Rollins hopes to continue
its string of upsets in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight today in South Dakota.
The last time Rollins was here, the Tars weren’t here.
The location is the NCAA Division II Elite Eight. Rollins made it in 2004 but got so wound up that a bunch of imposters took the floor.
“We weren’t who we were,” coach Tom Klusman said. And who is that? “We definitely have an iconoclastic style,” forward Sam Philpott said.
Now there’s a word you don’t usually hear from college (or pro) athletes, but it nicely encapsulates just about everything Rollins.
The team plays top-seed Fairmont State in today’s quarterfinals in Sioux Fall, S.D. The game starts at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast on 91.5 FM WPRK.
Rollins is the No. 8 seed and supposed to be quickly bounced. Nothing new there. The Tars were left for dead before the Sunshine State Conference Tournament, but won. They were supposed to get wiped out in the D-II Region tournament,
but won.
Look at them now, all the way in South Dakota.
“We’re one of eight teams out 275 Division II teams to have a chance at a national championship,” Klusman said. “That’s unbelievable.”
That’s Rollins, the cozy academic bastion on the shores of Lake Virginia in Winter Park. Central Florida’s first basketball game was probably the Tars’ 9-8 win over the Orlando Rifles in 1901.
Orlando’s basketball scene has boomed, but Rollins has quietly rolled along. Klusman’s been racking up conference titles for almost 40 years now.
He could have chased the Big Time long ago, but he didn’t want basketball to take over his life. It was better to influence perceptive kids at a school where winning isn’t life and death.
“You’re expected to go to class and be well-rounded and represent the program with decorum and class,” Philpott said.
You also learn to use words like “iconoclastic,” which means attacking cherished beliefs and traditions. Like the belief that you can’t win with players who are often more gifted in class than they are on the court. This year’s team had 3.2 GPA in the fall semester.
“And they’re not taking basket-weaving,” Klusman said.
The quest for knowledge isn’t limited to players. Their old coach is still learning, and this week he plans on applying that lesson from 2004.
Klusman had never been to an Elite Eight, so he maniacally studied the firstround opponent, re-tooled his attack and got distracted by the off-court hoopla.
By tipoff, the Tars were overprogrammed zombies. They lost 88-54 to top-seed Metro State.
This time, Rollins will stick with what got it this far. That’s teamwork and chemistry more than raw basketball ability.
A lot of that ability was lost when guard Deion Clark broke a hand in fifth game and was lost for the season. Rollins soon found itself at an 8-8 crossroad.
Then players like freshman guard Connor McKim blossomed. The Tars went 24-10 behind sharp shooting and Klusman’s trademark zone defense. A zone? Talk about iconoclastic. In this Pop-A-Shot basketball era, that’s like using a rotary phone. But Klusman knows what works best with the kind of players he gets.
“We’ve played our zone for 30 years now,” Klusman said. “I tell players coming in, ‘If you don’t want to play it, don’t come here.’”
Opponents see it and start salivating, but the excitement often takes a toll in misfires. Now comes Fairmont State and its haughty 32-2 record. Klusman has learned his lesson.
“We’re not changing a darned thing with this team,” he said.
Rollins will remain its iconoclastic self. It’s worked pretty well for very long time.