The slipper fits latest Cinderella school
Mar 9, 2007 2:22:22 GMT -5
Post by Admin on Mar 9, 2007 2:22:22 GMT -5
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Mike Lopresti
The slipper fits latest Cinderella school
Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service
March 8, 2007
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This is what a Cinderella moment is supposed to look like.
A packed arena, which not long ago sat mostly empty. The students edging forward to rush the floor; the same students whom the basketball coach sent 10 dozen doughnuts to the previous day as they waited hours in line for tickets.
And when it was over, the star guard dancing on the court. The 5-11 senior from Detroit who stayed all four years through bad records and his own doubts, for this very moment - when a Wright State team with a new coach and only 10 players barges into the NCAA Tournament.
"Wright State has a lot of good people," DaShaun Wood would say later. "It's hard to turn your back on good people."
The Raiders, with one previous NCAA Tournament bid in 1993 to their name, won the Horizon League title Tuesday night, and lots of people weren't happy about it.
Bubble teams from West Virginia to Illinois to Drexel, since Butler will be invited anyway, so one of their at-large spots just went poof.
Oh, and some folks back in Michael Jordan's hometown. Not so much because Wright State won, but how the Raiders ended up with their coach.
That would be Brad Brownell, this time last year taking North Carolina-Wilmington to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four years, with a 25-8 record. Happy days.
But Brownell and his athletic director did not exactly go together like peas and carrots, discussion about a new contract broke down, and pretty soon Brownell was packing.
Where he went
Wright State? A 13-15 afterthought last season. The home crowds earlier this season ran 3,032 one night, 3,215 another, 3,364 a third.
Tuesday's championship game drew 10,686. Everyone, undoubtedly, vowing they were diehards from way back.
"We're trying to change the culture," said Brownell, who arrived last spring with one immediate message.
"It wasn't going to be easy. I was going to demand excellence in all areas of their lives. There'll be days they probably wouldn't like me as much."
"We had some defections," Brownell said. "That wasn't what those guys wanted."
So Wright State's roster lists a bare 10 names. Even Wood, the Horizon League player of the year who scored 27 points Tuesday, had his own early concerns.
They started 3-5. But by Christmas, Brownell sensed belief. Then the winning came.
Come next week, an opponent will turn on the scouting films and wonder what to do about stopping a team that has won 19 of its last 21.
Mike Lopresti
The slipper fits latest Cinderella school
Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service
March 8, 2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is what a Cinderella moment is supposed to look like.
A packed arena, which not long ago sat mostly empty. The students edging forward to rush the floor; the same students whom the basketball coach sent 10 dozen doughnuts to the previous day as they waited hours in line for tickets.
And when it was over, the star guard dancing on the court. The 5-11 senior from Detroit who stayed all four years through bad records and his own doubts, for this very moment - when a Wright State team with a new coach and only 10 players barges into the NCAA Tournament.
"Wright State has a lot of good people," DaShaun Wood would say later. "It's hard to turn your back on good people."
The Raiders, with one previous NCAA Tournament bid in 1993 to their name, won the Horizon League title Tuesday night, and lots of people weren't happy about it.
Bubble teams from West Virginia to Illinois to Drexel, since Butler will be invited anyway, so one of their at-large spots just went poof.
Oh, and some folks back in Michael Jordan's hometown. Not so much because Wright State won, but how the Raiders ended up with their coach.
That would be Brad Brownell, this time last year taking North Carolina-Wilmington to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four years, with a 25-8 record. Happy days.
But Brownell and his athletic director did not exactly go together like peas and carrots, discussion about a new contract broke down, and pretty soon Brownell was packing.
Where he went
Wright State? A 13-15 afterthought last season. The home crowds earlier this season ran 3,032 one night, 3,215 another, 3,364 a third.
Tuesday's championship game drew 10,686. Everyone, undoubtedly, vowing they were diehards from way back.
"We're trying to change the culture," said Brownell, who arrived last spring with one immediate message.
"It wasn't going to be easy. I was going to demand excellence in all areas of their lives. There'll be days they probably wouldn't like me as much."
"We had some defections," Brownell said. "That wasn't what those guys wanted."
So Wright State's roster lists a bare 10 names. Even Wood, the Horizon League player of the year who scored 27 points Tuesday, had his own early concerns.
They started 3-5. But by Christmas, Brownell sensed belief. Then the winning came.
Come next week, an opponent will turn on the scouting films and wonder what to do about stopping a team that has won 19 of its last 21.