Abilene Christian in an ‘electric’ mood
School’s men’s and women’s teams get their first taste of March Madness
ABILENE, Texas – A week ago, at the start of spring break, March 18 was looking like a dreary day for Abilene Christian University in general.
It was to be the first day back to campus after a week of taking it easy.
Sluggishness was expected as students — and probably professors, too — meandered along the walkways and forced themselves to get through class.
Instead, the student body was electrified by the combination of the men’s basketball team claiming the Southland Conference title Saturday night and the women’s team following suit Sunday, sending both teams to the NCAA tour-
nament for the first time.
The wins set off March Madness on this campus with a total enrollment of 5,100 about 180 miles west of Dallas. It is affiliated with the Churches of Christ.
Students are required to attend chapel services, which are offered daily. Famous alums include Dr. Kent Brantly, who made global headlines in 2014 when he contracted Ebola in Africa but was successfully treated upon his return to the United States.
ACU students typically study business, nursing, teacher education and the sciences and, yes, take Bible classes.
Basketball game attendance is not often great. But that might change.
“The mood on campus right now is electric,” ACU senior Evan Beck said. “All of my friends and I are working on our brackets and we’re really excited to have both our men’s and women’s teams in the tournament. It’s a big thing for our school. We’re really excited about the exposure this is going to bring. We’ve got a great school here and I have really loved my time here.”
Once the recording devices were rolling, Evan Beck was less willing to taunt the other Wildcats playing Thursday evening in Jacksonville, Florida. Beck instead chose to focus on No. 15 ACU’s chances of beating No. 2 seed Kentucky.
Admittedly, those chances are miniscule. Gambling websites aren’t in ACU’s corner either, favoring Kentucky — the winningest men’s basketball team in NCAA history — by more than 22 points.
But Cinderella does have a history of making appearances in the tournament, Beck said. In fact, just last year No. 16 Maryland-Baltimore County shocked top seed Virginia, by 20 points no less. ACU is a No. 15 seed.
“I hope they’re coming prepared because we’re coming prepared,” Beck said. “Every year, there’s always one or two teams that are gonna get upset. We’re hoping that ACU is America’s Cinderella this year. That’s the excitement we have on campus right now, that we have that opportunity.”
In tournament history, eight teams seeded where ACU sits have taken down their high-powered opponents. The most recent was in 2016, when Middle Tennessee defeated Michigan State. In 2013, Florida Gulf Coast took down Georgetown on its way to a surprising run to the Sweet 16.
While ACU’s men have their work cut out, the women face their own Herculean challenge.
They drew a matchup with No. 1 overall seed Baylor. The Lady Bears (31-1) are one of the favorites to win the national championship.
For both men’s and women’s teams to be in the conversation, no matter the opponent, is special. Students know it. The teams know it. The alumni know it.
Colton Powell, a senior, said he’s trying to find the money to make the trip to Florida because “it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
A cheaper alternative to view the men’s game will be at ACU’s Moody Coliseum. The student government is throwing a watch party Thursday. “And I fully expect it to be packed out with students for the game,” Powell said.
On the men’s side, it was a quick rise to local prominence, but it wasn’t smooth. Many bumps along the way, including two starters being removed from the team in February after violating university policies.
One player, Jalone Friday, was the team’s leading scorer.
But the team stepped up in a big way. It lost its next game but has won six in a row to finish 26-6.
“This is the first season I’ve been able to go to basketball games and it’s felt like a big-time, Division I basketball game,” Powell said. “That hasn’t always been the case in the past. That has everything to do with how well athletics has done, how hard the basketball team has worked.
“When we lost (those players) there was a feeling like we’re not going to the NCAA tournament anymore. But the team proved us wrong. Maybe that’s our fault for not believing, but they did it.”
For Todd Womble, it’s a sense of pride. Pride in his university, in its two basketball teams and in his past.
Womble, an ACU alumnus, attended the Southland Conference games last weekend. First, it was the men Saturday. The Southland Conference second seed Wildcats emphatically defeated fourth seed New Orleans 77-60. Then on Sunday, the fourth-seeded ACU women took a 24-point lead against sixth-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The women held on in the final minute for a nailbiting 69-68 win.
“To be honest, I don’t know how to feel because it’s so unexpected,” Womble said from the Moody Coliseum floor following a celebratory chapel service Monday morning. “Not because I didn’t think they could do it, but as an alum, 10 years ago we were Division II, there wasn’t much buy-in for sports.
“But now we’re playing Kentucky on CBS on Thursday night. It’s just shock.”
ACU alumna Cindy Gravitt spent her weekend on the couch, the best way for her to watch all the games her Wildcats were playing. When two teams make deep runs to conference championships, that’s a lot of basketball.
Gravitt said the buzz about the campus is phenomenal, a byproduct of a successful basketball team. And when there are two successful squads, it is even more impressive. “I know I’ll never look at March Madness the same after going through this,” Gravitt said.
Such is the way of life for teams making their tournament debut, said athletics director Allen Ward.
“This is really their first taste of the impact that a Division I program can make on an institution,” Ward said. “For them to celebrate this with us is what it’s all about. A good athletic program, one that encompasses and tries to harness all that you get with NCAA Division I athletics, is one that helps tell the institution’s story ... (and) to be there with both men’s and women’s basketball is just incredible.”