15 Years Ago Today, Bucknell Men's Basketball Made History

By Jon Terry '93, Associate AD for Athletic Communications

Can you believe it's been 15 years?

Bucknell 64, Kansas 63. A score that will never be forgotten.

March 18, 2005. A date that is forever seared into the consciousness of every Bucknell basketball fan.

It was on that date a decade-and-a-half ago, in a shiny, three-year-old arena in Oklahoma City that was built in the hopes of one day attracting an NBA team, when a hard-working group of Bison turned an already great season into a program-changing one.

[Read Seth Davis' retrospective in The Athletic (subscription required)]

The 2004-05 Bucknell team was led by its lone senior Chris Niesz, junior captains Kevin Bettencourt and Charles Lee, and a loaded sophomore class consisting primarily of the first scholarship recruits in program history. A year earlier the squad finished 14-15, but a near-upset of No. 3 Michigan State, a 9-5 Patriot League record, and a big win over Holy Cross in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals were indicators that the team was ready to make a major leap.

That notion proved to be accurate, and then some. After a 3-4 start, the Bison tore off 11 straight wins. The streak began with a tide-turning, come-from-behind overtime win at Yale. Just before Christmas the Bison beat Niagara, the highest-scoring team in the country, 76-74 on a Lee buzzer-beater, avenging a 90-71 loss to the Purple Eagles a year earlier. The following week Bucknell went to Philadelphia and knocked off a Saint Joseph's team that had been to the Final Four the previous year. And then came the biggest upset school history, a 69-66 stunner over No. 10/7 Pittsburgh at the Peterson Events Center. That remains the highest-ranked team the Bison have ever beaten.

Bucknell went on to finish second behind Holy Cross in the Patriot League standings, and on March 11, the Bison went up to Worcester and took down a very good Crusaders team, 61-57. (You might not remember that Holy Cross went on to beat Notre Dame in the first round of the NIT the following week.)

Winning the Patriot League championship and the resulting automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament is always a huge deal, but it was especially so in 2005. After all, it was the team's first championship in the Patriot League era, which began in 1990-91, and it was Bucknell's first NCAA bid since all the way back in 1989.

The excitement over the league title gave way to some gulps when the NCAA bracket was revealed. The Bison were given a No. 14 seed (the second-highest in league history at the time), and on the other line was one of the most storied teams in the history of the sport, the Kansas Jayhawks. Kansas had been to two Final Fours and an Elite Eight in the previous three years, and it had been ranked No. 1 in the country for much of the 2004-05 season before dropping a few games late in the year.

Bison fans know what happened next, even though they had to suffer the agony of waiting until late in the evening on Friday night. It was one of the last Round of 64 games to tip at 9:50 p.m. Eastern, but as well all know, it was worth the wait.

We should have First Four games to enjoy tonight, with the bulk of the 2020 tournament getting started tomorrow. It's usually one of the best sports weeks of the year. Unfortunately, there are no games this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So instead, let's enjoy a replay of the Bucknell-Kansas game!

I've probably watched the game close to 50 times in the last 15 years, and it's amazing how the emotions of the game still get to me. I still exhale when Kevin Bettencourt converts the 4-point play to get us going after a slow start. I still scream out loud when John Griffin goes around the back to Donald Brown for the fastbreak dunk. I still sheepishly laugh when Chris McNaughton absolutely abuses his man on the baseline spin for the reverse layup and-1. I'm still upset at the ref for calling the intentional foul (yeah, yeah I'm a little biased). I still get chills when McNaughton hits the go-ahead jump-hook with 10 seconds left. I still freak out when Big 12 Player of the Year Wayne Simien gets a clean look at the buzzer. And I still well up with tears of joy when the shot comes up short.

Today on the Bucknell Athletics Facebook page and the @Bucknell_MBB Twitter account, we are asking fans to regale us with your memories of the game. Where did you watch it? What was your favorite play? How many times since then have you encountered a Kansas fan while wearing a Bucknell article of clothing?

I'll give you my quick "where were you when" story. I was lucky enough to be at press row, in the last seat next to the Bucknell bench, in my role as director of athletic communications. I always tell people that the hardest part of my job is obeying the "no cheering" rule in media areas, and that was never more difficult than on that Friday night in OKC.

In 2005, there were no digital distractions to keep my mind occupied during the breaks in play. With minimal courtside internet access, there was no web to surf, no other games to stream, no social media to peruse on my phone. All that was left to do was take some notes and get nervous.

In lieu of cheering, I remember latching on to the arm of the poor Patriot League media rep sitting to my left. He must have left the arena with welts up and down his arm. At least I didn't have any fingernails left, or I might have broken his skin.

When the game got down to the final minute, director of athletics John Hardt and I repositioned to the baseline near our bench, so that we would have better access to the court when the game ended. As that long Kansas inbounds pass faded away from us and into the hands of Simien, John and I both muttered "oh no" in unison. From our angle, the shot looked good. When it wasn't, decorum was briefly set aside for a quick yelp and a hug as we sprinted into the pandemonium that was building at mid-court.

My job at that point was to grab head coach Pat Flannery and a few players for on-court television and radio interviews. So of course I managed to lose Coach Flannery as he ran off the floor in excitement after the handshakes. We had to sprint back and get him out of the tunnel for the CBS interview, but it all worked out, and let me tell you that was one memorable postgame press conference. Every media outlet in the country was scrambling just before deadline to make Bucknell their lead story.

It was after 4 a.m. on March 19 by the time I walked out of the Ford Center, several hours after the team memorably returned to the hotel to a serenade of "'ray Bucknell" from the Northern Iowa pep band. A few hours later, we jumped in a van with Coach Flannery and Chris McNaughton to head to a local TV station to tape a segment for the CBS studio show that aired prior to the start of Saturday's second-round games.

The following day, there was another game to play. With a Sweet Sixteen berth on the line, Bucknell had Wisconsin on the ropes in the second half, but the Badgers prevailed 71-62. Wisconsin would end up going to the Elite Eight, where they lost a close 88-82 verdict to eventual-national champion North Carolina.

The team returned home to a hero's welcome, with a firetruck parade along Market Street leading to a celebration in Sojka Pavilion, where Mayor Judy Wagner proclaimed March 18, 2005 to be "Bucknell Men's Basketball Day" in Lewisburg.

The first NCAA Tournament victory in Bucknell and Patriot League history was certainly worth celebrating, but it was more than just a win in a basketball game. In many ways it put Bucknell University on the map for folks across the nation who were not familiar with our school. And for those of us who are intimately familiar with Bucknell, the game remains a source of great pride, even 15 years later.

Happy March 18, Bison Nation!

15 Years Ago Today, Bucknell Men's Basketball Made History

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