JOPLIN, Mo. — Dillon Bycroft admits he’s never been the best basketball player.
Nor biggest.
Nor the fastest.
Nor the most talented.
But the 2021 graduate from Iola has enjoyed quite the career competing at the collegiate level.
How often can a basketball player from Southeast Kansas say he played against Division I, Division II, NAIA and Christian College teams during his career?
For Dillon, a 6-foot senior guard and the son of Luke and Stephanie Bycroft, it’s been an enjoyable four-year experience.
“I’ve never been the leading scorer, the best player, or the most athletic, all I wanted to do was the little things right, earn the opportunity to play and make the most of the opportunity allowed,” said Bycroft, a sports and recreation management major.
Bycroft is enjoying his final games of his senior year at Ozark Christian College. The Ambassadors will play their final two regular-season home games this weekend hosting Central Christian College of the Bible from Moberly, Mo., at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday against No. 2 ranked Champion Christian College from Hot Springs, Ark. Both games will be played on the campus of Missouri Southern State University’s Leggett and Platt Athletic Center.
The Ambassadors are 16-6 overall on the season and 10-1 in the Midwest Christian College Conference.
The Road to OCC
Ozark Christian College, a member of the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) and a part of the Midwest Christian College Conference, has a campus tucked quietly on North Main in Joplin. Often overshadowed by NCAA Division II member Missouri Southern across town, OCC’s enrollment is less than 1,000 students.
Bycroft found his way here by following in his father’s footsteps as an OCC alumni.
“After my dad graduated high school, a few years later he ended up coming to play at OCC for two years,” Bycroft said. “Then I started attending summer camps every summer here as a kid and all the way through high school.
“So I’m a Camp Kid so to speak.”
Luke Bycroft is in his eighth year as the head coach at Iola High School and preacher at Fellowship Regional Church in Iola. Dillon played basketball as young boy and through high school.
“A lot of my game comes from how I was coached as a little kid through high school by my dad. We worked on the little things every day, jump stops, every day, we made sure things were done right, passes had to be crisp, or we were running,” Bycroft said.
As a freshman in the fall of 2021, Bycroft immediately noticed the difference from Southeast Kansas high school basketball to that of the NCCAA level.
“The size, the speed, the athleticism. Basketball is basketball, that part remains the same, but the speed of the athletes, their size and how fast they can move, the athleticism, it can humble you quickly,” Bycroft said. “My first semester here, you look around and you see all these guys playing and I wasn’t getting many minutes, then at Christmas break, three or four guys leave and you have to ask yourself if you’re in the right place and if this is really for you.
“Then my minutes increased the second semester. Sophomore year, same thing, not many minutes early in the season, guys leave, second semester comes around, an injury or two and the next thing you know I start some games.
“Then my junior year, starting role and again this year. Patience, sticking with it, hard work and knowing your role have been important.”
