Unreal: Wagner Just Made The NCAA Tournament With Only Seven Players Left On The Team, Had To Recruit The School's QB To Play For A Few Games
[Source] - Not bad for a team that hasn’t been able to practice with contact since Dec. 27 and has had to rely on assistant coaches to get in full workouts.
Star guard Melvin Council Jr. rarely comes out, averaging 35.3 minutes, and is the team leader in scoring (14.7), rebounds (5.8) and steals (1.4), and fellow guard Javier Ezquerra is on the floor for 34.1 minutes a night. It even brought on a football player, quarterback Damien Mazil, for a few weeks as an extra body.
It included the team’s best all-around player, senior guard Rahmir Moore (fractured wrist); experienced junior wing Zaire Williams (torn meniscus); junior forward Rob Taylor II (torn labrum); and transfers Churchill Bounds (Central Arkansas) and Zae Blake (Green Bay), both of whom dealt with knee injuries that never improved.
Every single year during these low/mid-majors I think, what else could we possibly see? I mean last year in the NEC we had Merrimack win the conference tournament but couldn't play in the NCAA Tournament because they were still in the transition period to Division I. Got that? Yeah, it's as dumb as it sounds. Basically when you become a Division I team you're ineligible for the NCAA Tournament for a few years. So they sent FDU to the Tournament last year instead and, well:
Tyler Schank. Getty Images.
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Fast forward this year and Merrimack is hosting the title game. Let me be more specific, they were hosting the title game against Wagner, a team with SEVEN PLAYERS. That's it. Some foul trouble and we're looking at a Hoosiers, my team is on the floor situation. It didn't matter though:
I shouldn't say it didn't matter. It was a 54-47 game. Merrimack had the lead in the second half! A small lead but watching it, it felt like all the momentum was for Merrimack and they'd eventually comfortably win. Instead seven players held them to 4 total points the last 8 minutes of the game on their home court.
I know we've seen injuries just decimate a team. But we're talking about not being able to practice with contact since Christmas. That's almost impossible to do as a Division I team, it doesn't even matter what level we're talking about. They had to use coaches just to get bodies for a workout. You know those dudes were winded, even if they were former players. And finally they had to convince the school's quarterback to come play for a couple games. He even scored. Granted it was a bucket against LeMoyne, he's in the box score baby.
You think they give a shit that they're about to play in the First Four in Dayton? Of course not. FDU started there last year too. All I know is this sport and this month always fucking deliver. I don't care if you only watch starting this week, how can you not see how ridiculous a story like this is? Shout out Wagner and the three players who went all 40 today.