Stetson, UConn and the beauty of March
No. 1 did to No. 16 what it is supposed to do. That didn't make this journey any less exciting for the Hatters, a first-time Dance crasher who took home the experience of a lifetime.
BROOKLYN, NY. — Stetson’s coaches had their feet on the Barclays Center floor bright and early, sitting on press row to advance scout potential second-round opponents Northwestern and FAU.
Hey, there are no limits on how big you can dream once your first dream finally comes true.
The way head coach Donnie Jones saw it, Stetson already came away winners from this once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Big Dance, regardless of how thoroughly UConn manhandled his Hatters in a 91-52 game that, if you can believe it, was somehow an even bigger blowout than the final score would indicate.
“There's no loss with our group tonight,” Jones said afterward. “The victory has already been won. The brotherhoods, the relationships, the stories these guys will have for a lifetime, the history they made at Stetson. To see the fan base change at Stetson, how the university has come together, it's only going to rise. We are thankful they have been the pioneers to take this place, this school, to a place they have never seen before.”
That may come off as hokey and trite to some, until you realize that Jones was once an assistant on a Florida program that won back-to-back national titles.