 10 points, even though they’re a lowly 4-9 with one win against a Division I opponent.

Which begs the question: Why is a Southern team coming off of a NCAA Tournament bid scheduling a late December game against a team that can’t even score against them?

Why waste everyone’s time by playing this game in the first place?

It’s not as if Southern is even as bad as their record would indicate. The Jaguars have respectable losses by single digits at Marquette (seven points), at Middle Tennessee (three points) and against Tulane (three points) and they’ve also taken Summit League contender Denver to overtime and lost to national title contender Florida by 14.

So, again, why is Southern scheduling Champion Baptist College?

How does playing a team that’s lost by an average of 59 points in its three losses against Division I teams -- that are a combined 5-20 against Division I opponents -- going to make Southern a better basketball team?

How is it beneficial -- or even fun? -- when three of your players each outscore an entire team?

Champion Baptist College -- located in Hot Springs, Arkansas -- is an unaccredited four-year Christian vocational college associated with Gospel Light Baptist Church. The Tigers are an independent member of the Association of Christian College Athletics.

Champion Baptist College doesn’t have a Wikipedia page and the school’s website was down when I tried to access it tonight for information on this article because it probably crashed due to the curiosity associated with this joke of a basketball game. The Champion Baptist College basketball team doesn’t have a player over 6-foot-4.

So why is Southern University -- or any other Division I program -- playing a team like this?

I know it’s easy to point and laugh at Champion Baptist College for losing by 104 points to 4-9 Southern, but the Jaguars and head coach Roman Banks are the ones that should feel ashamed. A game this lopsided isn’t in the spirit of competition and a game like this isn’t making anyone a better basketball player.

In fact, it’s a giant waste of time.

Southern University may have entered the NCAA record books on Monday night, but they did it in a disgraceful way against an opponent it shouldn’t have been playing in the first place.

Follow @phillipshoops