WEBVTT - Navy, Gonzaga and Davidson: The Cinderellas 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:04.240 Welcome to Special Teams, a production of I Heart Radio 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:23.520 Greetings and Welcome inside Special Teams with Jason Smith and 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:26.799 Mike Harmon, the podcast that looks back at special teams 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:30.600 single season achievements in sports history. We look back at 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:33.120 the best of the best, sometimes teams that were so 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:35.560 memorable even though they couldn't win at all, Sometimes teams 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:38.520 that couldn't win a game. And we have a very 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:42.480 special two week theme going on here on the podcast 0:00:42.560 --> 0:00:45.520 as since we are in the month of March, this 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:50.120 is n c A Tournament Month, a special Cinderella's Podcast, 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.560 not one, but two as over the course of this weekend. 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:55.680 Next week, we're gonna look back at six of the 0:00:55.720 --> 0:01:00.160 best Cinderella schools in n c A Tournament history. Up 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.240 they were able to accomplish the big names, the big wins, 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:07.640 the big everything Part one three teams Today. I like 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:09.160 the way you did that. You set it up and 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:11.840 you had me and then you said schools and all 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:13.959 the prep I did on Tom Kieford just went out 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.080 the window. Oh I'm sorry. Okay, Well, here's gonna need 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:20.040 to know. Long Cold Winner, one of the most underrated 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:24.959 hair metal albums of all time. Cinderella. Probably boy, they're 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:26.560 on that there and there and what are they one 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:28.720 in the top seven or eight hair metal bands of 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:31.080 the eighties early nineties. Oh, they had a fantastic run, 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.400 there's no question about. I mean, bad Seamstress Blue is 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:35.080 Coming Apart At the Scenes is one of my favorite 0:01:35.080 --> 0:01:38.640 songs of all time. Pretty good. Yeah, yeah, I mean 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:40.280 you go all the way through. I mean Tom Keiform 0:01:40.319 --> 0:01:42.840 still making the rounds, and just a couple of years 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:45.680 ago I got to see him play a little acoustic 0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:48.320 light show. But yeah, it's you know, you're talking about 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:52.040 millions upon millions of albums. I mean, you go back 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:53.920 into the cassettes. I'm sure you still have a few 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:57.480 floating around. The singles I have of Cinderella, so many 0:01:57.480 --> 0:01:59.800 of that joy It sounds like just like him where 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:02.840 the cat got at your throat. It's really hard to sing, 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:04.840 like it hurts in the car because I get done, 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:08.680 I'm like, I can't talk for an hour. That's at 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:12.280 the scenes. So when you listen, when you listen to 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:14.760 our show on Fox Sports Radio, the Jason Smith Show 0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:17.440 in Mike Armen, when you hear me talk a lot 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.160 within an hour, Jason did something really bad on the 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:23.680 way in either he ate something he should have his 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:27.720 throat dirt, or he sang some hair metal. Uh yeah, 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:29.600 Mainly that would be if I did the first three 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:32.160 songs of Long Cold Winter, because that goes into Gypsy Road. 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:34.280 Don't know what you got till it's gone. Yeah, I 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:35.960 would have no voice after that at all. Yeah. No, 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:38.400 it doesn't work out well for you. But instead it 0:02:38.480 --> 0:02:42.040 is Cinderella teams in the n c A tournament, teams 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.440 that were high seeds, not expected to go very far, 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:50.240 and ones that grabbed our attention in tonight's episode, today's 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:53.680 episode rather or tonight today, tonight, whatever you're listening to it. 0:02:54.000 --> 0:02:56.320 We have a team from the eighties. We got a 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:58.960 team from the nineties. I've got a team from the odds. 0:02:59.360 --> 0:03:01.919 The isn't getting be better than that? When we should 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.720 start with the eighties because we're talking about Cinderella. Hey 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:09.200 remember the eighties? Eight it's the eighties? Man, wasn't that 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.600 with Goat Boy? I think so? I think, yeah, I 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:14.280 think I know. I think that was the title of 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:17.520 a Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Goat Boy. 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:26.680 That's book eight. The first team up Night six Navy, 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:30.960 the midshipman led by none other than the Admiral David Robinson, 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:36.400 who had some kind of run all season long. Four 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:39.640 Navy and look, he went out to be called a 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:42.680 Hall of Fame player Championship with the San Antonio Spurs. 0:03:42.680 --> 0:03:44.680 He could not be stopped in the pros once he 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:48.600 got through his Naval obligation. But coming into his senior 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.200 year he was highly regarded and he just took over 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:54.200 in the n c A Tournament. This is a guy that, 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:56.280 believe it or not. At the end of the year, 0:03:56.280 --> 0:03:58.480 he was only a second team All American. I mean, 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.360 imagine that, David ro Hobbinson, one of the most decorated 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:05.000 players in NBA history. Second team All American. That's as 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.480 good as he could get. I just remember all of 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:09.960 the little vignettes right the Hey, let's look at the 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:13.160 life of David Robinson. Hey, he can't fit here, he 0:04:13.280 --> 0:04:15.680 can't fit there. And he always looked like a giant 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:18.520 compared to the guys he was playing against, like he 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:22.159 was larger than life. As a college athlete. I remember 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:25.560 the when he the rookie cards came out, one of 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:28.320 him holding the jersey. Right, they didn't have the inaction 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:30.920 shot because all you have was draft night and everything 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.240 how sought after all that was. But I just remember 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:38.320 those CBS telecasts and there he is, you know, always 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:41.320 with a quick nod to the service to be done, 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:47.280 and always in his Navy blues. And then you get 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:49.160 back on the court and just watch him dominate from 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:53.480 pillar to post. I mean, just ridiculous athleticism that you 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.360 knew was gonna make him a star. On Davy's coach 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:58.680 by Paul Evans, they play in the CIA and they 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:02.960 come out of the year with a thirty and five record. Alright, 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:05.320 so not bad thirty and five, but it's Navy. How 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.200 good really are they? They have one good player? How 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:09.960 far can they really go? In the n c A 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.760 Tournament first round, they beat Tulsa, Okay, not a big deal. 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:17.040 David Robinson goes for thirty and twelve, and hey, that's 0:05:17.040 --> 0:05:19.640 a nice story. Here's the ad before he's really the admiral. 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:21.360 Here he is with a big game. But now let's 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.360 see what he can do because then you have Syracuse 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:29.599 coming up next, your Syrius Syracuse Orange back then the 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.400 Orange Men, and before I went there, so this is 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:34.760 when you know I was a st John's fan. So 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:36.680 it's not like I was watching this game rooting for 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:39.120 Syracuse because I was a St. John's fan and St. 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:41.440 John's was a rival of Syracuse. If anything, I was 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:44.160 rooting for David Robinson to have a big game. About that, 0:05:44.640 --> 0:05:47.800 see how life has changed. Big game he did. They 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:53.880 beat Syracuse five, David Robinson thirty five points, eleven rebounds, 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:57.160 seven blocks. After the game, he actually said, I actually 0:05:57.200 --> 0:05:59.640 felt slow on offense tonight. I didn't feel like I 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:03.360 had my s game going. Vernon Butler very underrated, who 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:05.359 was Navy's second best player. He had a bunch of 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:07.560 big games over the course of the season. He had 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.640 twenty three points. It was the last game at Syracuse 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:13.559 for Pearl Washington. He would go to the NBA after 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.600 drafted by the Nets. The next year's Syracuse would go 0:06:16.640 --> 0:06:20.560 to the National Championship Game. But now beating Syracuse because 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:23.839 in the eighties was really when the birth of Syracuse happened. 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:26.400 Like different schools hit it big at different times, but 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:29.920 the magic of television, Syracuse was always on TV. People 0:06:29.920 --> 0:06:32.640 would see it, would see the Carrier Dome. Thirty three thousand, 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.240 thirty five thousand people at all the games I want 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:39.000 to go to Syracuse. They churned out NBA prospects. Beating 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.159 Syracuse really put Navy and David Robinson on the map 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:44.520 as well. This is not just a really great player 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:47.240 who's you know, doing well against the CIA. This is 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.160 a guy that just really put it on Syracuse. Right 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:52.040 goes and the decided step up in class. I mean, 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:54.480 you go through their schedule. This was their fifteenth win 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:57.240 in a row. That had an earlier winning streak of 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:01.839 seven that that had gotten snapped by the Richmond Spiders. 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:05.400 About that for the randomness in the don't bring up Wan, 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:07.080 bring up rich because that reminds me of ninety two 0:07:07.080 --> 0:07:09.120 when we went out to Richmond in the first bleeping round. No, 0:07:09.279 --> 0:07:12.080 that's what you know. That's the Special Team's podcast and 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:16.560 Syracuse Failures. Okay, that's another special one. That would be 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:18.320 a long we don't have enough time for that podcast. 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:20.840 That's four parts. We don't have enough four parts. People 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:23.560 would say, you need like seven more. No, no, no, no, 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.000 we could, we could no. Actually those are hour long 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:31.880 therapi more. Lawrence Moten calls time out and we lose 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:35.440 to Arkansas. Was just like Chris Webber, but nobody paid 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.800 attention to it. He got a Lawrence Moten reference. We 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.920 actually we're actually Facebook friends, Lawrence Moten, I Facebook good. 0:07:43.040 --> 0:07:45.840 He used to come into bars and Syracuse wearing a 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:50.000 Syracuse hat that had rhinestones on it. I mean it 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:52.280 was I mean, I said, I want that hat. It 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.760 would sparkle. It was glittery diamonds. It was lovely and gorgeous. No, 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:57.920 that's great. I mean they put up ninety seven in 0:07:57.920 --> 0:08:00.080 the game against Syracuse. I mean, this is a on 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:04.280 young Ronnie Psychly too, who still look thirty five, but 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:11.200 he was, Yeah, he was. He minutes playing Washington and 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:14.440 Alexis with your leaders Monroe with fifteen off the bench, 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:18.520 but still at twelve point loss, just dominated by Robinson. 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.200 So then they go to the sweet sixteen. And this 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:23.920 game was a very famous game in n c A 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:25.920 history because I remember, this is one of the first 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:28.240 n c A tournaments that I really paid attention to 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:30.800 the whole thing. And I'm saying to myself, Navy is 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:34.079 gonna play Cleveland State. Who was the other Cinderella that year, 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:37.400 Ken Mouse McFadden. You know, this is a team that's surprised. 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:39.280 You know, won a couple of games like Oh, look 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:41.839 at my goodness. Cleveland State is winning this. They upset 0:08:41.880 --> 0:08:46.040 Indiana in the first round, and Navy or Cleveland State 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.080 was going to the Elite eight, and that back then 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:50.120 I was young enough to go. That blows my mind. 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:52.000 One of these teams are gonna be. It shouldn't be 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:53.400 one of these teams in the Elite eight. Now you 0:08:53.440 --> 0:08:55.200 see stuff like this all the time. But when I 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:57.520 was like, you know, fourteen, I'm like, this shouldn't happen. 0:08:57.600 --> 0:08:59.400 These teams don't deserve to be at least always thought 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:01.760 it was such a separation, or at least that's how 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:04.600 it was portrayed. I mean, now you have so many breakdowns, 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:07.600 so many networks, so many different ways to get and 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:13.599 parse out information, advanced analytics and stats that you understand 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.640 how this could happen. But at the time, you know, 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:25.559 you still had David and Goliath. I guess d J. 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:30.760 David becomes Goliath. You have it against Cleveland State. DJ. 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:33.360 I kind of fumbled back into that one because I 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.040 knew you would be ready with the Burman pick up. 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:39.480 So they play Cleveland State and Cleveland States very physical 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:43.600 in this game. Paul Evans actually uh challenged David Robinson 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:45.800 had not to a fight, you would have lost because 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:48.320 David rob But if I could have anybody in sports history, 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:51.520 I'd want David Robinson's that he was like a Greek 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:55.280 god man. Yeah, that was that was statuesque. I want 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.840 to hey, ladies, I'm David Robinson, except I'm Jason Smith 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:02.760 with David Robinson's body. Um. He challenged Robinson half because 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:05.840 he wasn't playing well, probably the physical play. Robinson had 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:08.040 a huge second half. He finished with twenty two and 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:11.880 fourteen nine blocks. He has one block shy of a 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.760 triple double with blocks blocks. When you see something get 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.760 beyond two or three in a game, you really want 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:21.400 to go back and watch that again, right and you 0:10:21.400 --> 0:10:25.240 get to nine again. Talking about dominance and how active 0:10:25.280 --> 0:10:27.960 he was because he could close out right that length 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:29.800 where it didn't look like he was in a play, 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:32.240 and all of a sudden he just come back in 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:35.240 get a fingertip in and he was good about keeping 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:37.040 the ball in bounce and it's one of those things. 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:39.720 Always celebrated the play of a c earl of Iowa 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:42.720 who was the big ten shot blocker because he would 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:44.679 keep it in play. It was always a tap into 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:47.320 a teammate instead of the hey, let's throw it into 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:51.080 the fifth road. David Robinson was doing the same thing. 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:54.640 Robinson wins the game for Navy with a tip in 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:58.040 on a lob pass with five seconds left. They win 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:02.040 at seventy seventy and year goes Navy into the Elite 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:05.760 eight where it's Duke, and suddenly it's the Admiral and Duke. 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:08.559 And who do you root for? Because this at this point, 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:10.959 everybody still loved Duke. I mean this is they have 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.040 not been demonized boy Duke and Mike Shashowski. What a 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:16.719 great program they have. It's all about respect. We love Duke. 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:19.439 But now five or six more years, I'm not like dude. No. 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:21.959 And then it became the team that was always there 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:23.920 at the end and you cheered against. And then you 0:11:24.000 --> 0:11:26.760 got into bracketology of is this one of those years 0:11:26.760 --> 0:11:28.720 where they're gonna make a big run or they bouncing 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.120 out early. Now he's yelling at his own fans. Yeah, 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:34.240 so you don't know what to expect anymore. Uh. Navy 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:36.679 comes back to earth in this game. They lose seventy 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:41.320 to fifty one, and I remember the pageantry surrounding Navy 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:44.800 because whenever any of the service schools, the Service Academy's, Navy, Army, 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:48.560 Air Force do well. It just evokes this image of 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:51.439 an early America, of the you know, the nineteen forties 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:55.080 in college football when it was Army, Navy, and Cornell, 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:58.200 I think we're the only three teams, and it just 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:00.680 get When the service academies do well, it's like it 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:04.079 makes everybody feel good. And David Robinson was that feel 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:06.880 good story. Even though they lost, boy, he brought them 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:08.319 all the way to the elite. Hey, this guy is 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:11.160 gonna be a super duperstar. Like like I said before, 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:14.719 with the the vignettes you'd always have as they were 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:16.880 getting ready because he was gonna be the number one pick. 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:19.320 I mean that was decided. There was no question about that. 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:21.200 So let's get to know him. And it was a 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:25.520 chance without being a commercial. It became a commercial for 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:28.320 the Navy and what you could do, and we certainly 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:32.160 see it in college football. Bunch hasn't had the same 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:35.560 opportunity in the years since David Robinson to do that 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:39.240 on a basketball stage. But it was look a look 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:42.280 at the athlete, look at the well rounded guy. Because 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:45.320 they would always go into the academics right, here's what 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:49.280 his schedule looks like, and here's how you prepare and 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:52.160 and all the rigors of it. Just to really elevate 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:55.640 who he was. He has to come back for a 0:12:55.720 --> 0:12:58.760 senior year because it's Navy. And you know, this is 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.560 a story that you look many people who are our 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.880 age remember it. But this was a huge controversy. If 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:08.440 this happened now, this would be an everyday story for 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:11.080 a year because in the Navy, you have to fulfill 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:15.480 your naval requirements following graduation. Now, not many players were 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:18.280 talent enough to go from Navy Army to the NFL 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:20.439 or the NBA, because you don't go there. If you're 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:22.880 that good, you're going to different schools. But David Robinson 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:25.160 was different. He wanted to go to Navy. He wanted 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:27.160 to go to the Naval Academy. He's got to come 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:29.520 back for his senior year. You can't go pro because 0:13:29.559 --> 0:13:32.080 you got to go to the Navy first. They have 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:35.079 another good season, but they lose the first round of 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:37.400 the n c A Tournament the following year to Michigan. 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:41.800 He scores fifty points in that game, his final collegiate game, 0:13:42.520 --> 0:13:45.439 Spurs making the number one pick, but he's got to 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.719 sit out. There was so much pressure to allow him 0:13:48.720 --> 0:13:51.120 to play because it was a good story for the Navy, 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:53.240 and the Navy knew, Okay, we're not gonna have any 0:13:53.240 --> 0:13:55.640 good publicity if we just keep him from playing. So 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.880 they cut short his commitment by two years, and the 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:01.640 Spurs waited for him. He said, I'm gonna honor the 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:03.959 Spurs made the number one pick. Knowing they weren't gonna 0:14:03.960 --> 0:14:06.520 have me, he stayed. And look we did with san Antonio, 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.280 his entire Hall of Fame career, an amazing run, right, 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:13.120 and then you seeds way to Tim Duncan and they 0:14:13.160 --> 0:14:17.600 carry that on for so many years. Again, this story, 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:19.600 if it happened now, it would go on for your 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:22.520 Let David Robinson go let him go play interviews with 0:14:22.600 --> 0:14:27.160 rear admirals, vice admirals, front admiral, side admirals, all kinds 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:30.240 of admirals. We'd be talking to lieutenants. But this put 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:33.240 Navy basketball on the map, Navy sports on the map. 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:35.840 That wasn't just hey, Army Navy at the end of 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:38.280 every year, the one game you watched, how about somewhere 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:43.240 are they now the Navy midship and no fair saying 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.720 names and just saying they're in the Navy. No fair 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:49.960 saying that, no idea first for Navy as a whole. 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:53.560 This was their last n C double A appearance in 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:57.440 the tournament. They've had five net win five seasons with 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:00.080 at least nineteen wins, but have never gotten to the 0:15:00.160 --> 0:15:02.080 dance again. All right, here we go. We've got Carl 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:06.080 Liebert in the Navy CEO and President of the Navy 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:13.760 at Auto Nation. Oh really wow? Okay, all right, Kyler Whittaker, Navy, No, 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:19.200 Senior Managing Director of Corporate Sales for Medtronic Cardiac and 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.960 Vascular Group. That's the real name they picked out for that. 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:24.880 You gotta have a better You have a snazzy your name. 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:28.880 That's a long title. I played with David Robinson. That 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:30.880 should be the time. It's a big deal that he 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:34.640 keeps people's hearts going, keep hearts going. All right, great 0:15:35.560 --> 0:15:39.920 title parts going dot net for the Navy. And then 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:48.120 you've got uh Douglas woji Right, Frederick Douglas Wojic, Navy Army. 0:15:48.400 --> 0:15:51.120 He is an assistant coach director of recruiting for Tom 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:55.560 Zoh oh, alright, alright, well, well he's got a chance 0:15:55.600 --> 0:15:58.120 to go to more NC tournaments. Yeah, he's got a 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:02.800 lot of appearances along the way. So that's Navy Midshipman 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:06.200 in their incredible run behind the Admiral David Robinson. Coming 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:08.480 up next, we head to the nineties where a team 0:16:08.520 --> 0:16:11.720 that's a true Cinderella before becoming an n c A 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:14.960 power years later. That's coming up next. Jason Smith Mike 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:35.080 harmon Special Teams Podcast. Continuing on Special Teams with Jason 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:39.560 Smith and Mike Harmon ur podcast, a special Cinderella event 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:43.040 Slash Podcast, and I got my shoes on, my glass slippers. 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:45.440 Let's go. No place like home, No place like home, 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:51.080 Oh baby. So from nineteen eighties, we go to the 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:54.640 nineteen nineties and the first true Cinderella of the nineties 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:57.280 that turned into a latter day n c A power, 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:05.080 Gonzaga Bulldogs. This was their Cinderella debut. Now they're a power, 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:08.080 but back then it was boy Gonzaga out of the 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:11.480 w c C. Are they really any good? Dan Monson 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:14.440 is the head coach. Their star players are Matt Santangelo 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:18.639 and Casey Calvary. They dominate w c C during the season. 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:21.040 They go twelve and to twenty eight and seven but 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.920 really they were off the radar because mid major darlings 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:27.199 weren't really a thing back then. You know, these are 0:17:27.240 --> 0:17:30.280 teams where your Cinderella still kind of needed to be, 0:17:30.600 --> 0:17:33.359 teams that stood out or lower teams from the Power 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:35.920 five conferences way back then when there were less conferences, 0:17:36.119 --> 0:17:37.960 because the mid majors really didn't become a thing for 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:40.320 a few more years. Well, but they also started slowly. 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:43.000 There were four and three out of the gate losses. 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:46.040 Okay to number eight Kansas, number fIF team per do, 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:50.760 but you beat Memphis, you beat Washington State, okay, never 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:54.600 never a powerhouse at Eastern Washington with a big win 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:57.560 and and then a loss to Detroit mercies. I was like, 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:00.359 what is this team? As you get role and into 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:04.800 the season and j no mercy for the Bulldogs at Detroit. 0:18:05.000 --> 0:18:08.120 That was well done, well done. I've actually actually said 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:10.520 that on the air, said that I think we could 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:13.080 probably go back and check the videotape or we could 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.080 just use your re enactment. So they win the West 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:17.919 Coast Conference, they go to the n c A Tournament, 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:22.520 and this is really interesting. Their first game is against Minnesota. 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:25.119 Right now, why is this such a big deal? Row 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.000 the boat the day well, no, it wasn't rowed the 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.200 boat Minnesota. This wasn't no, no, no, no, no, this 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:32.040 this wasn't rowed the boat Minnesota. Oh my god, Minnesota's 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:34.800 got a good football team. The day before the n 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:39.399 c A tournament, it was revealed their academic counselor Jan Gangelhoff, 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:43.840 did coursework for as many as twenty players dating back 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:49.159 to n coursework for the players. So the day before, 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:53.919 four players immediately are suspended for this game. So the 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.640 day before the nater which usually only happens to Syracuse 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:58.760 because its happened a couple of times right before the tournament, 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:01.639 they've lost a guy um and they beat Minnesota in 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:04.720 the first round and they win. And really, when the 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:08.000 day before you lose four players and are suddenly embroiled 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:10.600 in a huge scandal, because it's not just you're losing 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:13.440 these four players, this is you're losing four players and 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:16.040 now we're gonna come to town on you. And they 0:19:16.080 --> 0:19:19.440 lose in Gonzaga wins. But at the time I remember 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:22.040 it being a well, what can you expect from Minnesota? 0:19:22.040 --> 0:19:24.480 How you expecting to win that game? Yeah? No, it's 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:28.200 certainly Kesta a big shadow over that game as you 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:31.320 went in and Minnesota was also a team that scraped in, right, 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:35.600 they weren't exactly a powerhouse kind of what finished seventeen 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:38.760 and eleven, So it's not a juggernaut of any way. 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:40.640 They were a seventh seed. It was a seven ten 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:42.679 game in Gonzaga's attends in one of those when you 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:45.080 look at those records. Now, I mean we mentioned a 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:47.120 little earlier in the podcast, Hey you've got Navy winning 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:51.040 nineteen a game. They're not sniffing the NZ double as 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:54.320 you've got a seventeen win team that finds its way in. 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:58.400 Now remember Minnesota for later on we talked about Gonzacka. 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:02.399 Just remember Minnas soda scandal, lost players, and I want 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:05.480 to talk about Joel Joel Prisbillo little we will get 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:10.960 to Joel Prisbilla. The Prisbilla uh second game of the tournament, 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:14.800 they beat Stanford. Now Stanford, this was a very big win. 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:19.200 Seventy four was the final. Matt Santangelo had twenty two 0:20:19.200 --> 0:20:22.480 points to lead the way for Gonzaga. He was heavily 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:26.200 recruited by Stanford, decided to go to Gonzaga. They had 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:28.679 tons of threes in this game. And this is when 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:30.560 This is around the time in the n c AS 0:20:30.560 --> 0:20:33.159 when look, the three pointer was always a weapon. But 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:35.760 this is around the time when teams realized, like the 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:39.720 mid major teams, that if we can hit threes, we 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:42.560 can stay with bigger and better teams, kind of like 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:45.639 when lesser teams in college football would go to a 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:49.280 spread offense, Like like like teams that can't compete athlete 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:51.480 wise with some of the top teams in in the A, 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:53.400 c C or the SEC. Hey, you know what, We're 0:20:53.400 --> 0:20:56.320 gonna go to a spread offense scheme and now we 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:58.760 can do this. Yeah, and and teams make it tougher 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:01.480 to prayer prepare for us. And this is where teams realized, wait, 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:03.320 if we're good a hitting three balls and we get 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:05.520 it from far out, wait, we can really even the 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:08.200 playing field against teams that are bigger, more physical, more 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:10.240 season than us. And this was one of those games 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:12.960 with those examples. On shot twice as many three pointers 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:16.360 as Stanford did. I love that team, though looking at Madison, 0:21:16.520 --> 0:21:20.560 who didn't love Mark Mattson, Chris Williams, Arthur Lee remember 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:23.719 watching them quite a bit as the season wore on. 0:21:23.880 --> 0:21:26.800 But as you say, and get to the three pointer 0:21:27.440 --> 0:21:30.600