There have been a lot of incredible and historic sports seasons at Fairfield University over the years. The 1996-97 men's basketball season was one of them. By Chris Elsberry
The post-game interviews were over. The players had showered, changed back into their warmup gear and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading back into the arena to watch the rest of the NCAA first round tournament game between Indiana and Colorado.
As they walked out of the corridor and into the bright lights and the March Madness atmosphere that was the Lawrence Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, people started to stand. And cheer. Within seconds, the entire building, all 14,368 of them, were clapping and yelling for the team that came incredibly close to making the dream of Cinderella come true.....
Kudos to the school for funding these stories written by Chris. A wonderful opportunity to keep fans engaged in Stag sports during the traditional slow college sports news time of year. Even more appreciated this year with the cancellation of fall sports due to the China bug.
More great and well written Stag Basketball history by Chris Elsberry.
Yeah certainly fun reading. Great job by Chris. Wish he was still a Stag "Beat Writer" BTW.
Anyway I want to make a couple (or more) comments. First thing is that this team reminded me so much of the previous Stag MAAC championship squad (1987) in how a highly-rated team that was expected to be great but wasn't because of injuries, nevertheless was able to stick together and come through at the most opportune time when all was on the line as some of the injured had recovered somewhat from their physical problems. One correction though in regarding an injury situation that Chris talked about. Actually with regard to Phillip, eligibility issues at the start of the year were more of the reason he missed a lot of games. But whatever, when combined with all the other issues, what the Stags were able to accomplish in March that season was very impressive! Finally I do want to say that the role Brent Wall played in the tournament final against Canisius was highly underrated in this article. Only a slight mention by Chris, but the fact is, because Commodore was sick and unable to play, Brent had to play almost the whole game against all-league PG Bam Moore of the Griffs, and his job of limiting that guy's production plus not turning the ball over against pressure surely deserved more than just a passing reference IMO. Anyway, again, great piece by Chris and certainly well worth the read.
Last Edit: Aug 1, 2020 8:15:06 GMT -5 by nashvillestag
They appear to have tournament games going as far back as 1995. Go to the link below to see what is available. You need to scroll down the page a bit to see the tourney results and the links to WATCH specific games.
There have been a lot of incredible and historic sports seasons at Fairfield University over the years. This second installment relives the 1996-97 men's basketball team capturning the nation's attention with its improbable run in March. By Chris Elsberry
Looking Back: Going The Distance In 1997
Walking down Tobacco Road
For winning the MAAC, Fairfield (11-18) received (what else?) a No. 16 seed in the NCAA tournament and drew North Carolina in the opening round. Not surprisingly, the game would be played in Winston-Salem, N.C. just about an hour's drive from the Tar Heels campus in Chapel Hill.
On top of that, legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith was going after career win No. 876, a mark that would tie another legend, Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp, for the all-time college basketball victory record.
Do you think the Stags cared? Heck no.
"We didn't have any expectations against North Carolina, we just went out and played," Shannon Bowman said. "We wanted to go out, execute our game plan and let the chips fall where they may."
"We practiced hard for North Carolina," added Greg Francis. "Coach took a chair, put it under the basket and stood on it with a broom and said, 'OK, get ready I'm going to pretend to be Serge Zwikker (North Carolina's 7-foot-3 center) and we had to shoot over that. They had a ton of talent and a ton of size, but we were prepared to play against them."......
They appear to have tournament games going as far back as 1995. Go to the link below to see what is available. You need to scroll down the page a bit to see the tourney results and the links to WATCH specific games.
