He Represents a Transfer of Power

Mike Gansey was a quitter. That’s what he and all the players at St. Bonaventure were called two years ago, when the Bonnies were banned from the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament after an academic scandal erupted near the end of the season.

When the players were told they wouldn’t be allowed to compete in the postseason, they chose to empty their lockers and go home. St. Bonaventure had to forfeit its final two games, and the players, Gansey included, were characterized as poor sports and quitters.

“It was a hard situation,” Gansey said Wednesday. “Whatever we did, we were the ones getting hurt, and maybe we didn’t handle everything the right way, but nobody was considering us, the players, either.”

Talk about redemption. Gansey was the star of one of the best games of the NCAA tournament so far, West Virginia’s 111-105 double-overtime upset of second-seeded Wake Forest. Gansey scored 29 points -- 19 in the two overtimes -- in Cleveland, which is near his hometown of Olmsted Falls, Ohio. The 6-foot-4 junior had scored 21 points against Boston College, and had 22 points and 10 rebounds against Villanova during the Big East Conference tournament, where the Mountaineers played four tough games, advanced to the final and got off the selection bubble.

And now Gansey is here at the Pit, the arena where his No. 7-seeded Mountaineers (23-10) will play No. 6-seeded Texas Tech (22-10) tonight in the NCAA’s Sweet 16 after the region’s top-seeded team, Washington (29-5), meets No. 4 Louisville (31-4).

“Obviously, at St. Bonaventure, all the scandal and all the stuff that happened there was unfortunate,” Gansey said.

“To find myself sitting here at the Sweet 16, it has been awesome. I would have never dreamed that we would have to forfeit games and I did not know where I was going to be. To sit out was very, very hard. To be where I am now is amazing.”

After St. Bonaventure’s program was put on probation, Gansey chose to transfer.

West Virginia Coach John Beilein had film of Gansey when he coached at Richmond, which, like St. Bonaventure, was a member of the Atlantic 10.

“I would run tape of Gansey at St. Bonaventure for my kids at Richmond,” Beilein said, “because he was a kid who played hard every play and did things right. When I heard he was transferring, I wanted him.”

Today’s first game will match teams that love to run and shoot threes, and Louisville Coach Rick Pitino was quick to compare Washington to his team.

“They’re like us,” he said. “They shoot the ball well, and they are one of the top rebounding teams in the Pac-10.

“They are clearly an explosive offensive basketball team that you can’t key on one person. If you do, two or three other guys burn you.”

The Cardinals have some guys who can burn opponents too. They shot 52.4% against Georgia Tech on Sunday, and Compton native Ellis Myles is the best shooter, making 50% of his shots. But it is willowy forward Francisco Garcia who makes Louisville go. He averages 15.9 points a game but in two NCAA games has averaged 24 points, three assists and two blocked shots.

Louisville guard Larry O’Bannon said it is up to his team to control the tempo. The Cardinals don’t want to run all the time as Washington does.

“We won’t just throw the ball down,” O’Bannon said. “We definitely want to slow them down. They have an awful lot of speed.”