The Blue Hens left Towson the night of Feb. 28 having been outscored 40-19 by the Tigers in 18-plus minutes in the resumption of their game suspended a month earlier due to a slippery floor.
It was Delaware’s third straight loss to close the regular season. Certainly, the lopsided defeat made Delaware’s prospects for the upcoming Colonial Athletic Association Basketball Tournament appear bleak.
“We were a pretty beaten down team,” Delaware coach Martin Ingelsby said Tuesday night at the Entertainment & Sports Arena in Washington, D.C., where he was wearing a gray cap that read “CHAMPIONS” across the front in white letters.
Ingelsby added that he’d texted his wife, Colleen, on the bus ride home from Towson and urged her to pop open a bottle of wine so they could “drink our sorrows away.”
The first assist in what subsequently transpired goes to Mrs. Ingelsby, whom, her husband said, responded “ ‘Nope, you’re gonna come home and you’re gonna figure this [stuff] out,’ and I needed to hear that.”
Delaware’s coaches brainstormed the next day and summoned the Blue Hens for two practice sessions Wednesday, the first at 7 a.m.
Then and there, inside the Carpenter Center, the Blue Hens “set the tone,” Ingelsby said, for a magical CAA Tournament run that culminated in Tuesday’s 59-55 win over UNC-Wilmington in a neck-and-neck, title-game thriller.
“We didn’t re-invent the wheel, but we got back to basics, we got back to some tough stuff on the defensive end,” Ingelsby said. “And it was a balance between challenging them but also getting our guys loose and having fun again.”
But it was no picnic either.
“It was tough. It was physical,” Ingelsby said of 5-on-5, 8-minute, full-court bouts focused on getting defensive stops. “We mixed up the jerseys. It was really, really competitive. Guys weren’t happy with Coach. Guys weren’t happy with their teammates. But I do think there was a competitive sprit that was brought out during that time that this group really needed as we faced adversity at the end of the year.”
Delaware, the first No. 5 seed in CAA tourney history to prevail, shut down No. 4 Drexel 66-56, No. 1 Towson 69-56 and No. 2 UNCW to become the first CAA champ in 13 years to keep three foes under 60 points. Nobody had mowed down three higher seeds to win the title since East Carolina way back in 1993.
For a mid-major program such as Delaware, the NCAA Basketball Tournament is the ultimate destination. This is the Blue Hens’ sixth trip and they’ll find out Sunday after 6 p.m. on the CBS telecast where they are bracketed.
First Four games are in Dayton March 15 and 16 to trim the field from 68 to 64. First- and second-round action follows March 17/19 in Buffalo, Indianapolis, Fort Worth and Portland, Oregon, and March 18/20 in Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Greenville, South Carolina, and San Diego.
Delaware could go to any of those sites. Now the question becomes where might Delaware be seeded and whom will they play?
With national ratings of 135 in the NCAA Net Evaluation Tool (NET) and 144 in the Ken Pomeroy assessment Wednesday, a 14th or 15th seed seems likely. That would put Delaware up against a second or third seed, certainly an immense challenge. ESPN’s fabled Bracketology Wednesday had the Hens as a No. 16 facing Kansas, which seems unlikely.
In previous NCAA trips, Delaware lost to Cincinnati (1992), Louisville (1993), Purdue (1998), Tennessee (1999) and Michigan State (2014). So the Hens are certain to bang into one of the sport’s heavyweights.
Here are five intriguing possibilities (with records through Tuesday):
Villanova (23-7) – Delaware is 0-15 all-time against Villanova, the last loss a 78-70 verdict on the neutral Prudential Center floor in December of 2019. That was actually the third closest of the Hens’ outcomes with the Wildcats. What could be better than Delaware getting its historic first win in an NCAA setting against the school Ingelsby rooted for as a kid and where his dad, Tom, starred from 1970-73? Villanova transfer Dylan Painter, who became eligible just after that last meeting, might enjoy this reunion also.
Providence (24-4) – Jyare Davis didn’t play as a true freshman with the Friars last year, mainly due to an early season concussion, before transferring to Delaware. The Sanford School grad has shown why he was a Big East recruit with late-season excellence that earned him CAA Rookie of the Year and then CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors. His presence makes this matchup extra appealing.
Duke (26-5) – Delaware has played Duke twice at Cameron Indoor Stadium, which is tough enough. The Blue Devils will either send Mike Krzyzewski out with an NCAA title in his final season as coach or someone will deal him and Duke a final defeat. Duke has lost to the likes of Lehigh and Mercer in NCAA tourney stunners, so the Hens are certainly capable of a historic send-off.
Kentucky (25-6) – This is one blueblood NCAA basketball program that the Blue Hens have never encountered. No doubt seeing Delaware aligned with Kentucky when that NCAA bracket appears Sunday night would excite players, coaches and fans.
Purdue (25-6) – Long-time UD fans might cringe at this possibility. As Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, then Delaware coach, could tell Ingelsby, his former player and assistant, the 1998 matchup with the 11th-ranked Boilermakers was over soon after it started. Purdue ran out to an 18-0 lead, led by 36 at halftime and prevailed 95-56. A rematch would, one could assume, have to turn out better, right?
Have an idea for a compelling local sports story or is there an issue that needs public scrutiny? Contact Kevin Tresolini at ktresolini@delawareonline.com and follow on Twitter @kevintresolini. Support local journalism by subscribing to delawareonline.com.
