Air Force Academy – With 24 victories already, the Air Force Falcons are getting into the lofty areas of the inevitable comparison climb.
If they defeat Georgia in the second round of the NIT at Clune Arena on Monday night, the Falcons will become the first Division I men’s basketball team in Colorado to win 25 games in a season.
The Falcons (24-8) routed Austin Peay 75-51 in their NIT opener Wednesday, matching last season’s AFA team for most wins in school history.
But Air Force still has a long way to go to be looked up to in the military academy picture. In the 1985-86 season, with 7-foot-1 center David Robinson as the catalyst, Navy won 30 games while advancing to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. The Midshipmen’s run that season ended with a 71-50 loss to Duke in the East Regional championship game.
Pete Herrmann, who became Navy’s head coach for Robinson’s senior season the following year, was an assistant coach on the Elite Eight team. Herrmann now is an assistant coach at Georgia.
“The accomplishments of that Navy team may not be duplicated by another service academy team,” Herrmann said Saturday as the Bulldogs (19-13) boarded a flight to Colorado Springs. “I don’t know if an academy team can get to the final eight in the tournament in this day and age.”
Herrmann said Robinson, the NBA’s top draft pick in 1987, was only 6-7 and not that great when he arrived at Navy.
“He had a tremendous growth span over just a couple of years,” Herrmann said of Robinson. “He developed as a player as he grew.”
Herrmann said Robinson wasn’t a one-man show. Vernon Butler, who is in the Navy record book for scoring and rebounding, played on the 1985-86 team. In terms of getting the right players together at the same time, Herrmann compares this year’s Falcons to the Navy team of 21 years ago.
“Their accomplishments over the last few years show their togetherness, unselfishness and ability to do things that are hard to do,” Herrmann said. “It’s a tribute to those players for believing in a system and each other.”
AFA senior forward Jacob Burtschi said becoming the winningest Division I men’s team in state history wouldn’t specifically be found on the Falcons’ list of goals.
“There are great programs here in the state and some great teams. It would be something to be proud of to know we had the most wins in a year,” said Burtschi, who averages 13.3 points. “It’s all about finding the right players for the right system, and that’s what Air Force has been able to do.”
Irv Moss can be reached at 303-954-1296 or imoss@denverpost.com.
