1997 Elite Eight Friars Reminisce
Monday, May 14, 2012
It was quite a night to be a PC Friars fan Saturday. Hundreds of alumni and fans showed up at the Westin Hotel in downtown Providence to honor the 1996-97 team that made it all the way to the Elite 8.
It seems hard to believe that it has been 15 years since that magical run took place. Led by head coach Pete Gillen, PC had an up and down season that year and was a streaky team. Their 3-game losing streak to end the regular season put them in peril of not making it to the NCAA Tournament, a fact that Gillen emphasized to his team when they went to New York City for the Big East Tournament.
“We kind of knew that we had some work to do in New York,” said Jamel Thomas who was a sophomore on that team. “Coach Gillen let us know that we had to win a couple of games down there but he was great. He kept the mood real light and upbeat by playing (Sinatra’s) ‘New York, New York,’” he said.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTProvidence did manage to win two in New York to punch their ticket to the Big Dance. The Friars were given the 10th-seed in the Southeast Region and were slated to play 7th-seeded Marquette in the opening round in Charlotte.
“I remember the excitement of the fans and the send-off rally we had before going to Charlotte,” said Corey Wright. The sophomore guard also remembers how confident he and his teammates were before heading down there to open up tournament play. “I told the fans, we’re gonna do this again next week, same place, same time,” he said. “I knew we were gonna win both games down there.”
Providence handled the Golden Warriors in the opener thanks to a dominant first half. Austin Croshere’s three-quarter court shot at the buzzer put PC up 50-32 at the break. They would cruise to an 81-59 victory. Next, it was second-seeded Duke who would essentially be playing a home game in Charlotte.
The Blue Devils were college basketball’s premier program having won back-to-back NCAA titles earlier in the decade and were led by the talented Steve Wojciechowski. God Shammgod abused Wojciechowski for 12 points and 9 assists but it was the play of Derrick Brown (aka “Flight”) that allowed PC to pull off the upset.
Brown lit up Duke for a career-high 33 points en route to an 98-87 win. After the game, a stunned Mike Krzyzewski said, “we couldn’t stop Derrick Brown. We had no answers for him.”
Providence returned to Rhode Island to a heroes welcome. The state was in a frenzy because their Friars were heading to the Sweet 16. What made it even more exciting was the fact that PC’s opponent in the Sweet 16 was 14th-seeded Tennessee-Chattanooga.
After another great send-off by PC students and fans on campus, it was off to Birmingham, Alabama.
Providence saw to it that the Cinderalla Moccasins would not be receiving a glass slipper. Another solid game by Shammgod helped PC to the 71-65 win and an appearance in the Elite 8.
In the Southeast Regional Final, it would be the 4th-seeded Arizona Wildcats standing in the way of PC’s first trip to the Final Four since 1987.
Arizona had upset Paul Pierce’s top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks to get to the Elite 8 and were ranked 15th in the nation. Led by injured big-man Ruben Garces (16 points, 19 rebounds), the Friars gave the Wildcats all they could handle.
Down by 7 with 1:15 to play, PC wouldn’t quit and a Jamel Thomas three tied the game at 85 with :14 seconds to play. “I wish it could have been a 4-point play,” Thomas said looking back.
Arizona turned the ball over giving PC a chance to win the game in regulation. Corey Wright received the in-bound pass with 3.9 seconds left and launched a three to win it all. It didn’t drop and PC was headed to overtime. “Man, I hear about that shot all the time,” Wright said. “If only it went in I could be remembered for that instead of missing it,” he said.
PC would eventually lose in overtime, clearly not helped by the fact that Croshere fouled out with 9 minutes to play in regulation. Still, it was a magical run that would end in overtime to the eventual National Champions.
“That was the best team I ever coached,” said Gillen who had successful stints at Xavier, Providence and Virginia. “We were a little dysfunctional, but we were talented,” he said. “Gonzo did a great job recruiting and putting that talent together.”
Gillen, of course, was referring to assistant coach Bobby “Gonzo” Gonzalez. Along with fellow assistant Tom Herrion, Gonzo was back in town for the festivities as well. “What a great team that was. We had guys from New York City, California, Panama, it was unbelievable,” he said. “There’s no question that that team helped me eventually become a head coach. You had guys like Dick Vitale saying ‘Gonzo is a great recruiter.’ I think that’s what eventually helped me get the Manhattan job before I went to Seton Hall.”
When asked what it was like to be recruited by the fast-talking Gonzalez, Jamel Thomas said, “he told me, ‘come to (explitive) Providence because we’re going to (expletive) win!’ That’s all I needed to hear,” said Thomas.
Like Gonzo, Herrion also feels that the 1997 elite 8 Friars helped launch his very successful coaching career. “I am so thankful for Pete giving me my first D-1 shot,” he said. “I learned so much from him and use what I have learned even today,” said Herrion who is coming off of a very strong season as head coach at Marshall.
Jason Murdock was a senior guard on that team and remembers what it was like to play for that coaching staff, particularly Gillen. “He sweat more than we did during games,” said Murdock. “I remember one time he came in at halftime and was soaked. He took a white towel to wipe the pregame scouting report off the whiteboard and then used the towel to wipe the sweat off of himself. His face was covered in ink!”
God Shammgod recalls that season vividly and looks back at it with mixed emotions. “It was a blessing and a curse,” he said. “I never envisioned going pro as a sophomore. I thought I’d be here for 4 years. But I played so well in the Tournament and decided to turn pro. I wish I had stayed another year,” he said.
Shammgod is still playing basketball professionally in China and even has a Converse sneaker named after him in that country. “Not a lot of players can say that they have a sneaker named after them,” he said. “So that’s cool.”
Shammgod fondly remembers how Friar fans treated him and his teammates while at PC. “It was great. The fans just took us in like we were one of them. I’ll never forget that. It was special,” he said.
Two notable absences at the party Saturday night were seniors Austin Croshere and Derrick Brown. Croshere is the color analyst for Indiana Pacers basketball and with the Pacers playing Sunday afternoon in Miami, he was unable to attend.
Brown’s situation is much more unsettling. He is dealing with some very serious medical issues and may be suffering from either dementia or Alzheimer’s at the young age of 37. On a personal note, I found Derrick Brown to be one of the nicest gentlemen that I had ever covered in my many years covering the team. And I can honestly say to this day that he was and still is my all-time favorite Friar. I, along with many other PC fans, am saddened by the news of his health concerns and wish him nothing but the very best.
Looking back at the 1997 Elite 8 PC Friars, it is easy to see why the team was able to accomplish what it did. It was the perfect combination of talent required to compete at the highest level at PC.
This year notwithstanding, Providence rarely has its pick of McDonald’s All-Americans. Or as Pete Gillen once said, “Duke has 5 McDonald’s All-Americans and we were lucky to have 5 kids on our team that had a McDonald’s in their hometown.”
The point is that Providence had a great mix of young talent like Shammgod, Thomas and Wright. They had some veteran players who developed nicely over the course of their careers to be great contributors as juniors and seniors like Croshere and Murdock. And they filled in the holes with a couple over very talented junior college players in Garces and Brown. This is the formula for success at Providence College. And 15 years ago, Gillen’s Friars took this town on a magical ride.
