Tony's Take
March 29, 2005 12:46 PM | General
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
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We were whizzing through the sky at 34,000 feet on an Easter Sunday. The destination was Clarksburg, W.Va.
Despite being so high in the sky you can still get a great look at the snow capped mountains down below. Just another visual reminder for me of three week’s worth of memories compliments of the Mountaineer basketball team -- memories that will forever be etched into the minds of anyone ever associated with West Virginia University.
So much has happened in a span of 26 days that it’s almost impossible to properly put it into context. The official record will show that the Mountaineers lost three games during the month of March 2005. The truth is the Mountaineers never lost once.
The reality is that the Mountaineer basketball program experienced a genesis that defies the universal rules that exist in the world of major college basketball.
Just in case a refresher course is needed, let’s take a quick look back. In April of 2002, John Beilein inherited a team that made the Bad News Bears look like the 1927 Yankees.
Instead of moaning and complaining he jumped in head-first with an attitude that would make Dale Carnegie proud. Lemons were no longer lemons: they became lemonade. The genesis had begun, but it was a quiet thing, only those inside the program could tell something special was beginning to happen.
Three years later in March 2005, the Mountaineers little ‘inside secret’ was exposed to a nation of college basketball fans and even non-fans who just love a great story of how hard work and doing the right thing leads to success. The Mountaineers became more than a good sports story. They became a modern day version of Hoosiers.
When the entire Mountaineer team boarded the Madison Square Garden freight elevator on Wednesday, March 9th they were a bit dazed. They had spent more than 12 hours traveling from West Virginia to New York City and now less than 12 hours later were getting ready to play a game that would determine its NCAA fate.
Little did we know that the incredible shooting, precision passing, and stifling defense used that afternoon against Providence was only the beginning of a tournament run that even a fiction writer would have a hard time believing.
Less than 24 hours after earning just the second Big East tournament win in school history WVU took the Garden floor against a Boston College team that had earlier in the season stole the Mountaineers’ lunch money and then used the cash to buy cookies and eat them on the Coliseum floor.
No chance said the court pundits -- you got one and now your done. Head back home and you might sneak in on the bubble come Sunday, but hey thanks for coming. Unfortunately someone forget to get the message to the Mountaineers. Instead they were operating on the message that John Beilein had preached to them during the regular season. After several tough losses in a tough January stretch, the lemonade maker would say, "It’s okay I’ll take this loss, if it will make us better in March, it just might give us the lesson that will help us beat a Boston College in the second round of the tournament."
I couldn’t help remembering prophet John’s comment when the Mountaineers grabbed hold of the Eagles throat that Thursday afternoon in what became BC’s last ever Big East contest. With total disregard to Audubon rules and regulations the Mountaineers made the Eagles extinct.
Walking through the bowels of the Garden heading back to the WVU locker room shortly after his press conference, prophet John informs me not to even think about beating Villanova the next day. “Don’t even think about it, no shot.” Even a prophet has an off day, but the truth is the prophet knew his team had a shot; he just didn’t want anyone else besides them to know.
Warming up that semifinal Friday was special; the Mountaineers have never seen Friday night at this classic event. Watching the Wildcats warm up did nothing to give reason that the Mountaineers had a shot. This was THAT team that had beaten the Mountaineers so badly on January 5th that the entire team went into a catatonic funk that lasted precisely one month.
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| Coach John Beilein and his basketball team have given us three weeks worth of memories that will be permanently etched on our minds.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
November and December’s 10-0 romp and entry into the top 25 became a distant memory. WVU had endured the worst loss by a rated team to an unranked team in the history of the polls. The weather was cold outside and the Mountaineers had become frozen inside and out.
January’s lack of success actually became the most important part of the season. Beilein and his staff refused to allow this team to buckle under the enormous weight of a top-heavy Big East schedule. Instead of ripping rears, the coach and his staff were shaking hands, patting backs, and cajoling the players into believing that all was not lost provided they just stayed the course.
Saturday night January 29th the Mountaineers regained their early season swagger with a hard fought win at Providence. The funk of the Villanova loss was formally exorcised seven days later when they shocked Pitt in an overtime classic at the Coliseum. The Mountaineers were back.
Down by 10 points in the opening half against the Wildcats you got that queasy feeling last felt during that January visit to the Pavilion. But, the Mountaineers refused to flinch … a three here, a three there, here a three, there a three, everywhere a three, three.
When the whistle blew and froze the clock with two-tenths of a second to play sold-out Madison Square Garden stood up: Literally. It will forever be etched in my memory. In the same arena that Ali and Frazier had slugged it out, the Mountaineers and Wildcats had staged an epic battle. With two-tenths of a second to play, Mike Gansey headed to the free-throw line to deliver the knock-out punch to a group of Wildcats that were as dazed and confused as Ali was when he fell to Frazier in their first encounter.
Saturday night was special for a bunch of different reasons. The pomp and ceremony that precedes the title game is wonderful. The smallest little girl with the biggest voice I’ve ever heard sang the national anthem so well fans were applauding at the half-way point.
On the court that night WVU’s gas tank ran empty, but a discovery was made that would allow the Mountaineers to make their elite run. Trailing by 18 points, the call was made to try a unique version of the team’s calling card 1-3-1 zone. Before you could say Times Square, the 18-point lead was a five-point lead. Syracuse may have had more points after 40 minutes, but WVU had discovered the special weapon it would need to make history.
Just five days later the Mountaineers used that weapon and bagged a group of Bluejays. Tyrone Sally, the lone remaining scholarship player from the 8-20 team, dunked the ball with two ticks left on the clock. He immediately was inducted into the Jarrod-West-Incredible-Mountaineer-Memory Hall of Fame.
Two days later West Virginia used that special weapon again. The result this time was the elimination of the nation’s number one point guard and a team picked by many to win it all and a national implosion of brackets. Oh yeah, some observers concluded that it was one of the great games in the history of the NCAA tournament.
West Virginia’s ‘little secret’ was no longer little or a secret.
Bobby Knight came ripping down the tunnel to the Pit in Albuquerque like Ralphie the Buffalo takes the field in Boulder. Everyone in the sold-out crowd could see him coming, it was a grand entrance befit of a rock star walking on stage to perform. Before settling in for a night’s work he walked directly to mid-court for a lengthy conversation with a guy he’s never coached against. John Beilein said he’ll never forget the compliments the legendary coach gave him and his staff.
Two hours later, Bobby’s K-night was over. It was a classic college basketball game in a classic, storied arena. WVU had reached the Elite Eight, further tightening the collective hug that hoop fans across the country had already applied to the Mountaineers.
Obviously the game of basketball isn’t being played properly. That’s the only way to explain why so many people in New York, Cleveland, and Albuquerque were saying that ‘West Virginia plays the game, the way it’s supposed to be played.’ West Virginia’s ‘way of playing’ has become the program’s calling card. Having a special niche in any type of business is invaluable and the same is true in basketball. Recruiting and television exposure will both improve. In street lingo: “It’s all good.”
In his post-game press conference following the Louisville game, John Beilein said his team won in every possible category except the final score. It may sound like rationalization but it was true.
The Mountaineers had hit a record 18 three-pointers, assisted on 23 of 26 field goals, while shooting 55 percent from the floor and 66 percent from beyond the arc. No one -- not a single person watching that game will forget West Virginia’s performance in the Pit.
Rick Wright of the Albuquerque Journal wrote: “For 40 minutes of regulation and into overtime, until the legs wore out and/or the magic potion wore off, the Mountaineers were beyond amazing.
Shooting? West Virginia was fantastic. But it was more than that, so much more.”
Yes, it was.
The Mountaineers magical March will be forever known as the beginning of the program’s renaissance. It’s tough to say John Beilein and his crew lost anything in the last month when you think about how much has been gained.
