As the regular season comes to an end, the post season is looking up for the UB Men’s Basketball team It has been 10 years in the making since the Purple Knights have made it into the NCAA tournament. With 22 wins on the season and a first round win in the NYCAC conference playoffs, the post season looks inevitable.
Head coach Mike Ruane brought in players this year to make a difference in the league and they did just that. Jermaine Clark and Gordon James came into this season with high expectations from their coach. Clark, a big time Division I player, and James, who was overlooked by perhaps the whole country, have been a major impact on the program this season.
Along with Clark and James, there have been a host of others this season who have helped make the NCAA tournament look less and less like a dream and now a reality for UB.
Sean Mills came into this season looking to dominate people with his skill and has done just that. T. J. Newman has taken his four-year reign and turned it into one great run at the end of his collegiate career.
Bryan Evans and Abdul Smith have combined to be one of the best point guard pairs in the Northeast Region. It may be hard to find two other people to put the work in on the floor as these two do game in and game out.
Laverne Goulbourne and Tomas Kukla have put in quality minutes for the Purple Knights and have given a boost to the team when they were needed the most. Their games have helped the team move into a great spot in the NYCAC conference and a push into the NCAA regional.
In 10 years, UB has not seen a team as they are seeing now. After defeating the University of New Haven (UNH), a rekindled rivalry, and the New York Institute of Technology, the Purple Knights are on their way to the semi-final round of the NYCAC playoffs and are assured a spot in the Northeast Regional in the NCAA tournament.
I’m sure that the more than 1,100 fans at the UNH game caught a glimpse of what it was like to be in the gym in the 1970’s through the early 1990’s with the team having such a run at the NCAA tournament each year.
With a record now of 22-6, UB’s hopes for a conference title are at their grasp and the trail begins with their semi-final match-up tomorrow with conference rivals Adelphi University at C.W. Post University in Long Island, New York. Then their journey begins back into the national scene with their first trip to the NCAA tournament since the 1992-1993 season when UB was under the direction of legendary coach Bruce Webster.
Now Ruane and his troops go into battle with the best teams in the region and are on their quest back to the glory that has risen again. With the purple and white blood flowing through the veins of many of University of Bridgeport’s students and faculty members, this quest has only just begun.