Winthrop guard Torrell Martin stood motionless as the Tennessee players around him celebrated. Volunteers guard Chris Lofton had just hit a miracle fade-away jumper over Martin, then a junior, to break a 61-61 deadlock in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last year. The game clock still read 0.4 seconds, but for all intents and purposes, the season was over. No. 15 seed Winthrop almost topped No. 2 Tennessee.

‘We knew he was getting the ball. We knew they were going to set a screen for him,’ Martin said. ‘I played good defense. I jumped about as high as I can, and I got a 40-inch (vertical jump). I was just at a loss for words thinking ‘this was supposed to be our game.”

It was a cruel end to what appeared to be the culmination of eight years of success for Winthrop under head coach Gregg Marshall. Instead the Eagles were left unsatisfied – still searching for the program’s defining win. Despite Winthrop’s consistency over nearly a decade under Marshall and another impressive campaign this year, the Eagles remain very much under the radar and hungry for respect and retribution after last season’s close call.

‘Against Tennessee it came down to one play, one possession, one shot,’ Marshall said. ‘We had chances to beat Tennessee, and that has been a motivating factor for us all year.’

Winthrop’s play this year has reflected that desire. The Eagles are 26-4, including an unblemished Big South conference regular season record of 14-0. They are the first Big South team to accomplish that feat. Yet it is Winthrop’s non-conference competitiveness as much as their Big South dominance that has made the nation take notice.

The Eagles have earned impressive road victories at Mississippi State, Old Dominion and Missouri State, all potential tournament teams. Winthrop’s only four losses this season all came on the road at the hands of No. 4 Wisconsin, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 8 North Carolina and No. 24 Maryland – all currently ranked in the top 15 in RPI.

Against North Carolina, Winthrop held a nine-point lead late in the second half before succumbing to the superior depth and talent of the Tar Heels. Just two and a half weeks later, Wisconsin needed overtime to dispose of the Eagles, 82-79, in a game that Marshall saw as an indication of his team’s potential.

‘You know, honestly I think we were better than Wisconsin that night,’ Marshall said. ‘I know that one night back in December that we played in Madison and we were as good or better than Wisconsin.’

Winthrop’s competitiveness and the team’s emergence as the class of the Big South is not an overnight development. Since Marshall’s arrival from Marshall University in 1998, the Eagles have won six Big South tournament titles and appeared in the NCAA Tournament six times. Prior to Marshall’s arrival, the Eagles had won just one other Big South title in 1988.

The Eagles’ success during his tenure is a testament to Marshall’s coaching ability, as are his four Big South coach of the year awards. The most recent of those was given on Monday.

‘He gets his players to play everyday, at a peak performance – he demands that and anything less than that is unacceptable,’ said Charleston-Southern head coach Barclay Radebaugh, who also served as an assistant to Marshall from 2001-2003. ‘I walked away from my first week working with him and said, ‘Wow, every practice is a war.”

Despite the close calls this season, the near misses in the NCAA Tournament and the Big South success, the Eagles remain a team that still lacks the national recognition of other mid-majors. One reason might be the relative weakness of the Big South. Perhaps more importantly is that for all their success, the Eagles lack a defining victory for their program – a victory they were seconds away from last season.

‘I think we’re getting some national recognition right now but not necessarily all that we deserve,’ Martin said. ‘A Tournament win would solidify everything people have been skeptical about.’

Before the Eagles can accomplish that feat, they first have to ensure a place in the Big Dance. Though Winthrop’s credentials would merit consideration for an at-large bid, the Eagles strength of schedule (249 out of 336) and RPI (69) might work against them should they fail to secure their seventh Big South title in nine years. Yet Marshall remains optimistic about his team’s chances for an at-large bid.

‘We felt like we’d certainly deserve (an at-large) if we lost Tuesday night,’ Marshall said prior to his team’s match-up with Charleston-Southern on Tuesday, which Winthrop won, 72-42.

As it stands, Winthrop is just two more wins away from taking that decision out of the collective hands of the tournament committee. The Eagles will play tonight against UNC-Ashville in the Big South tournament semifinals, and again on Saturday if they should win. While both Marshall and Martin said they are not looking past the remainder of the Big South tournament, they are both hungry for another shot to put Winthrop into the national eye once and for all.

‘We’d love to have another shot in the Tournament,’ Marshall said. ‘We know that if we can get there we have a chance to play with whoever we might draw.’

Virginia dominanceAs the season winds down, the race for the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season championship has only become cloudier. No. 8 North Carolina’s loss to No. 24 Maryland Sunday dropped the Tar Heels into a three-way tie atop the conference with No. 21 Virginia Tech and Virginia, two schools not expected to be major factors in the conference in the preseason. Appropriately, the Hokes and Cavaliers will play each other in Charlottesville, Va., tonight. It is a game that could go a long way in determining both the conference regular season as well as seeding for both the ACC and NCAA tournaments.

‘It’ll be a great atmosphere for college basketball,’ Virginia Tech head coach Seth Greenberg said. ‘It’s two teams that nobody thought would be playing for something this important this late in the season.’

Published on February 28, 2007 at 12:00 pm