Here we go again.
After defeating Northern State 68-60 on March 18 to claim its third consecutive North Central Region championship, the Winona State University men’s basketball team will make its third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight tonight.
The third-ranked Warriors (35-1) will face unbeaten and top-ranked Grand Valley State (Mich.) at 5 p.m. at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass.
The setting, circumstances and opponent are not unfamiliar for WSU.
“A lot of these guys have been through it,” WSU coach Mike Leaf said. “I think experience does come into play. I think if you’re a first-timer, it’s a little overwhelming.”
The Warriors have been through a lot at the MassMutual Center over the past two years, experiencing both overwhelming highs and lows.
Two years ago yesterday, David Zellmann scored 26 points on 8-of-18 shooting from the field and 7-of-15 from beyond the arc to lead WSU to a 73-61 victory over Virginia Union in the national championship game. The win capped an improbable run in which the Warriors executed furious second-half rallies in four of their five games en route to the title tilt, including an unforgettable 74-71 victory over MSU-Mankato at McCown Gymnasium, in which Zellmann led WSU back from a 16-point deficit with 8:08 remaining.
It’s likely that few believed such an amazing run could ever be duplicated, and that it would be a while before another player matched the heroics of David Zellmann en route to an NCAA tournament championship.
Enter Anthony Atkinson.
With WSU leading 74-67 and on the verge of its 58th straight win and second consecutive national championship, Barton’s lightning-quick guard scored 10 points in the final 45 seconds to lead the Bulldogs to a 77-75 victory.
Atkinson started the run on a layup with 38 seconds left, and WSU’s Zach Malvik was fouled immediately. The senior point guard missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 35 seconds remaining, and Atkinson responded with a short jumper 10 seconds later to cut the deficit to three points. Barton’s Errol Frails stole Quincy Henderson’s ensuing inbounds pass and dished it to Atkinson, who hit a hanging layup while being fouled by two WSU defenders with 22 seconds remaining.
Atkinson’s free throw attempt, however, fell short, and WSU’s Jonte Flowers was fouled upon corralling the rebound. Flowers missed the first free throw badly, and then swished the second to put WSU up 75-73 with 19 seconds left.
Atkinson dribbled calmly down the court, got a screen at the top of the key and blew by Henderson before hitting a reverse layup to tie the score with just under eight seconds remaining. Malvik took the inbounds pass and raced up the court, but Barton’s Bobby Buffaloe flew in, stole the ball from behind and passed it ahead to Atkinson, who released the ball from his fingertips with one-tenth of a second remaining on the clock for the game-winning layup, giving Barton the national title and earning him Zellmann-like fame on the Barton campus and an ESPY award.
The Warriors haven’t forgotten, and WSU’s win over Northern State last week may have served as a reminder.
With less than a minute remaining in the loss to Barton, the WSU fans who made the trip began a “sea-son’s o-ver” chant — a taunt that had become the norm over WSU’s postseason run. Last week, during a Wolves timeout with 57 seconds left and the Warriors leading 60-54, the WSU band played “Hit the Road, Jack.” But Flowers saved them from the same kind of embarrassment, hitting 7 of 8 free throws in the final 54 seconds to seal the win.
“I’ll admit; all I could think about was last year in the national championship game when I missed that free throw against Barton,” Flowers said after the game.
As they head back to the scene of the last year’s crime at the MassMutual Center, the Warriors are determined not to let it happen again.
“Obviously, last year was disappointing, so there’s more of a revenge factor and a little more motivation to prove to everybody that we can win it and we can still be the best team in the nation and we can come back from last year,” said WSU senior center John Smith, who was named the Elite Eight’s most outstanding player in 2006. “We didn’t dwell too negatively on last year; we just used it as motivation.”
And a learning experience.
“(The Barton game) kind of played hand-in-hand with the whole season last year. We’d get ahead in games, but we’d let teams back in games — that was happening the whole year,” WSU junior guard Curtrel Robinson said. “I think that’s definitely going to differentiate this team from last year’s; if we get that 10- or 15-point lead, we’re not going to let anybody come back or even get in range of coming back.”
WSU, however, is not the only team looking to bounce back from a shocking loss to Barton in last year’s Elite Eight.
Grand Valley State was eliminated in the quarterfinals when Atkinson hit a 30-footer at the buzzer in overtime to give Barton an 83-81 victory.
The Lakers (36-0) haven’t lost since, including an 85-82 double-overtime victory over Michigan State in an exhibition game Nov. 2, breaking a program record for single-season wins en route to their second consecutive Great Lakes Region title.
The matchup between GVSU and WSU again has sparked debate over whether or not teams should be re-seeded upon reaching the Elite Eight.
Last season, the top-ranked and undefeated Warriors met undefeated Bentley in the quarterfinals. Bentley (33-0) is back this season and on the same side of the bracket as WSU.
GVSU leads the nation in both scoring defense (53.9) and field-goal percentage defense (36.1). The Lakers have held 24 of their 36 opponents this season under 55 points, including keeping 10 teams under 50 points.
In their first two games of the season, at the Disney Tip-Off Classic, an invitational in which the Warriors also participated, the Lakers beat Columbus State 83-71 and Stonehill 76-72. Since then, they haven’t allowed 70 points in a game.
GVSU isn’t just about defense, however. It ranks second nationally in scoring margin (21.1), fifth in 3-point shooting percentage (41.8) and 11th in field-goal percentage (50.5).
It’s possible that, for the first time since their improbable title run in 2006, the Warriors are actually the underdogs.
“They’re undefeated and we have a loss,” Leaf said. “But we don’t look at it from that standpoint. We’ve watched film; we’ve seen them; the players have seen them; we saw them play down at Disney. We’re familiar with what they do, so it’s just two very good basketball teams going head to head.
“Underdog or favorite, we match up well together. It’s going to be a hell of a ballgame.”
It’s not like being the underdog is a bad thing.
“(In 2006) we were underdogs, and it was our first time out there, and we notched a bunch of wins that season and just kept rolling and rolling,” Leaf said. “Last year, unfortunately, we lost in the championship game. But it’s a whole new ballgame. You’re going out there, there’s eight teams left in the country, and this is where you want to play your best basketball. We’re injury-free and ready to go.”