Tuck, Donnie R.

English

Howard University: Digital Howard

New DirectionsVolume 8 | Issue 4 Article 77-1-1981The Bison's 3-Thousand-Mile OdysseyDonnie R. TuckFollow this and additional works at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirectionsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Howard @ Howard University. It has been accepted for inclusion in New Directions byan authorized administrator of Digital Howard @ Howard University. For more information, please contact lopez.matthews@howard.edu.Recommended CitationTuck, Donnie R. (1981) "The Bison's 3-Thousand-Mile Odyssey," New Directions: Vol. 8: Iss. 4, Article 7.Available at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections/vol8/iss4/7NATIONAlBy Donnie R. Tuck24The Howard University basketball team'strip to California last March, to compete inthe first round of the National CollegiateAthletic Association (NCAA) Western Re-gional playoffs, represented more thanjust a 3000-mile odyssey to Los Angeles.It was the culmination of a 10-year dreamfor the university and the Mid-EasternAthletic Conference (MEAC).The MEAC was born in 1970, with Dela-ware State, Howard, Maryland-EasternShore (UMES), Morgan State, North Caro-lina A & T, North Carolina Central andSouth Carolina State as its original mem-bers. One of the league's main objectiveswas to upgrade itself from a Division IIconference to Division I status.In the summer of 1979, UMES, MorganState and North Carolina Central withdrewfrom the conference, opting instead to re-main in Division II. However, later in theyear, Florida A &. M University andBethune-Cookman Co liege announcedtheir intentions to join the MEAC, thus en-abling the league to continue its quest forDivision I classification.That recognition came on June 8, 1980.And, a month later, the NCAA approved anautomatic berth to the MEAC to competein the 1981 basketball tournamentThe Bison's3- Thousand-MileOdysseyNEW DIRECTIONS JULY 1981Howard had won the 1980 conferencetournament with ease. However, withneither the NCAA nor the National Invita-tional Tournament (NIT) beckoning, theHoward Bison went home to sulk and waitfor the 1980-81 season.With seven of the top eight players re-turning from a team that finished 21-7 in1979-80, Howard was not only the pre-season favorite to repeat as champion ofthe MEAC, but was also rated the numberone Black college team in the nation.(Sheridan Broadcasting Network poll).One national basketball publication hadthe Bison picked as one of the top 30teams in the country. However, Howardwas guilty of having read too many of itspress clippings.To begin, the Bison opened its cam-paign on the road with three straightlosses to Southwestern Athletic Confer-ence (SWAC) teams. Howard regroupedand pulled off four straight wins, two athome and one away (against cross-townrival University of the District of Columbia).However, Howard was undone four dayslater by conference rival North CarolinaA & T, 85-72, in the finals of the AggieHoliday Classic. For three weeks, Howardwas inactive. Then, on January 9, the sec-ond season-conference play-began.At home, Howard struggled to a 64-62victory over North Carolina A & T in tripleovertime, thanks to two last-minute freethrows by guard Bernard Perry. The fol-lowing night, the Bison breezed to an 83-70 win over South Carolina State, anotherconference foe. But the Bison's applecartwas upended by the Campbell University(3-6 at the time) squad, 55-54.Two non-conference wins over WestChester State and Baptist College fol-lowed the Campbell loss, but so did thenemesis of all athletic teams-injuries.Second-leading scorer and leading re-bounder Larry Spriggs was beset by backspasms in the West Chester State game,and point guard Rodney Wright playedonly three minutes of that game after dis-locating his right shoulder. Wright missedthe BaptistCollege game, but both playerswere ready for the joumey to Bethune-Cookman four days later.The Bison downed Bethune-Cookman,66-56, for a 3-0 conference mark. Again,Spriggs injured his back severely andmissedthefollowing night's game againstFlorida A & M in which the Bison lostbadly, 91-71. A week later, with Spriggsback for action but hobbling from a badfoot, Howard fell 59-58 to A & T, droppingto 3-2 in the league, 9-7 overall. A nightlater, without Spriggs, South CarolinaState surprised the Bison with a 78-72win. With these three losses, Howard'sroad record fell to 3-8.The Bison returned to the homecourtfor.inspiration and revitalization. A goodstand in February began with a weekendsweep of Bethune-Cookman (77-67) andFlorida A & M (76-64), and a week later,Fairleigh-Dickinson, (80-74). With a pos-sible tie for the conference lead and a firstround MEAC tournament call hanging inthe balance, Howard traveled to DelawareState with great promise. But the Bison,fighting from all 11 points down with fiveminutes remaining in the contest, fell toDelaware State, 76-74.And, with two games to go in the sea-son, Howard saw the sanctity of its home-court violated with a 23 point blowout suf-fered at the hands of a smaller but veryquick Towson State University team.Forward Larry Spriggs slamming home a dunk atPauley Pavilion.Again, a 95-77 loss to Division II new-comer Longwood College was a setback.Sensing a chance at the conferencetitle and the NCAA playoff bid slippingaway,the Bison responded with home vic-tortes over-Delaware State (76-62) and theUniversity of North Carolina-Wilmington(69-62) to close the regular season.One More RoadblockThe first contest of the 1981 MEACTournament in Winston-Salem, N.C.,wasHoward against Delaware State. It was agame that would be close down to thefinal 10 minutes of the second half. At thatpoint, the Bison, with an extreme heightadvantage, broke open a 44-41 battlewith 11 unanswered points and went on towin, 67-53. Spriggs, who earlier that daywas named the MEAC's Player of the Year,led the team with 17 points. He also had14 rebounds as Howard led 55-27.Against the Florida A & M RattlersHoward edged one step closer to theNCAA playoffs. After seeing a 73-67 leadwith 1 :35 remaining in the game whittledto 75-73 with one second left, the Bisononce again rode the heroics of LarrySpriggs to victory. The 6' 8" seniorblocked the opponent's last opportunityto tie the score harmlessly out of bounds,ending the contest and setting up a cham-pionship showdown with the A&T Aggies."Can we play three days in a row likethis?" Coach A B. Williamson asked rhe-torically. "We can, and we will. We'regoing to win"The Bison's backcourt, oft-malignedduring the course of the season for its in-consistency, was the hero of the cham-pionship game against the Aggies. Rod-ney Wright, a 5' 10" junior, and 6' 5"sophomore Bernard Perry connected onthree pairs of free throws in the final 47seconds (on all three occasions with theBison leading by one) to give Howard a66-63 victory, its second consecutiveMEAC title, and its automatic ticket intothe NCAA playoffs."Where are we going?," one playerasked."I dunno," said another."You'll probably go to the Eastern Re-gionals in Charlotte (N.C.),"someone elseoffered.Whenthe official word came, the playersand the coaches went wild. The Bison(17-11) was to play Wyoming, on Thurs-day, March 12, at 9:30 p.m. in the firstround of the West Regional at UCLA'sPauley Pavilion."LAI LAI" boomed Spriggs, voted thetournament's most valuable player for anunprecedented third straight year. "We'vebeen doing a lot of traveling on the EastCoast and down South. But this istrtrsvelinq!""Eat your heart out, D. CI," exclaimedteammate James Ratiff.Celebrity or NotorietyOf the 48 teams qualifying for the NCAAplayoffs, probably none other created asmuch of a stir nationwide as Howard did.First of all, with the Bison's selectionthe Washington area had an unprece-dented three teams (Georgetown andMaryland were the other qualifiers) in theplayoffs.Secondly, given Howard's 17-11 recordcompiled against a schedule of predomi-nantly Black college teams, a number ofsportswriters lashed out at the NCAA forits selection process.A Wyoming player meets the Bison frontline.But given the Bison's new celebritystatus, all the local media as well as thenational media, became interested inknowing about Howard University andhow the team felt about going to theplayoffs.The GameIt was evident from the outset that theHoward players were uptight. The Wyo-ming Cowboys had jumped off to an 8-0lead, which undoubtedly had many of themore than 12,000 spectators thinking thatHoward was surely overmatched. But theBison gained its composure and cut the 25deficit to three points, 16-13, with 9:44 re-maining in the first half.Moments later, forward Larry Spriggshad seemingly narrowed the gap to onewith his slam dunk. However, the officialscalled a charging foul against him anddisallowed the basket. The Cowboys routwas underway.The Bison quickly got into foul troubleagainst the taller, more physical Wyomingteam, and coupled with an 8-30 (26 per-cent) shooting in the first half, trai led 35-23at the break.The Bison had become the favorites ofthe crowd in the first half. But despite thesupport of the fans and the admon itions ofCoach Williamson and his assistant CyAlexander, the Bison fell far behind. In theend, the scoreboard read: Wyoming 78,Howard 43. What a 10SSIThe AftermathIn the pressroom, Williamson summed uphis team's poor showing this way: "Thefact that this is our first appearance in theNCAA playoffs and the mystique of PauleyPavilion finally caught up with myplayers."The players, embarrassed and hurt bytheir poor performance, dressed asquickly as they could and departed outinto the night with nary a word to anyone.Perhaps junior forward Lawr.enceNor-fleet said it best "We wanted to win toobad Iy. We didn't take our time. It's a frus-trating experience, but on the positiveside, it's a learning experience. It wi II bevaluable in the future." 0Donnie Tuck is sports information coordinator atHoward University.NEW DIRECTIONS JULY 1981

The Bison\u27s
3-Thousand-Mile Odyssey

https://dh.howard.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1277&amp;context=newdirections

The Bison\u27s 3-Thousand-Mile Odyssey

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Howard University: Digital Howard