March 12, 2007
Contact: Brian McCann
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Viking basketball fans will get a chance to relive the greatest eight-day period of the men's basketball program this week when SportsTime Ohio rebroadcasts the games against Indiana, St. Joseph and Navy in the 1986 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.
The broadcasts, a tripleheader starting at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 14, coincides with the 21st anniversary of the first round victory over Indiana, a victory that shook the basketball world.
The Indiana game will be televised beginning at 6:00 p.m. followed by the NCAA second round win over St. Joseph at 8:00 p.m. The Sweet 16 match-up with Navy will air at 10:00 p.m.
Producer Joe Ranyak crammed each of the two-hour contests full of bonus interviews with former Viking players, coaches and members of the media who covered the NCAA run. The tripleheader will be hosted by CSU radio voice Al Pawlowski.
"By re-broadcasting these games, SportsTime Ohio is showing people throughout Ohio some of the basketball tradition of Cleveland State University," Viking head coach Gary Waters said. "It will also show our fans where we want to go and allow them to see the excitement of what is possible when the people in the City of Cleveland gets behind this program.
"These games are really going to be interesting to watch because of all the changes that have taken place since," CSU Director of Athletics Lee Reed said. "This was before the addition of the three-point field goal and the NCAA used a 45-second shot clock at the time. The clock didn't stop on a made field goal in the last minute like it does today and it would be another couple of years before players wore the baggy shorts that Michael Jordan made popular."
No event in the 76-year history of Cleveland State University basketball has done so much to put the Vikings on the college basketball map as the 1986 NCAA Tournament. The three history-making games in the spring of 1986 marked the first and only trip to the "Big Dance" for the Vikes.
CSU rolled through the regular season, taking a 23-3 record and a nine-game win streak into the AMCU-8 Tourney in Springfield, Mo. The winning didn't stop as the Vikings knocked off Northern Iowa, 73-68, in the first round, dismantled UIC, 100-84, in the semifinals and edged Eastern Illinois, 70-66, in the finals.
The tournament title did not bring with it an automatic NCAA bid because the three-year-old AMCU-8 was not old enough.
A 27-3 record (.900) and 12-game win streak was enough to earn CSU a No. 14 seed in the 16-team East Regional. It only took CSU one game to be awarded the glass slipper worn by the tournament's "Cinderella" team and become a sentimental favorite across the country.
The Vikings opened the first-round by stunning the third-seeded Indiana, 83-79, to hand Coach Bobby Knight his first-ever first-round defeat in NCAA competition. It also marked the first time that a No. 14 seed defeated a No. 3 seed.
The Hoosiers learned quickly about the CSU Run `N Stun attack as the Clinton Ransey poured in 27 points and Eric Mudd added 16 in the win.
CSU continued its "Magic Carpet Ride" with a second-round win over St. Joseph's to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The victory turned into a coming out party on a national stage for Ken "Mouse" McFadden, who led the way with 23 points while the Clintons, Ransey and Smith, added 17 and 16 points, respectively.
With a week to prepare for the regional semifinal game against Navy, the Vikings were the toast of not only Cleveland, but the nation as well. "I'm an overnight sensation," head coach Kevin Mackey said of all the publicity. "It only took me 15 years to get here."
The historic run came to an end when David Robinson's Navy squad held off a late CSU charge to score a 71-70 victory. Robinson netted the game-winning basket with seconds remaining to complete a near triple-double performance (22 points, 14 rebounds, nine blocks). A final desperation shot by CSU's Clinton Smith hit the rim and bounced away as time expired on the game and CSU's historic NCAA Tournament run.
