More Than Just Current Personnel Feel the Victory
When a team reaches the NCAA Tournament for the first time, a lot often comes with it. There’s a feeling that history has been made, in some cases a feeling of relief at finally making it, and a feeling of newness to the experience. Oftentimes, there is also something else noticeable: more people than just the players and coaches feel like they’ve won something.
It’s not uncommon in sports for a team that has never won a championship or had a long drought to feel like they haven’t just won for themselves. When the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 for the first time in 86 years, there were many sentiments from members of the team and front office about winning it for all the players and managers during those 86 years who had the agonizing close calls. It was one more thing that made winning it all feel good for those who did it.
With college sports, this is more natural considering how much of a tie people often feel to their alma mater. For those who get into coaching, their alma mater holds a certain appeal that other schools don’t, and can’t possibly hold. For others, their alma mater is a source of pride and a place they support, some in large ways and some in small ones. Oftentimes, this pride is very visible when a program is en route to the NCAA Tournament.
After American University won its first Patriot League Tournament to get its first bid to the NCAA Tournament, head coach Jeff Jones said he was “happy for a lot of people”. He later went on to mention some of the alumni who were present for the game, from current Radford head coach Brad Greenberg to Wilbur Thomas and Billy Stone and NBA insider David Aldridge.
“They’ve waited so long and endured a lot of disappointments, so it’s great to know that they can watch on Sunday and feel a special sense of pride that AU, for the first time, is going to be included,” said Jones.
Players are often aware of the history as well, no matter how much a coach tries to hide it. With the plethora of information that is now available, players know what’s going on and hear things about a team having never been to the NCAA Tournament or not having been to it in many years. They try to block it out, because it’s not their sole motivator, but it is there.
“I was definitely thinking about that a lot, just for the fact that people kept bringing it up to me and it was hard to get away from those facts about the program,” said American junior guard Garrison Carr of the school having never been to the tournament before now. “Sometimes, I would think about it a lot, like, I wouldn’t want that to happen to my team.”
A day later and just a little up the road, another first time entry became official when UMBC won its first America East title to gain its first bid to the NCAA Tournament. The program has been a bit nomadic during its 22 years in Division I, as America East is the fourth conference it has been a member of. As such, it was special for extra reasons besides just the normal reason of being a winning team.
In their case, head coach Randy Monroe has been at the school for much of its Division I tenure. Prior to becoming the head coach four years ago, he was an assistant at the school for ten years. He was there when they went to the Northeast Conference and at times had the personnel to contend but fell short. Then at the end of their first season in America East, he became the head coach. When he finally brought them to the NCAA Tournament, there was more than just his present group of players that felt it.
“When you reflect back and look at a lot of the players who have come through UMBC, and how you’ve been a part of a lot of players’ lives and now those players are here today to help you celebrate a very special moment, that says a lot to me right there,” Monroe reflected. “For them to want to come back and be a part of this, that’s just phenomenal. It’s something that they’re going to cherish for a long time.
“Some of the players that I haven’t met before that played here came up and said, ‘Thanks, we’ve waited 40 years for this’. That makes you feel good inside because there’s a sense of accomplishment with former players being really proud of UMBC.”
Those former players won’t help them try to knock off Georgetown, and likewise with American’s former players when the Eagles take on Tennessee. But in each case, as with others who break a long drought or go to the NCAA Tournament for the first time, the victory wasn’t just felt by those who were on the court when the final buzzer sounded.
