UNC Asheville and The Greatest Upset That Could Have Been (featuring interview with former player Matt Dickey)

By: James Decker

           Selection Sunday has come upon us. I am sure a lot of people are like me and can barely control their heart racing as Greg Gumbel reads off the names of the teams that have made it to “The Big Dance”.  I know that practically every serious bracket-maker besides the members of the schools who are the 16^th seeds are quick to advance the 1st seed past the round of 64. I’m not trying to sound like head coach Danny O’Shea of the “Little Giants” delivering his famous “One Time” speech, but to me there is always that small chance that a 16th seed will finally knock off a number one. UNC Asheville almost proved that to us two years ago.

            UNC Asheville came into this game champions of the Big South, finishing at 24-10 overall and 16-2 in the Big South. Syracuse came in at 32-2, regular season champions of the Big East. UNC Asheville came out to play right away; led by J.P Primm, Jaron Lane, Jeremy Atkinson, and Matt Dickey, the Bulldogs controlled the pace of the game and were able to get good looks against the Syracuse 2-3 for much of the first half. They took a 34-30 lead heading into halftime. Syracuse gained the lead about midway through the second half, and were able to get a 62-54 lead with 2:37 left in the game. Watching this game, I personally thought that Syracuse had pretty much sealed the deal with an eight point lead in this game; but then things got really interesting and controversial. A quick 4-0 run by UNC Asheville cut the lead to 62-58. Syracuse had trouble getting the ball inbounds, and if you look at the ref in the video below, this could definitely be seen as a five-second violation.

Syracuse was then awarded a timeout and Scoop Jardine knocked down two foul shots after he was fouled by Dickey when the ball was inbounded. Jaron Lane knocked down a three, followed by a Brandon Triche layup for Syracuse and two foul shots from J.P Primm had the score at 66-63 Syracuse with 38 ticks left. Syracuse had more trouble getting the ball inbounds again, and this time a pass was thrown that looked to be off the hands of Brandon Triche. Take a look at the video below and decide for yourself (start at 2:00).

According to the recap on ESPN.com, “Coordinator of officiating John Adams said he would have given the ball to UNC Asheville on the inbounds play.” Instead, Syracuse got the ball and Jardine knocked down two more clutch free throws. UNC Asheville ended up falling to Syracuse 72-65.

            I will never say that refs completely decide the outcome of this game because who knows that UNC Asheville would have done if they received the ball on either occasion. My main purpose in writing this is to show that number 16 seed should ever go underestimated. This Syracuse team had a dominant season and the Bulldogs had them on the ropes. I was able to get in contact with Matt Dickey via Facebook, who averaged 16.1 points per game in what was his senior season at UNC Asheville. He had this to say about his mindset coming into the game, as well as the controversial calls.

James - As a team and personally what was your mindset prior to the game against Syracuse?

Matt – “We went into the game with the mindset that we could win. We knew a 16 had never beaten a 1, but we knew how good we were and had played a couple of the other 1 seeds during the year and competed well against them, so we knew if we played our best we could win.”

James- Did you ever feel as if Syracuse was taking your team lightly?

Matt- “No, we didn't feel that Syracuse took us lightly at all (though there coach/players may say different). We had a game plan and we followed that game plan well. We also played great defense and made them work for everything they got. So no, I don't feel that they took us lightly. I think we made everything tough on them and that may have made it look like they were taking us lightly.”

James- I remember a few questionable calls down the stretch in that game. Do you feel as if the refs took you guys out of a chance to win?

Matt- “It's really hard to say that the refs took us out of a chance to win the game. There were a few missed calls down the stretch, but Syracuse also made some big shots as well. I will never blame a game on the refs.”

James- How often do you talk about that game with family, friends, old teammates, etc?

Matt- “Every once in a while it will get brought up in conversation with friends, family and teammates. It is still a little tender because we knew we should have won that game, but we can hold our heads up because we knew we gave it our all.”

            Thanks again to Matt Dickey for taking the time to answer these questions. I love the line “I will never blame a game on the refs”, because I feel like it would be easy for a team trying to pull off an upset to blame the referees in a situation like that. Also, hats off to Matt Dickey for providing us with a great buzzer beater. I am 100% taking a shot at fellow Blog SH member and current Coastal Carolina student Jack Kavanagh by putting this video up.

So before you fill out your brackets, study up on the 16th seeds because you truly never know what can happen. I have a feeling that this could be the year of the 16th seed. Cheers to Selection Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, and let the Madness begin!