Watching the UConn Huskies fall to San Diego on Friday, I thought to myself: Why can’t that be Fairfield?
The Toreros of San Diego are not a supremely talented team, but instead one that played well together and in a good system. With tough defense and an attacking offense, San Diego was able to knock off one of the best teams in the tournament
[Copy editor’s note: Tom Cleary is from Connecticut, and
like the other residents of Connecticut, he believes that
UConn was one of the best teams.]
Along with San Diego, underdogs Siena (from the MAAC) and Davidson also pulled off upsets, while Western Kentucky knocked off fellow mid-major Drake in a 12-5 game. All of those teams followed a simple formula: Playing in a system with experience and not backing down against more-talented opponents.
Siena, which Fairfield beat earlier this season, looked like an average team during the middle of the MAAC season, when the Saints almost slipped out of contention for the regular season title. But by getting hot during the MAAC Tournament and then carrying that momentum over to the NCAA Tournament, the Saints were able to beat SEC opponent Vanderbilt.
Western Kentucky and Drake were both examples of what can happen when a mid-major team grows together and gains experience needed to play in the tournament.
Drake, which lost in the first round, was a five seed, along with teams like Michigan State, which has won two NCAA Championships in the past 30 years. Drake has never sniffed a national championship.
Western Kentucky, meanwhile, is led by 34-year-old Head Coach Darrin Horn, who played at the school in 1995. The “upset” of Drake showed how far mid-majors have come. A team from the Sun Belt Conference beating a team from the Missouri Valley is now considered a major upset.
On the women’s side, Fairfield’s MAAC rival Marist advanced to the second round for the second straight year and in-state Hartford upset Syracuse in the first round, before both lost to number two seeds in the second round.
Fairfield’s women’s team is led by a coach who knows how to win. If Joe Frager can continue to pull in recruits who fit well into his system, such as Joelle Nawrocki ’11 and incoming freshman Sarah Paulus, it could be Fairfield instead of Marist in the second round in a few years.
Men’s Head Coach Ed Cooley is a young, rising head coach in the MAAC and, if the talented sophomores and freshmen on his team can continue to develop together, they could pull a Siena in a couple of years. All it takes is winning the MAAC, because as this past weekend showed, anything can happen once you make the Big Dance.
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