Wednesday, April 1, 1998
By SCOTT M. JOHNSON
Enterprise staff writer
Right up until the day before the biggest game in school history, UC Davis men's basketball coach Bob Williams was delivering his message. It would not take a national championship for this UCD team to go down in history. Win or lose, the 1997-98 Aggies were the school's best ever.
UCD had already recorded just the second unbeaten season in Northern California Athletic Conference history, won 30 games for the first time, and had gone deeper in the postseason than any other Aggie team.
Of course, the Aggies capped their historic season by winning the first national championship in UCD men's basketball. Despite being unranked in the preseason, the underrated Aggies stormed through the NCAC, avenged their only two losses of the season in the West Regional, then ran through three opponents at the Elite Eight.
By the time UCD defeated Kentucky Wesleyan 83-77 in the NCAA Division II championship game, even the Aggies themselves were surprised.
``The national championship was beyond what anybody expected,'' sophomore Jason Cox said. ``It was what everybody hoped for, but we really just wanted to get out of regionals.''
The victory was all the more historic considering the Aggies (31-2) were playing in the NCAC and without scholarships for the final time.
As Williams preached all season, UCD was hardly an intimidating group of players. Their center, senior Justis Durkee, was 6-foot-4. Their top outside shooter, senior Jonathan Surface, 6-8 and 195 pounds.
Dante Ross, the team's leading scorer, averaged just 12.1 points per game. Without a superstar, a nine different players led the Aggies in scoring this season.
Ross was undoubtedly the leader, however. By the end of the season, he had earned honors as the NCAC player of the year, an all-West Region performer, the MVP of the West Regional, and a member of the NCAA Division II all-tournament team.
But Cox overshadowed him in the postseason, making all-tournament team at the Elite Eight and hitting the biggest shot in school history to help beat Kentucky Wesleyan in the finals.
Yet even that duo could not be considered stars for the balanced Aggies, who ranked second in the nation in scoring defense.
There were nights when senior Chris Vlasic carried the team, games where Durkee or J.C. Timmons took control at just the right times, and memorable contests when bench players like Surface, Rick Gonzales, J.P. Bergez or John Surina made big contributions. Other reserves like point guard Travon Dugar, defensive specialist Keith Jackson and rebounding monger Scott Darmstadt were also key components to the championship mix.
Entering this season, the Aggies hoped to rebound from a rather uneventful year by UCD standards. Despite winning a co-conference championship in 1996-97, the Aggies had lost three NCAC games and barely made it to the West Regional before losing to Grand Canyon.
The Aggies proved early this season that they would not only be an NCAC contender, but a national power. In the nonconference season, the Aggies narrowly lost to Cal State Los Angeles and beat Grand Canyon.
Then, while the students were home for the holiday break, the Aggies opened the nation's eyes by shocking top-ranked Cal State Bakersfield, the defending national champs.
``It was still super early, so the national championship was not on anyone's mind,'' Timmons said. ``But we were thinking, if we could beat Bakersfield, we can beat anybody in the country.''
The celebration was short-lived, however, as UCD lost to Seattle Pacific in its next game at the Oak Harbor Freight Lines Holiday Classic in Seattle.
That would be the last time the Aggies would head for the locker room with long faces, as they went on to win the next 24 games.
It became apparent early in the NCAC schedule that UCD was out of its league. The Aggies, who were expected to be challenged by Chico State for the final conference crown, won their first six conference games by an average of almost 23 points.
UCD's first true league contest did not come until the end of January, when the Aggies traveled to Chico to face the Wildcats. Aided by a technical foul call with two seconds remaining, UCD came out with a 78-77 victory. Chico's Deon Robinson scored the go-ahead basket, but the Wildcats' bench was assessed a technical foul for an early celebration, leading to two Vlasic free throws for UCD.
``So many things happened like that during the course of the year that you look back now and it's obvious that it was meant to be,'' Vlasic said.
Added Timmons, ``I think the Chico State game, that kind of put the notion in our heads that there could be a destiny season for us.''
Although UCD came back to beat Chico by 29 points during Break the Record Night at Hamilton Court three days later, the second time through the conference schedule was more difficult, especially road games at Humboldt State and Sonoma State.
Still, UCD emerged unscathed. After two wins in the Shaughnessy Tournament, including a narrow victory over Sonoma on a Ross jumper in the waning moments, the Aggies were in position to host the West Regional for the first time.
Going through the NCAC unbeaten was impressive enough. But even more surprising was the fact that UCD did it while playing without Cox and with an injured Durkee.
``That was a huge confidence-builder for us,'' Timmons said. ``To keep winning games when they went down gave us confidence going into the playoffs.''
While Cox recovered from a foot injury, Surface moved into the starting lineup to give UCD its most effective outside threat. Durkee played through the pain of his ankle injury, and Surina and Gonzales filled in admirably when he missed two games to keep the Aggies' win streak intact.
``That only made us stronger when we had adversity to overcome,'' Vlasic said. ``We just went about our business as if we didn't lose anybody. The people who stepped in for us stepped up at the right time. Once we got (Cox and Durkee) back, we knew we could still count on those (bench) players because they had been tested.''
That depth and a rowdy crowd helped UCD in the West Regional. With Durkee containing two mammoths inside and Cox looking as if he had finally recovered from the foot injury, the Aggies avenged both losses to Cal State L.A. and Seattle Pacific to go on to the Elite Eight.
In the game against Seattle Pacific, which upset No. 2 seed Cal State Bakersfield in the semifinals and was the only team to beat UCD in regulation, the Aggies jumped out to an early lead and cruised to an 80-52 win.
``After the Seattle Pacific game, we had a lot of confidence,'' Vlasic said. ``We put a pretty big beating on them. They were a highly competitive team and so after we beat them, we had a confidence and an air about us that we could compete (at the Elite Eight) and win.''
No history. No size. No go-to guy. All the obstacles that UCD had overcome during the regular season seemed to resurface even before the team took the floor in Louisville, Ky.
``It was almost like we didn't belong there,'' Vlasic said. ``Even though we had a respectable record, it didn't seem like anyone was giving us a chance. We read things in the paper like `Big school, little tradition and little chance.' People don't realize how much things like that fire you up to go out and play.''
After recovering from a slow start in a quarterfinal win against West Texas A&M, the Aggies almost gave up a big lead in a semifinal win over St. Rose (N.Y.).
But in the end, UCD found itself in the unlikely place of the NCAA championship game. While even Williams seemed to downplay his team's chances, the Aggies went into a hostile environment to shock Kentucky Wesleyan, which had won six national titles.
The championship game will not soon be forgotten by not only UCD fans, but anyone who watched it on CBS. In a game that featured numerous runs by both teams, UCD got the most important one when Cox, who had scored 27 points in the semifinal victory, hit a 3-pointer with 38 seconds remaining to give the Aggies their final lead.
After a Wesleyan turnover, a Cox block and four free throws from Ross, the Aggies came back to Davis with an 83-77 win and the first NCAA men's basketball title.
The national champions did, almost immediately after winning the title.
The week following the Elite Eight was almost as eventful as the championship run, as Williams took advantage of the successful season and was named the head coach at UC Santa Barbara.
``It's almost like your girlfriend's cheating on you,'' said Vlasic, who added that he was happy for Williams. ``You hear he's the coach at UCSB, and you get jealous. You're like, `No, he's our coach.' ''
While Williams, Vlasic, and five other seniors won't be back, the 1997-98 season will be fresh in everyone's minds for a long, long time.
``I feel so fulfilled now,'' Vlasic said. ``There's nothing more I could have accomplished, so I won't really miss it that much.''
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