By From the Archives

Published: March 19, 2009

BY BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
DAYTON, Ohio – Keith “Mister” Jennings remembers walking off the court. He remembers staring up at the game clock, seeing the score and knowing it was over.
But the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers had come so close. And they’d done something few thought possible.
It was March 16, 1989. Jennings and the young, unknown, No. 16 seed Bucs were battling the No. 1 seed Oklahoma Sooners in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
When the game began, a 16 seed had never defeated a 1 seed in The Dance. When the contest was over, Goliath was still standing. Barely.
The Buccaneers took the Sooners to the limit. ETSU led by eight points at halftime, despite facing an Oklahoma squad fronting a two-headed monster of Stacey King and Mookie Blaylock. But Jennings, a dynamic point guard who keyed the Bucs’ attack, fouled out with 1 minutes, 21 seconds left in the second half. East Tennessee State eventually fell, 72-71, to the Sooners.
To date, it’s the closest a No. 16 seed has ever come to knocking off a top seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“It was just an exciting time for basketball,” said Jennings, who played point guard at ETSU from 1987-91 and ended his career with 1,988 points. “I grew up watching the NCAA Tournament. To finally get a chance to play in it and play against the No. 1 team in the country was just a time for us to try and make a name for ourselves.”
Twenty years later, Jennings called the loss the toughest of his career.
But the Bucs’ heartbreak also laid a foundation. East Tennessee State made the NCAA Tournament the next three years. And the No. 14 seed Buccaneers picked up a first-round victory in 1992, following an 87-80 win over No. 3 Arizona on March 20, 1992.
“We set [the] standard,” said Calvin Talford, who starred at ETSU from 1988-92 and finished with 1,872 career points.
Talford said the Bucs’ near upset of the Sooners was a wake-up call for major programs and helped ignite the rise of mid-major basketball, which recently has seen teams such as Davidson and George Mason receive national attention as they’ve swept through the NCAA Tournament.
“You can’t really close your eyes if you’re a top team, because there’s a lot of teams out there now that can sneak up on a No. 1 team,” Talford said. “If they go out there half-stepping and not playing hard, a 16 seed can win the game.”
The 2008-09 Bucs, a 16 seed, get a chance for redemption when they face the No. 1 seed Pittsburgh Panthers today in an NCAA Tournament East Region first-round contest at the University of Dayton Arena in Dayton, Ohio. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:55 p.m. The game will be broadcast nationally and carried locally by CBS (11).
Top seeds hold a 98-0 advantage over No. 16 teams NCAA Tournament history. No. 1 seeds North Carolina and Connecticut combined to outscore their 16-seed opponents, Radford and the University of Chattanooga, 204-105 Thursday in first-round action.
Jennings and Talford said unshakable confidence and a fast start for a bottom seed are the keys to success – or at least hanging close – when facing a No. 1 squad.
“Nobody gives the No. 16 seed a chance,” Jennings said. “Nobody. Nobody but the faithful ones that have seen those guys play all year. Everybody automatically says No. 1 is going to beat No. 16.”
But Jennings said he has faith in the Bucs. Reaching back 20 years to ETSU’s storied first-round battle with Oklahoma left him feeling optimistic – and unable to shake the feeling that the impossible could soon be possible.
“It feels kind of eerie to know that this is happening again for us at East Tennessee State,” Jennings said.

| (276) 645-2569