Like it's 1999: What made Evansville's last NCAA tournament team so special?
Editor's note: This is the first of a three-part series running this week that will assess the connection between the University of Evansville's last NCAA tournament team and how the program is currently bridging that gap.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Marcus Wilson put up a shot for the lead. The rest of the 1999 University of Evansville men’s basketball team and the crowd at Roberts Stadium watched as it bounced, holding their collective breath as it fell in.
The Purple Aces went ahead against Southwest Missouri State, a game they needed to win to secure the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title.
“That is one of many things that happened in that game. … It wasn’t a high-scoring game, the scoring happened at the end of the game and overtime,” then-senior forward Curt Begle said. “There were a lot of things that had to happen to go in our favor, whether it was Marcus’ ball that bounced around eight times or a charge called our way instead of a blocking foul.”
UE needed to get back on defense, and Jeremy Stanton had his hands raised — partially in celebration, partially telling his teammates to get into position. Begle ran by, swinging his hand toward Stanton’s chest to tell him to get on defense, but Stanton jumped at the wrong time. Instead of hitting his chest, Begle hit his roommate straight in the gut.
“He’s hunched over,” Begle said. “He’s done.”
Luckily for the Aces, the Bears called a timeout. The UE coaches didn’t know what was wrong with Stanton, their high-pressing defender who had the task of guarding Missouri State’s fastest player William Fontleroy. The timeout allowed Stanton to catch his breath and utter a single word to Begle.
“Why?”
“Had they not called a timeout,” Stanton said with a laugh, “I’m not sure where that would’ve left me defensively.”
UE men's basketball: Takeaways from the Purple Aces' exhibition against Oakland City
Begle, of course, did not mean to punch his teammate in the stomach, but Missouri State coach Steve Alford’s timeout potentially saved UE’s title. The Aces beat the Bears 68-65 in overtime, clinching the conference championship ahead of Missouri State and Creighton on the last day of the regular season.
“If my shot doesn’t bounce around and go in and we finish in a three-way tie with Creighton and Southwest Missouri State, we probably don’t get into the tournament,” Wilson said. “History is completely different on the bounce of one inch. That bounce fell the other way, that’s how sports work sometimes.”
The 1999 UE team was the last to make the men’s NCAA Tournament. There have been 23 years since that moment. What made that team special? Players pointed to the preparation, skill, leadership, mindset and moments of luck — like Wilson’s bounce and Alford’s timeout.
“It wasn’t a mindset of, ‘Oh, I hope we can do it.’ It was a determination from I think all of us that we were gonna make this happen,” Begle said. “Every team probably says that going into the season. This year, this particular season, was different because we had tasted success.”
The years that followed held painful near-misses and historic lows for the Aces, which has led David Ragland being hired — the fifth coach since 2018. He brought Wilson and Craig Snow to bridge the gap between the past and the present with one goal: return to March Madness.
If the Aces are to return to the tournament in the near future, this group will be the reason why.
“We’re trying to bring the past... 1999,” Ragland said recently, “to the current, 2022-23.”
'It was either next year or that was it'
UE was picked to finish sixth in the MVC in 1998-99 after an inconsistent campaign the year prior — 15-15 overall, 9-9 in conference play.
“The ranking, I wouldn’t say it was extra fuel,” Wilson said. “My fuel was already at an all-time high.”
Wilson had one goal — win a championship. Coach Jim Crews had a motto: “Those who stay will leave as champions.” Everyone who played four years for Crews at UE before 1999 won a championship. It was unthinkable for an Aces class to finish its tenure without a ring, and Wilson didn’t want to break that streak.
“At the end of my junior year, I realized my time was up. It was either next year or that was it,” Wilson said. “That summer, I feel like I worked the hardest I ever worked. I feel like I challenged my teammates sometimes to do more in the summer.”
The new season brought different motivations for the UE players. Snow remembered being at MVC Media Day after being a sought-after recruit, but no one spoke to him, the only player no one talked to — “I took it really personal,” he said.
Begle recalled the response from the team after the home loss to Butler: “there was a different energy, there was a different vibe.” For Stanton, he felt that the team could make a run at the beginning of the year when they started practicing: “we wanted it really bad and all of us put in the work in the offseason and were ready to go.”
UE broke every huddle the same way: “Rings.” Everything was about winning the conference. Each sprint was dedicated to beating a league rival. Assistant coach Jeff Sellers said it before every run: “This one’s for Illinois State. This one’s for …”
The message was clear.
“Our focus was on winning the Missouri Valley Conference,” Snow said. “I felt like from the very beginning of the season we were going to be good. Could we win the Valley? I didn’t know, but I knew we were a good team.”
'They’re going to learn about these sleeves real fast'
The Aces finished the regular season 21-8 before making a run to the MVC championship game in St. Louis. They lost to Creighton 70-61, ending the year 24-9 without an automatic bid heading into Selection Sunday.
UE had the resume to get in. Regular-season MVC champion, a strong showing in the non-conference schedule and good wins in league play should’ve been enough. But there was no certainty, just waiting.
“We got home and we talked about it a lot,” Begle said. “‘How are they not gonna let us in? They have to let us in.’”
On Selection Sunday, the players and coaches gathered to watch the show, hoping to see their name appear on the CBS screen. Eventually, after the first commercial break, the Aces saw their name, slated to face Kansas in New Orleans in the Midwest Region’s 6-11 matchup.
“It was pretty surreal for me to be in a room looking for our name to pop up,” Stanton said. “It was just really exciting for the guys in that room that had put in the work and the effort all along.”
That was a moment of relief and celebration for UE, but it didn’t last long. Shortly after the announcement, Crews got up to speak.
“Alright,” he said, “here’s what I know about Kansas.”
“He rattled off five different things,” Begle said.
For Wilson, the celebration lasted about 30 minutes: “I remember going from extreme joy to extreme focus like that,” he said with the snap of a finger. The Jayhawks had his full attention.
“(I was) immediately developing a hatred for Kansas and for Ryan Robertson,” he said. “I was so focused, like, I wanted to kick Kansas’ ass.
“I knew that was my opportunity on national TV to show who I was and show who Evansville was. They were going to learn about these sleeves real fast.”
Wilson scored 34 points and UE led by double-digits in the first half, but the Jayhwaks won 95-74. Just as suddenly as it started, the Aces’ tournament was over.
“We didn’t come there to be a part of it, we came there to win the game,” Snow said. “We fell short of that goal, I don’t really look back favorably upon that game.”That was UE’s last taste of the tournament. Near misses have come in the 23 years since then, but the Big Dance still eludes the Aces.
“We won 18 games the next season,” Snow said, “and I felt like we had hit the absolute bottom.”
Wilson and Snow are now assistants on Ragland’s staff, tabbed to be part of the team to bring UE back to March Madness. It’s a work in progress, but the former 1999 standouts left jobs to come back. Both said the same thing: “It’s personal.”
“If this program had already been to the tournament several times since then, I’m not sure I leave,” Wilson said. “Maybe, I don’t know, but I’m tired of us not winning. I never imagined it then, and now I still can’t believe it’s been that long.”
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: 'They have to let us in': A look at Evansville's 1999 NCAA team
