Sweetest NCAA Memories #14: Coppin St.
Posted by rtmsf on March 5th, 2009
RTC asked its legion of correspondents, charlatans, sycophants, toadies and other hangers-on to send us their very favorite March Madness memory, something that had a visceral effect on who they are as a person and college basketball fan today. Not surprisingly, many of the submissions were excellent and if you’re not fired up reading them, then you need to head back over to PerezHilton for the rest of this month. We’ve chosen the sixteen best, and we’ll be counting them down over the next two weeks as we approach the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
Coppin St. Eagles Fly High – (submitted by JC of HBCU Sports Blog)
Just six days after my 16th birthday, an NCAA tournament game changed the direction of my entire life.
I had grown up around historically black colleges and universities in the state of Maryland, but I was too young to remember the tournament appearances by Alcorn State in the 80s, and Southern’s win over Georgia Tech in 1993 was past my bedtime.
But #15 seed Coppin State was a school right in my back yard, and their 78-65 upset over #2 South Carolina in 1997 came at a critical point in my college selection process, and amidst the ending of a TV-watching curfew.
Two days later, Coppin State missed a chance to go to the Sweet 16, losing to Texas by one point.
Antoine Brockington and Coppin St. Flew High on This Night in 1997 (photo credit: Al Bello)
Two years later, I would enroll in Coppin’s cross-town rival, Morgan State University. Twelve years later, it’s still the greatest moment in NCAA history.
