N.C.A.A. Tournament: Virginia and Texas Downed, V.C.U. Disqualified
March 20, 2021, 9:10 p.m. ET
16th-seeded Norfolk State won a play-in game on Thursday. Now it must contend with Gonzaga, the tournament’s top seed.
“Yeah, I know we’re playing the Lakers of college basketball, the Brooklyn Nets of college basketball,” Coach Robert Jones said this week of Gonzaga. “They got three all-Americans, one first-team, two third-team. We know it’s going to be a challenge. It’s no secret that it’s going to be a challenge. But at the same time we have to lace them up and we have to play the basketball game.”
So they are looking to history.
“We’ve been in situations before as a program, with Missouri and Alabama in the N.I.T. and things like that,” the coach said. “And no one gave us a shot, and we were able to come out on top. It’s a whole different animal in Gonzaga, and we understand that, trust me. We understand that. At the same time, as a program we have the two largest victories by point spread in both the N.I.T. and N.C.A.A. So why not do it again.”
With most of the spotlight on Gonzaga, expect the Spartans to try to infuse Bankers Life Fieldhouse with their own passion.
“Let’s face it: 500 people, honestly, that’s probably the most people we played in front of all year,” Jones said Thursday night. “We’ve had to bring our own energy all year. We talk about it all the time — manufacture energy, manufacture energy. BYOE, Bring Your Own Energy.”
But Norfolk State’s presence in Indianapolis might seem jarring to Football Championship Subdivision fans: The university’s team is sitting out spring football because of the coronavirus pandemic. Basketball, though, is happening for at least a few more hours.
In an interview last month, Melody Webb, the university’s athletic director, acknowledged that she had harbored particular reservations about basketball and football because of the frequency and level of contact between players. Ultimately, the sizes of the teams prompted her to support a basketball season, as well as other spring sports.
“The biggest difference is the numbers,” she said. “Controlling 15 to 20 kids to 100 looks different.”
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/20/sports/march-madness/