Golden Moment
August 30, 2005 02:47 PM | General
August 30, 2005
STREAMING AUDIO
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A once in a lifetime experience for West Virginia’s Mike Gansey got even better when that gold medal was placed around his neck. The guard was a member of USA Basketball’s gold-medal winning team that defeated Ukraine 85-70 in the championship game of the World University Games played in Izmir, Turkey, on Aug. 21.
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| Mike Gansey shows off his gold medal Monday afternoon inside the WVU Coliseum.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Gansey is believed to be the first WVU men’s basketball player to be a member of a gold-medal winning team in international competition since Jerry West played for the U.S. team that captured the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.
“This is a great experience going over there and playing with the best guys in college,” Gansey told a gathering of media, teammates and athletic department members Monday afternoon in the Jerry West Room.
West Virginia University coach John Beilein introduced Gansey by telling everyone that he is immensely proud of what his senior has accomplished.
“You gave up part of the months of June and July when you ran the hills of Morgantown to get ready to compete against the best college players in America for one of just 12 spots,” Beilein said. “Then you gave up the month of August to go over and eat some of the finest cooking you’ve ever eaten over in Turkey away from American food.
“But at the same time you’re back a week late for classes and I have no doubt that you will pick up where you’ve left off. We congratulate you, we thank you for representing West Virginia so well, and we’re very, very happy for what you have accomplished.”
Jay Wright of Villanova coached the team along with VCU head coach Jeff Capel and Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez.
Gansey and Stanford’s Chris Hernandez were the team’s top two subs on a team comprised of the nation’s top college players. Other Big East players on the team included Syracuse’s Gerry McNamara and Villanova’s Randy Foye.
“The championship game I didn’t play as much as I wanted to but me and Chris Hernandez were the first two guys off the bench for all of the games,” Gansey said. “It just so happened that the Germany game I played the most of any game over there (30 minutes). I don’t know if it was because I was playing against Joe (Herber) but it was kind of neat playing against him a lot.”
Gansey was impressed with the way his Mountaineer teammate played in the tournament and believes Germany and Ukraine were the two toughest teams they faced.
“(Joe) was one of their better players. He played a lot,” Gansey said. “I was talking to him over there and he said he didn’t shoot as well as he hoped but he said he had a lot of fun.” |277|
According to Gansey, Germany started three 7-footers and he was required to guard one of them.
“Their swing-man was 7 foot and I had to guard him. It was a lot different,” he said. “You catch the ball you’ve got to put it down -- you can’t throw the ball out. We were getting called for a lot of traveling. We’re at the free throw line shooting free throws and their guy is jumping up trying to tip it out.”
Gansey says there were other adjustments, too.
“When you drive to the hoop you’ve got to put your hands up all the time,” he explained. “If you put them any where close or down they’re going to call a foul. There was some adjusting and Coach Wright did real well teaching us in Colorado what to expect. We had international refs the whole time we were in Colorado so that really helped us adjust to the game.”
In addition to getting a gold medal, Gansey believes he was able to leave with a considerable amount of self confidence in his own game after playing and practicing against some of the best college players in the country.
“It just gives me a little more confidence playing against them everyday in practice. It seemed like in practice is where I got the most out of it: Playing against the guys on the team and obviously the games were good too,” he said.
“Heading into my senior year it will help my confidence and not maybe put my head down as much as I did last year,” Gansey noted. “I might be able to help my teammates a little more this year by maybe playing someone that was on my team.”
Gansey’s ability to grab offensive rebounds and create turnovers served a valuable purpose on this year’s team. Wright made it a point to compliment Gansey afterward.
“One night I might score, one night I might rebound; I try to do a little bit of everything,” Gansey said. “Coach Wright said he thought I was one of the best offensive rebounders he’s ever seen. At the foul line I got a lot of offensive rebounds when we were shooting and he was amazed by that. He kind of told me, ‘You do a little bit of everything when I put you in and you don’t complain about not scoring.’ I try and hustle and the points and other things will come.”
Gansey said the team grew close despite only being together for about two weeks from the time it assembled in Colorado until the end of the tournament.
“We practiced twice a day in Colorado and we were together all of the time in Turkey and we always played cards because there was nothing to do down there,” he said. “We sort of had to stick together. For the short time we were together I was surprised how well we got along as a team and that is a credit to Coach Wright.”
Gansey came away from the tournament extremely impressed with Duke’s Sheldon Williams and Boston College’s Craig Smith.
“If they get the ball inside they’re going to score,” he said. “Them playing against the big guys from other countries they just dominated.”
The Olmstead, Ohio, resident says Iowa’s Greg Brunner also left an impression on everyone involved with the team.
“Greg Brunner was the most memorable guy I met,” Gansey said. “He tried so hard on the court that he couldn’t do anything right. As the thing went on he even laughed about it. He was so funny. He’d play cards and could never win a game. I’ll never forget him the way he played and the way he laughed about it. He made all of us laugh a lot.”
Being that the U.S. has historically dominated this event and international basketball play in general, opposing teams were jacked up to face the Americans.
“The first quarter was always close and then by halftime we were up by 15 and then the next thing you know we’re winning by like 30 or 40,” Gansey said. “I think we had 12 guys that no matter who you put in we’d just wear them down. Coach Wright used a pressure defense and we pressured everyone. We caused a lot of turnovers and made a lot of steals.”
Gansey’s most distinct memory of the week-long tournament was receiving his gold medal with all of the other participating teams watching.
“What I’ll remember most is standing up there and waiting to get my gold medal and playing in the championship game with all of the countries there,” he said.
Sometimes Gansey has to pinch himself to make sure this all isn’t a dream. In a span of about nine months he went from being a relatively unknown St. Bonaventure transfer to playing in the Big East tournament finals, advancing to the NCAA tournament Elite Eight and representing his country in the World University Games.
“Playing for this USA team and representing my university has been an unbelievable experience considering where I was at St. Bonaventure coming to West Virginia,” he admitted. “I don’t know if it has hit me yet. I probably won’t hit me until a couple of years from now.
“I’m going to frame my jerseys and 20 years from now when I have kids they’ll be like, ‘Hey, my dad played for the USA team.’ It’s going to be real special.”
