Thursday, November 10, 2005

Riley Didion had no idea he'd be playing Division I basketball again, let alone in the Atlantic Sun Conference.

After transferring from Jacksonville University following the 2003-04 season, Didion settled in at the University of North Florida. He seemed content with being a role player on the Division II team.

But in the year since UNF decided to make the long-awaited move to Division I, Didion has served as a go-to guy for his teammates.

He's the only Osprey with Division I playing experience, and the senior has tried to convey to his teammates the challenges of facing top competition on a daily basis.

"A lot of the things that we could get away with before [in Division II], we'd lose games because of," said Didion, who's expected to play more shooting guard this season. "Everyone has a lot of good guys."

By ALEX ABRAMS, The Times-Union