Erskine College has the biggest roster in college basketball. The Flying Feet lists a whopping 54 players on the team even though only five players can be on the court at one time.
Yes, you read that correctly.
I have so many questions about this unique college basketball arrangement. I know it is not that uncommon on the lower levels of the sport but I do not understand how it works in terms of logistics.
What is Erskine College?
Erskine College was founded by the Presbyterian Church in 1893. The 186-year-old institution was initially founded as an academy for men and a seminary, named after Ebenezer Erskine— a prominent figure within the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. It later became the first four-year, church-related college in the state of South Carolina. The campus sits on 90 acres in a town called Due West.
Erskine allowed women in 1894 and became coeducational in 1899. Today, it enrolls approximately 1,000 students with approximately 100 academic staffers.
The Flying Feet, as its athletic programs are known, competes on the Division II level of NCAA competition. It is a member of the Conference Carolinas, which also includes schools like Chowan, Belmont Abbey, Mount Olive, North Greenville, Ferrum and Southern Wesleyan.
Men’s sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, soccer, track and field, and (Division I) volleyball. Women’s sports include basketball, beach volleyball, cheerleading, cross country, dance, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, and volleyball.
You get the idea. Erskine is a small, super religious college in South Carolina. It has sports.
There are 54 players on the college basketball team.
The Flying Feet are not very good. The men’s college basketball program has not finished above .500 since 2019. It went 4-24 in 2021-22 and 0-28 in 2022-23.
2023-24 and 2024-25 were not much better. Erskine is off to an 0-7 start in 2025-26 with losses to Anderson, Newberry, Paine, Wofford, Lander, USC Aiken, Emmanuel and Ferrum. There is a lot of time to turn things around but it’s not looking great.
Mark Peeler might want to experiment with different lineups until he finds one that works. It’s not like he has a shortage of players.
In fact, the Flying Fleet men’s basketball roster lists a whopping 54 players (!!) on the team. Basketball. Not baseball! That’s almost 11 different lineups for a sport that has only five players on the court at one time.
It is not that unusual for D2, D3 and NAIA schools to have way too many athletes on the team. New Mexico Highlands has 45, Friends has 38, Franklin Pierce has 33, Morningside has 31 and Eureka has 29. Erskine has the most by nine.
As far as I can tell, based on the size of the bench, not ever player on the team gets to travel.
So what’s the point?
Erskine is able to offer a small scholarship to the basketball players, who in turn pay more than $30k per year in tuition. The athletes — who surely must know what they are getting into — are able to say they played Division-II basketball. The university gets more money. It’s a twisted win-win situation.