This is what the NCAA Tournament is about.
Fairleigh Dickinson’s men’s basketball team played with a “We’ve got nothing to lose!” approach that you like to see most NCAA Tournament underdogs bring to the fight.
And as time wound down toward what they were on the cusp of accomplishing—being a 16th seed knocking off a No. 1 seed—the watershed moment was not lost on anyone.
And yet, when it finally arrived and the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights had dethroned the top-seeded Purdue Boilermakers from the NCAA Tournament, the true historical pecking order of what they had done somehow got lost in the discussion.
Yes, they were the second, 16th seed in NCAA men’s basketball history to knock off a No. 1 seed. The first occurrence on the men’s side was in 2018 when 16th-seed University of Maryland-Baltimore County defeated top-seeded University of Virginia.
What FDU did in defeating Purdue, was very much a beautiful work of art and deserves all the praise and attention that’s coming their way.
But that shouldn’t come at the expense of ignoring the original NCAA Tourney upset special pulled off by the 1998 Harvard women’s basketball team which delivered the original “David-slays-Goliath” NCAA Tournament upset in defeating top-seeded Stanford, 71-67.
Yes, 25 years ago Harvard women’s team, led by Allison Feaster, who had 35 points and 13 rebounds against Stanford, came into the NCAA Tournament as a 16th seed viewed as having little to no shot at competing let alone defeating perennial power Stanford.
“That was our NCAA title [game],” Feaster told EBONY. “That was our moment, that bid to the [NCAA] Tournament. We were ready for it.”
So was FDU last Friday.
But the casual way in which Harvard’s unprecedented victory is so easily ignored when it could not possibly be any easier to make it at least part of the conversation now that another team has done it, is a very real reminder about the myriad of issues that still prevail when it comes to men and women’s sports.
You often hear about the disparities that exist among male and female sports.
This is another example of that at work.
To ignore or gloss over the historical relevance of Feaster and what her Harvard teammates did, and how that relates to what’s happening in real time, is just not right.
FDU’s journey to the NCAAs is indeed something that a Hollywood studio executive is probably kicking themselves for not writing sooner. But the improbable journey by the 1998 Harvard women’s team, and the fact that they were the first to ever do it, should be talked about more.
That’s why it’s so important to examine that moment in time through the lens of someone like Feaster who led the nation in scoring that year (28.5 points per game) and went on to have a successful pro career as both a player and now, NBA executive.
Her story has value not just because of the historical nature of the victory, but also because of its impact going forward.
“I use that moment as a teaching moment,” said Feaster who is currently the Vice President of Player Development & Organizational Growth for the Boston Celtics. “I use my experience at Harvard as a teaching moment. It’s those moments, that type of preparation that carries you through adversity. You are the lowest seed, playing against Goliath…when you can overcome that kind of adversity, it gives you a certain level of confidence, humility. Maybe the impossible isn’t impossible.”
And there lies the true value of having these stories told and shared by women such as Feaster who is considered one of the NBA’s brightest young executives as well as a future team president.
“The next challenge for me is to do my part to help this team win a championship,” said Feaster, the first-ever Ivy League player drafted by the WNBA where she played for 10 seasons as well as a successful career overseas. “That would top everything…anything I’ve done personally, even amateur-wise. That’s my main focus. I’m going to be with this organization for a minimum, a few more years. Hopefully, in perpetuity. I love it.”
Feaster represents so much of what we love about March Madness; the ability to take a moment, make the most of it, and leave an undeniable, indelible impression that will live on long after we have left this world.
We don’t have enough of those stories to tell. So when we do, let’s be better at sharing them.