Basketball time – ETSU Buccaneers

It happens every March. March Madness descends upon us and I think back to a time when my alma mater, ETSU, had brushes with greatness. The East Tennessee State Buccaneers had some really solid teams in the late 80’s and early 90’s. They went to the big dance fours years running (89-92).
March 16th, 1989 - #16 ETSU vs. #1 Oklahoma. Despite a double digit lead at half-time, most of us watching knew that when freshman sensation Keith “Mister” Jennings fouled out towards the end, things looked bleak. In fact, we didn’t relinquish the lead until the last minute of the game and lost 72-71. That game remains the closest a #16 seed has ever come to beating a #1 seed in NCAA tournament history. Two points away from being one of the biggest upsets EVER.
We returned to the NCAA’s in ’90 and ’91, but lost in the first round to Iowa and Georgia Tech, respectively.
1992 was the only time the Bucs got past the first round when, as a #14 seed, they upended #3 seed Arizona in Atlanta. I was lucky enough to go to that game and it was truly exciting for us little old I-AA’ers. Finally, we had moved past the dreaded first round and wouldn’t you know it, in round two all we have to do is beat a team from Michigan that is made up of all freshman. Anybody remember those freshmen? They were unknown then, but Fab Five members Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Ray Jackson and Jimmy King went on to play in the finals that year, losing to Duke. I sat behind a very quiet Michigan fan at the Omni the entire game. Afterwards, I asked him, “Why don’t you seem that impressed with this bunch?” “Well”, he said, “they CAN be inconsistent.” I wonder if he was impressed after they came within one win of being the NCAA Champions. Unlike my Michigan counterpart, I truly liked the players on those teams. I had a class with Keith “Mister” Jennings and he was very quiet, but courteous, polite and all that stuff. And having worked at the McDonald’s right next to campus, I came into contact with almost all of them at one point or another. You want to know how good a person truly is? Watch how they treat burger slingers. Greg Dennis, Calvin Talford, Mister Jennings. These were humble, gracious guys.
A child hood friend of mine, Steve Tomasovich played center for Wofford and they came to play ETSU in the spring of 1989, just as their great run was starting. I spoke to him after the game and he said ETSU was a tourney team. “An NCAA tourney team?” I asked. “Oh, yeah, they’re that good, especially with Dennis (with whom he went toe to toe).” I laughed it off because that’s just what someone WOULD say after they’ve been beaten. Turns out he was right.