49ers Lost NCAA Bid But Found Something Even More Important

It had been a stunning weekend for the Cal State Long Beach men’s basketball team.

After beating New Mexico State, 90-85, in the semifinals of the Big West Conference tournament, the 49ers were confident they would be selected for the NCAA tournament.

But at halftime of the Sunday title game with Nevada Las Vegas, the team was told that it could get into the tourney only by defeating the third-ranked Rebels.

The 49ers grimly took the Long Beach Arena court, played fanatically for a few minutes, then got swept away, 92-74.

“I cannot believe it. . . I cannot believe it,” Coach Joe Harrington kept saying afterward. In the locker room, senior guard Tyrone Mitchell said, “I want to keep my respect and dignity, so I have no comment.”

It was 24 hours later, and the subdued 49ers gathered for their team banquet at the Ramada Renaissance Hotel. Reality had sunk in: They were going not to Knoxville, Tenn., to play Houston, but to Tempe, Ariz., to play Friday night against Arizona State in the considerably less prestigious National Invitational Tournament.

“We’re very, very proud of you,” Cal State Long Beach President Curtis McCray told the players. “It’s often said that it’s only a game, that real life is something else. Well, they’re wrong. The game is life. When you play a game, you’re playing life. It is our life. The kind of pain we have undergone in the last several hours is part of the pain of life.”

Harrington received a standing ovation as he took the podium. His anger had subsided.

“The last 24 hours have probably done more for Long Beach State than the last 10 or 15 years have,” he told a crowd of more than 700. “Dick Vitale (the loquacious TV commentator) is all over ESPN talking about it. I’ve gotten calls from all over the country about the raw deal we got.

“It has been a raw deal, but it won’t be the last raw deal you get in your life. It’s part of life. The reason we were 22-8 was because we could handle adversity.

“It’s a blessing in disguise. Two years ago we were delighted to be in the NIT. Today we’re disappointed to be in it. My second year at Maryland, when I was an assistant coach, we won the NIT. That did so much for Maryland basketball. That was a springboard. From then on we were awesome in basketball. Our players will use this opportunity to show we’re a special group. Long Beach State is not an unknown anymore. Yesterday changed all that.”

Harrington talked about his players, each of whom received a photo of himself in action.

“Tyrone Mitchell,” he began. “When we got the news last night, the first thing that came in my head was that Tyrone’s going back to Arizona State and show them a few things. His determination is incredible, you can see it in his eyes.”

Mitchell, who had transferred to Long Beach from Arizona State after becoming disillusioned because of lack of playing time, has been the team leader this season, averaging 10 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists a game.

“He wouldn’t let us lose,” assistant coach Seth Greenberg had said after the New Mexico State game Saturday.

Mitchell, a criminal justice major who plans on going to law school, has also stood out academically.

“In his five terms, he was on the president’s list or dean’s list in four of them,” said Suzanne Wurzer, director of the office of academic services. “He has never received a grade other than A’s and Bs.”

Mitchell, wearing a gray suit with a polka-dotted tie, kissed Wurzer on the cheek as she presented him with a Big West academic excellence plaque.

Assistant coach Bob Braswell presented the outstanding offensive player award to freshman guard Lucious Harris, whom he had coached when both were at Cleveland High School in Reseda.

Harris had scored 75 points in the three Big West tournament games.

“I look at him sometimes as a son, and sometimes as a brother,” Braswell said. “He’s very dear to me.”

After Mitchell and Troy Joseph were honored as defensive co-players of the year, senior Rudy Harvey accepted the sixth-man award. Harvey, though, had become a starter late in the season, after which the 49ers went on a nine-game winning streak.

“I’m just kind of down,” Harvey said. “It hurt yesterday, but we’re just going to New York now.”

He paused, as if thinking of that blur that each season becomes: all the practices, all the planes, all the vans and buses, all the hotels, all the arenas.

“The years went by so fast,” Harvey said. “It seems like it’s still my freshman year.”

Assistant coach Greenberg was called to the microphone. “When we were 13-7, the bandwagon got a little small,” Greenberg said. “The NCAA can have their (Final Four) tournament in Denver. I guarantee this team is going to have its tournament in New York.

If the 49ers win three games in the NIT, they will go to Madison Square Garden for the semifinals.

More awards were presented--one to Kevin Cutler as the top rebounder, another to Frankie Edwards as the best free-throw shooter.

Darrell Faulkner, a senior, received the “49er pride” award and said, “We’re in a unique situation. The whole country believes we deserve to be there. Now we’re in the NIT. The NCAA is looking at us to see how good we’re going to do in the NIT. If we lose the first game, the headline will be, ‘We didn’t deserve it anyway.’ ”

The crowd murmured agreement.

“Rudy Harvey and I talked about getting up here for the last time,” Faulkner said. “I’m going to try not to let the tears out. To you young guys, you’ve all got a great future. Try to keep your heads up. And be young. I’ll never forget the memories or the friendships. I love you guys and I thank you.”

As Faulkner returned to his seat, Harrington said, “It’s moments like this when you understand why you stick with coaching.”

Harrington announced that Mitchell had been selected as the team’s most valuable player. There was another standing ovation.

“I’m going to ask that this be given back to the coach, and that the whole team be put on it,” Mitchell said.

Then it became apparent that Mitchell had a lot more to say. He looked over the room.

“President McCray, my girlfriend and I were having lunch in the Chart Room and you came up and spoke to me. That was the classiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

He turned to Harrington and said, “You have to be the craziest person I’ve ever known.”

Laughter filled the room.

Images quickly returned, of Harrington screaming at referees or at Mitchell during the heat of practice or a game.

Still looking at his coach, Mitchell said: “He’s always given me the confidence to go out and lead this team. He’s an unbelievable person, a great motivator.”

“K.C.,” Mitchell said to Cutler, “I love you, man, I really do.”

He scanned the room and spotted two of the younger players.

“Ronnie Winbush and Frankie Edwards . . . it took me five years to get where I am now, wherever that is. You guys are just babies.”

His next subject was the 49ers’ laid-back sophomore center.

“Mike Masucci, let me apologize for taking a punch at you during practice,” Mitchell said.

To the laughing crowd, he explained, “Mike wasn’t playing defense so we exchanged some words.”

When the room became quiet again, Mitchell said kindly but firmly to Masucci: “Stop hiding behind that shield of ignorance. You have a lot of potential, only you can hold you back.”

Mitchell turned to Bobby Sears, who may replace him as point guard next season, and said, “You will have all the burden I have had, the many sleepless nights, the (coaches’) yelling and screaming. It is all yours. If you play the way you played me in practice, you will have no problem.”

Mitchell asked his parents, William and Ruth Mitchell, to stand.

“When I left for Arizona State, I thought I was Mr. Independent and didn’t need anyone to help me,” Mitchell said. “How quickly that was erased. They were the first to come out and get me when things went bad. They are great people.”

Concluding, he said to the players who will return: “Take this snub by the NCAA and turn it into something positive. Go out and win 25 or 26 games to assure that you’ll have a place at the dance.”

When all the awards had been presented, Faulkner sat at a piano in a corner of the room and in his rich Southern voice sang . . .

“As you can see it’s all come to an end,

Another phase of life is about to begin.

The future awaits us with its arms open wide,

I know we will succeed because of our pride.

We’ve been through too much together

to just say goodby and let it go.

The friendships we’ve made will last forever,

‘cause they are instilled deep within our souls.

And I know even if we physically depart,

we will be here in your hearts.

And I know we will continue to keep in touch,

because our friendships they mean so much to us.

Thinking back on many of our ups and downs,

all of our wins and loses and our smiles and frowns.

We’ve shared joys and pains, we’ve shared laughter and tears,

memories we have will last for all years.”

It was a song he had written last week.

When it was over, Faulkner bent down and hugged 49er fan Pearl Moore, who sat in a wheelchair, watching through tears.

Then, to the crowd he had just deeply touched, he said:

“I love all of you. Let’s win the NIT, baby.”