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Three Guardians Classic teams have 12 years combined in step up
Chris Solari
csolari@argusleader.com
Article Published: 11/16/05
LEXINGTON, Ky. - There they were, a young and impressionable bunch of South Dakota State Jackrabbits, standing in a darkened Rupp Arena.
As spotlights began to swirl and fireworks exploded in the rafters, strains of the strings from a familiar song, revved up to about 180 beats per minute, sent the filled stands into a frenzy. A video played some of the best Kentucky Wildcats highlights from the arena's 30-year history - guys such as Tayshaun Prince, Rex Chapman and Antoine Walker, who are easily as recognizable by face as they are name.
"We're playing in front of 20,000 people, the cameras are going, the other team was hyped," said Andre Gilbert, a Jackrabbit redshirt freshman. "So our adrenaline and energy level was really high."
It's an awe-inspiring spectacle for a casual observer, let alone an 18- or 19-year-old basketball player. But as SDSU moves into full Division I status - with games ahead at places such as Illinois and Minnesota - Rupp lends the kind of environment that new programs must endure in the transition.
The three teams that played in the Lexington regional of the Guardians Classic - SDSU, Northern Colorado and Lipscomb (Tenn.) - have a combined 12 years in Division I. In contrast, Kentucky has 13 Final Four appearances and seven national titles.
"Obviously, tradition-filled programs like Kentucky keep doing it over and over with great players year in, year out," said Northern Colorado coach Craig Rasmuson, who guided the Bears ascent to D-I from the North Central Conference in 2003-04. "We're trying to grow our talent to that level to steer some of those high-major players to our level."
Though the Jackrabbits lost 71-54 on Sunday to Kentucky, a team that was a double-overtime loss away from another Final Four last year, it put Coach Scott Nagy in a lose-lose position.
"Losing to Kentucky by 17, I don't know why we should feel good about that. I'm still trying to figure that out," Nagy said. "Maybe some people are saying that I'm putting too much on our kids' shoulders, and we are young. But had we played better and lost by 17, I would feel better."
Kentucky's Tubby Smith has been a coach at the mid-major level that SDSU aspires to become, having coached at Tulsa for four years in the early 1990s. He said the obvious difference between Tulsa and schools like the three at the Guardians is that the Golden Hurricanes were already a D-I program, and the task that Nagy and his compadres face is tough.
"Recruiting is the number one key. You need to establish your recruiting base where you are because you're not a household name," Smith said. "You have to convince those athletes, those coaches and those people in your area that you've got a great product."
SDSU Athletic Director Fred Oien called UNC's acceptance into the Big Sky the closest thing to a model that the Jackrabbits can pattern its move from Division II after.
"Northern Colorado was all out there by themselves as an independent, and patience paid off for them," Oien said. "They just stood the course, kept building their programs and get them ready in the transition."
SDSU defeated the Bears 61-59 in Monday's consolation game, but Nagy said UNC is "a lot better" than when it played alongside the Jackrabbits in the D-II NCC. Northern Colorado got some big-time exposure and experience last year by playing and losing games at major schools like Syracuse, Texas Tech Iowa State and Utah.
But it's another one of the Bears' opponents from last year's 8-21 season - Gonzaga - that provides every school making the move to D-I with hope.
A tiny Catholic school in Spokane, Wash., 5,400-student Gonzaga rose from obscurity in the mid-1990s under Dan Monson, now the coach at Minnesota. They have now become a perennial March Madness darling under Coach Mark Few, having made seven straight trips to the NCAA Tournament and currently sitting at No. 9 in The Associated Press.
The Zags did it the same way SDSU's Nagy and the other Guardians coaches hope to do it - by taking on the big boys and, hopefully, stamping their school's arrival in Division I's mid-major realm with an improbable win or two.
"All of our programs have had to play the Kentuckys, the Indianas, the North Carolinas of the world," Sanderson said. "My response to our guys is, 'Why not?' You respect everybody and fear nobody."
Reach Chris Solari at 977-3923.
(edited to fit)
Three Guardians Classic teams have 12 years combined in step up
Chris Solari
csolari@argusleader.com
Article Published: 11/16/05
LEXINGTON, Ky. - There they were, a young and impressionable bunch of South Dakota State Jackrabbits, standing in a darkened Rupp Arena.
As spotlights began to swirl and fireworks exploded in the rafters, strains of the strings from a familiar song, revved up to about 180 beats per minute, sent the filled stands into a frenzy. A video played some of the best Kentucky Wildcats highlights from the arena's 30-year history - guys such as Tayshaun Prince, Rex Chapman and Antoine Walker, who are easily as recognizable by face as they are name.
"We're playing in front of 20,000 people, the cameras are going, the other team was hyped," said Andre Gilbert, a Jackrabbit redshirt freshman. "So our adrenaline and energy level was really high."
It's an awe-inspiring spectacle for a casual observer, let alone an 18- or 19-year-old basketball player. But as SDSU moves into full Division I status - with games ahead at places such as Illinois and Minnesota - Rupp lends the kind of environment that new programs must endure in the transition.
The three teams that played in the Lexington regional of the Guardians Classic - SDSU, Northern Colorado and Lipscomb (Tenn.) - have a combined 12 years in Division I. In contrast, Kentucky has 13 Final Four appearances and seven national titles.
"Obviously, tradition-filled programs like Kentucky keep doing it over and over with great players year in, year out," said Northern Colorado coach Craig Rasmuson, who guided the Bears ascent to D-I from the North Central Conference in 2003-04. "We're trying to grow our talent to that level to steer some of those high-major players to our level."
Though the Jackrabbits lost 71-54 on Sunday to Kentucky, a team that was a double-overtime loss away from another Final Four last year, it put Coach Scott Nagy in a lose-lose position.
"Losing to Kentucky by 17, I don't know why we should feel good about that. I'm still trying to figure that out," Nagy said. "Maybe some people are saying that I'm putting too much on our kids' shoulders, and we are young. But had we played better and lost by 17, I would feel better."
Kentucky's Tubby Smith has been a coach at the mid-major level that SDSU aspires to become, having coached at Tulsa for four years in the early 1990s. He said the obvious difference between Tulsa and schools like the three at the Guardians is that the Golden Hurricanes were already a D-I program, and the task that Nagy and his compadres face is tough.
"Recruiting is the number one key. You need to establish your recruiting base where you are because you're not a household name," Smith said. "You have to convince those athletes, those coaches and those people in your area that you've got a great product."
SDSU Athletic Director Fred Oien called UNC's acceptance into the Big Sky the closest thing to a model that the Jackrabbits can pattern its move from Division II after.
"Northern Colorado was all out there by themselves as an independent, and patience paid off for them," Oien said. "They just stood the course, kept building their programs and get them ready in the transition."
SDSU defeated the Bears 61-59 in Monday's consolation game, but Nagy said UNC is "a lot better" than when it played alongside the Jackrabbits in the D-II NCC. Northern Colorado got some big-time exposure and experience last year by playing and losing games at major schools like Syracuse, Texas Tech Iowa State and Utah.
But it's another one of the Bears' opponents from last year's 8-21 season - Gonzaga - that provides every school making the move to D-I with hope.
A tiny Catholic school in Spokane, Wash., 5,400-student Gonzaga rose from obscurity in the mid-1990s under Dan Monson, now the coach at Minnesota. They have now become a perennial March Madness darling under Coach Mark Few, having made seven straight trips to the NCAA Tournament and currently sitting at No. 9 in The Associated Press.
The Zags did it the same way SDSU's Nagy and the other Guardians coaches hope to do it - by taking on the big boys and, hopefully, stamping their school's arrival in Division I's mid-major realm with an improbable win or two.
"All of our programs have had to play the Kentuckys, the Indianas, the North Carolinas of the world," Sanderson said. "My response to our guys is, 'Why not?' You respect everybody and fear nobody."
Reach Chris Solari at 977-3923.
(edited to fit)