The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
CSU men ’86 run tops list
College basketball’s postseason tournaments were just shifting into high gear last week when they were shut down cold because of concerns about the spread of the novel coronavirus.
That abrupt development gave me time to compile this list of the top 10 postseason performances I’ve witnessed in 36 years of covering local college basketball:
1) Cleveland State men, 1986 AMCU and NCAA tournaments
Kevin Mackey was in his third season at CSU when his team and program burst on the national scene with a heady postseason run.
The deep, talented Vikings won the AMCU regular-season title and then captured the tournament title in Springfield, Mo., with wins over Northern Iowa, Illinois-Chicago and Eastern Illinois.
The AMCU was one year away from receiving an automatic bid for its tournament champion, so the Vikings had to wait for Selection Sunday to learn they were in the 64-team field with an at-large bid. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, junior forward Clinton Ransey scored 27 points as the No. 14 seed Vikings sprang a huge upset on No. 3 seed Indiana, beating the Hoosiers and Hall of Fame coach Bobby Knight, 83-79, at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.
Sophomore guard Ken “Mouse” McFadden poured in 23 points in a 75-69 win over St. Joseph’s in the second round to send the Vikings to the round of 16 at the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey.
The CSU men’s first appearance in college basketball’s “Big Dance” ended with a 71-70 loss to Navy and future NBA star David Robinson.
2) Cleveland State men, 2009 Horizon League and NCAA tournaments
The same as Kevin Mackey in 1986, Gary Waters was in his third season as CSU’s coach when he guided the Vikings to the Horizon League tournament title and the NCAA Tournament.
But where Mackey’s squad had to win three games in the conference tournament to claim the title, Waters’ team led by sophomore guard Norris Cole, senior forward J’Nathan Bullock and senior point guard Cedric Jackson had to beat Detroit in a first-round home-site game in Cleveland just to advance to the quarterfinals at Butler’s fabled Hinkle Field House.
Once in Indianapolis, Cole and the No. 3 seed Vikings found their groove with wins over IllinoisChicago in the quarterfinals and Green Bay in the semifinals. Cole scored 49 points in those games.
In the championship game against host and No. 1 seed Butler, Jackson scored 19 points as the Vikings prevailed over future NBA star Gordon Hayward and the Bulldogs, 5754, in a bruising, physical showdown.
Securing an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the No. 13 seed Vikings
beat No. 4 seed Wake Forest and another future NBA player, Jeff Teague, 84-69, in the first round. The Vikings fell to Arizona, 71-57, in the second round.
3) Lake Erie College men, 2006 AMCC and NCAA Division III tournaments
In his first season as head coach at LEC, Cliff Hunt led the Storm to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference regular-season and tournament titles as well as the program’s first appearance in the NCAA Division III tournament.
With a balanced attack led by point guard Rob Williams, shooting guard Reggie Richardson, center Jajcen Harris and rangy forward Darnell Campbell, the Storm beat PittGreensburg, 83-82 in overtime, in the tournament title game at Osborne Center to snare an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Although the Storm fell to host Wittenberg in the first round, 76-40, LEC would build on the experience the following season.
4) Lake Erie College men vs. John Carroll, 2007 NCAA Division III tournament first round
The Storm dominated the AMCC regular-season race, going 17-1 in the conference. Again hosting the AMCC tournament, they edged Penn State-Behrend,
58-57, in the hard-fought title game to earn the automatic bid to the Division III NCAA Tournament.
LEC was selected to host a first-round game against John Carroll, the perennial D-III powerhouse coached by Mike Moran.
Nearly 1,000 people jammed into every nook and cranny of the Osborne Center to watch JCU forward Brandon Mimes (Euclid) and the Blue Streaks erase a 10-point halftime deficit and grind out a 7977 victory over the Storm.
Mimes led all scorers with 27 points. Derrick Thornton topped LEC with 20 points in as good a D-III men’s game as I’ve witnessed.
5) Ursuline College women, 2016 Great Midwest Athletic Conference and NCAA Division II tournaments
In July 2013, a tornado packing winds of up to 120 miles-per-hour knifed through Ursuline’s scenic campus in Pepper Pike and destroyed the womenfocused college’s old gymnasium.
After playing “home” games for two seasons in an assortment of area college and high gyms, the Arrows christened the new $10 million Sister Diana Stano Athletic Center in high style during the 201516 season.
Guided by third-year head coach Shannon Sword and an exciting team built around gritty
point guard Erica Huber and do-everything forward Laney Lewis, the Arrows swept to the G-MAC regular-season and tournament titles.
Earning the program’s first automatic bid to the NCAA Division II tournament, the Arrows threw a mighty scare into host and overall No. 1 seed Ashland before falling, 72-70.
6) Notre Dame College men, 2019 Mountain East Conference and NCAA Division II tournaments
NDC senior forward and Division II National Player of the Year Will Vorhees made plenty of program history with their heady run through the MEC men’s tournament in Wheeling, W.Va.
Behind a combined 69 points by Vorhees, the Arrows downed West Virginia State, Fairmont State and West Liberty to claim the program’s first GMAC tourney title and first automatic bid to the NCAA Division II tournament.
The 100-96 win over West Liberty in the tournament title game was D-II men’s basketball played at an extremely high level.
Vorhees scored 44 points in NDC’s 89-81 loss to Virginia State in the first round of the NCAA Division II tournament.
7) John Carroll women vs. Ohio Northern, 2019 Ohio Athletic Conference tournament title game
After claiming the first outright OAC regular-season
title in the program’s 48-year history with a 15-3 conference mark, the No. 1 seed Blue Streaks posted hard-fought wins over Wilmington and Otterbein in the tournament quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.
Against No. 7 seed Ohio in the tournament title game, the Blue Streaks found themselves in a back-and-forth battle from opening tip to final buzzer.
Senior guard Shmoo Pryor played the role of hero, capping a play that featured four passes by draining a 3-pointer from the left side of the arc that propelled JCU to a 61-58 win and secured the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III women’s tournament.
The Blue Streaks were beaten by Middlebury (Vt.) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
8, 9) Lakeland Community College men, women in the finals of the 2020 National Junior College Athletic Conference Region XII tournaments
It was a banner season for the men’s and women’s teams at Lakeland. Both teams finished first in their Ohio Community College Athletic Conference regular-season races, the women sharing the title with Edison (N.Y.) Community College.
The LCC men finished 22-7 and won the NJCAA Region XII tournament at Ohim Christian College to earn an automatic bid to the NJCAA Division II national tournament. Veteran coach Terry
Bowe and the Lakers were to have faced Sullivan County (N.Y.) Community College in the first round March 17 in Danville, Ill. The tournament was canceled over concerns of the novel coronavirus.
Fourth-year coach Ornette Gardenhire guided the LCC women to a 25-3 finish that included a program-record 23-game winning streak. The Lakers advanced to the finals of the NJCAA Region XII tournament before losing to Edison.
LCC men’s player Tyreke Johnson and women’s player Armani Jackson earned OCCAC Player of the Year honors. Bowe was OCCAC men’s Coach of the Year.
10) 2000 MidAmerican Conference men’s, women’s tournament
The first staging of the MAC tournaments in Cleveland at what then was called Gund Arena was a success on every level. No. 2 seed Ball State claimed the men’s title and automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. No. 1 seed Kent State did the same on the women’s side.
In the years since, at Quicken Loans Arena and, now, Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the MAC tournaments have become staples on the Cleveland sports scene.