AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.-
When the Air Force Falcons lost to Wyoming in the first round of the Mountain West tournament in Las Vegas last week, coach Jeff Bzdelik gathered his moping players and told them to snap out of it, and quickly.
Sure, his team’s NCAA bubble had burst with four straight losses, but he told them the NIT was nothing to scoff at.
“What happens to teams like us is they’re hung over with depression from not making the (NCAA) tournament that they wind up getting beat their first round,” Bzdelik said. “But to me, I said, do we have any NIT banners in Clune? This is a wonderful thing. You look at the NIT media guide and it’s filled with Dean Smith, Lou Carnasecca, people like that. There’s great tradition and history.
“So, we have this opportunity to erase this feeling of numbness inside of us from losing those four games. We have a chance to do something about it. So, let’s embrace this opportunity and go and see what we can do.”
So far they’ve stormed through the Western bracket, dumping Austin Peay by 24 points and Georgia by 31 at Clune Arena, where they’ve won 56 of their last 58 games and where they’ll face DePaul (20-13) on Wednesday night for the right to advance to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden.
Bulldogs coach Dennis Felton called it a “major mistake” that the NCAA selection committee bypassed the Falcons (25-8).
“Not only do they belong, but I’m quite certain that they would have advanced,” Felton said.
Bzdelik, however, scoffed at the notion that the Falcons were out to prove the NCAA wronged them.
“No, you know what, you’re reading something into it that is not there,” he said. “You know what the selection committee, hey, we did it to ourselves, plain and simple. So, right now we’re in a tournament. Let’s see what we can do.”
The Falcons have embraced their second chance to make something special out of this season that started out 17-1 and included a rise in the rankings to 13th, the academy’s highest ever, before a 6-7 stumble down the stretch cost them their second straight NCAA bid.
They routed Austin Peay 75-51, then blew out Georgia 83-52.
“We want to send a statement to the other teams: You’d better bring it if you (hope) to come into Clune Arena and beat us on our home court,” Jacob Burtschi said after scoring 21 points and pulling down 10 boards against the Bulldogs on Monday night.
“We have one slip-up this year and that won’t happen again on Wednesday night.”
The Falcons saw their 30-game homecourt winning streak halted by BYU on Feb. 27.
“Senior night didn’t really go as planned for us,” Matt McCraw said. “We want to start a new streak at home, get three big victories and go to New York. … It’s our last home game, so if you don’t get up for this, you shouldn’t be playing the sport.”
Their win against Georgia was their school-record 25th on the year.
Bzdelik said his players “deserve all the credit in the world. They’re coachable. They have great attitudes. They truly care. And as a coach, I can sleep easy at night knowing they’re always going to give a great effort.”
One person who probably isn’t sleeping well at night is Air Force athletic director Hans Mueh because Bzdelik, 49-15 in two seasons at the academy, is sure to be a hot coaching commodity when the Falcons’ season ends.
The University of Colorado is expected to be the first to come calling for Bzdelik, a former Denver Nuggets coach who still lives in the Denver area, although a school such as Michigan might be able to outbid the Buffaloes.
