Utah vs. St. Katherine College

This is a fascinating story.

So someone establishes a tiny bible college in San Diego. After three years, enrollment is barely over 100 students. But they want an athletics program. So they find a guy named Scott Mitchell to start up a basketball team.

Mitchell had played some level of professional basketball internationally. But what makes him particularly qualified for this job is he spent the last several years in sales and marketing at yp.com. He buys into the school's vision and takes the job.

St. Katherine College is located at a business park in Encinitas. Since it doesn't have a gym, Coach Mitchell arranged for the school's home games to be played in a local high school. Practices are held after-hours at a Boys & Girls Club ("after-hours" meaning between 10:00p and 1:00a).

Next, Coach Mitchell has to fill out a roster. He finds several kids who have always dreamed of playing college basketball. Then one day he meets a 34-year old man who also dreamed of playing college hoops, but never did. Since the man was technically eligible, Coach Mitchell signed him up. You read that right: St. Katherine's basketball team has a 34-year old freshman player.

And then there's the issue of funding a college basketball program. So Coach Mitchell finds a bunch of Division I and II teams to play. This gives his players an exciting opportunity to play under the lights of major college basketball arenas. It also brings in a paycheck to help pay the bills.

...which brings us to the Utah-St. Katherine game this Saturday at the Huntsman Center:

The St. Katherine Firebirds are led by Dante Miller (12.4ppg/4.2rpg) and Wade Shugrue (13.8ppg). Freshman Dale Austin is their 6'8"/250# big man who averages 12p/8.7r per game. Did I mention Austin is 34-years old?

The Firebirds have already played two D-I schools -- both from Utah: Utah Valley and Weber State. The Wolverines beat 'em, 89-37; and the Wildcats beat 'em, 107-36. This Friday, before they make the trip up to Salt Lake, they'll play San Diego State at Viejas Arena. Kudos to the Firebirds for running this gauntlet. I hope it eventually pays off for them.

But as for the game Saturday, the only question I have is this: Will Utah's margin of victory be greater than or less than St. Katherine's total enrollment (102)?