Can It Happen Again?
BY LEW FREEDMAN
Basketball Times Online
CHICAGO – It was mid-December at the Gentile Center on the Loyola campus and it could have been throwback night.
The opponents were the host Ramblers against the visiting San Francisco Dons.
In 1955 and 1956, featuring a couple of future Boston Celtic Hall of Famers named Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, San Francisco won back-to-back NCAA titles.
In 1963, featuring All-American guard Jerry Harkness, Loyola won the NCAA title.
Mounted on the wall in one corner of the gym is a large yellow banner with maroon trim reminding fans of the Ramblers’ accomplishment 46 years ago.
Can it happen again?
Loyola vs. San Francisco, two basketball schools with glorious pasts, still compete in college basketball, but are never mentioned in the weekly AP rankings or when NCAA tournament selections are made.
When San Francisco and Loyola were at the height of their games, there was no such thing as a school being labeled “mid-major.” There was the university division for large schools and the college division for small schools. Now there is NCAA Division I, II and III.
The word was coined in recognition that there are subtleties within the Division I classification. There can still be haves and have-nots in Division I. There can be have-a-lots with 20,000-seat gyms, many assistant coaches, and first-class travel. Within Division I there are also teams that play in gyms that seat less than 5,000, have coaches who do laundry on the road and that always travel by bus.
Over the years, in the realm of perception, colleges even with glorious histories have been defined more by the league they play in rather than the teams they field. Teams that play in the Big East, the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12 are supposedly superior because of the company they keep. Other teams, such as San Francisco of the West Coast Conference and Loyola of the Horizon League, are supposedly inferior because of the company they keep.
The counter to that impression, breaking out of the box, is to become a powerhouse within a conference and then show up teams from the so-called major conferences in head-to-head meetings, time after time, year after year. This demonstrates that basketball is not all about resources and image. It counts what you do on the court.
If the National Football League thrives on the image that “on any given Sunday” any team can defeat another, college basketball is not far behind. The concept of the upset has been shaken, not stirred. No one expects any team to go 35-0 anymore, so it is a matter of time before the No. 1 ranked team in the land is beaten.
It only takes five to play basketball, making it much easier to find good players than in football, where 22 starters are needed.
A few years ago, at the end of the 2006 season, George Mason of the Colonial Athletic Association reached the Final Four. Cinderella in tennis shoes was what some called the Patriots. It was an accomplishment for all of the little guys, for all of the so-called mid-majors.
George Mason advanced no farther, but the team broke a barrier and every school of comparable status and comparable goals, took notice and analyzed what it takes for a lesser heralded school to make that type of run and even go all of the way.
Can it happen again?
“We always talk about George Mason,” said Dons Coach Rex Walters. “They were really close. You’ve got to have three pros. I’m talking about NBA guys. The money’s changed it all. TV has changed it all. Schools want to be there (near the top).”
Although George Mason made the breakthrough into the Final Four, the mid-major role model, a team that wins its conference title just about every year and is frequently ranked in the top 10, is Gonzaga. The Spokane-based Bulldogs have won more than 20 games so frequently they are now viewed as a perpetual power. Perception.
“Gonzaga is not a mid-major,” said Walters, whose team resides in the same WCC as the Zags. “They are a major in almost every way.”
Under coaches Dan Fitzgerald, Dan Monsonand and Mark Few, Gonzaga muscled its way into contention and has staked out a permanent spot on the college basketball map. The Bulldogs will be chosen for their 12th straight NCAA tournament appearance this season after winning the last 10 straight WCC regular-season titles.
Gonzaga has earned its place at the top and inspired other schools to think big, hire more experienced coaches and make basketball the centerpiece of their athletic programs.
Other schools, such as Xavier, Northern Iowa, and Butler, have injected themselves into the discussion as players in the NCAA tournament each year, gaining respect that exceeds how highly their leagues are viewed. Northern Iowa is 28-4 and Butler, which has won a nation-leading 20 games in a row, is 28-4.
Can it happen again?
Bulldog sophomore forward Gordon Hayward, the Horizon League’s player of the year, said that when Coach Brad Stevens gathered the players in pre-season to talk about the year, goals were enumerated.
“Win the league and win the whole thing,” Hayward said.
Win the whole thing? As in the NCAA title? The national championship?
“It’s our goal to win the whole thing,” Hayward repeated.
That doesn’t sound like mid-major talk – or planning.
Can it happen again?
Loyola Coach Jim Whitesell, who looks at that banner in his home gym all winter long, is a believer.
“I think so,” Whitesell said. “All you need is five players. You need an experienced team. You need a special team, maybe a once-in-a-lifetime team, but it can happen.”
His words were echoed by Horizon League Commissioner Jonathan LeCrone, who on a tour of the league, gazed upon that 1963 banner, too.
“It’s not a pipe dream,” LeCrone said. “You have to have a special team.”
And what special team does his league spotlight this year? Butler. A team that disdains the description mid-major and isn’t shy about its aspirations.
Is there another George Mason lurking this March? Maybe. Is there a Loyola or San Francisco of a half-century ago waiting for its puncher’s chance, a team of destiny that can capture the NCAA title? Maybe.
Can it happen again?
Lew Freedman is a Chicago-based contributor to Basketball Times Online and the author of 45 books.
Photo Credits:
www.gomason.com
www.butlersports.com
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