Marching On: Triton Basketball Makes History

On Saturday afternoon in Henderson, Nev., the women's team completed an upset run in the Big West Tournament and captured the title with a 75-66 victory over UC Davis. A few hours later, in the same arena, the men's team won its own championship with a 75-61 victory over UC Irvine.

Both teams held separate watch parties Sunday afternoon at LionTree Arena where they learned their fate for the NCAA's "Big Dance." The players and students present cheered loudly when "UC San Diego" flashed onto the big screen early in the nationally televised shows. The men (30-4) will be going to Denver to play Michigan on Thursday night; the previous night the women (20-15) will be in Los Angeles to play Southern University.

Taking it all in Sunday on the LionTree court was Earl W. Edwards, UC San Diego's director of athletics since 2000.

"It's been a long road," Edwards said, "but it's a dream that's finally come true because when I became the AD many years ago, my goal was to move us to D-1 and at some point, participate in March Madness.

"The idea that we're not only participating, but we're doing it during the first year of eligibility and it's both men and women, I like to say that it's the way UC San Diego does things: Because we're a world-class university, we do things unexpected, innovators. So this is great for us, not just the athletic department, but the university as a whole."

Jerry Correa, a fourth-year student who was at the head of the line Sunday afternoon, said he didn't attend any basketball games his first two years. But now, he said, "It is the heart of the UC San Diego culture."

The players have noticed the change, with several talking about the growth in attendance as well as how excited they were to see several hundred people show up Sunday, in essence just to watch TV for a few minutes.

"It made me feel awesome, made me feel great," said senior Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones, the Big West player of the year. "The fans have been awesome to us all year. They've been showing up. They were great in Henderson, so to have them out here, it's an amazing feeling."

Senior Hayden Gray agreed, calling it "a gratifying feeling, getting the fans out here to watch the selection show with us. I mean, we put in a lot of work this year, so it's fun seeing it pay off."

Added senior Tyler McGhie: "I feel like this community's been growing, the way we've been playing. I feel like everyone's buying into us."

Men's head coach Eric Olen, who was hired as men's head coach in 2013 after nine seasons as an assistant, called Sunday "another special moment" in a season full of them. "It was cool," Olen said. "I've been watching the selection show since I was a kid, and to be part of it and have students show up and we had a couple former players here who played Division II and they were joking there's more people here for the selection show than were coming to their games.

"I think it kind of speaks to the progress this program has made and specifically this team, too. I think this team and the way that they play and kind of the joy they have on the floor really resonates with people and fans who are watching them. I think that's true of our student body who's really supported them; I think that's true of the San Diego community. They've played great basketball all year and they've had fun doing it and I think it's really resonated with people, and we've seen that in terms of some of the turnout."

Still, even Olen didn't dare dream of a weekend like this one where his team and the women's team, coached by Heidi VanDerveer since 2012, would share Division I conference titles on their first attempts.

"We didn't discuss it until probably Friday night," Olen said. "Just started thinking like, oh, that'd be a pretty good Saturday, you know. We got to the arena – our whole team was watching it on their phones on the bus over. So we get there to watch them cut down the nets and I just couldn't be happier for Heidi. She's one of my favorite people in the whole world. Just really excited for their success and yeah, it was pretty special to watch them cut down the nets before our game and then go out and do the same thing. It was a pretty cool day for both of us."

VanDerveer and Olen might not have discussed something like this weekend, but the women's coach did say she thought about a Selection Sunday like this one from the time UC San Diego joined the Big West in 2020.

"I feel like there's a tsunami wave," VanDerveer said, "and you kind of know it's there, but you don't really know it's there until it hits you. I feel like that's what our university is experiencing now."

The leading scorer on the women's team, sophomore guard Sumayah Sugapong, described sharing the experience with the men's team Saturday in Nevada as "super cool. I'm super excited for both our teams and our school and the program as a whole."

Added Gray: "It's our first year of eligibility and to sweep the board like that is super impressive. We're really proud of them as well." 

The women face long odds; as a No. 16 seed, they are playing Southern for the right to advance to a game with No. 1 overall seed UCLA, which lost only twice all season.

The men's team, though, is a trendy underdog. On the CBS broadcast Sunday, analyst Seth Davis immediately picked the Tritons to not only defeat Michigan, but also win their second-round game Saturday, which would put UCSD in the Sweet 16 next week in Atlanta.

Whatever happens, it's clear these teams have made an impact on the university.

"I've been here for a long time," Edwards said, "so to see that transformation, the school spirit, and that really hit me during the championship, because we had a number of students that drove up to Vegas to watch us participate. 

"So for us to finally be on the map as an all-inclusive school in terms of academics and athletics, it just makes us even more special, and the idea that we're in San Diego is like that cherry on top. I'm extremely pleased to see that school spirit and I'm sure the students are pleased to see that as well."