By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
BUFFALO – Eric Musselman vividly remembers his shot at scoring the NCAA Tournament upset he and his Arkansas Razorbacks hope to avoid Thursday evening.
Musselman’s San Diego Toreros, for which he was a role player, were the No. 9 seed against Chris Morris, Mike Jones, Jeff Moore and the Auburn Tigers in the first round of the 1987 tournament. The winner of the matchup would meet eventual national champion Indiana in the second round, part of a loaded region that featured coaches Bob Knight, John Chaney, Mike Krzyzewski and Lou Carnesecca.
The Toreros, who entered with a 24-5 record but were five-point underdogs, trailed by a point with five seconds left when Tigers guard Frank Ford missed the front end of a one-and-one. San Diego corralled the rebound and guard Paul Leonard raced to the basket. Leonard lost control of the ball trying a crossover move on Auburn defender Gerald White, however, and was whistled for a double-dribble with a second left.
“San Diego earns respect,” the Indianapolis Star headline read the next day, “but Auburn earns the win.”
“If (Leonard) doesn’t get the ball hung up on his hip,” Musselmen mused, “we probably upset Auburn. … That’s why this tournament is so awesome, ‘cause you just never know what’s gonna happen.”
Thirty five years later, Musselman is no longer the underdog. He coaches the fourth-seeded Razorbacks on Thursday at KeyBank Center against the No. 13, America East champion Vermont Catamounts.
Vermont has not lost since Valentine’s Day and claimed its conference tournament victories by an average margin of 36 points. The Catamounts’ experience closely matches Arkansas; there will likely be nine seniors on the floor for the 9:20 p.m. tip, with UVM coach John Becker starting five of them.
Becker’s squad fits the profile of a Cinderella team, ranking fifth nationally in field goal percentage at a 49.3 percent clip and propelled by two-time America East Player of the Year Ryan Davis. Davis and guard Ben Shungu combined to average 34.9 points an outing in league play, headlining the league’s best offense.
Vermont has NBA prospects JD Notae, Stanley Umude and Jaylin Williams to account for on the defensive end. Notae is a third-team All-American, while Umude poured in 20 points on Texas A&M in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinal and Williams nearly averages a double-double.
Becker said this year’s team is the best offensive group he’s had, playing at the best pace he has seen since accepting the job in 2011. He is also enjoying, he noted, the tallest backcourt he has rostered, noting that the Catamounts possess the size of a major-conference program. Though Arkansas fielded the SEC’s best defense, and Notae led the league in steals, a high-scoring game is not out of the question.
“With the game plan that we have, and how well we shoot and how well we move the ball,” Shungu said, “we’ll be able to generate good shots, especially from 3s but also getting to the paint.
The Catamounts have made March Madness a regular occurrence, falling to Florida State by just seven points in 2019 and Purdue by 10 in 2017. UVM was the 13-seed in each of those instances, as well as the famous 2005 upset of Syracuse.
In the past, however, Becker admits to being happy to be there, taking in the experience. This year, with a five-senior lineup on his side and the Catamounts a popular pick to pull the tournament’s big upset, he is perhaps more expectant.
“I’m nervous,” Becker acknowledged. “I feel like the day before any game, when we have expectations that we’re here to win, and the nerves of making sure we’re prepared enough and that we have the right game plan put together.
“So in past years, I’ve been a little bit looser. … I don’t feel like that this year.”
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