February 25, 2002
Stormin' Norman Sloan's 1959 Citadel basketball team went 15-5 and advanced to the Southern Conference championship game. The Bulldogs lost there to West Virginia - Jerry West scored 27 points - and the Mountaineers went on to the national championship game.
That's as close as the Bulldogs ever have gotten to the NCAA Tournament.
Six times The Citadel has reached the SoCon semifinals, most recently in 1998. Most often - 40 times, to be exact - the Bulldogs have lost in the first round or quarterfinals. In fact, The Citadel has won only eight tournament games in the 80 years since its first appearance in the SoCon Tournament in 1922.
This history lesson is relevant this week because many around the Bulldogs basketball program - not least the Bulldogs themselves - believe that the SoCon Tournament starting Thursday at the North Charleston Coliseum might be the school's best shot ever at earning a ticket to the Big Dance.
Or, at least, its best shot since Stormin' Norman strode the sidelines.
"I think we're going to be the first to do it," said senior center Cliff Washburn. "I don't know if this is the best chance ever, but the situation looks real good. We're here in Charleston, and some people argue we're one of the best teams to play here. I just think it's our destiny to win this thing."
Said senior guard Travis Cantrell, "I hope it is, that's what we're telling ourselves. But we're going to take it one game at a time. We're not going to look past that."
Having earned the South Division's No. 4 seed with an 8-8 SoCon record (16-11 overall), the Bulldogs can look to the SoCon Tournament with some hope for several reasons:
* The Bulldogs have beaten all four top seeds (teams with first-round byes) - Davidson, Georgia Southern, Chattanooga and East Tennessee State - and also have a win over South No. 3 College of Charleston. North No. 3 UNC Greensboro is the only one of the SoCon's top teams the Bulldogs did not beat during the season.
* The Citadel opens Thursday against North No. 5 VMI, its military school rival and a team the Bulldogs drubbed by 75-55 last Monday in Lexington, Va. The Citadel has won three straight games and six of the last seven over VMI.
* Should The Citadel get by VMI and star freshman Jason Conley, the Bulldogs will face Davidson in the quarterfinals at noon on Friday. The Citadel pounded Davidson by 69-50 in December, and the Wildcats have lost two of their last three games, including an 81-77 loss at VMI Saturday when Davidson could have clinched sole possession of the North Division title.
In that game, starting guards Wayne Bernard and Michael Bree sat most of the night, Bernard after aggravating a hip injury and Bree after suffering a leg injury. Senior forward Emeka Erege has missed most of the season with an injury.
Coach Pat Dennis even likes the fact that the Bulldogs played on Saturday (a 72-63 win over Wofford) as opposed to a Sunday finish last year, which gave the team one less day of rest before starting the tournament. The Citadel, which had won six of its last seven games to end the regular season, lost in the first round to Western Carolina last year.
"We've got an experienced team," Dennis said. "I think we have some talent, we have an inside-outside game. The most important thing is, we have to defend the way we have the last two games."
Of course, no team has ever won four games in four days to win the SoCon Tournament. But perhaps, in a season in which six teams can claim a division title and eight teams have winning records, this is the year it might happen.
"I told the guys, we'll just go and play our hearts out, and if it's God's will, maybe we'll win," Dennis said. "And Cliff says it's God's will."
