Dream Come True
March 24, 2005 01:43 PM | General
March 24, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Sometimes Mike Gansey has to pinch himself just to make sure he’s awake and is not dreaming about all the wonderful things that have happened to him during the past two weeks.
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| Mike Gansey enjoys a playful moment while he gets stretched for Wednesday afternoon's practice at The Pit.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Two years ago Gansey was about as low as a player could get, having endured the questions and interrogations that come with being part of a scandal-ridden basketball program at St. Bonaventure. The school had given a scholarship to a player that had earned a welding degree in junior college and the disclosure of that ultimately led to the forfeiture of games and the resignations of its basketball coach, athletic director and school president.
"It was horrible," said Mike's mother Gale Mazella. "Mike lost 20 pounds, he felt horrible and he couldn't understand what was going on."
Gansey, just an innocent bystander to the entire episode, wanted to make a fresh start even though he was leaving a school he liked with many friends still there. He began going through the list of schools he felt would best suit his small-town mentality that was not too far from his family home in Olmsted Falls, Ohio.
The school that best fit the criteria was West Virginia University. It was brand new coach John Beilein that sealed the deal.
“Coming out of St. Bonaventure my parents kind of talked to Coach Beilein and I had two visits set up to West Virginia and New Mexico,” Gansey said Wednesday. “Coming from Bonaventure close to Buffalo I had heard so many great things about Coach Beilein. I visited there and I met Kevin (Pittsnogle) and Tyrone (Sally) -- I knew Tyrone from my sophomore year in high school playing with him in camp. I just met the guys on the team and they were a lot like me and Coach Beilein has been like another father.”
Gansey says the most appealing aspect turned out to be the fact that Beilein was more concerned about him as a person rather than as a basketball player. After all that he had been through at St. Bonaventure, essentially being left out in the dark by the school’s administration and having to fend for himself, Beilein was the one source of comfort Gansey needed in his life.
“He didn’t really care about the basketball: he just wanted me to be a great person, do well in school and I couldn’t resist it. I ended up not visiting New Mexico because I felt very comfortable with Coach Beilein,” Gansey said.
"You have to understand that Mike takes everything to heart and leaving Bonaventure wasn't just something you decide overnight," said his mother. "He was leaving his friends and he was doing very well in school. He was leaving that small-town atmosphere and he was like, 'Okay, where do I even begin?'
"A lot of people up there did not like that Mike left," she added. "He caught some flak where a lot of people called him a trader and asked him how could he leave his team. Mike was like, 'Wait a minute, I did nothing wrong. I've been through three coaches now.' He wanted some stability."
His mother admitted the most depressing episode for Mike was the drive from his home to Morgantown the day after he left St. Bonaventure and said goodbye to all of his friends for the last time.
"It was a miserable trip for him -- he was so confused," she said. "Then we got there and the next day they did an excellent job of recruiting him. They did their homework on him -- they knew his likes and dislikes. As soon as he found out that they had the forensic program and he talked to the professor he was just estatic.
"Mike just said cancel New Mexico and cancel Clemson, I'm not going there," she said.
Two years later, Gansey is really starting to thrive in Beilein’s family oriented, player-first atmosphere.
“To see myself sitting here in the ‘Sweet 16’ it’s awesome. It’s something that is hard to put into words. I would never have dreamed this a couple years ago,” he admitted. “We had to forfeit two games and I didn’t know where I’d be the next year. Then to sit out a year was very, very hard but to be where I’m at right now is amazing.”
Those close to the West Virginia program could tell right away that Gansey was going to be a great help to the team. Beilein first became enamored with Gansey while he was coaching at Richmond, telling his assistants several times that they needed to recruit players like him. And when the opportunity presented itself when Beilein came to West Virginia, the coach jumped at the chance to land a 6-foot-4 player with Gansey’s rare combination of athletic ability, smarts and desire. Because Beilein had time to build the West Virginia program back up to fit his personality that afforded him the chance to have Gansey sit out a year and learn the system at his pace.
Mike admits he would have been completely lost this year if not for sitting out last season.
“We have so many different sets and plays … we have like 200 plays and I still mess up all the time,” Gansey said. “When we get it going and especially when we hit our shots and we start running our offense it’s a lot of fun.”
Gansey says it is hard to top the last couple of weeks. He scored 21 points against Boston College in the second round of the Big East tournament and added a team-best 22 to go with 10 rebounds against Villanova in the quarterfinals.
He contributed 11 in the championship game against Syracuse to earn Big East all-tournament honors. Five days later he scored 13 points in an NCAA tournament first-round game against Creighton and it was his pass that led to Tyrone Sally’s game-winning dunk.
Last Saturday against No. 5 Wake Forest, Gansey simply took over the game in overtime by out-dueling All-American point guard Chris Paul in one of the most memorable games in NCAA tournament history. Gansey scored 19 points in the two overtime periods and finished the contest with 29, matching Paul shot for shot. He scored the team’s first seven points of the second overtime to help the Mountaineers to a lead they never relinquished.
Gansey says it was the team’s performance at the Big East tournament that gave them the confidence needed to perform so well on an even bigger stage.
“I think the Big East tournament was the best thing that could have happened to us,” he said. “It was unfortunate that Tyrone got sick but guys needed to step up. Tyrone is one of our best players and with him out that really hurt us. But Frank Young stepped up, Darris Nichols … that’s just they type of team we are. Every single game all year it’s been a different guy that has stepped up and that’s been very key.”
Making Gansey’s individual performance even more special was the fact that he was able to beat Creighton and Wake Forest in front of friends and family at Cleveland State’s Wolstein Center, just a short drive from his parent’s home. Tonight at The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M., Texas Tech guard Ronald Ross will get to experience the same thing Gansey did last week.
“It was a great feeling having your friends and family there,” Gansey said. “Obviously Texas Tech will probably have more fans than us and my advice for (Ross) is to just enjoy it. I tried to enjoy it. Probably his parents and his best friends will be there. He’ll play his game just like I tried to play my game in Cleveland and I don’t think he’ll have a problem. He’s a great player and he’ll be able to handle it.”
Gansey is also handling the adulation that comes with being the talk of the town in small college city like Morgantown.
While at the barber shop the other day, the nice lady trimming what’s left of my hair proudly made it a point to inform me that she also cuts Mike Gansey’s hair.
“He’s just so nice,” she said. “And he’s so mature – he acts more like a 35-year-old than he does a college student.”
In her wildest dreams Gale Mazella could never have imagined things turning out so well for her son two years ago.
"When Mike was a little boy his whole goal was to get a college scholarship and make it to the NCAAs," she said. "He's done that. He's living his dream."
“Maybe we’re celebrities a little bit being in the ‘Sweet 16’ and it’s very humbling, but at the same time we’re trying to win a game and trying to focus on Texas Tech and trying to move forward,” Gansey said.
If Gansey and his Mountaineer teammates can pull off another upset tonight against No. 24 Texas Tech, they will have indeed moved forward – one step closer to the Final Four.
And if that should happen look out -- especially in a state like West Virginia that cherishes its heroes.
