Conference Carolinas Announces 2022-23 Developmental Championship Slate
GREENVILLE, S.C. – Conference Carolinas is excited to announce the dates of five developmental conference championships to be held during the 2022-23 academic year.
A developmental championship will be held in men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball. The developmental teams will be comprised of student-athletes that have either not competed at the varsity level in 2022-23 or have competed sparingly at the varsity level by the time of the championship.
“This is a unique concept in the NCAA and provides an opportunity for our developmental teams to compete at the conference level,” Commissioner Chris Colvin said. “These one-of-a-kind events allow us to provide more of our student-athletes with a championship experience and enhances the overall competitive experience for this group of student-athletes. We are thrilled to be able to sponsor these championships and hope to hold additional championships in the future.”
Men’s soccer will feature seven institutions competing at two sites in a preliminary round on Monday, Oct. 17 host by King and Mount Olive with the championship final being contested between the two preliminary round winners on Monday, Oct. 24 at 6 p.m. at Barton. The King bracket will include King, Erskine, North Greenville and Converse while the Mount Olive bracket will include Mount Olive, Barton and Belmont Abbey. The men’s preliminary rounds will be 60 minutes in length with two overtimes and penalty kicks, if necessary, with unlimited substitutions. The championship final will be a regulation 90 minutes.
Four women’s soccer programs will compete in the developmental championship this season. The championship will be hosted by North Greenville on Monday, Oct. 24 with the championship final slated for 7 p.m. Erskine and Belmont Abbey will square off first at 1:30 p.m. followed by North Greenville against Barton at 3:15 p.m. The third-place match is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. All of the women’s soccer matches will be 60 minutes in length with two overtimes and penalty kicks, if necessary, with unlimited substitutions
The men’s basketball tournament features 12 teams, 10 institutions, and will compete in two preliminary round sites on Monday, Feb. 6 with a championship game to be held on Monday, Feb. 13. King will host Converse, two teams from Erskine, Southern Wesleyan and Emmanuel in one preliminary round while Barton will host two teams from Belmont Abbey, Chowan, Mount Olive and Francis Marion in the other preliminary round. The games will be full-length (40 min) and feature a random draw tournament. Each team will compete in a minimum of two games in the preliminary round. The winners from each preliminary round will square off at Belmont Abbey on Monday, Feb. 13.
Women’s basketball will compete in its first developmental championship which will feature five institutions, Barton, Belmont Abbey, Erskine, King and Chowan, competing in a single-day tournament hosted by Erskine on Monday, Jan. 30. The games will be full-length (40 min) and feature a random draw tournament. Each team will compete in a minimum of two games with the event scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. with games to begin five minutes after the previous contest.
The baseball championship will also take place over two days with two preliminary sites hosting games on Monday, April 3 with the championship game taking place on Monday, April 17. Erskine will host Emmanuel and King while Belmont Abbey will host Barton and Francis Marion in seven-inning, round-robin formats. The winner of each preliminary round will meet at Francis Marion for a 9-inning championship game at 6 p.m. on April 17.
Conference Carolinas added the concept of developmental championships to its bylaws in 2020, but delayed the implementation of the concept until 2021-22. A minimum of four member institutions must declare interest in order for the championship to be considered. Complete tournament information for each championship can be found at conferencecarolinas.com/championships.