The Ride of March 2011: Part 1

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EDITORS NOTE: This is the first installment of a seven part series looking back at the 2010-11 Roadrunner men's basketball team and their unlikely run to an NCAA Tournament berth

On March 18, 2011 the UTSA Roadrunners stepped on to the court at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The Roadrunners were in just their fourth NCAA tournament in program history and for the third time in program history they were a 16-seed in the tournament. Also stepping onto the court in Cleveland was the number one overall seed in the tournament, the Ohio State Buckeyes.

That the Roadrunners were even on the court in Cleveland was an accomplishment. It was the next stop on a journey that had lasted the entire month of March 2011 and even began before that.

UTSA was not supposed to even be in Cleveland. Yet after a journey with more twists and turns than a Hill Country back road, the Roadrunners stood as the last team from the Southland Conference. UTSA was also one of only three teams from Texas to make the 2011 NCAA tournament, being joined by Big 12 members Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies.

The journey to that night in Cleveland began a year earlier on March 10, 2010.

2009-10 was the second season in a row that Roadrunners had entered the Southland Conference tournament as a six seed. In 2008-09 the Roadrunners had eliminated the three seed and two seed to make it to the conference championship game where they lost to the top seed Stephen F. Austin. In 2010 there was no repeat of that feat as the six-seed Roadrunners fell to the three-seed Texas A&M Corpus Christi in the opening round.

Even with the early exit from the Southland tournament the Roadrunners had compiled 38 wins combined in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, the best two season stretch by UTSA since the early 1990s.

In the offseason between the 2009-10 and 2010-11 season UTSA extended the contract of head coach Brooks Thompson.

As the calendar turned to the fall of 2010 the Roadrunner basketball team prepared for the new season. UTSA would have only four players returning from the 2009-10 team including 2009-10 Southland Conference Freshman of the Year Melvin Johnson III. Only one starter, senior Devin Gibson, was carried over from the 2009-10 team into the 2010-11 season.

The 2010-11 Roadrunners welcomed 11 newcomers to the roster. Among the highly touted newcomers was a duo of freshmen forwards from Australia, Jeromie Hill and Igor Nujic. Stephen Franklin became another newcomer who became a known name among the Roadrunner fans as he would be one of three Roadrunners to start every game in 2010-11.

On November 12, 2010 the Roadrunners began their 2010-11 season by hosting the Huston-Tillotson Rams in the Convocation Center. UTSA won the game 82-65. Freshmen Jeromie Hill showed early that he would be a big contributor for the Roadrunners as he led the team with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Hill was one of 13 Roadrunners who scored against Huston-Tillotson.

Five days later on November 17, the Roadrunners suffered their first loss when they fell 77-73 on the road against the Evanston Aces. Two days after the loss to Evanston the Roadrunners were back in the Convocation Center where they beat the Cameron Aggies, 71-61. On November 22 UTSA beat Troy 81-70.

The time off for Thanksgiving did not slow the fast starting Roadrunners as they closed out November 2010 with a 72-63 win in the Convocation Center over San Jose State.

December was not as kind to the Roadrunners. UTSA went 2-4 that month. The four losses were on the road to UC Riverside, Tulsa and Bowling Green and at home to Samford.

The Roadrunners big win of December 2010 came on the 11th. That Saturday evening the Roadrunners went into Hofheinz Pavilion in Houston and beat the Houston Cougars 68-63. Houston had been a participant in the 2010 NCAA tournament as Conference USA champions. UTSA's other win in December came a week before when they went on the road to California and beat Pepperdine.

As the Roadrunners celebrated the New Year the attention shifted to the conference schedule. In the preseason the Southland coaches had picked UTSA to finish fifth in the west division. The conference SIDs had picked UTSA to finish fourth in the west.

Before the start of conference the Roadrunners had a non-conference game on January 3 when they travelled to Stillwater, Oklahoma and lost to Oklahoma State 79-63.

On January 8 the Roadrunners opened conference play by hosting Sam Houston State. UTSA fell to the Bearkats, 62-59, but four days later got their first win in conference with a 55-47 win on the road at A&M-Corpus Christi. A week after the loss to Sam Houston the Roadrunners fell to 1-2 in conference with a loss at home to Stephen F. Austin.

After the loss to SFA the Roadrunners reeled off three wins in a row, two of those coming in conference over Northwestern State on the road and at home against Texas State. The Roadrunners third win in a row came in their final non-conference game, a home win over Oklahoma Panhandle State on January 24. UTSA closed out January with a loss in Huntsville to Sam Houston.

February got off to a good start for the Roadrunners. On February 2 the Roadrunners knocked off UT-Arlington, 70-62, in the Convocation Center to move into a tie for first place in the West division. UTSA got 64 of their points from the trio of Gibson, Johnson III and Hill.

Three days later UTSA was hosting Lamar in the final basketball homecoming game in school history (UTSA was just seven months away from the inaugural football game in September 2011). UTSA beat Lamar 70-64 to keep hold of first place in the West Division.

The Roadrunner hold on first place was lost when they lost back-to-back games on the road at Southeastern Louisiana and at Stephen F. Austin. The loss to SFA was a tough one for UTSA as the Roadrunners had attempted to mount a comeback from being down double digits to keep hold of first in the west division. UTSA fell short and lost 70-66 in the pineywoods of East Texas.

UTSA snapped their two game losing streak on February 16 when they beat McNeese 65-61 in the Convocation Center. That began an up and down finish to the month of February for UTSA. Three days after beating McNeese UTSA lost on the road at Nicholls State. On the final Wednesday of February 2011 the Roadrunners beat A&M-Corpus Christi in the Convocation Center. A few days later on the last Saturday of the month the Roadrunners were in San Marcos for the I-35 rivalry game with Texas State. The two teams traded the lead back and forth all afternoon but in the end Texas State won 82-80 after making a pair of free throws with three tenths of a second left to play.

UTSA walked off the floor at the end of February with a 14-13 record overall and 7-7 in Southland play.

As the Roadrunners entered March 2011 their longest winning streak at any point in the season had been three straight. Any hopes of making the conference tournament would require a win in the final two games of the regular season against Central Arkansas and UT-Arlington during the first week of March.

At this point that was all anyone who supported UTSA would dare to believe in. Little did the fanbase know what was in store as the calendar turned to March.

Next up: The Ride of March Part 2 -- Roadrunners enter final two regular season games of 2011 needing to win both to even make the conference tournament

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