Mark WiedmerThat was Wells Fargo Arena on Wednesday evening, with the opening round of the NCAA tournament less than 24 hours away. Out on the glistening court, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Mocs went through their public practice with laudable intensity and focus as they prepared for tonight's 7:10 p.m. EDT tip against Indiana.
To the delight of the crowd, UTC's big guys dunked ferociously. The slightly less big guys calmly and consistently swished 3-pointers from all spots beyond the arc.
Along the sideline, UTC coach Matt McCall hammed it up with the CBS A-team of Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson.
"That was great," the first-year Mocs coach and former Florida Gators assistant said afterward. "I'd pass by them all those years I was an assistant, GA (graduate assistant) or manager, but they always talked to (head coach) Billy (Donovan)."
Now he's the Billy D of UTC, his sport coat often discarded as swiftly as Donovan removed his, which sometimes seemed before the game began. McCall has guided these Mocs to their first NCAA tournament bid since 2009, and he doesn't want the run to end tonight. He wants UTC's current 29-5 mark to become 30-5 by the close of business against the Hoosiers.
"Especially during the open practice, you want them to enjoy it," McCall said of his players. "But you also want them ready. I saw great focus today."
Senior wing Eric Robertson is certainly focused. Having played for three head coaches in four years, he knows better than most the difficulty of reaching college basketball's most coveted event.
"An awesome feeling," Robertson said at the close of UTC's practice. "A manifestation of all our hard work. And while all this is great, we have to black it out. Just focus on the task. Focus on Indiana."
Indiana seems plenty focused on the Mocs.
"The biggest thing is the amount of passion you have to have," Hoosiers senior forward Max Bielfeldt said. "Especially against a team like Chattanooga, which is filled with juniors and seniors who might never get this chance again."
Or as the poet Dan Fogelberg once sang of Kentucky Derby horses, "It's the chance of a lifetime in a lifetime of chance."
Chance. A free throw that rolls in or out. An official's whistle. An injury to a star player, such as when North Carolina's Kendall Marshall broke his wrist early in the 2012 tournament, never to return.
With him, the Tar Heels were expected to challenge Kentucky for the national title. Without the 2012 Bob Cousy Award winner, given each year to the nation's top point guard, UNC lost to Kansas in the regional finals.
But chance isn't always confined to the court. The Austin Peay Governors arrived here playing for 6-year-old Rhyan Loos, the cancer-stricken granddaughter of head coach Dave Loos. So while the Austin Peay coach certainly wants to win today against South Region No. 1 seed Kansas, his life is also focused on bigger, far more important things.
"Rhyan's situation is the last thing you think about at night before you go to bed," he said, "and the first thing you think about in the morning."
Yet not even the basketball thoughts always remain on the current tournament or foe. Before Stony Brook star forward Jameel Warney could fully focus on duplicating the 43 points he scored on Vermont in the America East title game, he found himself Wednesday in the company of Hill, the CBS commentator and former NBA and Duke star.
"Meeting the CBS broadcasters, seeing Grant Hill and seeing how tall he is - he's taller than me," said the 6-8 Warney of his favorite moment so far in Des Moines. "So, lack of confidence there on my part. But just seeing somebody you always see on TV and now looking them in the face."
In essence, that's the beauty of the tournament for teams from conferences granted one bid, such as Austin Peay, Stony Brook or UTC. It's finally coming face to face with the big boys you always see on TV and hoping you don't lack the confidence to beat them.
As a program at least, UTC has done this once before, pulled the major upset, shocked the world, with the 1997 Mocs carrying their No. 14 seed all the way to the Sweet 16.
"The closeness of this team is very similar to that one," said Jim Reynolds, the iconic voice of the Mocs for the past 36 years. "That 1997 team really liked each other. But I think these guys may be even closer. This is the closest group I've seen around here in a long, long time."
The whole tournament brings communities, friends and families closer, even if not everyone sitting in the UTC cheering section will be for the Mocs.
Jeff Stephens and his family purchased tickets through UTC, but they are lifelong Indiana fans. In fact, in true Hoosier fashion, the couple's 12-year-old son Jake already shoots 500 jump shots a day in hopes he might one day wear crimson and cream.
"We know about Chattanooga," Jeff said. "Great place. They have the Lookouts, the Chattanooga Choo Choo. I remember when they beat Illinois in the tournament about 20 years ago (1997). The funny thing is, if Indiana wins, we can't come back on Saturday because our tickets are for UTC games only.
"So even though we'll be sad if Indiana loses, we'll come back Saturday and cheer for the Mocs to beat Kentucky."
Or Stony Brook.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.