NCAA tournament excites Timmins

IT is March and Sam Timmins cannot wait to get involved in the madness.

The Otago centre will play his first game in the NCAA national basketball tournament, also known as March Madness, on Saturday.

His Washington Huskies side faces Utah State in its firstround game in Columbus, Ohio.

It is the first time an Otago player will appear in the tournament since Mark Dickel in 2000.

In the hugely popular event — last year’s first round had a viewing audience of 8.6 million in the United States alone — 68 teams battle in a straight knockout competition for the national title.

It is notorious for upsets and the Huskies, seeded in the middle of the pack, have shown themselves capable of competing with the best.

That is not lost on an excited Timmins.

‘‘It’s March Madness. Anything could happen,’’ he said.

‘‘If anything, what we have proven to ourselves is if we’re on we can give anyone a run for their money, no matter who they are.

‘‘Also we have proven if we’re not on anyone can give us a run for our money.

‘‘So it’s a matter of getting a good week of training in leading into the game in Columbus and making sure we’re on top of our game.’’

For Timmins it had been an ‘‘up and down’’ season, at times playing well and at others seeing limited court time.

However, he was one of seven players to play in every game, and had learnt a lot.

Washington had been dominant through much of conference play.

It won the Pac12 regular season title, although was beaten comprehensively by Oregon in the conference tournament final.

One advantage Washington may have is its unique and very effective zone defence.

While the Pac12 teams had experience against it, Washington’s March Madness opponents do not.

That could be unsettling and Timmins felt it could work to the team’s advantage.

He still finds it surreal that he ended up where he did — almost as far from the Otago Boys’ High School gym as you could imagine.

But through it all he had not forgotten the path he took to get there, and his loyalty to Otago remained clear.

‘‘For the American guys this is what they grew up dreaming about.

‘‘While I definitely appreciate how cool an experience it is, I don’t know if it’s going to top some of those Otago national titles for me personally, in terms of what they meant to me.

‘‘But it’s definitely going to be up there in terms of milestones for me.’’

Washington’s first round game tips off at 11.50am on Saturday (NZT).

Other New Zealanders in the men’s tournament are Jack Salt (Virginia), Matt Freeman (Oklahoma), Tobias Cameron (Abilene Christian), Quinn Clinton and Dan Fotu (both Saint Mary’s).

Meanwhile in the women’s division two tournament, Otago’s Zoe Richards’ Eckerd College team is out after a firstround loss to West Florida.

❛ If anything, what we

have proven to ourselves is if we’re on we can give anyone a run for their money, no

matter who they are