March 18, 2008
AU heads off to the Big Dance for the first time
For more photos of the AU-Colgate Patriot League Tournament Final, click here.
| University Publications’ reporter Mike Unger accompanies the Eagles as they head to the NCAA Tournament, click here for Mike's blog on the AU Eagles in Birmingham. |
Minutes into CBS’s NCAA Tournament selection show Sunday, generations of AU fans were treated to a sight they’ve waited their whole lives to see: American University’s name in one of the tournament’s brackets.
The players, students, faculty, staff, alumni, and fans gathered at the Mary Graydon Center to watch the unveiling of the match-ups burst into cheers, just the latest jubilant explosion in a whirlwind week unlike any other in school history.
For the first time ever, when the 65-team tournament—one of the nation’s preeminent sporting events—begins on Tuesday, AU will be a part of it. Just a week after defeating Colgate 52-46 to win the Patriot League Tournament and the accompanying automatic berth to the “Big Dance,” AU will face powerhouse Tennessee in a first round game Friday in Birmingham, Alabama.
“It’s great seeing your name up there,” Coach Jeff Jones said after the pairings were revealed. “I think that was the first thing that went through our minds. The second thing is Tennessee’s pretty daggum good. We’ll have to get some film and start studying up, and figure out a game plan. Friday was a great atmosphere, and that was a great feeling, and today you can feel the excitement here. It’s not something we’re used to at American, but it sure is an awfully good feeling. We’d like to get used to it.”
Prior to last week, heartbreak was the prevailing emotion associated with AU men’s basketball in recent years. Three times in his previous seven years as head coach, Jones’s Eagles reached the conference championship game, only to fall short. This year’s team, with one senior starter, wasn’t expected to be the one to snap the dry spell.
“This group really came together as a team,” Jones said. “Basketball Times picked us last; the preseason poll picked us fifth. We really had no idea what to expect, but these guys came in, they worked hard, they were just excited about having the chance to play basketball, and they really gelled as a team.”
A December upset over Maryland began making believers out of people, but it wasn’t until the middle of conference play several weeks later that the Eagles began consistently winning.
“After the Maryland game, you could tell something was happening,” said senior Travis Lay. “We started making plays at the end of games. That win gave us a lot of confidence.”
As regular season champs, AU earned the right to host the league tournament. After wins over Holy Cross and Army, only Colgate stood in the way of history.
In a hard fought but not always pretty game televised nationally on ESPN2, the Eagles and the Raiders scrapped and battled until the very end. Neither team established much of a lead until hustle plays and key free throws in the final minutes by Brian Gilmore and Derrick Mercer, who struggled shooting the ball, sewed up the title for AU. When the final buzzer sounded, fans stormed onto the court for a raucous celebration decades in the making. Few among the sellout crowd of 3,044 left, many watching with watery eyes as the players cut down the nets and hoisted the Patriot League trophy.
“I really can’t describe my emotions,” Jones said in the frenetic moments right after the game. “I’m going to have to go home and read the dictionary and the thesaurus to come up with the right words. AU gave me the opportunity to coach again, and I’m very, very grateful for having that opportunity, and hopefully this is a little payback.”
Suddenly, AU was thrust into the national media spotlight. CBS showed Sunday’s party on its national broadcast, and reporters from the New York Times, USAToday, and Washington Post have become regulars on campus.
“It’s a great rallying cry for all of us,” Athletic Director Keith Gill said. “It’s a great foundation for us to get our message out about how great our teams are. We have a lot of teams that have won conference championships, this will give us the platform to tell that story and let people know what a great place this is.”
AU President Neil Kerwin expects the increased exposure will have a ripple effect throughout the university.
“You always speculate on those second and third level effects,” he said. “It’s another way to put the institution’s name in front of high school seniors. It’s got to energize the alumni and get them more involved in the institution. I’m expecting that this thing will resonate for months no matter what happens in Birmingham, and a lot can happen in Birmingham.”
AU will be heavy underdogs when they take on the Southeastern Conference regular season champion Volunteers, but each year’s tournament inevitably features logic-defying upsets and a Cinderella or two that capture the nation’s hearts. Why not AU?
“Why not us?” Lay said. “This whole experience has been surreal. We’ll do everything we can to try and prepare and hopefully take advantage of this opportunity and keep our season going.”
The AU community is hoping the madness of this March continues on Friday. Everyone’s having way too much fun for it to end.
