This season has been one to remember

By Andrew Neumann
Collegian Staff
March 19, 2008

The La Salle Explorers’ season came to an end last Thursday at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. They were defeated, 84-75, by the Temple Owls in the A-10 Quarterfinals. Temple would go on to win the A-10 Tournament, while the Explorers were shut out of the postseason yet again.

But the continuation of the postseason drought should not be what the 2007-2008 Explorers should be remembered for. The team’s 15-17 mark is, of course, enough to exclude it from any “great team” talk, but the legacy of this particular La Salle team will be its resilience. This Explorer team should be remembered for growing exponentially in the last month of the season, both as a team and in the mental aspect of the game.

The season began unremarkably enough. Beating the likes of Central Connecticut State and Mt. St. Mary’s was balanced with losses to teams like Howard. As A-10 play began, the team looked to be headed for another 11-to-12 win season and either a low seed in the A-10 Tournament or missing it altogether.

But then the run began with La Salle’s victory over St. Joe’s at the Palestra. Much has been written about that win by way of explaining its importance to the program. But the fact of the matter is that most regarded it as an upset, and didn’t believe it would have much bearing on the rest of the season. However, the team turned that win into two more wins against Dayton and Duquesne, both coming after overcoming a two-possession deficits in the closing minutes. The team then went up to Fordham and slayed the Rams, putting what had at once been unthinkable - a first round bye – within reach.

However, the inconsistency from early in the year began to surface once again. After a close loss to Rhode Island, La Salle was spanked by UMass and Temple by the combined score of 185-129. The team limped into the tournament as a number seven seed and appeared to have used all their gas making that late February run.

At the Atlantic 10 Tournament, the Explorers beat Duquesne, coming from behind again. Then they took Temple to the closing bell, even leading them with less than two minutes left. When they were finally defeated, the 2007-2008 Explorers walked off the court one last time after receiving a standing ovation from the small group of students who had made the trek from Philadelphia.

This will not go down as one of the best teams in La Salle history. It’s not even the best team of the last three years. The 18-9 Explorers of 2005-2006 led by Steve Smith take that honor. But that team bowed out in their first A-10 tournament game, when all the other top seeds had been eliminated and the door to the NCAA Tournament was wide open. This team, in the most competitive A-10 in five years, took the eventual champions to the wire. They knocked off a team that eventually got an at-large bid for the Big Dance. They did it with only two seniors and one junior.

This year, the Explorers beat St. Joe’s for the first time since 2001. They won as many Big Five games (two) as they had in the last five years combined. Darnell Harris became the school, Big Five and A-10 leader in three-pointers made all-time. They also played as a team and improved dramatically as the season went on. No, they weren’t incredibly talented, and they lost games that they shouldn’t have early on. But with the pressure on, this team delivered and proved that La Salle University is capable of sustaining a basketball program at the A-10 level.

neumanna1@lasalle.edu