Colonels

Nicholls State Colonels
General Information
NCAA Division: Division I
Conference: Southland Conference
Past Conferences: Gulf Star Conference, Trans America Athletic Conference, Gulf States Conference
City: Thibodaux, Louisiana
Arena: Stopher Gymnasium
NCAA Tournaments: 2 (1995, 1998)
Championships
National Championships: 0
Conference Titles: 7 (1976, 1979, 1995, 1998, 2018, 2021, 2022)
Team History
Nicholls State University was founded in 1948 and it took 10 years to get a basketball program going, as the team first played in the 1958-59 season. The Colonels played as an independent program at the beginning and joined the Gulf States Conference for the 1965-66 season. When the GSC disbanded, the Colonels returned to the independent ranks before joining the Gulf South Conference for the 1972-73 season, winning the conference title in 1976 and 1979. The Colonels played in the NCAA Division II Tournament both those years.
Nicholls State bounced around a little bit between playing as an independent or in a minor conference before finally settling on the Southland Conference beginning with the 1991-92 season. The Colonels were a solid team from the start, going 12-6 in conference play the first season and in 1994-95 the team went 17-1 in Southland play. Nicholls State won the conference tournament and its first trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Nicholls State won the Southland Conference tournament again in 1998, after going 15-1 in conference play and earned another trip to the NCAA Tournament. Despite the Colonels posting 20 or more wins on several occasions, they did not appear in the postseason again until receiving an NIT bid in 2022.
Nicholls State Colonels All-Time Records
Points Scored
Larry Wilson, 2,569
Reggie Jackson, 2,124
Anatoly Bose, 2,050
Rebounds
Reggie Jackson, 1,271
Cleveland Hill, 1,174
Richard Polk, 1,161
Assists
Sonny Charpentier, 734
Ray Washington, 526
Chuck Taylor, 450